Summary: What happens in our brains when we think something is funny? Is laughter a form of self-defense? Can a joke be scientifically analyzed? This program studies the human response to humor from a physiological and psychological standpoint. Highlighting the importance of vocal cords in producing laughter, the program contrasts human and simian forms of humor and gives viewers an evolutionary...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: For decades, IQ tests have been the gold standard for measuring intelligence. But is one standardized test really adequate for every taker? This program advocates a different approach, creating an array of unusual challenges to assess brainpower and positing an argument for the interplay of multiple intelligences. Assisted by the insights of Harvard's Howard Gardner and experts using brain...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program opens in the emergency room of a large hospital where head injuries are an all-too-common problem. The importance of the brain is evident from the skill and technology employed in ensuring that any damage to it is minimized. Using combinations of computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and advanced surgical techniques, the program shows why the brain is so...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: As people get older, the information they receive from their eyes and ears becomes degraded and the brain's ability to make sense of that information slows, putting elderly people in jeopardy of losing their independence. But what if a person could do something to dramatically improve his or her senses and cognitive abilities? This program, specifically designed to help people get the most from...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Recent studies of cardiac arrest survivors suggest that near-death experiences may occur at times when the brain has actually stopped functioning. Drawing conclusions from that research, The Day I Died dares to suggest that the mind is not dependent on the brain-and that NDEs may confirm it. "That the mind is located in the brain is just a hypothesis. It's never been proven," says cardiologist...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Why do dreams occur? What is their function? What do they mean? This provocative program looks at the facts and examines the theories, from Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams to today's neuroscience laboratory findings. The program visits a sleep research lab to explain REM sleep; another lab where researchers are using positron emission tomography (PET scanning) to explore the dreaming...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: After an introductory segment contrasting the human endocrine and nervous systems, this program addresses the complex physiology of the endocrine system. Topics include the endocrine organs and glands; the characteristics of hormones and the process of signal transduction; hormonal regulation of blood glucose and blood calcium levels; the roles of growth hormone, thyroid hormone, testosterone,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This Science Screen Report examines the sense of touch not only as a means of physical sensation, but also as the most basic way of communicating and interacting with one's environment. The program highlights the human body's methods for detecting and evaluating external stimuli, and outlines scientific approaches to helping people with an impaired tactile sense. Presenting human touch as a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The use of hypnosis in medicine has a long history. In the early days of anesthesia, surgeons often used the trance-inducing technique as a fail-safe measure-and today the concept is being revisited. This program presents a scientific investigation into the idea that hypnosis can reduce or even replace the use of anesthesia. Exploring the merits of making the procedure available to more...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Because seeing is so important to human functioning, efforts to understand how perceptions are generated have most often focused on vision. Based on research in cognitive neuroscience, this program explores the challenge of explaining visual perception. The video includes an overview of the human visual system, illustrated with animated graphics and live action footage, and describes, using a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Is there such a thing as a perfect recollection or photographic memory? This program examines that question and others related to the brain's ability to store knowledge. Using a wide range of examples, the program demonstrates that even the sharpest mental recording is subjective, selective, incomplete, even faulty. Students also learn how the performance of elite athletes may be tied to muscle...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: What is the difference between the mind and the brain? Are they separable? Are they even quantifiable? And where does the soul fit in? In this thought-provoking program, experts including Oxford mathematician Sir Roger Penrose, cognitive scientist Dr. Daniel Dennett, and cyber-age techno-visionary Jaron Lanier contemplate the social and moral impact of brain research and questions such as how...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: One patient cannot recognize a single face, including his own. Another cannot see anything that is moving. And a third can watch and understand a soccer game, but cannot recognize the black-and-white object they are kicking. Drawing on the experiences of people with rare forms of brain damage, this program featuring Dr. Susan Greenfield reveals the tricks and shortcuts used by the brain to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although the human brain remains a mystery, it is gradually yielding to scientific inquiry-either as the main focus of study or in comparison with other forms of intelligence. This program features doctors and scientists who work with human, animal, or artificial brains in order to understand emotion, anatomical movement, and decision making. Experiments and case studies include the treatment...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Better self-control begins with an understanding of the psychological factors that affect behavior. Section one of this program focuses on the influence of brain structure, brain chemistry, and genetics on behavior; section two illustrates key concepts of psychoanalytic theory; and section three distinguishes between classical and operant conditioning. Strengths and limitations of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: How well do we understand the neurology of learning? Why does the brain's ability to learn diminish as we age? Can science find a way to extend brain "fitness," even for the very old? This program addresses those questions as it describes important medical experiments and studies. Topics include the central role of nerve cell connections in learning and cognitive development; cerebral...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Some people suffer chronic pain long after an injury has healed, while others can jump from a two-story building and not feel a thing. This film reveals the physiological foundations of both scenarios as it examines the mechanics of pain perception. Viewers meet a family whose unique genetic code has lent insight into the sensation of pain, while a man who cut off his own arm to save his life...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program explores the biological reasons why humans have the most amazing sense of taste on the planet. Persuading a family raised on Chinese food to try ripe Stilton cheese and a group of gourmet cheese lovers to try a Chinese delicacy of fermented raw duck eggs, host Nigel Marven assesses how we end up with such extraordinary tastes that vary across different cultures. Yale University...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Psychologist Philip Zimbardo led the notorious Stanford Prison Experiment, served as an expert witness in the court martial of an Abu Ghraib guard, and explored the nature of evil in his book The Lucifer Effect. Now his research focuses on the nature of heroism. In this TEDTalk, Zimbardo says happiness and success are rooted in a trait most of us disregard: the way we perceive time. He suggests...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Evelyn Glennie's music challenges the listener to ask where music comes from: is it more than simply a translation from score to instrument to audience? In this soaring TEDTalk demonstration, the Grammy Award-winning percussionist and composer - almost completely deaf since the age of 12 - illustrates how listening to music involves much more than simply letting sound waves hit your eardrums....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Kwabena Boahen wants to understand how brains work - and to build a computer by reverse-engineering the human nervous system. His group at Stanford is developing Neurogrid, a hardware platform that will emulate the cortex's inner workings. As Boahen explains in this TEDTalk, his quest to mimic the brain's supercomputing powers in silicon must take into account the messy, redundant processes...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Pain is usually thought of as a symptom of underlying illness - but what happens when the pain itself becomes the disease? Starting with the story of a girl whose sprained wrist turned into a medical nightmare, pediatric anesthesiologist Elliot Krane discusses the complex mystery of chronic pain in this TEDTalk presentation. Krane also reviews what we know about how pain works, and current pain...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: The question of animal intelligence has been debated for centuries. In recent years, science has come closer to proving that animals think and feel-perhaps not at the level of humans, but in ways that are nevertheless authentic. This classic program brings viewers into the midst of eye-opening zoological, neurological, and psychological research, revealing what many scientists believe to be...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: From the noise of our urban landscape to the musical cocoons created by high-tech devices, sound may be our most lively and versatile interface with the world. This program takes viewers on a sonic odyssey that assesses the frequently overlooked impact of what we hear. Defining the concept of sound, the documentary takes a mind-blowing CGI tour through the human ear and its vibration-decoding...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008