Latest Documentaries
Henry Louis Gates Jr. explores the transformative years following the American Civil War, when the nation struggled to rebuild itself in the face of profound loss, massive destruction, and revolutionary social change. The twelve years that composed the post-war Reconstruction era (1865-77) witnessed a seismic shift in the meaning and makeup of our democracy, with millions of former slaves and free black people seeking out their rightful place as equal citizens under the law. Though tragically short-lived, this bold democratic experiment was, in the words of W. E. B. Du Bois, a 'brief moment in the sun' for African Americans, when they could advance and achieve education, exercise their right to vote, and run for and win public office.
2019 • History
Australia, a land cast adrift at the time of the dinosaurs. Isolated for millions of years, the weird and wonderful animals marooned here are like nowhere else on Earth. In its jungles a cassowary - one of the most dangerous birds in the world – stands six feet tall. Inland, kangaroos and wombats brave snowstorms and gum tree forests are filled with never-before-seen predators. In its red desert heart, reptiles drink through their skin and huge flocks of wild budgerigars swirl in search of water. On secret islands Tasmanian devils roam and offshore, thousands of sharks gather for a rare event.
4/7 • Seven Worlds, One Planet • 2019 • Nature
In the non-coding 98% of our DNA, we have countless switches to promote or suppress the physiological reactions of our bodies. Interestingly, we can change the states of these switches through our own efforts and even can affect the DNA conditions of our offspring before their birth.
2/2 • Dynamic Genomes • 2019 • Science
Previously it was thought that only 2% of our DNA is meaningful and the remaining 98% is non-coding “junk”. But today we are beginning to know how the junk part of our DNA works to decide our personal characteristics and tendencies.
1/2 • Dynamic Genomes • 2019 • Science
Can new engineering techniques help prevent deadly bridge collapses? In 2018, Italy’s Morandi Bridge collapsed, tragically killing 43 people. For 50 years, the iconic bridge had withstood the elements—and stress from ever-increasing traffic. What went wrong that fateful day? And how can new engineering technology protect bridge infrastructure to prevent such tragic failures in the future? Through eyewitness testimony, expert interviews, and dramatic archival footage, NOVA investigates the Morandi disaster and other deadly bridge collapses.
NOVA PBS • 2019 • Technology
South America - the most species rich continent on Earth. From the volcanoes of the Andes to the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon, animals here must specialise to carve out a niche. In Patagonia, a puma mother draws on a lifetime’s experience to catch prey three times her weight. In the cloud forest, rarely seen Andean bears clamber thirty metres into the canopy to find elusive fruit. Poison dart frogs use ingenious methods to keep their tadpoles safe, whilst anacondas stalk capuchin monkeys. At Igauzu, swifts make death-defying flights through one of the biggest waterfalls on Earth.
3/7 • Seven Worlds, One Planet • 2019 • Nature
Recommended Documentaries
From director Todd Douglas Miller comes a cinematic event fifty years in the making. Crafted from a newly discovered trove of 65mm footage, and more than 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings, Apollo 11 takes us straight to the heart of NASA’s most celebrated mission—the one that first put men on the moon, and forever made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin into household names. Immersed in the perspectives of the astronauts, the team in Mission Control, and the millions of spectators on the ground, we vividly experience those momentous days and hours in 1969 when humankind took a giant leap into the future.
2019 • Astronomy
Personality explores what it is that makes us who we are and uncovers the universal battle we face to master our emotions and control our behaviour. Professor Robert Winston explores how our minds shape our personalities throughout our lives, and reveals how personality traits like extroversion and introversion develop.
2/3 • The Human Mind • 2007 • Brain
Using high-speed cameras, Richard reveals the world hidden in the time it takes to blink.
California is on the brink of an apocalypse. The state faces a future of drought that will cost billions in lost farm revenue and thousands of jobs. But the challenges facing the state are not unique: All over the world, governments are struggling with bigger populations and a diminishing supply of freshwater. Innovators across the globe are seeking solutions in emergent technologies to prevent a planet-wide water crisis.
S1E6 • Breakthrough National Geographic • 2015 • Environment
The series offers a fresh look at the science behind teeth and dentistry, and what we can all do to improve our oral health. The programmes feature patients undergoing treatment for missing or broken teeth, decay, gum disease, and a range of other problems – sometimes to the extreme. The series also features a strong public health message, with experiments on and information about everything from correct tooth brushing to the effectiveness (or otherwise) of over-the-counter tooth whitening kits.
1/2 • The Truth About Your Teeth • 2015 • Health
Jungles provide the richest habitats on the planet - mysterious worlds of high drama where extraordinary animals attempt to survive in the most competitive place on earth. Flooded forests are home to caiman-hunting jaguars and strange dolphins that swim amongst the tree tops, while in the dense underworld, ninja frogs fight off wasps and flying dragons soar between trees. Acrobatic indri leap through the forests of Madagascar, while the jungle night conceals strange fungi and glow-in-the-dark creatures never filmed before.
3/6 • Planet Earth II • 2016 • Nature
Science Documentaries
How do we learn properly so we can be right all the time? How can we know that we know, when we don't know what we don't know?
This Place • 2015 • Science
Can computers be given a sense of morality using AI, and what are the implications for decision making in a hospital setting?
2/8 • Stories of Impact • 2019 • Science
Hawking joins science and imagination to explore one of the most important mysteries facing humankind - the possibility of alien, intelligent life and the likelihood of future "contact."
1/3 • Stephen Hawking's Universe • 1997 • Science
Mysteries of the Unseen World transports audiences to places on this planet that they have never been before, to see things that are beyond their normal vision, yet literally right in front of their eyes. Mysteries of the Unseen World reveals phenomena that can't be seen with the naked eye, taking audiences into earthly worlds secreted away in different dimensions of time and scale. Viewers experience events that unfold too slowly for human perception; They "see" the beauty, drama, and even humor of phenomena of that occur in the flash of a microsecond; They enter the microscopic world that was once reserved only for scientists, but that Mysteries of the Unseen World makes accessible to the rest of us; They begin to understand that what we actually see is only a fraction of what there is TO see on this Earth. High-speed and time-lapse photography, electron microscopy, and nanotechnology are just a few of the advancements in science that now allow us to see a whole new universe of things, events, creatures, and processes we never even knew existed and now give us new "super powers" to see beyond what is in front of us. Visually stunning and rooted in cutting-edge research, Mysteries of the Unseen World will leave audiences in complete thrall as they begin to understand the enormity of the world they can't see, a world that exists in the air they breathe, on their own bodies, and in all of the events that occur around them minute-by-minute, and nanosecond-by-nanosecond. And with this understanding comes a new appreciation of the wonder and possibilities of science.
2013 • Science
How do you know you’re real? Is existence all just a big dream? Has some mad scientist duped us into simply believing that we exist? James Zucker investigates all of these questions (and more) in this mind-boggling tribute to René Descartes’s "Meditations on First Philosophy."
Take a look back at many of the most fascinating science stories of 2018. Discover how a young woman who fell into a cave 3.7 million years ago is rewriting our understanding of early human history. Learn how space missions are unraveling the mysteries of our universe. See the year in a new light!
2018 • Science
Technology Documentaries
Megalopolises are spreading out and becoming denser -- and there is nowhere left to park. Luckily, the technology is there to deal with this growing chaos. Technological urbanism promises hyper-rational cities that are 100% sustainable and perfectly safe. They are known as smart cities.
2/3 • Cities of Tomorrow • 2016 • Technology
YouTube star and gaming addict Dan Howell explores the changing world of gaming: from hobby to a mass spectator sport that’s watched by millions around the world. To the envy of amateurs, they've taken gaming to a whole new level, training 12 hours a day, playing in packed stadiums, and earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.The bizarre community of e-sports has been almost invisible to the outside world – up until now. Three young British gamers at different stages of their careers all have dreams of reaching the very top. KaSing, an overnight sensation from Tottenham, lives in Berlin, and is playing in one of Europe’s top teams. His 20-year-old former teammate, Matt, nicknamed Impaler, is having a crisis of confidence about his once-flourishing career. And 17-year-old hopeful Greensheep is struggling to break through onto the big stage.
2015 • Technology
What if we could explore the vastness of Space? Science fiction has always fed upon our need to explore – to wonder what is out there. Space journeys from Jules Verne’s earliest ideas about attempts to leave our planet, to the Star Wars far away galaxy through to Nichelle Nichols revealing how her groundbreaking role as Lt. Uhura in Star Trek led to her participation in the recruitment of NASA’s astronauts. It explores the deep sea inspiration for Avatar, finds out why Ursula K Le Guin wrote The Left Hand of Darkness and discovers how Stanley Kubrick was able to make 2001: A Space Odyssey seem so believable. In addition, the program looks at the way Dune and The Mars Trilogy embraced the challenge of world building and discusses the appeal of the beaten up ‘dirty space’ of Dark Star and Firefly. From the horrifying scenes of Alien, to the epic spectacle of Star Wars, this is a journey to the stars and the alien encounters that await us there.
Part 2 • The Real History of Science Fiction • 2014 • Technology
A documentary focused on Stuxnet, a piece of self-replicating computer malware that the U.S. and Israel unleashed to destroy a key part of an Iranian nuclear facility, and which ultimately spread beyond its intended target.
2016 • Technology
Hackers have stolen the personal details of millions of customers from companies like Talk Talk. So how do cybercriminals get hold of our data? Reporter Daniel Foggo meets the hackers who can break into any website and finds out how criminals profit from our information.
2015 • Technology
MOSE is one of the world?s largest and highest-profile civil-engineering works. But will it be able to save Venice? Venice has grappled with inundation for centuries. But due to natural subsidence and higher tides caused by global warming, the city is more vulnerable to flooding than ever before.
Breakthrough • 2019 • Technology
Randoms! Documentaries
In 814 BC, the exiled Phoenician queen Dido founds the city of Carthage on the African Coast. The city develops and takes the lead of a maritime empire based on trade. Carthage dominates the Western Mediterranean. But in the third century BC, she finds herself opposed to the Roman Republic.
S3E10 • Butterfly Effect • 2018 • History
Animated on location at a beach, in snow, and underwater, this stop-motion short details a transoceanic conversation between two characters via objects in a bottle.
I’ve always heard that it is much easier to grasp skills and learn as a child, but seeing this with something as seemingly simple as riding a bike took that to an entirely new level.
SmarterEveryDay • 2015 • Brain
In which John Green and Hank Green teach you about how human primates moved out of Africa and turned Earth into a real-life Planet of the Apes. And the apes are people! John and Hank teach you about how humans evolved, and the sort of tricks they picked up along the way like complex tool use, big brains, and fighting. Learn more: http://www.bighistoryproject.com
China is growing at a breakneck pace and racing to keep up with demand. As new cities are built and current ones expand, the country is pushing the limits of technology and innovation. On an aerial tour over megacities like Shanghai and Beijing, discover how the population works, travels, plays, and adapts to China's exploding economy and massive urban transformation.
2/4 • China from Above • 2018 • Travel
