Plastics • 2000 • episode "S1E4" • History 101

Category: Environment | Subtitle:

Plastics have transformed how we live, but progress comes at a high price: 7.8 billion tons of waste. Are plastics a miracle or a catastrophe?

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History 101 • 2000 - 2022 • 20 episodes •

Fast Food

Cheap, quick and tasty, fast food became a culinary craze in the 1950s. But has our quest for convenience created an irreversible health crisis?

2020 • Health

The Space Race

Fifteen international agencies spend $62 billion every year on space travel. What's fueling our costly - and dangerous - drive to explore the universe?

2020 • Astronomy

The Rise of China

The Rise of China

In the 21st century, China has become a global economic powerhouse. Why was the rest of the world so slow to notice its rise to the top?

2020 • Economics

Plastics

Plastics have transformed how we live, but progress comes at a high price: 7.8 billion tons of waste. Are plastics a miracle or a catastrophe?

2000 • Environment

Oil and the Middle East

Oil and the Middle East

Oil has brought great wealth to the Middle East and ignited major wars. Is it a blessing or a curse for the region, as well as the rest of the world?

2020 • Economics

Robots

We share the planet with an estimated 9 million robots, from self-driving cars to surgical arms. Could they one day completely replace humans?

2020 • Technology

Feminism

Feminism has ushered in sweeping changes to society, securing rights for women around the world. How much further do we have to go?

2020 • People

Nuclear Power

Over 10% of the world's electricity comes from nuclear power. But with radioactive waste and the threat of nuclear meltdown, are we playing with fire?

2020 • Economics

AIDS

Nearly 40 million people are living with HIV. After decades of research and activism, how far have we come in finding a cure and battling the stigma?

2020 • Health

Genetics

DNA analysis has given us the tools to map disease, solve crimes and more. But in our rush to decode DNA, are we leaping before we look?

2020 • Science

GPS

Today, GPS is guiding - and following - pretty much anything that moves, all around the world. It's so accurate it can track you down to the head of a pin. But where is GPS leading us? Is it helping us find the way, or lose it?

2022 • Technology

MP3s

MP3s transformed how we listen to music - and spawned digital piracy. Streaming helped the industry recover, but how can artists get their fair share?

2022 • Technology

Credit Cards

Credit cards changed the global economy and attitudes about personal spending, but record levels of consumer debt beg the question: Just who's in charge?

2022 • Technology

Psychedelics

Growing evidence suggests that psychedelic drugs could treat brain injuries and psychological problems. But can we get past their controversial history?

2022 • Brain

Bottled Water

Bottled water is a big business, selling itself as a tastier and healthier alternative to the tap variety. Is there truth behind the claims?

2022 • Economics

Dating Apps

Thanks to dating apps, finding love is easier than ever. But are we now so focused on playing the game that we're missing out on real connection?

2022 • Technology

Lasers

They're used for everything from entertainment to medicine - and now for weapons straight out of science fiction. Have lasers become too hot to handle?

2022 • Science

Home Workouts

The home fitness revolution has exploded into a multibillion-dollar industry. Are home workouts a healthy habit - or just hype?

2022 • Health

IVF

A groundbreaking medical reproductive procedure has made parenthood possible for millions around the world - but at what cost?

2022 • Health

High Fructose Corn Syrup

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Sweet deal or bitter pill? High fructose corn syrup rose up to dominate supermarket shelves, but what is it doing to our health?

2022 • Health

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Rogue Planet

There are twice as many rogue planets as stars in the galaxy. So what might happen if a ringed planet the size of Neptune were on a collision course with Earth?

S1E3 • Doomsday: 10 Ways the World Will End • 2016 • Environment

Gems

Their beauty has captivated us for millennia. Their cost can be extraordinary–some are even considered priceless. Precious gems like diamonds, rubies, emeralds, opal, and jade are the ultimate treasures of the earth, and each one is made from a specific–and often torturous–recipe of chemistry, pressure, and heat. The secrets to their sparkle, color, and even strength lie deep inside the gems themselves, but could they also hold clues to one of the most enduring mysteries in the field of geology? From Tiffany’s workshop in New York to the sapphire mines of Sri Lanka, from North Carolina’s emerald fields to the jade-laden Forbidden City of China.

Part 1 • Treasures of the Earth • 2016 • Environment

Blizzards

Blizzards; it's one of the Earth's most beautiful secrets until it turns into a storm that can bring entire cities to a grinding halt.

S1E8 • Secrets of the Earth • 2013 • Environment

Chris Packham: In Search of the Lost Girl

Chris Packham: In Search of the Lost Girl

In 1998, wildlife enthusiast and photographer Chris Packham had a remarkable encounter with the Orang Rimba, a tribe of hunter gatherers in the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia. It was the first time he had ever seen people living in perfect harmony with their environment. One photograph in particular that Chris took, a picture of a young tribal girl, has since become immensely important to him as a barometer of how we are treating our planet. In this real-life detective story, with no clues as to her identity or whereabouts other than his original photograph, Chris sets off to Sumatra 20 years on to try to find her; the girl in the picture. Chris's search is further complicated because her tribe is nomadic and often cover vast distances on foot, and since he was last there, millions of hectares of her rainforest habitat has been destroyed. Piecing together the clues, Chris discovers to his horror that the girl's close-knit group of Orang Rimba was attacked not long after he met them, and a number of them killed. But was the girl among them? Chris travels into the heart of Sumatra and tries to discover the girl's fate by meeting the men who pulled the murdered tribespeople's bodies out of the river. On his way, he discovers just how much of Sumatra's once pristine rainforests have been replaced by palm oil plantations, palm oil which is in around 50% of the products we buy in our supermarkets. Chris learns some uncomfortable truths about how we are all in some way connected to deforestation.

2018 • Environment

Reef Rescue

Coral reefs are not just beautiful, they are also home to over a quarter of all marine life and are crucial to human societies around the globe. But as the climate changes and oceanic heat waves become commonplace, corals are bleaching and reefs are dying off. Now, marine biologists from across the world are teaming up to counteract this catastrophe with a technique called assisted evolution. Follow scientists as they attempt to crossbreed heat-resistant corals, and even transplant corals’ algae, in a race to save the coral reefs from extinction

NOVA PBS • 2021 • Environment

Gamma Ray Burst

Gamma Ray Burst

When a gamma ray burst from two colliding stars hits the atmosphere, the deadly radiation delivers agonizing death and immediately wipes out half the planet. How will the last remaining humans survive?

S1E7 • Doomsday: 10 Ways the World Will End • 2016 • Environment