Summary: Pain has a clear purpose: warning the body of invasion and other dangers. But the connection between pain and the human mind is more mysterious. This program examines various types of pain and their frequently elusive neurological aspects; it also presents methods, both clinical and alternative, that help long-term sufferers cope with debilitating pain. Distinguishing between acute and chronic...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Which is more enjoyable-the satisfaction of desire, or the sensation of longing itself? This program looks at the emotional, neurological, and genetic aspects of seeking and gaining pleasure, analyzing close ties between the search for gratification and the preservation of self and species. Examining a wide range of ways to follow one's bliss-including sex, artistic creation, the consumption of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Using sophisticated 3-D animation, this program, divided into two parts, takes viewers on a journey deep into the brain to study the effects of the three substances. The first part illustrates the major functions of the brain and shows how its principal cells, the neurons, communicate with each other through electrical and chemical signals. In the second part, animated molecules of nicotine,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Using simple analogies, real-life case studies, and computer-generated images, this program shows how the brain works, explains the frequent battle between instinct and reason, and unravels the mysteries of memory and decision-making. It takes viewers inside the mind of a soldier under fire to see how decisions are made in extreme situations, examines how a person with autism develops...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program explores the brain and nervous system, using the analogy of computers and the Internet. Topics discussed include electrical impulses and how nerve messages travel; parts of the brain and their functions; how the brain and spinal cord are protected; the senses; and diseases, drugs, and their effects on the brain and nervous system.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program follows the physiological development of the human brain from conception through the growth of the neurological system in utero, to the moment of birth, when an amazing variety of brain functions are already apparent. The camera continues to follow a child to the age of eight, as a whole range of motor and cognitive skills appears-some as simple as focusing the eyes, others as...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Emotions deeply color individual human existence and shape all aspects of our interpersonal and intellectual experiences. In this program, animations and fMRI images introduce students to the sub-cortical emotional circuits in the brain and chemical processes that produce emotional responses and contribute to decision making and mental health. Live action sequences, both in laboratory and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: IQ used to be the standard by which all were judged. Today, EQ allows for a broader understanding that encompasses attributes such as logical, linguistic, musical, kinetic, and emotional intelligences. This program provides an in-depth analysis of intelligence, including how it is defined and its neural components. Leading experts such as Harvard's Howard Gardner; Daniel Goleman, author of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This Science Screen Report describes the anatomy and functions of facial features, and the evolutionary development of the human face. It explains how the mouth and nose work together to identify food, the process of chewing and swallowing, and the varying functions of the taste buds, saliva, teeth, tongue, and jaws. Combining principles in anatomy, anthropology, psychology, and zoology, the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program uncovers what happens in our minds when we learn, remember, and imagine. It reveals how neurons and synapses lay down knowledge in the brain; ways to improve our ability to acquire knowledge, including increased intake of omega-3 fatty acids; how to manipulate memory to recall information more easily; the powerful influence of subliminal messages; and what actually happens during a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: As far as Dr. Susan Greenfield is concerned, learning, memory, and even the process of individuation should be understood as a restless brain adapting moment by moment to the environment it encounters. This program charts the changes in the human brain as it develops from infancy to adulthood. The brain's extraordinary adaptability, as demonstrated by its ability to reorganize its neural...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: What's the worst sound in the entire world? It's a question that's certain to produce more than one opinion. To get as many answers as possible, acoustic engineer Trevor Cox created an Internet experiment that generated millions of responses to the query. Cox also developed a system of compiling, organizing, and interpreting the results, and he describes his investigation in this fascinating...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Professor of Philosophy Patricia Smith Churchland is probing a new frontier in the area of brain research, convinced that exploration into the physical function of our "wonder tissue" can help us better understand what our thoughts mean and how we can control them. In her book, Neurophilosophy, she describes how recent discoveries about the brain call into question such basic philosophical...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Who should have access to our thoughts, and to what degree? This program presents some of the current scientific research on the thought processes of the human brain, with special attention paid to its clinical applications and its ethical implications. German philosophers Thomas Metzinger and John-Dylan Haynes explain neuroethics, or the social, legal, and ethical repercussions of brain...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Perhaps the most intriguing field of medicine is the one that seeks to understand consciousness itself. This program provides a tour of the most advanced work in brain research and cognitive science, as well as the latest applications of these discoveries in treating patients with brain disorders. Using MRI and EEG to determine areas of brain activity, researchers explore the connection between...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program looks at the various areas that brain researchers are now exploring: What kind of brain chemistry can explain memory? If long-term memory is a kind of permanent pattern on the fabric of the mind, what structural changes occur in the brain? Are different types of memory located in different areas of the brain? Are specific memories stored in separate places? What is the process of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program discusses the development, organization, and functions of the nervous system and the input organs that stimulate it. Beginning with an introductory overview of neural anatomy, the video outlines the organization of the central and peripheral nervous systems and the processes of sensation, transduction, and perception. In addition, the senses of vision, hearing, taste, smell, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: The human body manufactures its own painkillers to ensure survival when injured. This program shows how opium and its derivatives, heroin and morphine, hijack that natural pain-numbing ability. Illustrating the brain's ability to alter its own chemistry when attacked by drugs, the program depicts the process by which brain receptors become desensitized and thus addicted. Tranquilizers-and the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The topic of skin is introduced by viewing a typical collection of bodies on a sun-drenched beach. We are familiar with the sight of skin exposed to the sun, but do we know what is actually happening to the skin surface? Using scanning electron microscopy, we get a bug's-eye view of the living barrier between our body and the outside world. The detailed internal structure of the skin is...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Synesthesia may be a brain disorder, but those afflicted rarely complain about the symptoms. This program examines the unusual condition, outlines its appearances in medical history, and describes new theories and speculation surrounding it. Identifying well-known artists, writers, and musicians who may have experienced "crossed signals" in their sensory perceptions-including Wassily Kandinsky...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Michael Merzenich studies neuroplasticity - the brain's powerful ability to change and adapt - and how we might make use of that plasticity to heal injured brains and enhance the skills in healthy ones. In this TEDTalk, Merzenich explores the brain's power to actively rewire itself and how science might one day harness that ability to confront disorders such as autism, cerebral palsy, dementia,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Sensing the thoughts and feelings of others may be a natural talent for most people, but how do we do it? Rebecca Saxe studies the way we think about the inner lives of our fellow humans. In her laboratory at MIT, she uses fMRI scans to identify what happens in our brains when we consider the motives, passions, and beliefs of others. In this TEDTalk, Saxe shares some of her fascinating findings...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Daniel Tammet has linguistic, numerical and visual synesthesia - meaning that his perception of words, numbers, and colors are woven together into a new way of perceiving and understanding the world. In this TEDTalk, the linguist, writer, and educator shares his art, his passion for languages, and a glimpse into his unique way of perceiving the world. Tammet is the author of Born on a Blue Day,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Charles Limb performs cochlear implantation, a surgical procedure that treats hearing loss and can restore the ability to perceive speech. But Limb is a musician as well as a surgeon, and in this TEDTalk he discusses a major limitation of the implants: they don't allow users to fully experience music. Making the case that humans rely on their senses to perceive beauty and not just environmental...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011