Summary: Black holes are by definition invisible, and there is no scientific theory that can adequately explain them. Nevertheless, researchers are determined to unravel the mysteries of black holes in the hope of answering some of the universe’s most pressing questions. This program spotlights the work of MIT’s Max Tegmark and Shep Doeleman as well as of string field theorist Michio Kaku as it...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: String field theory pioneer Michio Kaku hosts this fascinating look at the cosmic landscape and its relationship to time. The program examines time's curious behavior on a wide range of scales-from atomic nuclei, in which particles can appear to be in two places at once, to black holes, which warp the fabric of space and squeeze time until it stands still. Demonstrating that time travel is...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: What is everywhere, not made of atoms, and can't be seen? Dark matter, says renowned astrophysicist David Spergel-but not everyone in the cosmological community is in agreement with him. This program presents the views of Spergel and other key figures in the debate, including Princeton University's P. James Peebles and Jeremiah Ostriker; Timothy Sumner, of Imperial College London;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Janna Levin is a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard, where she studies the early universe, chaos, and black holes. She's also the author of How the Universe Got Its Spots and the novel A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines. According to Levin, the universe has a soundtrack - a sonic composition that records celestial events - and she offers the example of black holes, which bang on...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: This program explores the complex landscape of time travel theory. Starting with Newton's conclusions that time is fixed and events predetermined, then explaining Einstein's eradication of those notions, the program focuses on exotic speculation begun in the latter part of the 20th century. Interviews with renowned theorists-including Dr. Frank Tipler, who proposes time travel via spinning...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: What happens when astronomers send a fragile telescopic mirror to the edge of space-not aboard a rocket or satellite, but dangling from a huge balloon? This documentary provides the answers in a riveting story of cutting-edge physics, subfreezing launch sites, disastrous balloon trajectories, and scientists who refuse to give up. Dr. Mark Devlin of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Barth...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces, it is nevertheless the most universal-and the easiest to demonstrate! This program demystifies the properties and behavior of gravity with the help of real-world illustrations and animated graphics. Topics include the four fundamental forces or interactions; Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation; the physics involved in microgravity...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Is it possible that there are more than 10,000 advanced civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy alone? The formula known as the Drake Equation posits just that. In this program astrophysicist and SETI founder Dr. Frank Drake himself explains the science behind his seemingly outrageous claim, and offers theories about why ET hasn't been found yet. In the video's second half, researchers assess the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Nuclear fusion has kept our Sun burning for five billion years. Might it be harnessed here on Earth as an energy source? This program illustrates the race to create artificial stars that can ensure humanity's earthbound survival. Several facilities and projects are profiled-including the Joint European Torus, or JET, which initiates nuclear fusion at a rate far higher than that inside the Sun;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Beginning with the history of astronomy (Ptolemy, Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Galileo), this program considers the mathematics of motion (velocity, acceleration); gravity (Kepler's discoveries, Newton's laws, center of gravity, astronomical units); the properties of stars (parallax, flux, luminosity, color, Hertzsprung-Russell diagram); relativity (Einstein's theories, speed of light,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The origins of the cosmos are shrouded in the distant past. But new discoveries may emerge in a place that is just as dark and obscure-buried, in fact, under 100 meters of Swiss bedrock. This program goes inside the massive research facility known as CERN to follow work undertaken with its Large Hadron Collider. Viewers learn about an experiment that forces sub-atomic particles to crash into...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Is M theory Einstein's elusive "theory of everything"? In this program, visionary physicists Neil Turok, of Cambridge University; Burt Ovrut, of the University of Pennsylvania; Paul Steinhardt, of Princeton University; and others theorize on a revolutionary cosmology that explains what happened at the Big Bang-and in the process posit a continuum in which our universe is but one bubble among an...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006