Cracking the Maya Code - NOVA (2008)

The ancient Maya civilization of Central America left behind a riddle: an intricate and mysterious hieroglyphic script carved on stone monuments and painted on pottery and bark books. Because the invading Spanish suppressed nearly all knowledge of how the script worked, unlocking its meaning posed one of archaeology's fiercest challenges, until now.

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Lord of the Ants - NOVA (2008)

Every so often a giant emerges on the stage of science, someone who transcends the narrow boundaries of a particular line of research and alters our perspective on the world. E.O. Wilson is such a man. NOVA's Lord of the Ants profiles this soft-spoken Southerner renowned for his scientific study of ants that led to his 1975 book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, where he put forth the notion that evolutionary principles could explain social behavior throughout the animal kingdom, including in humans. Though sociobiology was a controversial new discipline at the time, today experimental science shows that genes do play a role in aspects of human behavior.

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Why the Towers Fell - NOVA (2002)

For most people the image of the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, 2001, was not only a scene of unforgettable horror, it was a moment of unimaginable consequence. Within days, NOVA began following a blue ribbon team of forensic engineers as they began searching for clues that would tell them why the towers fell. This moving and informative documentary features interviews with survivors and rescue personnel who recount the buildings' last moments and their harrowing journeys to safety, interweaving these stories with the insights of some of the leading structural engineers in the world to explain exactly what happened on that fateful day.
Why the Towers Fell takes viewers through the process by which the investigative team came to understand the how's and why's of one of America's greatest tragedies. From a detailed examination of the building's original design to the relentless process of combing scrap steel yards and Ground Zero itself for evidence, this was one of the most extensive and difficult disaster investigations ever undertaken. The team tested building materials, calculated the role of the jet fuel in the fire, estimated the speed of the aircraft and the damage to the building's core, and they analyzed the effectiveness of the escape and fire protection systems. The conclusions they reached will certainly influence the building of future skyscrapers for years to come.

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Walking With Cavemen - BBC (2002)

Following the success of the WALKING WITH DINOSAURS series in which they brought the prehistoric era to life, the BBC team turn their attention to the amazing story of human evolution. Using the latest special effects and make up technology, this is a vivid account of how man developed from ape to the complex creature that rules the world today.

Four (4) Part Series

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Earth's Invisible Shield - NOVA (2003)

The Earth’s molten core creates a magnetic field that surrounds the globe, guarding against a constant barrage of deadly radiation from space. Over the last few decades, this field has weakened dramatically, intriguing scientists across the globe.
Interesting documentary about the earth's magnetic field. Is it fading or will it reverse ? What do we know about the consequenses of the decrease or reversal of the magnetic field and what similarities are there with what happened on Mars...

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Secrets of the Mind - NOVA (2001)

The award-winning NOVA series brings the complications surrounding brain distortion and how it affects people who suffer from it. V.S. Ramachandran leads the viewer through a discovery of neuroscience that involves misperception of the human mind research that has been done to correct it.

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Fractals: Hunting The Hidden Dimension - Nova (2008)

Determined to understand the repeating patterns he was finding in nature, French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot used an early form of computer imagery to produce his own versions, coining the recurring shapes fractals. This installment of the PBS series "Nova" examines the rules of these self-similar patterns and explores the ways these fascinating geometric configurations can be applied in the fields of science, medicine and the arts.

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Ape Genius - Nova (2008)

At a research site in Fongoli, Senegal, a female chimpanzee breaks off a branch, chews the end to make it sharp, and then uses this rudimentary spear to skewer a tasty bush baby hiding inside a hollow tree. It’s an astonishing breakthrough for primate researchers—the first time anyone has documented a chimpanzee wielding a carefully prepared, preplanned weapon. But it's only the latest in a slew of extraordinary new findings about ape behavior.
The more researchers learn about the great apes—chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans—the more evidence they find of creative intelligence. What, then, is the essential difference between them and us? "Ape Genius," a NOVA-National Geographic special, explores that provocative question and examines research that is illuminating the ape mind. Bit by bit, investigators are finding an explanation for why the non-human great apes never made the breakthrough into a human-style culture that builds on the achievements of previous generations.

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Time: CosmicTime - BBC (2007)

In this four-programme series, string theory pioneer Michio Kaku goes on an extraordinary exploration of the world in search of time.He discovers our sense of time passing and the clocks that drive our bodies. He reveals the forces of time that make and destroy us in a lifetime. He journeys to some of the Earth's most spectacular geological sites to look for clues to the extraordinary depths of time at a planetary level. Finally, he takes us on a cosmic journey in search of the beginning (and the end) of time itself.

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We've always structured our lives based on an unchanging past and a predictable and ordered future. But atomic and cosmic discoveries have changed all that. What is time itself? And will it ever end?

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Time: EarthTime - BBC (2007)

In this four-programme series, string theory pioneer Michio Kaku goes on an extraordinary exploration of the world in search of time.He discovers our sense of time passing and the clocks that drive our bodies. He reveals the forces of time that make and destroy us in a lifetime. He journeys to some of the Earth's most spectacular geological sites to look for clues to the extraordinary depths of time at a planetary level. Finally, he takes us on a cosmic journey in search of the beginning (and the end) of time itself.

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We hold a unique knowledge of time, realising that it stretches deep into the past, and will continue into the future. How does this affect our sense of who we are?

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Time: Lifetime - BBC (2007)

In this four-programme series, string theory pioneer Michio Kaku goes on an extraordinary exploration of the world in search of time.He discovers our sense of time passing and the clocks that drive our bodies. He reveals the forces of time that make and destroy us in a lifetime. He journeys to some of the Earth's most spectacular geological sites to look for clues to the extraordinary depths of time at a planetary level. Finally, he takes us on a cosmic journey in search of the beginning (and the end) of time itself.

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The most powerful effect of time on our lives is the way it limits us. Our knowledge of death is so embedded in our lives and spirituality that, were immortality possible, would we lose the sense that makes us human?

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Time: Daytime - BBC (2007)

In this four-programme series, string theory pioneer Michio Kaku goes on an extraordinary exploration of the world in search of time. He discovers our sense of time passing and the clocks that drive our bodies. He reveals the forces of time that make and destroy us in a lifetime. He journeys to some of the Earth's most spectacular geological sites to look for clues to the extraordinary depths of time at a planetary level. Finally, he takes us on a cosmic journey in search of the beginning (and the end) of time itself.

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Time seems to drive every moment. It's the most inescapable force we feel. But do we experience time from within our minds and bodies or from the outside?

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The Story Of 1 - BBC (2006)

The story of the number one is the story of Western civilization. Terry Jones (of Monty Python's Flying Circus) goes on a humor-filled journey to recount the amazing tale behind the world's simplest number. Using computer graphics, "One" is brought to life, in all his various guises. One's story reveals how celebrated civilizations in history were achieved, where our modern numbers came from and how the invention of zero changed the world forever; and saved us from having to use Roman numerals today.

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The Real Eve - Discovery Channel (2002)

Narrated by actor Danny Glover, "The Real Eve" reveals that our shared genetic heritage links every living person on earth and traces the expansion of modern humans throughout the world. The discovery of the Eve gene stunned the world. It seems we could all be descended from just a few females – or even just one. In this telling anthropological video, we access the very latest DNA reconstructions, and for the first time, tell conclusively the story of where, when and how the human race came about and then populated the world.

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What Makes Us Human? (2006)

While our closest animal relatives have been swinging from the trees, humans have built a world that is vastly more complex. What are the ... all » defining features that have allowed us to do this? Are we special, and separate from all other animals, or are we just an especially successful mammal?

Two (2) Part Series

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While our closest animal relatives have been swinging from the trees, humans have built a world that is vastly more complex. What are the defining features that have allowed us to do this? Are we special, and separate from all other animals, or are we just an especially successful mammal?

Watch using FLASH movie player format - Second Part: Copycats

Evolutionary biologist Dr Armand Leroi concludes his exploration of the characteristics that make us uniquely human, looking at how the special qualities of our brain have enabled us to dominate the planet.

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Evolution of Life On Other Planets: Even the Gods Have Gods (2008)

A comprehensive review of scientific findings, published in prestigious scientific journals, is presented to explain how life from other planets evolved on Earth. These first Earthlings (archae, bacteria, and cyanobacteria) contained the genes and the genetic information for altering the environment, the “evolution” of multicellular eukaryotes, and the metamorphosis of all subsequent species.

These included exons, introns, transposable elements, informational and operational genes, RNA, ribozomes, mitochondria, and all the core genetic machinery for translating, expressing, and repeatedly duplicating genes and the entire genome. Prokaryotic genes were initially combined to fashion the first eukaryotes and/or were donated and transferred to unicellular then multicellular eukaryotes and then subsequently expressed in response to biologically engineered environmental influences, often in busts of explosive evolutionary change, as typified by the Cambrian Explosion.
Genes biologically alter the environment such as via the secretion of waste products, e.g. methane, oxygen, calcium carbonate, sulphides, ferrous iron, etc., which acts on gene expression. However, these genes and life on Earth did not randomly evolve. Evolution is metamorphosis. These genes were inherited from ancestral species who acquired these genes and these genetic instructions from living creatures that long ago lived on other planets.

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The Elegant Universe - Nova (2003)

One of the most ambitious and exciting scientific theories ever posed—one that may be the long-sought "Theory of Everything"—gets a masterful and lavishly animated explanation that will excite scientists and non-scientists alike.
Beginning with simple and clear explanations of major concepts of physics, including gravity, electromagnetism, and relativity, The Elegant Universe illuminates one of the most revolutionary theories in physics today. Known as string theory or superstring theory, this startling idea proposes that the fundamental ingredients of nature are inconceivably tiny strands of energy, whose different modes of vibration underlie everything that happens in the universe.
The theory attempts to unite the laws of the large—general relativity—and the laws of the small—quantum mechanics—breaking a conceptual logjam that has frustrated scientists for nearly a century. If string theory proves correct, the universe we see obscures a reality that is far richer and more complex than anyone ever imagined—a universe with numerous hidden dimensions, a universe in which the fabric of space can rip and tear, a universe that may be but one of many parallel universes.
Join host Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University and the best-selling author of The Elegant Universe, for this exciting and in-depth exploration of this groundbreaking new theory.

Three (3) Part Series

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Today, Einstein's goal of combining the physical laws of the universe in one theory that explains it all is the Holy Grail of modern physics.

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In order to solve some of the deepest mysteries of the universe, the rules that govern large objects like galaxies must be combined with the rules that govern small objects like subatomic particles.

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String theory is radically changing our ideas about the nature of space, opening up the possibility that extra dimensions, rips in the fabric of space, and parallel universes actually exist.

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Walking with Dinosaurs - BBC (1999)

Take the ultimate journey back in time to the reign of the dinosaurs! State-of-the-art digital effects and animatronics by the Emmy Award-winning FrameStore Group (The Odyssey, Merlin, Gulliver’s Travels) combine to form living, breathing images that put you in the scene of a virtual lost world. Using the latest scientific findings, Walking With Dinosaurs examines the 155-million-year history of these great creatures, from the aggressive Coelophysis, who first learned to hunt in packs, to Tyrannosaurus Rex, the most terrifying carnivore on the planet. Feel the ground tremble as dueling Triceratops lock horns, and soar with Ornithocheirus, who could travel over 300 miles on a single wing flap. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, this expanded video edition contains fascinating additional material not included on Discovery Channel broadcasts.

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