BBC Horizon - What Is Reality?

*Updated with HD copy
Aired January 18, 2011 on BBC HD

There is a strange and mysterious world that surrounds us, a world largely hidden from our senses. The quest to explain the true nature of reality is one of the great scientific detective stories.

Clues have been pieced together from deep within the atom, from the event horizon of black holes, and from the far reaches of the cosmos. It may be that that we are part of a cosmic hologram, projected from the edge of the universe. Or that we exist in an infinity of parallel worlds. Your reality may never look quite the same again.

Also available on BBC iPlayer
(Thanks to Jim and Aquaductape)

BBC Horizon - Science Under Attack - 2011

Watch in HD
Aired January 24, 2011 on BBC Four

Nobel Prize winner Sir Paul Nurse examines why science appears to be under attack, and why public trust in key scientific theories has been eroded - from the theory that man-made climate change is warming our planet, to the safety of GM food, or that HIV causes AIDS.

He interviews scientists and campaigners from both sides of the climate change debate, and travels to New York to meet Tony, who has HIV but doesn't believe that that the virus is responsible for AIDS.

This is a passionate defence of the importance of scientific evidence and the power of experiment, and a look at what scientists themselves need to do to earn trust in controversial areas of science in the 21st century.

(Thanks to TreVelocita)

BBC Hoizon - The Secret You

With the help of a hammer-wielding scientist, Jennifer Aniston and a general anaesthetic, Professor Marcus du Sautoy goes in search of answers to one of science's greatest mysteries: how do we know who we are? While the thoughts that make us feel as though we know ourselves are easy to experience, they are notoriously difficult to explain. So, in order to find out where they come from, Marcus subjects himself to a series of probing experiments.

He learns at what age our self-awareness emerges and whether other species share this trait. Next, he has his mind scrambled by a cutting-edge experiment in anaesthesia. Having survived that ordeal, Marcus is given an out-of-body experience in a bid to locate his true self. And in Hollywood, he learns how celebrities are helping scientists understand the microscopic activities of our brain. Finally, he takes part in a mind-reading experiment that both helps explain and radically alters his understanding of who he is.

BBC Horizon: What Happened Before the Big Bang?

Play all videos (6)
Aired October 11, 2010 on BBC Two

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.

The End of God? - A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion

Play all videos (4)
Aired September 21, 2010 on BBC Four

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. He sees the connections between religion and American politics in the story of a more recent court case -- the trial of Intelligent Design. He looks at what happens when new scientific discoveries start to explain events that were once seen as the workings of God, and explains how some of our most famous scientists have seen God in the grandest laws of the universe. Finally, he finds intriguing evidence from brain science which hints that belief in God is here to stay.

(Thanks to TreVelocita)

BBC Horizon: To Infinity and Beyond

Play all videos (6)
Aired February 10. 2010 on BBC Two

By our third year, most of us will have learned to count. Once we know how, it seems as if there would be nothing to stop us counting forever. But, while infinity might seem like an perfectly innocent idea, keep counting and you enter a paradoxical world where nothing is as it seems.

Mathematicians have discovered there are infinitely many infinities, each one infinitely bigger than the last. And if the universe goes on forever, the consequences are even more bizarre. In an infinite universe, there are infinitely many copies of the Earth and infinitely many copies of you. Older than time, bigger than the universe and stranger than fiction. This is the story of infinity."

(via Atheist Planet)

BBC Horizon: Don't Grow Old

Play all videos (6)
Aired February 3, 2010 on BBC Two

For centuries scientists have been attempting to come up with an elixir of youth. Now remarkable discoveries are suggesting that ageing is something flexible that can ultimately be manipulated.

Horizon meets the scientists who are attempting to piece together why we age and more vitally for all of us, what we can do to prevent it. But which theory will prevail?

Does the 95-year-old woman who smokes two packets of cigarettes a day hold the clue? Do blueberries really delay signs of ageing or is it more a question of attitude? Does the real key to controlling how we age lie with a five-year-old boy with an extraordinary ageing disease or with a self-experimenting Harvard professor?

Could one of these breakthroughs really see our lives extend past 120 years?

BBC Horizon: Why Do Viruses Kill?

Play all videos (6)
Aired January 16, 2010 on BBC Two

Just months ago, the world stood in fear of an emerging new disease that threatened to kill millions. A new flu variant H1N1 had arrived. In the UK alone, 65,000 deaths were predicted. Yet to date, these dire warnings have not materialised.

If this latest pandemic has taught anything, it is just how little is understood about the invisible world of viruses. But that has not stopped scientists trying.

Horizon follows the leading researchers from across the world, who are attempting to unravel the many secrets of viruses to understand when and why they kill.

BBC Horizon: The Secret Life of the Dog

Play all videos (6)
Aired January 7, 2010 on BBC Two

We have an extraordinary relationship with dogs - closer than with any other animal on the planet. But what makes the bond between us so special?

Research into dogs is gaining momentum, and scientists are investigating them like never before. From the latest fossil evidence, to the sequencing of the canine genome, to cognitive experiments, dogs are fast turning into the new chimps as a window into understanding ourselves.

Where does this relationship come from? In Siberia, a unique breeding experiment reveals the astonishing secret of how dogs evolved from wolves. Swedish scientists demonstrate how the human/dog bond is controlled by a powerful hormone also responsible for bonding mothers to their babies.

Why are dogs so good at reading our emotions? Horizon meets Betsy, the world's most intelligent dog, and compares her incredible abilities to those of children. Man's best friend has recently gone one step further - helping us identify genes responsible for causing human diseases.

(via RichardDawkins.net)

BBC Horizon: Dr. Money and the Boy With No Penis

Link
Originally aired in 2004

On 22 August 1965 Janet Reimer was granted her dearest wish: she gave birth to twins. The two boys, Brian and Bruce, were healthy babies, but they would lead tragic lives, blighted by one scientist's radical theory.

When they were seven months old, the boys, who lived in Winnipeg, Canada, were sent to the local hospital for a routine circumcision. Unfortunately the doctor in charge of the procedure was using electrical equipment, which malfunctioned several times. On the last trial, Bruce's entire penis was burnt off. Brian was not operated on. The family were distraught. In the Sixties plastic surgery was not an option: even today it is not recommended that new-borns undergo penis reconstruction operations.

It wasn't until several months later that Janet and her husband, Ron, saw a television programme that gave them some hope. Dr John Money, a highly renowned sexologist, featured in a debate about sex change operations on transsexuals. He had brought a transsexual with him who was convincingly feminine looking.

Perhaps, thought Janet Reimer, this was the solution - they could turn their baby son into a daughter. She wrote to Dr Money immediately. He responded swiftly and invited them to come and visit him in Baltimore, Maryland.
Read more

BBC Horizon: Do You Know What Time It Is?

Play all videos (5)
First aired December 2, 2008 on BBC Two

Particle physicist Professor Brian Cox asks, 'What time is it?' It's a simple question and it sounds like it has a simple answer. But do we really know what it is that we're asking?

Brian visits the ancient Mayan pyramids in Mexico where the Maya built temples to time. He finds out that a day is never 24 hours and meets Earth's very own Director of Time. He journeys to the beginning of time, and goes beyond within the realms of string theory, and explores the very limit of time. He discovers that we not only travel through time at the speed of light, but the experience we feel as the passing of time could be an illusion.

BBC Horizon: The President's Guide to Science

Link
Aired: September 16, 2008 on BBC 2

Horizon asks some of the biggest names in science to have a quiet word with
the new president, be it Obama or McCain, in the Presidents Guide to
Science. The United States president is quite simply the most powerful man
on earth, but they often know little about science. That's a problem when
the decisions they make will affect every one of us, from nuclear
proliferation to climate change.

To help the new president get to grips with this intimidating responsibility
some of the world's leading scientists, from Dawkins to Watson, share some
crucial words of advice.

BBC Horizon: The Ghost In Your Genes

Link
Aired in 2005

Biology stands on the brink of a shift in the understanding of inheritance. The discovery of epigenetics – hidden influences upon the genes – could affect every aspect of our lives.

At the heart of this new field is a simple but contentious idea – that genes have a 'memory'. That the lives of your grandparents – the air they breathed, the food they ate, even the things they saw – can directly affect you, decades later, despite your never experiencing these things yourself. And that what you do in your lifetime could in turn affect your grandchildren.

This work is at the forefront of a paradigm shift in scientific thinking. It will change the way the causes of disease are viewed, as well as the importance of lifestyles and family relationships. What people do no longer just affects themselves, but can determine the health of their children and grandchildren in decades to come. "We are," as Marcus Pembrey says, "all guardians of our genome."

Thanks to Mike for the link

Horizon: How Does Your Memory Work?

Link
Aired: March 25, 2008 on BBC 2

You might think that your memory is there to help you remember facts, such as birthdays or shopping lists. If so, you would be very wrong. The ability to travel back in time in your mind is, perhaps, your most remarkable ability, and develops over your lifespan.

Horizon takes viewers on an extraordinary journey into the human memory. From the woman who is having her most traumatic memories wiped by a pill, to the man with no memory, this film reveals how these remarkable human stories are transforming our understanding of this unique human ability.

The findings reveal the startling truth that everyone is little more than their own memory.

BBC Horizon: Are we Alone in the Universe?

Link
Aired: March 4, 2008
The search for extra-terrestrial life has been going for 50 years - but there's been a recent breakthrough. Astronomers have discovered a new planet called Gliese 581 c. It is the most Earth-like planet ever found. It orbits a star and may have habitats capable of supporting life. NASA hopes to find 50 more Earth-like planets by the end of the decade, all of which increases the chance that alien life has begun elsewhere.

New tag: Horizon

BBC Horizon: Professor Regan's Supermarket Secrets

Link
There hasn't been many videos to post lately, so here is a new Horizon.
Aired: February 26, 2008
Probiotic, superfood, organic: what do all these labels on food mean, apart from making a product more expensive? Professor Lesley Regan, who tested beauty products in a previous episode, tests a variety of supermarket products for their supposed health benefits.

BBC Horizon: God on the Brain

Play all videos (6)
Aired April 17, 2003 on BBC Two

Rudi Affolter and Gwen Tighe have both experienced strong religious visions. He is an atheist; she a Christian. He thought he had died; she thought she had given birth to Jesus. Both have temporal lobe epilepsy.

Like other forms of epilepsy, the condition causes fitting but it is also associated with religious hallucinations. Research into why people like Rudi and Gwen saw what they did has opened up a whole field of brain science: neurotheology.

The connection between the temporal lobes of the brain and religious feeling has led one Canadian scientist to try stimulating them. (They are near your ears.) 80% of Dr Michael Persinger's experimental subjects report that an artificial magnetic field focused on those brain areas gives them a feeling of 'not being alone'. Some of them describe it as a religious sensation.
"...a high probability [Ellen White] had temporal lobe epilepsy"
Prof Gregory Holmes, Dartmouth Medical School

His work raises the prospect that we are programmed to believe in god, that faith is a mental ability humans have developed or been given. And temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) could help unlock the mystery.

Links | Feb 21

Adam Curtis: The Rise and Fall of
the Television Journalist as Hero

Note: featured video in the links post may not always be related

Videos:

• New BBC Horizon: How To Live To 101
  
• Pharyngula: Two tales of whale evolution
  
• CNN: Dr. Marlene Winell on the Colorado church shooting
  
• Derren Brown challenges the beliefs of a New Age believer with a Voodoo Doll
  
• Henry Rollins on Evolution
  

News:

• Smart rubber promises self-mending products (with video) - New Scientist
  
• British officials paid a psychic to evict council house ghost - Reuters
  
• Iranian Man Sentenced to 4 Months in Jail, 30 Lashes for Walking Dog - Fox News
• Saudi Virtue Commission defends arrest of American businesswoman - Arab News
• Scientology, Anonymous - by Michael Shermer

Links | Documentaries only

Thanks to the original uploader for uploading over 200 100 documentaries in the past week (Click here for the complete list). These are some of the ones I know and recommend:

• Horizon: Most of our universe is missing
• Horizon: Dr. Money and the boy with no penis
  
• Horizon: Mad but glad
• Horizon: The Genius Sperm Bank
• Horizon: The woman who thinks like a cow
• Sir David Attenborough: First contact with a Tribe
• Adam Curtis: The Trap | Part 2 | Part 3
  
• Terry Jones: Barbarians | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
  

Links | Feb 9

Videos:

• This week's New Scientist video round-up - New Scientist
• Archbishop faces harsh criticism over Sharia row - BBC News
• Michael Shermer: The Free Market Philosophy of Adam Smith - Fora TV
• BBC Horizon: How to Kill a Human Being - New documentary
• Michael Pollan: The omnivore's next dilemma - TED Talks

News:

• Oldest Horseshoe Crab Fossil Found, 100 Million Years Old - Science Daily
• Yahoo! is banning the use of "Allah" in email names - The Register
• Westboro Baptist Church Pickets Mike Huckabee In Kansas - Pictures from C&L
• First church in Qatar since coming of Islam 14 centuries ago - Radio Netherlands News