Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph, they can become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on this scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatred. As the ancient myth makers knew, we're children equally of the earth and the sky. Which aspects of our nature will prevail is uncertain, particularly when our visions and prospects are bound to one small part of this small planet earth. Watch the full documentary now
The End of God?: A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion As the Pope ends his visit to Britain, historian Dr Thomas Dixon delves into the BBC's archive to explore the troubled relationship between religion and science. From the creationists of America to the physicists of the Large Hadron Collider, he traces the expansion of scientific knowledge and asks whether there is still room for God in the modern world. The relationship between science and religion has been long and troubled: from the condemnation of Galileo by the Catholic Church in 17th century Italy, through the clashes between creationism and evolution in 20th century America, right up to recent claims that the universe does not need God. Delving through the rich archive of programmes from Horizon and BBC Science, Thomas Dixon looks at what lies behind this difficult relationship. Using original footage from 1925, he tells the story of John Scopes, a Tennessee teacher who was tried for teaching evolution. Watch the full documentary now (non-English version)
Human Ape Humans are apes. Great apes. Apes all belong to the super-family Hominoidea. Our DNA is less than 2 percent different from that of chimpanzees, so from a biological viewpoint, what is it that makes humans so different from the other great apes? Some facts: Each individual chimpanzee has his or her own distinctive pant-hoot, or call, so that the caller can be identified with precision. Orangutans have been observed making simple tools to scratch themselves. Chimpanzees are approximately eight times stronger than the average human. Bonobos substitute sex for aggression, and sexual interactions occur more often among bonobos than among other primates. Orangutans' arms stretch out longer than their bodes - over 7 feet from fingertip to fingertip. Watch the full documentary now (playlist - )
Ben Stein’s Flunked: No Intelligence Applied Expelled : No Intelligence Allowed subjected viewers to the fact burning, logic twisting, psychedelic head trip of Intelligent Design propagandists and their conspiracy-theory ravings. This under-appreciated exposé by YouTubes own PrometheusWithLight delves into the seedy underworld of ID and it's noisy, clumsy, paper trail laying transmutation from Creation Science, meticulously dismantling claims of Academic Intolerance. ID propagandists continually whine that Mainstream Science is suppressing evidence of Forethought and Design in nature, and that ID research is being similarly suppressed. The reality? They conduct NO research; They submit NO studies for publication. Hard to suppress the nonexistent. If you hated or even liked Expelled, this is the must see movie. Watch the full documentary now (playlist)
Universe: The Cosmology Quest Most of us are intrigued by questions to do with the origin and evolution of the universe. Where do we come from? Where are we going? These are fundamental questions. But no one knows the answers. It is that the universe and all of the matter and energy out of which we are created was created in a great explosion about 15 billion years ago. Most astronomical theory is arrived at in personal meetings between members of an influential elite. Listen and reflect as researchers discuss discoveries which do not reach the news media, and public at large. It is amazing that this film got made considering the animosity towards alternative ideas in the field. This feature length presentation is a unique mixture of human interest and science documentary film. This is a fact, well hidden from university students and the general public, which is told with clarity and conviction: and potentially leading to the down-fall of the presiding Big Bang theory. Watch the full documentary now (playlist - )
Dimensions: A Walk Through Mathematics A film for a wide audience! Nine chapters, two hours of maths, that take you gradually up to the fourth dimension. Mathematical vertigo guaranteed! Dimension Two - Hipparchus shows us how to describe the position of any point on Earth with two numbers... and explains the stereographic projection: how to draw a map of the world. Dimension Three - M.C. Escher talks about the adventures of two-dimensional creatures trying to imagine what three-dimensional objects look like. The Fourth Dimension - Mathematician Ludwig Schläfli talks about objects that live in the fourth dimension... and shows a parade of four-dimensional polytopes, strange objects with 24, 120 and even 600 faces! Complex Numbers - Mathematician Adrien Douady explains complex numbers. Fibration - Mathematician Heinz Hopf explains his "fibration". Proof - Mathematician Bernhard Riemann explains the importance of proofs in mathematics. Watch the full documentary now (playlist - )
The Brain: A Secret History In a compelling and at times disturbing series, Dr Michael Mosley explores the brutal history of experimental psychology. Mosley embarks on three journeys to understand science's last great frontier - the human mind - as he traces the history of the attempts to understand and manipulate the brain. Experiments on the human mind have led to profound insights into how our brain works - but have also involved great cruelty and posed some terrible ethical dilemmas. Mind Control. To begin, Michael traces the sinister ways this science has been used to try to control our minds. Emotions. Broken Brains. Watch the full documentary now -
The Beauty of Diagrams Series in which mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explores the stories behind some of the most familiar scientific diagrams. Vitruvian Man - He looks at Leonardo da Vinci's world-famous diagram of the perfect human body, which has many layers from anatomy to architecture, and defines our species like no other drawing before or since. The Vitruvian Man, drawn in the 1480s when he was living and working in Milan, has become one of the most famous images in the world. Leonardo's drawings form a vast body of work, covering every imaginable subject in spectacular detail: from feet, skulls and hands to muscles and sinews; from hearts and lungs to buildings, bridges and flying machines. Copernicus - When Polish priest and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus developed his extraordinary theory of a sun-centered universe 500 years ago, he was flying in the face of both science and religion. To explain what he had done, Newton created a diagram. Florence Nightingale - Can a diagram save lives?
What Happened Before the Big Bang? They are the biggest questions that science can possibly ask: where did everything in our universe come from? How did it all begin? For nearly a hundred years, we thought we had the answer: a big bang some 14 billion years ago. But now some scientists believe that was not really the beginning. Our universe may have had a life before this violent moment of creation. Horizon takes the ultimate trip into the unknown, to explore a dizzying world of cosmic bounces, rips and multiple universes, and finds out what happened before the big bang. Neil Turok, Director of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada, working with Paul Steinhardt at Princeton, has proposed a radical new answer to cosmology’s deepest question: What banged? One bang is followed by another, in a potentially endless series of cosmic cycles, each one spelling the end of a universe and the beginning of a new one. Sir Roger Penrose has changed his mind about the Big Bang. This is just a preview.
Lucid Dreaming By lucid dreaming, you can gain complete control over the one place that no one will ever care about: your imagination. Just The Facts Lucid dreaming is a scientifically proven phenomenon. How to Take Control of Your Dreams: So, you've doubled your weight over the past five years, you own a record-shattering collection of greasy pizza boxes and broken aspirations, and you're beginning to consider installing a toilet bowl in the place of your computer chair? In order to even begin to get control over your dreams, there are a few preliminary tasks you must complete. Your fake and imagined rendition of Yvonne won't care how much your cry before, during, and afterward! The Tasks: The first step is mentioned in another Cracked article (5 Ways To Hack Your Brain Into Awesomeness), but here's a quick long and wordy rundown. 1. "What?" Calm down! Important tip: Do not use your dream journal as an excuse to tell co-workers about "that weird/bizarre/scary dream you had last night." 2.
The Story of One Our world is built on numbers and the first of these was the number 1. Starting with scratches on a bone and heading through the Greek philosophers to the development of the Roman Numerals and the Arabic number system that fed through to the numbers we use today. Using Terry Jones semi-comic presentation style, the film is built on two key aspects. The other aspect is the delivery style – colorful, irreverent and fun. Jones is a good presenter because he holds these two directions together – seeming genuinely enticed by the subject while also enjoying himself. Overall, it may annoy the more aloof viewer of intellectual, stuffy documentaries about maths and science but this film succeeds in presenting the potentially dull subject in such a lively and entertaining manner that it deserves the audience it won. Watch the full documentary now
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms (with the exception of RNA viruses). The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints, like a recipe or a code, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells, such as proteins and RNA molecules. The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Watch the full documentary now (playlist - 4 hours, 25 minutes)
Buddhism and the Brain ? SEEDMAGAZINE.COM Credit: Flickr user eschipul Over the last few decades many Buddhists and quite a few neuroscientists have examined Buddhism and neuroscience, with both groups reporting overlap. I’m sorry to say I have been privately dismissive. One hears this sort of thing all the time, from any religion, and I was sure in this case it would break down upon closer scrutiny. When a scientific discovery seems to support any religious teaching, you can expect members of that religion to become strict empiricists, telling themselves and the world that their belief is grounded in reality. But science isn’t supposed to care about preconceived notions. Despite my doubts, neurology and neuroscience do not appear to profoundly contradict Buddhist thought. Buddhists say pretty much the same thing. When considering a Buddhist contemplating his soul, one is immediately struck by a disconnect between religious teaching and perception. Mr. The next day Mr. Consider how easily Buddhism accepts what happened to Mr.