Principles of Curiosity(2017)

The Botany of Desire(en)

Featuring Michael Pollan and based on his best-selling book, this special takes viewers on an exploration of the human relationship with the plant world — seen from the plants' point of view. Narrated by Frances McDormand, the program shows how four familiar species — the apple, the tulip, marijuana and the potato — evolved to satisfy our yearnings for sweetness, beauty, intoxication.

Die rätselhafte Krankheit – Leben mit ME/CFS(de)

ME/CFS is a devastating disease that affects around 300,000 people in Germany alone. There has been little help for sufferers to date. Many doctors are not familiar with the clinical picture and treat it incorrectly. However, something has been happening recently, partly due to the coronavirus pandemic: because the late effects of Covid-19 correspond to the typical symptoms of ME/CFS...

Le Big bang, mes ancêtres et moi(fr)

Bodysong(en)

Documentary footage from various sources, set to music. Showing the whole of human life, from birth to death and beyond.

The Science Of Fasting(fr)

While life expectancy is increasing in Western countries, cases of diabetes, hypertension, obesity and cancer are increasing, and the use of medication has exploded. Does this mean that in order to live to a ripe age we are condemned to swallow more and more drugs? What if there was another way? For half a century, in Russia, Germany and the U.S., doctors and biologists have been exploring a different therapeutic approach: fasting. The results are amazing. Soviet researchers have provided a body of clinical studies of exceptional health…only published in Russian, and thus unknown in the West. Young biologists from the University of Los Angeles have overturned conventional wisdom and used molecular biology to demonstrate the powerful effects of fasting. This research suggests a wide-ranging potential, which could include treatments for the disease of the century, cancer. If these scientists are right, maybe our approach to disease and treatment will need a rethink.

The Dream Is Alive(en)

The Dream Is Alive takes you into space alongside the astronauts on the space shuttle. Share with them the delights of zero gravity while working, eating and sleeping in orbit around the Earth. Float as never before over the towering Andes, the boot of Italy, Egypt and the Nile. Witness firsthand a tension-filled satellite capture and repair and the historic first spacewalk by an American woman.

Darwin's Darkest Hour(en)

In 1858 Charles Darwin struggles to publish one of the most controversial scientific theories ever conceived, while he and his wife Emma confront family tragedy.

How William Shatner Changed The World(en)

William Shatner presents a light-hearted look at how the "Star Trek" TV series have influenced and inspired today's technologies, including: cell phones, medical imaging, computers and software, SETI, MP3 players and iPods, virtual reality, and spaceship propulsion.

The Silent Epidemic(en)

Every month, an estimated 200,000 Australians deliberately hurt themselves. They cut, scratch, burn and sometimes even break bones. It's called self-harm, and it peaks in teenagers and young people. The Silent Epidemic explores this dark and often secret behaviour, asking why more and more people are turning to self-harm as a way to cope with life. Interweaving their personal stories with scientific enquiry, The Silent Epidemic casts a unique lens onto what is fast becoming a problem that can no longer remain hidden. In response to the growing numbers, a group of Melbourne scientists are hunting for a radical solution to self-harm with a world-first experiment. The Silent Epidemic charts their progress: it is both a wake-up call, and ultimately, a story of hope. Written by Mark Hamlyn

The Science of Disney Imagineering: Electricity(en)

What powers some of the brightest attractions at Disney's theme parks? Electricity! From lighting the half million bulbs in Magic Kingdom's Spectromagic parade to transmitting electricity through water for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Disney Imagineers show students how electricity brings some of their favorite rides to life. Students will learn the definitions of source, load, conductor, watts, as well as static electricity and its connection to lightning rods aboard the Disney Magic cruise ship.

The Great Australian Fly(en)

THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN FLY looks at how a national nuisance has shaped Australia and its people, confounding our scientists, influencing our lifestyle and defining the way we speak. But is its value misunderstood? The one-hour documentary explores how this much-maligned spoiler of the Australian summer is in fact a crime solver, healer, pollinator and street sweeper. We'd miss them if they were gone, yet we put huge amounts of energy into wiping them out. Is it time to call a truce? Directed by Tosca Looby and produced by Sally Ingleton, the amusing and intriguing film pays homage to a much-maligned invertebrate and the influence it has had on our world.

Stem Cell Universe With Stephen Hawking(en)

The use of embryonic stem cells has ignited fierce debate across the spiritual and political spectrum. But what if we could create manmade stem cells - or find super cells in adults that could forever replace embryonic cells and remove the controversy? Today, we are on the brink of a new era - an age where we may be able to cure our bodies of any illness. Stephen HAWKING has spent his life exploring the mysteries of the cosmos, now there is another universe that fascinates him - the one hidden inside our bodies - our own personal galaxies of cells.

Pyramid(en)

Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Pyramid is the only one to survive. Many believe that even with our 21st-century technology, we could not build anything like it today. Based on the most up-to-date research and the latest archaeological discoveries, here is how the Pyramid came to be.

The Subject and Tasks of Biophysics(ru)

Experimental educational film reveals the emergence of some ideas of Biophysics in historical, philosophical and methodological aspects. The first film from the Biophysics Cycle (1982-1989).

The Secret of Life on Earth(en)

A breathtaking adventure across five continents and through time to reveal nature's most vital secret. Watch a flying fox gorge itself on a midnight snack of figs. Climb into the prickly jaws of insect-eating plants. Witness a mantis disguised as a flower petal lure its prey to doom.

Jack Parsons: Jet Propelled Antichrist(en)

Jack Parsons: Jet Propelled Antichrist is a story about one of the fathers of modern rocketry and a founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) which as part of NASA still leads the way in the development of rockets and the exploration of space. He was also an occultist, a sorcerer and a magus. The infamous magician Aleister Crowley the self-proclaimed Great Beast called him son. He called himself ‘The Antichrist’ and was repeatedly investigated by the FBI. At the age of 38 Parsons died in a mysterious explosion that made headlines around the US. Officially it was a tragic scientific accident — other interpretations of the event persist to this day.

Root of All Evil?(en)

In this two-part Channel 4 series, Professor Richard Dawkins challenges what he describes as 'a process of non-thinking called faith'. He describes his astonishment that, at the start of the 21st century, religious faith is gaining ground in the face of rational, scientific truth. Science, based on scepticism, investigation and evidence, must continuously test its own concepts and claims. Faith, by definition, defies evidence: it is untested and unshakeable, and is therefore in direct contradiction with science. In addition, though religions preach morality, peace and hope, in fact, says Dawkins, they bring intolerance, violence and destruction. The growth of extreme fundamentalism in so many religions across the world not only endangers humanity but, he argues, is in conflict with the trend over thousands of years of history for humanity to progress to become more enlightened and more tolerant.

Tesla(en)

Meet Nikola Tesla, the genius engineer and tireless inventor whose technology revolutionized the electrical age of the 20th century. Although eclipsed in fame by Edison and Marconi, it was Tesla's vision that paved the way for today's wireless world. His fertile but undisciplined imagination was the source of his genius but also his downfall, as the image of Tesla as a mad scientist came to overshadow his reputation as a brilliant innovator.

In The Womb(en)

In The Womb is a 2005 National Geographic Channel documentary that focus on studying and showing the development of the embryo in the uterus. The show makes extensive use of Computer-generated imagery to recreate the real stages of the process.

Being...Neil Armstrong(en)

It has been said that 10,000 years from now only one name will still be remembered, that of Neil Armstrong. But in the four decades since he first set foot on the moon, Armstrong has become increasingly reclusive. Andrew Smith, author of the best-selling book Moondust, journeys across America to try and discover the real Neil Armstrong. He tracks down the people who knew Armstrong, from his closest childhood friend to fellow astronauts and Houston technicians, and even the barber who sold his hair, in a wry and sideways look at the reluctant hero of the greatest event of the 20th century.