Hunt for the Oldest DNA • 2024

49:24

Throughout history, human society has run on trade, and trade moved on the oceans. The innovations that allowed faster an more accurate oceanic travel revolutionized to the world. New inventions now help people move on water for fun and recreation.

S1E1 • Speed • 2019 • Science

59:01

Antarctica is the last great wilderness. It's the coldest, windiest, driest and most isolated place on Earth. And every winter, for over three months of the year, the sun never rises. But it's also home to the British Antarctic Survey's Halley Research Station. A veteran of living and working at Halley in the early eighties, BBC weatherman Peter Gibbs makes an emotional return to the place he once called home. A place that, during his time, was key to the discovery of the ozone hole. The journey starts with an arduous 12-day, 3000-mile voyage onboard the RRS Ernest Shackleton. Once on the ice shelf, Peter is delighted to finally arrive at the futuristic research station and marvels at the cutting edge science being done at Halley today. From vital discoveries about how our lives are vulnerable to the sun's activities, to studying interplanetary travel and the threat of man-made climate change. But Peter's journey is also something of a rescue mission. The research station's home is a floating ice shelf that constantly moves and cracks, and the ice shelf has developed a chasm that could cast Halley adrift on a massive iceberg.

Horizon • 2016 • Science

9:38

Hank discusses some of the taboos which have plagued scientific inquiry in the past and a few that still exist today.

Science

7:08

A war has been raging for billions of years, killing trillions every single day, while we don’t even notice. This war involves the single deadliest being on our planet: The Bacteriophage.

In a Nutshell • 2018 • Science

59:24

For decades, scientists have tried to unlock the secrets of ancient DNA. But life's genetic blueprint is incredibly fragile, and researchers have struggled to find genetic material in fossils that has survived for millions of years. Then, one maverick scientist had the controversial idea of looking for DNA not in fossils or frozen ancient tissue - but in the soil. Follows the scientists deciphering the oldest DNA ever found and revealing for the first time the genes of long-extinct creatures that once thrived in warm, lush Arctic landscapes.

2024 • Science

59:11

Brian Cox looks at our attempts to answer one of the most profound questions we can ask – are we alone in the universe? With scientists sending space probes to the furthest reaches of our solar system and beyond, the scientific search for alien life has begun. Inspired by a childhood love of science fiction, Brian still hopes to hear from ET. In this film, he explains why this search deserves to be taken seriously, and he explores the chances of it happening.

S1E2 • Brian Cox's Adventures in Space and Time • 2021 • Science