The Age of Humans • 2019 • episode "S1E2" • The Life of Earth

44:00

The first of the two-part series, titled "From Space," explores the birth and early life of Earth, as seen from orbit, using clues from over 300 satellites and space stations surveying Earth’s landmarks to work backwards and piece together what the planet’s early days might have looked like.

S1E1 • The Life of Earth • 2019 • Astronomy

43:22

Orbits are the dynamics that drive the universe. From the smallest asteroid to the largest super-cluster, everything in the universe is in orbit. We owe our very existence to the stability of earth's orbit — it gave us life and keeps us safe. But we are the freaks. Everywhere else we look we find orbits are chaotic, unstable, and violent. Beyond our solar system we find planets that are blow-torched, stars that eat each other, and black holes that destroy everything in their path. Yet on the very largest scale, orbits are also a creative force. clashing galaxies give birth to new stars and new worlds. on the galactic scale orbits even construct the fabric of the universe itself.

S2E5 • How the Universe Works • 2012 • Astronomy

43:47

A visit to the 2039 New York World's Fair, where intractable problems may have been solved.

13/13 • Cosmos: Possible Worlds • 2020 • Astronomy

44:00

Astronomer Shep Doeleman and his team are on a mission that will challenge the theories of Albert Einstein and could pave the way to a revolution in physics: to capture the first-ever image of a black hole. To do this, they must link eight multimillion-dollar observatories around the world to a spot 26,000 light years away. It's the equivalent of spotting an orange on the moon, but after 10 years of planning and the combined brainpower of over 200 international scientists, the team feels they're ready to make scientific history.

2019 • Astronomy

60:03

Sagan discusses the story of the Heike crab and artificial selection of crabs resembling samurai warriors, as an opening into a larger discussion of evolution through natural selection (and the pitfalls of intelligent design). Among the topics are the development of life on the Cosmic Calendar and the Cambrian explosion; the function of DNA in growth; genetic replication, repairs, and mutation; the common biochemistry of terrestrial organisms; the creation of the molecules of life in the Miller-Urey experiment; and speculation on alien life (such as life in Jupiter's clouds). In the Cosmos Update ten years later, Sagan remarks on RNA also controlling chemical reactions and reproducing itself and the different roles of comets (potentially carrying organic molecules or causing the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event).

2/13 • Cosmos: A Personal Voyage • 1980 • Astronomy

42:05

In the darkest reaches of the Solar System, the dwarf planet Pluto lies in a previously unknown region of space until an underground group of scientists took on the establishment and sent a spacecraft to the most distant world that's ever been explored.

S2E2 • Mysteries of our Universe: Our Solar System • 2021 • Astronomy