A Madagascan chameleon and a Scottish water vole travel to secure their bloodline.
S1E3 • Big Little Journeys • 2023 • Nature
A Taiwanese pangolin and a Brazilian lion tamarin family travel to a strange new world.
S1E2 • Big Little Journeys • 2023 • Nature
A baby turtle in Canada and a young bushbaby in South Africa search for a safe new home.
S1E1 • Big Little Journeys • 2023 • Nature
For many living creatures, including humans, eyes are an integral survival tool. Learn how eyes have also inspired incredible emerging technology.
Jim Al-Khalili goes on a journey through 600 million years of evolution to uncover how the human brain, the most complex structure known in the universe, came to exist. Chapter 1: With some 100 billion neurons and over 100 trillion connections - more than all the stars in the Milky Way - the human brain is one of nature's greatest achievements. But how did something so incredibly sophisticated evolve from its simple beginnings? Chapter 2: Jim watches primates in action to see how they tackle survival challenges, revealing the clever tricks that shaped the brain's thinking. But the real breakthrough came when brains learned to be social. Teaming up with his wife, Jim investigates how relationships and friendships made people more intelligent. With AI getting smarter by the day, Jim wants to know what makes biological brains so special. Through scans, fossil discoveries and cutting-edge research, he uncovers what makes the brain so hard to emulate.
Virologist Dr Chris van Tulleken embarks on a global investigation into the hunt for the pathogen that could trigger the next pandemic and the cutting-edge science developed to tackle it. Known only as ‘Disease X’, it is shrouded in uncertainty. Its origin is unknown, how it could spread is unclear, but its impact could be much more severe than Covid-19.
An ancient bear cult that has survived deep in the Transylvanian forests, where Europe's greatest land predator is a symbol of rebirth.
2023 • Nature
David Attenborough looks into the ocean's depths to discuss the coelacanth, a primeval fish hidden for 400 million years. Its mysterious movements reveal vital clues about life's journey from sea to land, as well as secrets of evolution and survival.
2025 • Nature
The team explores one of the greatest discoveries of modern astronomy - that our universe is expanding - and the new questions it raises about how the cosmos works.
The Sky at Night • 2025 • Astronomy
The Mandrin Cave in southern France has been attracting the attention of archaeologists for 30 years. The cave was regularly occupied in prehistoric times, and a remarkable record of human habitation going back thousands of years has been preserved by its soils. In 2015, the remains of a Neanderthal were uncovered, and the archaeological evidence points to this individual, named Thorin, living in close proximity to newly arrived Homo sapiens. Follows an international team of scientists as they discover and investigate precious relics of the Palaeolithic period, resulting in groundbreaking revelations about the human populations of around 50,000 years ago as researchers uncover some of the secrets of the Mandrin Cave.
2025 • History
Meet the scientists studying sound around the globe to help stop the rapid progression of climate change and wildlife endangerment.
S1E12 • Earth Sounds • 2024 • Nature
New technology reveals a raucous symphony of pops and squeaks in an underwater amphitheater full of flirtatious fish and graceful manatees.
S1E11 • Earth Sounds • 2024 • Nature
Antarctica is the last great wilderness. It's the coldest, windiest, driest and most isolated place on Earth. And every winter, for over three months of the year, the sun never rises. But it's also home to the British Antarctic Survey's Halley Research Station. A veteran of living and working at Halley in the early eighties, BBC weatherman Peter Gibbs makes an emotional return to the place he once called home. A place that, during his time, was key to the discovery of the ozone hole. The journey starts with an arduous 12-day, 3000-mile voyage onboard the RRS Ernest Shackleton. Once on the ice shelf, Peter is delighted to finally arrive at the futuristic research station and marvels at the cutting edge science being done at Halley today. From vital discoveries about how our lives are vulnerable to the sun's activities, to studying interplanetary travel and the threat of man-made climate change. But Peter's journey is also something of a rescue mission. The research station's home is a floating ice shelf that constantly moves and cracks, and the ice shelf has developed a chasm that could cast Halley adrift on a massive iceberg.
For most of human history, our neighboring planets were little more than dots of light in the sky with comets and asteroids being a complete mystery. Today the smaller rocky planets and asteroids are seen as the key to understanding the formation of our planetary system.
S1E7 • Zenith: Advances in Space Exploration • 2021 • Technology
Brains and nervous systems do a lot of things, but overall their purpose seems to be to allow cells to communicate and behave together. But because gene's generally code for things that help reproduction, you can start to see harsh patterns in behavior.
This Place • 2014 • Brain
For centuries scientists have been attempting to come up with an elixir of youth. Now remarkable discoveries are suggesting that ageing is something flexible that can ultimately be manipulated.
Piers and Caroline travel to Norway to see a charming family cottage, a summer house built around a rock, a daring concrete home and a rugged retreat.
S2E7 • The World's Most Extraordinary Homes • 2019 • Design
Professor Brian Cox explores the solar system’s misfits and oddballs, and investigates the forces that sculpted the bizarre features on these strange worlds.
S1E5 • Solar System • 2024 • Astronomy
Would mathematics exist if people didn't? Did we create mathematical concepts to help us understand the world around us, or is math the native language of the universe itself? Jeff Dekofsky traces some famous arguments in this ancient and hotly debated question.
Pascal’s triangle, which at first may just look like a neatly arranged stack of numbers, is actually a mathematical treasure trove. But what about it has so intrigued mathematicians the world over?
Without us noticing, modern life has been taken over. Algorithms run everything from search engines on the internet to satnavs and credit card data security - they even help us travel the world, find love and save lives. Professor Marcus du Sautoy demystifies the hidden world of algorithms. By showing us some of the algorithms most essential to our lives, he reveals where these 2,000-year-old problem solvers came from, how they work, what they have achieved and how they are now so advanced they can even programme themselves.
2015 • Math
Can you ever travel from one place to another? Ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea gave a convincing argument that all motion is impossible - but where's the flaw in his logic? Colm Kelleher illustrates how to resolve Zeno's Dichotomy Paradox.
Hannah explores a paradox at the heart of modern maths, discovered by Bertrand Russell, which undermines the very foundations of logic that all of maths is built on. These flaws suggest that maths isn't a true part of the universe but might just be a human language - fallible and imprecise. However, Hannah argues that Einstein's theoretical equations, such as E=mc2 and his theory of general relativity, are so good at predicting the universe that they must be reflecting some basic structure in it. This idea is supported by Kurt Godel, who proved that there are parts of maths that we have to take on faith. Hannah then explores what maths can reveal about the fundamental building blocks of the universe - the subatomic, quantum world. The maths tells us that particles can exist in two states at once, and yet quantum physics is at the core of photosynthesis and therefore fundamental to most of life on earth - more evidence of discovering mathematical rules in nature. But if we accept that maths is part of the structure of the universe, there are two main problems: firstly, the two main theories that predict and describe the universe - quantum physics and general relativity - are actually incompatible; and secondly, most of the maths behind them suggests the likelihood of something even stranger - multiple universes. We may just have to accept that the world really is weirder than we thought, and Hannah concludes that while we have invented the language of maths, the structure behind it all is something we discover. And beyond that, it is the debate about the origins of maths that has had the most profound consequences: it has truly transformed the human experience, giving us powerful new number systems and an understanding that now underpins the modern world.
S1E3 • Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry's Mysterious World of Maths • 2018 • Math
Mathematical formulas can be found in the arrangement of seeds on a sunflower, the structure of the spirals in the shells of certain marine animals, and the distribution of leaves around a plant stem. These formulas recur in nature from snowflakes to the stripes on a zebra.
Nature's Mathematics • 2017 • Math
Who will have real power over artificial intelligence? Chua Enlai examines the pursuit of A.I. in America, China, Sweden, and Singapore.
S1E4 • Becoming Human • 2020 • Technology
Twenty-five years after the world wide web was created, it is now caught in the greatest controversy of its existence: surveillance.
Eric Drexler, the "founding father of nanotechnology," and Jim Phillips, the CEO of Nanomech, discuss the potential applications and implications of nanotechnology. How will this atomically precise manufacturing impact the future of technology, global governance, and the environment?
4/10 • Curiosity Retreats: 2014 Lectures • 2014 • Technology
NOVA takes you inside the historic international race to develop the first supersonic airliner, the Concorde. Hear stories from those inside the choreographed effort to design and build Concorde in two countries at once—and the crew members who flew her. Then, follow Concorde’s legacy to a new generation of innovators reviving the dream of supersonic passenger travel today.
NOVA PBS • 2018 • Technology
Space Invaders and Pac-Man lead an arcade craze, while Atari's cartridge system dominates home gaming until high-profile failure sparks a downfall.
S1E1 • High Score • 2020 • Technology
Who was the genius who came up with all of that? The internet is such a crucial tool in our daily lives today that we hardly remember that it hasn't been here forever. But yeah, it is actually not that old.
This programme is the second in a series looking at four great modern artists: Warhol, Matisse, Picasso and Dali. Tracing the biography of this fascinating artist, and travelling through France, America and Russia, the programme explores some of the painter's greatest works. Sooke explains why Matisse's art is considered so great and also looks at how Matisse's brilliant use of colour and simplification of form continues to inspire illustrators, designers and of course artists today. Acknowledging the debt the famous couturier Yves St Laurent owed the painter, Sooke also talks to British designers Sir Paul Smith and Tricia Guild about their passion for Matisse, he travels to Utrecht to discover how even children's character Miffy the rabbit owes its origin to art, and reveals how logos and images as diverse as Apple's iPod advertising and even the 2012 olympic logo are inspired by the modern master.
S1E2 • Modern Masters • 2015 • Creativity
The shape of Japan's internal politics and the country's response to external influences for centuries can be traced back to the choices of two warlords and a decisive battle. What was the Edo Period and how did it mold Japanese society?
S1E8 • Butterfly Effect • 2016 • History
Simon travels through three of the world's most extreme environments as he takes in the salt flats of Bolivia, Brazil's Pantanal wetland region and Paraguay's Chaco Forest. In Bolivia, he meets a family making a living carving salt from the vast white expanse of the Uyuni flats, while in Brazil he has a close encounter with South America's apex predator, the jaguar. In Paraguay, Simon visits a Mennonites school, where traditionally clothed children are drilled in Bible texts and there are no smartphones to be seen.
S1E4 • Simon Reeve's South America • 2022 • Travel
The rise of colossal towers across the planet coincided with the surge of cutting-edge design, but just as these monoliths began breaking world records, new threats were on the horizon.
S1E4 • Skyscrapers Engineering the Future • 2019 • Technology
Tales of Cold War Britain, from nuclear threat to upper-class spies, eerie ghost bunkers and our very own Chernobyl. In Cold War military buildup Britain constructed bunkers for the civilian population and created its own nuclear missile defense. Professor Alice Roberts explores the UK's response to the threat of nuclear attack during the early years of the Cold War in the 1950s, when a network of upper-class spies began merrily sharing British military secrets with the Soviet Union. We also visit a nuclear-bomb-proof command center and inspect the legendary Avro Vulcan jet bomber.
S1E3 • Fortress Britain • 2022 • History
Think NASA's only for the stars? Think again. The space race has played a colossal part in our daily lives. From online dating to the freshness of the food we consume. The quest for the stars has created tech so woven into our everyday existence, without it, the world would simply unimaginable.
S1E2 • A World Without NASA • 2019 • Technology