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: This clever animated biography of Albert Einstein incorporates photos and quotes into a lively overview of the physicist's life and ideas. Careful attention is given to how Einstein reconciled conventional velocity addition with the constant speed of light and how he arrived at his special and general theories of relativity. His most famous equation, E=mc2, is derived in four simple steps. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program focuses on efforts to complete Einstein's quest for a grand unifying theory that will explain all of the forces of nature in the same terms. Will string theory provide the key? Mathematical physicist Nathan Seiberg explains his research on string theory in various dimensions and on particle physics; Edward Witten, named one of the 25 most influential Americans by Time magazine,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: When Albert Einstein discovered that E=mc2, he saw in the equation the answer to why the Sun shines. But others read into it a darker meaning. This program-part documentary with compelling graphics, part dramatization-explains how Einstein's great achievement was also, in his own words, his "biggest blunder." A close look at the scientific relationship between energy, mass, and the speed of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Earth, air, fire, and water: according to some ancient theories, these four elements made up the cosmos. Beginning with the work of the Greek philosopher Democritus, this Science Screen Report describes how an accurate atomic theory developed and led to awareness of a wide variety of elements. Specific examples showing different configurations of these basic units of matter-including graphite...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: From ancient Chinese firecrackers to medieval alchemy to the anxieties of the nuclear age, this program looks at a variety of explosive materials and shows how we have learned to harness their power. British engineer Jem Stansfield demonstrates the inner workings and fiery effects of several different chemical concoctions. He goes underground to show how gunpowder was used in the mines of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: One billionth of a meter, a distance the width of four silicon atoms: that's nanoscale, where a speck of dust would seem as large, relatively speaking, as a planet. This program travels around the world to immerse viewers in the concept of nanotechnology. By spotlighting nanotech luminaries-Harold Kroto, Gerd Binnig, James Heath, Sumio Iijima, James M. Tour-and innovations such as fullerenes,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Will modern science close the book on God, or can reason and faith coexist? This program analyzes how the process of scientific inquiry has challenged belief in a divine being. With visits to locations ranging from the CERN particle physics lab, to the Lourdes shrine, to Grace Fellowship Church, Kentucky, Robert Winston discusses the views of Pascal, Galileo, Newton, and Darwin; the Higgs...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: In the spirit of a famous rhetorical question, this program explores the world of scientific measurement at the molecular and atomic level. Host Alan Davies tries to establish the length of a piece of household string-but what appears to be a simple task soon turns into a mind-bending voyage of discovery. After discussing the matter with leading mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, Davies learns...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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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
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Summary: An elephant and a racing car don't have much in common-except for the remarkable fact that they're made of similar fundamental building blocks. This program takes a simulated subatomic look at a glass of water to better understand the nature of matter, a minuscule world of molecules, atoms, and elementary particles. The behavior of matter under the effects of gravity, electromagnetism, and the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Beginning with a condensed history of classical and quantum physics to contextualize the current state of quantum science, this highly visual program takes viewers to the frontiers of quantum computation. Wave-particle duality, entanglement and superposition, the EPR Paradox, Schrödinger’s Cat, the famous double-slit experiment, and the “noisy observer effect” flash by like road markers on this...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: This program examines the urgent need-not only in the U.S. but across the world-for sustainable energy; it also illustrates how new power production methods are becoming a reality. Alternative energy trendsetters are featured, including Time magazine "Hero for the Planet" Geoffrey Ballard, who explains his hydrogen fuel cell innovations. Evergreen Solar vice president Mark Farber describes his...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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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: What if we could generate power from windowpanes and use it to automatically heat or cool rooms? In this TEDTalk, entrepreneur Justin Hall-Tipping explains the materials that make new forms of alternative energy possible. Carbon nanotubes more narrow than the width of a hair are being developed as part of clean energy systems with far-reaching ecological implications. Hall-Tipping asserts that...
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
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Summary: A swollen deficit and a dwindling of political will are chipping away at American leadership in science. This program presents an absorbing case study of the problem, going behind the scenes at Fermilab-the accelerator complex in Illinois where researchers smash atoms and hunt for a particle called the Higgs boson. America's shaky position on the scientific mountaintop becomes clear as a new...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: A good way to introduce quantum theory is to profile the individuals who pioneered it. This program focuses on Niels Bohr's contributions to our understanding of the atom and the behavior of subatomic particles according to quantum mechanics. Outlining theoretical precursors of quantum physics-including the ideas of John Dalton and J. J. Thomson-and a brief biography of Bohr, the video shows...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: As fossil fuels near depletion, nuclear fusion promises unlimited power supplies. This program looks at recent developments in the quest to turn the mechanism of the sun into a viable energy source. The program chronicles the efforts of Alan Sykes and his team working on START, the first spherical Tokamak, at the Culham Research Facility in England. Dr. Martin Peng, who first conceived of a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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: Introducing EinSteinchen, an animated techno-Einstein who has a genius for explaining physics. In section, this likable know-it-all elucidates 12 essential topics in 90-second segments that are perfect for launching lectures or illustrating concepts. Section two departs from EinSteinchen's virtual world to show 12 cutting-edge applications or studies of Einsteinian physics in high-level...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Talking about energy is tricky because everyday words can also have specialized scientific meanings. Through the process of defining key terms like "power," "work," and even "energy" itself, this program uses a roller coaster, a harmless train wreck, ice-skaters, a boulder, a human cannonball, night-vision goggles, and a supernova to introduce students to kinetic and potential energy,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: In 1905, Albert Einstein released a series of groundbreaking papers on relativity, quantum theory, and Brownian motion. This program hosted by David Suzuki identifies technologies that have evolved from or were influenced by Einstein's revolutionary ideas-TVs, nuclear power plants, digital cameras, medical imaging devices, CD players, GPS devices, and more-while showing just how profoundly...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This Science Screen Report looks at a clean and renewable energy source that is steadily gaining scientific acceptance: hot dry rocks, otherwise known as enhanced geothermal systems. The program shows how masses of heated granite approximately 3 miles underground can be accessed with advanced drilling and computer imaging techniques, and how water forced through fissures in the granite can...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006