Why Are We Morbidly Curious?

29:09

Dr Helen Czerski examines the hottest natural phenomena on the planet - lightning. Bolts of lightning five times hotter than the surface of the sun strike our planet over 3 million times every day - and yet we still know little about this deadly force of nature. Now, specialist photography is revealing how lightning travels through the air, high-speed cameras are unlocking the secrets of upward lightning that's triggered by our urban landscapes, and scientific expeditions are capturing rare images of intense electrical discharges over 80 kilometres wide.

Part 3 • Dangerous Earth • 2016 • Nature

44:11

The forest residents turn on Motsidi. Hounded from every direction, will she ever be queen?

S4E2 • Savage Kingdom • 2020 • Nature

58:04

David Attenborough introduces conservation heroes fighting to save the world's wildlife, from exploring remote jungles to going undercover to catch criminals in the illegal ivory trade. In South Africa, new breeding populations of black rhino are set up in safe havens where they will be protected from poachers, while a conservationist in Ecuador works to protect endangered frogs.

S1E8 • Planet Earth III • 2023 • Nature

59:02

The first three critical months are when our animal babies have to rapidly get to grips with their new family and the challenges of environment that surrounds them.

S1E1 • Animal Babies: First Year on Earth • 2019 • Nature

53:52

Takes us into the world of digestion and its amazingly complex environment.Our health, body shape, mood and even our evolution are determined by the unseen life forms that swarm throughout our bodies. There are worms in your bowels, bacteria in your mouth, fungi in your lungs and even viruses in your DNA.The combined genetic information of all these bugs is more than 150 times greater than our own genes. Their cells outnumber our own by 10 to 1. This collective menagerie is called the microbiome, and in a very real sense, it is the making of us all.

S1E2 • Life on Us • 2014 • Nature

88:47

A fascinating look at the secret, underground world of the ant colony in a way that has never been seen before. At its heart is a massive, full-scale ant nest, specially-designed and built to allow cameras to see its inner workings. The nest is a new home for a million-strong colony of leafcutter ants from Trinidad. For a month, entomologist Dr George McGavin and leafcutter expert Professor Adam Hart capture every aspect of the life of the colony, using time-lapse cameras, microscopes, microphones and radio tracking technology. The ants instantly begin to forage, farm, mine and build. Within weeks, the colony has established everything from nurseries to gardens to graveyards. The programme explores how these tiny insects can achieve such spectacular feats of collective organisation. This unique project reveals the workings of one of the most complex and mysterious societies in the natural world and shows the surprising ways in which ants are helping us solve global problems.

2013 • Nature