Summary: Drawing on documentary and archival footage, 3-D and 2-D animations, and high-tech imaging, this program investigates a variety of virological topics: the nature of pandemics as illustrated by the SARS outbreak in China; genetic sequencing of Spanish influenza from exhumed tissue of a century-old corpse; how animal viruses jump the species barrier; the dissection of live viruses in a biosafety...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: From SARS to the swine flu, viruses that threaten the developed world seem to be growing in ranks. Even as medical science rises to the challenge, our knowledge of viruses is filled with troubling gaps and bewildering realities. Starting on the virus front lines-the rainforests of central Africa-this program unlocks the truth about nature's greatest terror weapons. Viewers learn why HIV is such...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: In an escalating war between humans and microbes, catastrophic disease may have the edge. This program studies the ubiquitous threat posed by super viruses and describes scientific efforts to prepare for viral disease epidemics. Documenting the World Health Organization's response to the 2005 Angolan Marburg virus outbreak, the program examines strengths and weaknesses in the WHO...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This engaging program delves into the microscopic milieu that overlays life as human beings know it, illustrating the complex relationship between the microscopic and macroscopic worlds as the human host, with its billions of microbial allies and antagonists, journeys from the birth canal to the decomposition that follows death. Spectacular 3-D computer animation, case study footage, and expert...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Free radicals are an important weapon in the immune system, but they can also cause chemical reactions that lead to damage of fatty acids, DNA mutation, and protein destruction. This program examines how the most important radicals are created, and how they work. The relationship between chain reactions of radicals within the body and conditions such as arteriosclerosis is examined. How the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: From hydras to humans, every organism on Earth can trace its ancestry back to the first primitive cell. Will biotechnology one day create a cell outside of that family tree? This program looks at 21st-century genetic science and its search for the secret of life's creation. Background information highlights the Oparin-Haldane Hypothesis and its vision of a prebiotic soup as well as Stanley...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Cells are, in a sense, just tiny bags of chemicals-so what "instructs" them to divide and function? This program shows how biologists addressed the question during the 19th and 20th centuries. Starting with Friedrich Miescher's discovery of nuclein, or DNA, the film examines Theodor Boveri's work with sea urchins, which clarified the role of chromosomes, as well as Thomas Hunt Morgan's study of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Proteins, the essential biochemical foundation of the cell, fulfill a variety of tasks within the human body. This program provides insights into their structure and several of their functions, including their role in catalytic biochemical reaction and reproduction. How proteins recognize the "packaging" of smaller molecules is explored. Using a photosynthetic protein-a proton pump-as an...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Viruses are the simplest forms of life-so primitive in biological terms that for some years the scientific community debated whether they should even be regarded as living organisms. This program examines how viruses, though incapable of reproducing outside of living cells, have developed refined strategies for reconfiguring the host organism into one that serves exclusively as a virus breeder....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program presents the human body as a complex ecosystem of bacteria, then examines each portion of the body, which bacteria live there, and why. The three major bacterial groups-sphere-shaped cocci, rods, and helical spirochetes and spirilla-are examined. Their behavior when interacting within the body is explored. The life and death of obligate aerobes, facultative anaerobes, and obligate...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Open your students' eyes to the hidden worlds of monerans, protists, and fungi with Microorganisms. After watching this video, they'll be able to explain exactly what a microbe is, identify each general type of microorganism by its characteristics and functions, and describe the hazards and benefits of microbes. Microorganisms may live at the root of the evolutionary tree, but they've been...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: One day, microbes will eliminate our dirt and garbage, filter our exhaust systems, and help make self-cleaning clothing possible. This program takes viewers on a global journey-from the U.S. to Iceland, Sweden, India, China, Senegal, and Australia-to meet the world's leading specialists in bacteriology and discover the incredible abilities of the microscopic life-forms they study. Employing...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: It was a businessman, not a trained scientist, who first gained entry to the cryptic world of cells. This program relates the early history of microbiology and genetics, beginning with the story of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a 17th-century Dutch textile merchant with a talent for making microscopes. Moving from van Leeuwenhoek's discovery of "animalcules" to Robert Hooke's cork studies and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program shows the various types of gene reproduction and examines the gene responsible for blood clotting. The production of coded proteins is clearly demonstrated. The processes of gel filtration, protein sequence analysis, isolation of mRNA, DNA synthesis and reproduction, production and screening of a DNA bank, and hybridization, along with other demonstrations, are re-created through...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This Explorer program investigates a provocative theory which suggests that all forms of life-including humans-are descended from viruses. Respected virologist Dr. Luis Villarreal explains his virus-centric conception of the world, guiding viewers from the heart of Africa to urban Atlanta to southern Texas as he reveals the cryptic nature of some of the most bizarre and dangerous microbes known...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Since Darwin, solving the mystery of life's origins has been the quest of scientists in fields as diverse as astrobiology and zoology. This riveting program presents a fascinating glimpse into what might-or might not-be the smallest, most primitive living organisms. The program also serves as a case study in applying scientific method to advance radically new propositions, from initial...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: From Delaware to North Carolina, a formerly unknown species of toxic algae has been implicated in an alarming series of fish kills and associated human illnesses. This program scrutinizes the dinoflagellate known as Pfiesteria piscicida. Discovered by researchers at North Carolina State University, P. piscicida is now known to have a highly complex life-cycle with dozens of reported forms, a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Inspired by an abalone shell, biological engineer Angela Belcher programs viruses to make elegant nanoscale structures that humans can put to good use. Belcher selects for high-performing genes through directed evolution, producing viruses that can construct powerful new batteries, hydrogen fuels, and solar cells. In this TEDTalk Belcher, head of the Biomolecular Materials Group at MIT,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011