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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
This first episode begins in 1957 and tracks the early years of the space race as the United States struggles to catch up with the Soviet Union. The episode reveals breathtaking failures and successes of the nascent American space program and demonstrates the stakes and costs of reaching the moon.
1/3 • Chasing the Moon • 2019 • Astronomy
The sun. Smooth and round and peaceful. Except when it suddenly vomits radiation and plasma in random directions. These solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or CMEs can hit earth and have serious consequences for humanity.
In a Nutshell • 2020 • Astronomy
It’s the ultimate question: why are we here? Cutting-edge space missions take us back 13.8 billion years to the very beginning – the origin of the Universe.
S1E5 • Universe BBC • 2021 • Astronomy
Astronomers make an extraordinary discovery when they uncover a cosmic mega-structure that's one billion light-years long, and now investigators race to decode the hidden forces that shape the most massive and mysterious structure known in the Universe.
S8E2 • Space's Deepest Secrets • 2021 • Astronomy