The was called Giant Wasps (2012) I should rename it on the disk to Live Like An Animal Giant Wasps (2012)
Showing posts with label Life: Insects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life: Insects. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
* Live Like An Animal Giant Wasps (2012)
To showcase the Wasps’ architectural talents, wildlife buffs and a boat designer build three giant wasps nest in New York.
Friday, May 2, 2014
* The Scorpions Tale (2006)
The Scorpions belong to the oldest land-based arachnides with over 1800 different species known to exist. Usually, they do not surpass the size of 10cm in length, but exceptions are know, such as the Emperor Scorpion (Pandinus imperator) which can grow up to become over 20cm in size. Scorpions are mostly active at night and hide away during the day. Take a look into the live of these amazing creatures!
Thursday, May 1, 2014
* The Magic of Mushrooms (2014)
Professor Richard Fortey delves into the fascinating and normally-hidden kingdom of fungi. From their spectacular birth, through their secretive underground life to their final explosive death, Richard reveals a remarkable world that few of us understand or even realise exists - yet all life on Earth depends on it. In a specially-built mushroom lab, with the help of mycologist Dr Patrick Hickey and some state-of-the-art technology, Richard brings to life the secret world of mushrooms as never seen before and reveals the spectacular abilities of fungi to break down waste and sustain new plant life, keeping our planet alive. Beyond the lab, Richard travels across Britain and beyond to show us the biggest, fastest and most deadly organisms on the planet - all of them fungi. He reveals their almost magical powers that have world-changing potential - opening up new frontiers in science, medicine and technology.
* Botany: A Blooming History (2011)
Series which tells the story of how people came to understand the natural order of the plant world, and how the quest to discover how plants grow uncovered the secret to life on the planet.
Part 1: A Confusion of Names
What makes plants grow is a simple enough question, but the answer turns out to be one of the most complicated and fascinating stories in science and took over 300 years to unravel. Timothy Walker, director of the Oxford University Botanic Garden, reveals how the breakthroughs of Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, Chelsea gardener Phillip Miller and English naturalist John Ray created the science of botany. Between them these quirky, temperamental characters unlocked the mysteries of the plant kingdom and they began to glimpse a world where bigger, better and stronger plants could be created. Nurseryman Thomas Fairchild created the world's first artificial hybrid flower - an entirely new plant that didn't exist in nature. Today, botanists continue the search for new flowers, better crops and improved medicines to treat life-threatening diseases.
Part 2: Photosynthesis
The air we breathe, and all the food we eat, is created from water, sunlight, carbon dioxide and a few minerals. It sounds simple, but this process is one of the most fascinating and complicated in all of science, and without it there could be no life on earth. For centuries people believed that plants grew by eating soil. In the 17th century, pioneer botanists began to make the connection between the growth of a plant and the energy from the sun. They discovered how plants use water, sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce sugars - how, in fact, a plant grows. The process of photosynthesis is still at the heart of scientific research today, with universities across the world working hard to replicate in the lab what plants do with ruthless efficiency. Their goal is to produce a clean, limitless fuel and if they get it right it will change all our lives.
Part 3: Hidden World
For 10,000 years or more, humans created new plant varieties for food by trial and error and a touch of serendipity. Then 150 years ago, a new era began. Pioneer botanists unlocked the patterns found in different types of plants and opened the door to a new branch of science - plant genetics. They discovered what controlled the random colours of snapdragon petals and the strange colours found in wild maize. This was vital information. Some botanists even gave their lives to protect their collection of seeds. American wheat farmer Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel peace prize after he bred a new strain of wheat that lifted millions of people around the world out of starvation. Today, botanists believe advances in plant genetics hold the key to feeding the world's growing population.
Part 1: A Confusion of Names
What makes plants grow is a simple enough question, but the answer turns out to be one of the most complicated and fascinating stories in science and took over 300 years to unravel. Timothy Walker, director of the Oxford University Botanic Garden, reveals how the breakthroughs of Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, Chelsea gardener Phillip Miller and English naturalist John Ray created the science of botany. Between them these quirky, temperamental characters unlocked the mysteries of the plant kingdom and they began to glimpse a world where bigger, better and stronger plants could be created. Nurseryman Thomas Fairchild created the world's first artificial hybrid flower - an entirely new plant that didn't exist in nature. Today, botanists continue the search for new flowers, better crops and improved medicines to treat life-threatening diseases.
Part 2: Photosynthesis
The air we breathe, and all the food we eat, is created from water, sunlight, carbon dioxide and a few minerals. It sounds simple, but this process is one of the most fascinating and complicated in all of science, and without it there could be no life on earth. For centuries people believed that plants grew by eating soil. In the 17th century, pioneer botanists began to make the connection between the growth of a plant and the energy from the sun. They discovered how plants use water, sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce sugars - how, in fact, a plant grows. The process of photosynthesis is still at the heart of scientific research today, with universities across the world working hard to replicate in the lab what plants do with ruthless efficiency. Their goal is to produce a clean, limitless fuel and if they get it right it will change all our lives.
Part 3: Hidden World
For 10,000 years or more, humans created new plant varieties for food by trial and error and a touch of serendipity. Then 150 years ago, a new era began. Pioneer botanists unlocked the patterns found in different types of plants and opened the door to a new branch of science - plant genetics. They discovered what controlled the random colours of snapdragon petals and the strange colours found in wild maize. This was vital information. Some botanists even gave their lives to protect their collection of seeds. American wheat farmer Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel peace prize after he bred a new strain of wheat that lifted millions of people around the world out of starvation. Today, botanists believe advances in plant genetics hold the key to feeding the world's growing population.
* Your Inner Fish (2014)
Your Inner Fish reveals a startling truth: Hidden within the human body is a story of life on Earth. This scientific adventure story takes viewers from Ethiopia to the Arctic Circle on a hunt for the many ways that our animal ancestors shaped our anatomical destiny. Come face-to-face with your "inner fish" in this completely new take on the human body: You'll never look at yourself in quite the same way again!
Your Inner Fish
Paleobiologist Neil Shubin uncovers the answers in this new look at human evolution. Using fossils, embryos and genes, he reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates.
Your Inner Reptile
"Your Inner Reptile" traces our hair, skin, teeth, jaws and sense of hearing back to reptilian ancestors — from ferocious beasts that ruled the Earth to a little shrew-like animal that lived 195 million years ago.
Your Inner Monkey
Your Inner Monkey" tracks our hands, feet, color vision, spine and upright gait to our primate and hominid progenitors, who also passed on perhaps the most important legacy of all: a path to the human brain.
Your Inner Fish
Paleobiologist Neil Shubin uncovers the answers in this new look at human evolution. Using fossils, embryos and genes, he reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates.
Your Inner Reptile
"Your Inner Reptile" traces our hair, skin, teeth, jaws and sense of hearing back to reptilian ancestors — from ferocious beasts that ruled the Earth to a little shrew-like animal that lived 195 million years ago.
Your Inner Monkey
Your Inner Monkey" tracks our hands, feet, color vision, spine and upright gait to our primate and hominid progenitors, who also passed on perhaps the most important legacy of all: a path to the human brain.
* Redesign My Brain (2013)
See Australian television personality Todd Sampson put brain training to the test as he undergoes a radical brain makeover in a three-part documentary series on the revolutionary new science of brain plasticity. The cutting edge science has found that anyone can become smarter, improve their memory and reverse mental ageing with the right brain training. It can turn an ordinary brain into a super brain in just three months. The fastest growing science on the planet, brain plasticity will revolutionize how we live in the future. It has the potential to cure learning and mental disorders, such as OCD, bipolar disorder, addiction, ADD, autism and some dementias. And its rapid results deliver benefits regardless of age. But how can it improve the lives of ordinary people?
This is a 3 part series.
This is a 3 part series.
* Micro Monsters (2013)
Right beneath our feet is a secret world of disguise and espionage, social networking and courtship, rape and pillage, parenthood and relationships. The terrestrial arthropods – the bugs – are the most dominant animals on our planet. They outnumber us in their hundreds of billions and have survived for 500 million years. They have outlived every catastrophe Earth has thrown at them, seen the dinosaurs come and go and even witnessed our own arrival. They are so intrinsic to the natural world that without them we would struggle to exist. Sir David Attenborough will take you deep into the macroscopic world of bugs that deeply fascinates him. He will uncover their marvellous adaptability from the primitive evolutionary design of the millipede through to the graceful apex predators that exist today. We will descend into the watery depths to witness aquatic battles, explore intricate spider webs and get closer than ever before to the fangs and claws that create this fascinating world.
Conflict
David Attenborough employs the latest technologies to explore the violence, rivalries and deadly weaponry existing within the world of bugs. This first episode examines the survival tactics of its terrifying residents including killer ants, trap-setting spiders and beetles with the ability to shoot boiling chemicals at their enemies.
Predator
The broadcaster continues his bug-eyed view of the world of creepy-crawlies, revealing how predators defuse the defences of their prey. Highlights include the cockroach wasp, busy preparing a tasty - and very live - treat for its young, the whirligig beetle, which employs a water-based radar system, and the jumping Portia spider, which feeds on other arachnids.
Courtship
It's sexy time with the arthropods! This week David Attenborough takes a look at the courtship rituals of the creatures beneath our feet. But lovebugs won't want to take tips from these bugs. The male Chilean rose tarantula, for instance, weaves a silk mat; deposits sperm on it, then sucks that sperm into a finger-like appendage near his mouth before he looks for a mate. Then there's the gruesome, but surprisingly effective, coupling of praying mantis. The cinematography is as amazing as ever, catching the mating battles of tramp ants and providing luminescent footage of the courtship dance of Tanzanian red claw scorpions.
Reproduction
A close-up view of sex, bug-style, as David Attenborough talks viewers through the different ways in which creepy-crawlies reproduce. Size matters for the minuscule male orb spider, creepily sneaking up on its intended and trying to mate without her noticing, while there's no rest for the lothario-like butterfly, which has plenty of notches on its proverbial bedpost. However, the harvestman spider has no use for sex at all, and reproduces by cloning itself.
Family
While most of the series has focused on conflict, this episode is all about co-operation. The suitably named social spiders spin one enormous, 30m web for the whole colony, a queen bee rules her hive with a strict hierarchy and some green ants show great team spirit to help build a nest together. There are no broken societies here. David Attenborough shifts the focus to bugs that prefer cooperation rather than conflict. They include burrowing cockroaches, the suitably named social spiders - which share a 30-metre web.
Colony
Watching the fascinating display of leafcutter ants at the Natural History Museum in London is one of my favourite ways to while away a few hours, but David Attenborough is operating on a much grander scale here in the last in the series. In Argentina he observes some cousins of the leafcutters who are part of a community so vast it spans an entire continent. It's one of the mandible-dropping facts in a look at one of the key inventions of arthropods: colonies. From termites and honey bees to the leafcutters, it seems that if you want to get ahead, you move to the big city.
The Making of Micro Monsters
A behind-the-scenes special offering an insider's look at Sir David Attenborough's innovative series exploring the macroscopic world of bugs. David reveals how the film-makers got up close with the insect and arachnid world for the innovative documentary series
Conflict
David Attenborough employs the latest technologies to explore the violence, rivalries and deadly weaponry existing within the world of bugs. This first episode examines the survival tactics of its terrifying residents including killer ants, trap-setting spiders and beetles with the ability to shoot boiling chemicals at their enemies.
Predator
The broadcaster continues his bug-eyed view of the world of creepy-crawlies, revealing how predators defuse the defences of their prey. Highlights include the cockroach wasp, busy preparing a tasty - and very live - treat for its young, the whirligig beetle, which employs a water-based radar system, and the jumping Portia spider, which feeds on other arachnids.
Courtship
It's sexy time with the arthropods! This week David Attenborough takes a look at the courtship rituals of the creatures beneath our feet. But lovebugs won't want to take tips from these bugs. The male Chilean rose tarantula, for instance, weaves a silk mat; deposits sperm on it, then sucks that sperm into a finger-like appendage near his mouth before he looks for a mate. Then there's the gruesome, but surprisingly effective, coupling of praying mantis. The cinematography is as amazing as ever, catching the mating battles of tramp ants and providing luminescent footage of the courtship dance of Tanzanian red claw scorpions.
Reproduction
A close-up view of sex, bug-style, as David Attenborough talks viewers through the different ways in which creepy-crawlies reproduce. Size matters for the minuscule male orb spider, creepily sneaking up on its intended and trying to mate without her noticing, while there's no rest for the lothario-like butterfly, which has plenty of notches on its proverbial bedpost. However, the harvestman spider has no use for sex at all, and reproduces by cloning itself.
Family
While most of the series has focused on conflict, this episode is all about co-operation. The suitably named social spiders spin one enormous, 30m web for the whole colony, a queen bee rules her hive with a strict hierarchy and some green ants show great team spirit to help build a nest together. There are no broken societies here. David Attenborough shifts the focus to bugs that prefer cooperation rather than conflict. They include burrowing cockroaches, the suitably named social spiders - which share a 30-metre web.
Colony
Watching the fascinating display of leafcutter ants at the Natural History Museum in London is one of my favourite ways to while away a few hours, but David Attenborough is operating on a much grander scale here in the last in the series. In Argentina he observes some cousins of the leafcutters who are part of a community so vast it spans an entire continent. It's one of the mandible-dropping facts in a look at one of the key inventions of arthropods: colonies. From termites and honey bees to the leafcutters, it seems that if you want to get ahead, you move to the big city.
The Making of Micro Monsters
A behind-the-scenes special offering an insider's look at Sir David Attenborough's innovative series exploring the macroscopic world of bugs. David reveals how the film-makers got up close with the insect and arachnid world for the innovative documentary series
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
* Guts (2012)
What's really going on inside your stomach? In this documentary, Michael Mosley offers up his own guts to find out. Spending the day as an exhibit at the Science Museum in London, he swallows a tiny camera and uses the latest in imaging technology to get a unique view of his innards digesting his food. He discovers pools of concentrated acid and metres of writhing tubing which is home to its own ecosystem. Michael lays bare the mysteries of the digestive system - and reveals a complexity and intelligence in the human gut that science is only just beginning to uncover.
* Elsewhere (2001)
Austrian documentary filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter (Our Daily Bread) marked the turn of the century with this year-long project visiting rural communities in the most remote places across the globe. Mounting the epic filmic trek in the year 2000, Geyrhalter's team sought to find people who were untouched by the millennium hysteria of the day. Time seems to stand still in some of the places they visit but their film is in no way a portrait of primitive cultures. Elsewhere is a testament to the human spirit and an ennobling witnessing of the salt-of-the-earth people we never hear about.
* Dogging Tales (2013)
This intimate and compelling True Stories film provides an insight into why men and women engage in or watch sexual activity in front of strangers in public areas, under the cover of darkness.
Interviews with doggers begin in the 'real world' as their day draws to a close and they discuss their normal lives.
As they go out they shed their daytime personas and Maguire accompanies them to lay-bys, woods and picnic spots around the UK that often double as dogging locations after dusk.
The characters allow themselves to be filmed during their sexual encounters but they also open up about their attraction to dogging: how they were introduced to it; why they may feel a lack of fulfilment without it; and how their relationships are enhanced or damaged by it.
The film is not just about sex or fetishistic behaviour, but also the human story of alter-egos, connections and acceptance.
This beautifully shot, distinctive film captures the intimate night-time journeys that few people see or experience, but that allow this covert community precious escapism, excitement and self-discovery.
Dogging Tales is directed by award-winning photographer Leo Maguire, who made his critically-acclaimed debut in 2012 with Gypsy Blood: True Stories.
Interviews with doggers begin in the 'real world' as their day draws to a close and they discuss their normal lives.
As they go out they shed their daytime personas and Maguire accompanies them to lay-bys, woods and picnic spots around the UK that often double as dogging locations after dusk.
The characters allow themselves to be filmed during their sexual encounters but they also open up about their attraction to dogging: how they were introduced to it; why they may feel a lack of fulfilment without it; and how their relationships are enhanced or damaged by it.
The film is not just about sex or fetishistic behaviour, but also the human story of alter-egos, connections and acceptance.
This beautifully shot, distinctive film captures the intimate night-time journeys that few people see or experience, but that allow this covert community precious escapism, excitement and self-discovery.
Dogging Tales is directed by award-winning photographer Leo Maguire, who made his critically-acclaimed debut in 2012 with Gypsy Blood: True Stories.
* Do You See What I See? (2011)
Roses are red, violets are blue but according to the latest understanding these colours are really an illusion. One that you create yourself. Horizon reveals a surprising truth about how we all see the world. You may think a rose is red, the sky is blue and the grass is green, but it now seems that the colours you see may not always be the same as the colours I see. Your age, sex and even mood can affect how you experience colours. Scientists have unlocked the hidden power that colours can have over your life - how red can make you a winner, how blue makes time speed up, and more.
* Can We Live Forever? (2011)
NOVA poses the question - Can we live forever? - and host Neil deGrasse Tyson tackles one of science's major challenges in each episode. He will guide us as he explores dramatic discoveries and the frontiers of research that connect each central, provocative mystery.
* Can Eating Insects Save the World? (2013)
How would you feel about eating deep fried locusts, ant egg salad or barbequed tarantulas? This documentary sees presenter and food writer Stefan Gates immerse himself in the extraordinary world of hardcore insect-eating in a bid to conquer his lingering revulsion of bugs and discover if they really could save the planet. With 40 tonnes of insects to every human, perhaps insects could offer a real solution to the global food crisis - where billions go hungry every day whilst the meat consumption of the rich draws vast amounts of grain out of the global food chain. Stefan's on a mission to meet the people in Thailand and Cambodia that hunt, eat and sell edible insects for a living. But nothing quite prepares him for bug farming on this terrifying scale, from stalking grasshoppers at night to catching fiercely-biting ants. And it's not just insects on the menu. Stefan also goes hunting for the hairiest, scariest spider on the planet - the tarantula. Stefan asks if the solution is for everyone - the British included - to start eating insects too.
* Are You Good or Evil? (2011)
This programme features researchers who have studied some of the most terrifying people behind bars - psychopathic killers - to determine what makes us good or evil. There was a shock in store for one of these scientists, Professor Jim Fallon, when he discovered that he had the profile of a psychopath. And the reason he didn't turn out to be a killer holds important lessons for all of us. We also meet the scientist who believes he has found the moral molecule and the man who is using this new understanding to rewrite our ideas of crime and punishment.
* Are We Still Evolving? (2011)
Alice Roberts investigates whether, thanks to advances in technology and medicine, mankind has managed to break free from the process of evolution. Following a trail of clues from ancient human remains, she examines the physiology of people living in some of the most inhospitable parts of the planet, and challenges the frontiers of genetic research by speculating on what the future has in store for homo sapiens.
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