Impressionist Painting: French Painting 1850 - 1900

Hosted by Louise Govier, this film shows how nineteenth-century French artists exploited new subject matter, such as the bourgeoisie at leisure, new ways of composing paintings and depicting spatial form, and new ways of applying paint, to produce a variety of 'modern' works. It explores the experimental nature of avant-garde French painting in the second half of the century, looking also at the work of academic painters like Ingres to understand why these developments caused such an uproar.

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The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution
Great Artists: The Impressionists

First Flower (NOVA documentary)

In a story blooming with beauty and scientific mystery, this program explores the incredible truth that lies behind the ravishing flowers we so love to behold: that humans could not have existed or evolved without them. First Flower probes the controversial discovery of Archaefructus, a Chinese fossil scientists believe is the earliest evidence of a flower yet found on Earth. Following the trail of clues to the fossil's origins, a vivid journey takes NOVA's cameras deep into the lush wilds of China, giving audiences a view into a spectacular living safety deposit box, where some of the world's most beloved flowers originated. (from pbs.org)

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How to Grow a Planet

The Fantastic Mr Feynman

Richard Feynman is one of the most iconic, influential and inspiring scientists of the 20th century. He helped design the atomic bomb, solved the mystery of the Challenger Shuttle catastrophe and won a Nobel Prize. Now, 25 years after his death - in his own words and those of his friends and family - this is the story of the most captivating communicator in the history of science.

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Books and Films - Richard Feynman
The Character of Physical Law

The Company of Ants and Bees (BBC Horizon)

Documentary in which Professor James Gould argues that ants and bees have important things to tell us about human society and its future chances.

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Understanding Ants

Tomorrow’s World (BBC Horizon)

Liz Bonnin delves into the world of invention, revealing the people and technologies set to transform all our lives. She examines the conditions that are promising to make the 21st century a golden age of innovation and meets some of the world's foremost visionaries, mavericks and dreamers. From the entrepreneurs that are driving a new space race, to the Nobel Prize winning scientist leading a nanotech revolution, this is a tour of the people and ideas delivering the world of tomorrow, today.

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Brave New World with Stephen Hawking
Visions of the Future

Evacuate Earth

What would we do if the Earth were about to be destroyed? Evacuate Earth is a National Geographic Channel documentary that tells the what-if story of the evacuation of the planet Earth which is due to be destroyed by a rogue Neutron Star. The documentary goes into the technical and social complications of building an Ark to save humanity and other Earth life and moving them to a planet in another star system.

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The Universe - Asteroid Attack
Earth 2100

The Day the Earth Nearly Died

The Day the Earth Nearly Died is a BBC Horizon documentary, focusing on the mystery of the Permian extinction, which scientists believe killed over 90% of all life on earth at the end of the Permian, some 250 million years ago. The program features palaeontologists and other scientists as they try to find clues to the great extinction. In the program, it is argued that the Permian extinction came in 3 stages; the first was caused by volcanic activity in the great Siberian Traps. This is proposed to have cause global warming, which in turn killed much of the life on land. Second, it warmed up the sea, which killed much of the marine life. As the sea became warmer, the ocean floor released a massive amount of methane. As the methane reached the atmosphere, the earth became even warmer, which led to the extinction of even more lifeforms on land. In the program, the extinction is argued to have lasted less than 1 million years.

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Catastrophe - Planet of Fire
Animal Armageddon - The Great Dying