Here you will find a collection of the best scientific documentaries available online. Focus here is on quality above quantity. There is an endless heap of documentaries that are "scientific" but in fact are not, instead filled with metaphysical ideas, UFOs, bio energies and other meta-sciences. You will not find those here. Other thing is the quantity of information in every documentary itself, often being very low but instead full of special effects and dramatic monologue. Hopefully you won't find those here either.
What you will find are informative, revealing, interesting, mind-boggling and above all scientific documentaries about the marvels of the world surrounding us, or the marvels of human ingenuity.
That is the why updates weren't as often as they were supposed to be in the last few days, it may take a day or two to move all the content to the new site, however I will still try to find new and interesting documentaries in the meantime. Our RSS feed address has also changed to: http://feeds.feedburner.com/science-documentaries
This blog will remain intact but no further updates will be made to it, so for all updates please visit: http://science-documentaries.com/
Fourth episode in the series brings us the story about stars. From their formation in vast nebulae, to their death in the massive expansion of smaller stars like our Sun or the violent supernovae of gigantic stars. Again quite detailed and precise, a documentary worth watching no matter how knowledgeable in cosmology you are.
Third episode in the Discovery channel's How the Universe Works series. It deals with the formations of galaxies, and further galaxies into clusters. From drifting clouds of gas billions of years ago to the complex gravitational bound systems wee see today. This whole series is very satisfying, considering that all the topics in it are very common in astronomical documentaries and usually dumbed down to 5-year old child level. How the Universe Works provides all the detail that non-scientist can understand.
In the continuation of the "How the Universe Works" series, we have a documentary about the black holes, once again a very popular topic in all the cosmological shows. Entertaining and educational like the first episode, still most of the people that are up to date with cosmological discoveries won't find much new in this but I consider it one of the better shows about black holes.
First episode of the Discovery Channel's How the Universe Works series. Appropriate subject for the first episode is of course the Big Bang. Beginning of the Universe is a very common subject in documentaries and usually it's quite poorly explained, putting the weight on displaying the big explosion all over the screen and screaming about how big and hot it was while not giving any interesting information. This one on the other hand is pretty good, it still screams all that about explosions and heat but actually does a good job on informing the viewer what we currently know about it. My only disappointment was the part about the faster than light space expansion, it was poorly explained without going into any detail. Still it's better than most other such documentaries that don't even mention that.
The ongoing unmanned Mars exploration mission, commenced in 2003 sent two robotic rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, to explore the Martian surface and geology. This is a continuation to the Mars, Dead or Alive documentary. Once again it deals with the two Mars rovers, just this time showing all the technical problems and challenges they faced on the surface of the red planet.
Despite the title, this is not so much about Mars, but about Mars rovers, technical issues about them and the people behind them. It is quite surprising too see how much technical problems they really had and how they solved them. Rovers are extremely complex machines, requiring many custom made parts unique to them. This makes them very difficult and expensive to test; breaking a 5 million dollar worth equipment during stress test is not a desired outcome, but still it has to be done. Documentary is filled with details like this and is really worth watching to appreciate the work that has been done there.
A fractal is a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole. The term fractal was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning "broken" or "fractured". Arthur C. Clarke presents this unusual documentary on the mathematical discovery of the Mandelbrot Set (M-Set) in the visually spectacular world of fractal geometry. This show relates the science of the M-Set to nature in a way that is often called "The fingerprint of God". Dr. Mandelbrot in 1980 discovered the infinitely complex geometrical shape called the Mandelbrot Set using a very simple equation with computers and graphics.
String theory, a developing theory in particle physics which attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. There aren't many documentaries on the subject unfortunately, so this one is in some parts a bit irritatingly slow,childishly simple and technical terms are kept at a minimum (and in some cases a bit below minimum), but aside from that, it still is very informing about the string theory itself.
It is an adaptation from a book by Brian Greene and was originally aired on PBS's NOVA.
This is an aged nanotechnology themed BBC documentary dating from 1995. Although it is pretty old, especially when dealing in such advanced and experimental technology, it still offers great insights into the core principles of nano-tech. It's very technically detailed, describing exactly how is atomic manipulation possible, how can we detect individual atoms, and how nano devices are built from the ground up.
Stephen Hawking is hosting a new show, Into The Universe, containing three episodes. In a few hours Hawking gives us the ultimate short guide to the universe, based on real science, from the possibilities of alien life and time travel to the nature of the universe itself.
What really makes "Into the Universe" work, though, is Hawking himself, who attacks these ideas with the enthusiasm of a science-fiction aficionado, while laying out the theoretical case and science in clear yet authoritative terms. This documentary is filled with lots of information and high production value.
Here is a documentary about mathematical dimensions, or more correctly about spatial dimensions. In our daily lives we are, of course, aware of only 3 dimensions. This film deals in the mathematics of proving and displaying the objects and geometry of higher dimensions.
It starts of very elementary, with the explanation of the 2-dimensional space with meridians and parallels and then gets to more complicated stuff in the 4-dimensional space. There is also a chapter about complex numbers after that and a proof of a theorem of geometry. Usually I post the videos directly on the main page but the number of episodes here would put too much stress on it so please follow the link to watch it.
This documentary starts with an interesting question: how would Earth look like if there was no Moon?
It has a surprising set of answers. In short, the planet Earth would be a much different place then it is now. Probably there wouldn't be human life on the planet, days would last only four hours, winds would blow at hurricane force and there would be a dense and toxic atmosphere resembling that of Venus. It also deals about the origin of the Moon, so it seems that it was formed by a massive planetary collision with the debris forming our satellite.
Oh, it also features Patrick Stewart making me waiting all the time to hear "Engage!"
This is a story about a mathematical breakthrough made by English mathematician Andrew Wiles in the late 20th century.
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two. This theorem was first conjectured by Pierre de Fermat in 1637, famously in the margin of a copy of Arithmetica where he claimed he had a proof that was too large to fit in the margin. No successful proof was published until 1995 despite the efforts of many mathematicians. The unsolved problem stimulated the development of algebraic number theory in the 19th century and the proof of the modularity theorem in the 20th. It is among the most famous theorems in the history of mathematics.
To be honest, I'm not really certain what to think of this. It is actually a promotional video about the advancements in AI and discovering how exactly human consciousness works, the exact model of consciousness is discussed and it definitely is an interesting and believable model. Problems arise when I hear completely unverifiable claims...claiming that this model of AI has already made giant practical advancements in human knowledge, but for some reason they are not allowed to reveal them. Towards the end of the movie it gets worse by trying to push the whole universe into those consciousness models. I'm generally skeptical of such things, however the ideas from this film are quite interesting so in the end I decided to post it anyway. If someone knows a bit more about these concepts please feel free to comment.
Visions of the Future is a three part miniseries on the BBC hosted by Michio Kaku. In this new three-part series, leading theoretical physicist and futurist Dr Michio Kaku explores the cutting edge science of today, tomorrow, and beyond. He argues that humankind is at a turning point in history. In this century, we are going to make the historic transition from the 'Age of Discovery' to the 'Age of Mastery', a period in which we will move from being passive observers of nature to its active choreographers. This will give us not only unparalleled possibilities but also great responsibilities.
Documentary is in three parts, with the first part discussing the advancements in computing and artificial intelligence. Constructing new fascinating virtual worlds, automated intelligent cars and star trek like holograms are just a part of it.
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out was filmed in 1981 and will delight and inspire anyone who would like to share something of the joys of scientific discovery. Feynman is a master storyteller, and his tales – about childhood, Los Alamos, or how he won a Nobel Prize – are a vivid and entertaining insight into the mind of a great scientist at work and play.
Four part series about the history of mathematics, presented by Oxford professor Marcus du Sautoy.
In the first episode (1-5), The Language of the Universe, after showing how fundamental mathematics is to our lives, du Sautoy explores the mathematics of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece.
The second episode (6-8), The Genius of the East, sees du Sautoy leaving the ancient world. When ancient Greece fell into decline, mathematical progress stagnated as Europe entered the Dark Ages, but in the East mathematics reached new heights. Du Sautoy visits China and explores how maths helped build imperial China and was at the heart of such amazing feats of engineering as the Great Wall.
The Frontiers of Space, a third episode (9-13). By the 17th century, Europe had taken over from the Middle East as the world’s powerhouse of mathematical ideas. Great strides had been made in understanding the geometry of objects fixed in time and space. The race was now on to discover the mathematics to describe objects in motion. In the third part of the series, Marcus du Sautoy explores the work of René Descartes and Pierre Fermat, whose famous Last Theorem would puzzle mathematicians for more than 350 years.
The fourth episode, To Infinity and Beyond (14-18), concludes the series. After exploring Georg Cantor’s work on infinity and Henri Poincare’s work on chaos theory, he looks at how mathematics was itself thrown into chaos by the discoveries of Kurt Godel, who showed that the unknowable is an integral part of maths, and Paul Cohen, who established that there were several different sorts of mathematics in which conflicting answers to the same question were possible. He concludes his journey by considering the great unsolved problems of mathematics today.
So once again, we have a documentary about longevity. It is produced by History Channel and one of the commentators is the editor of Scientific American so I guess it gives it a bit more credibility which it certainly needs because of many SF-like topics in it. Some of the things they talk about are really eye opening, especially the nano-technology which is already being used in the laboratory experiments. All in all, very informative and recommended.
Immortality. Life Extension. The Fountain of Youth. Real science or simply wishful thinking? Is it hope or is it hype? Scientists from around the world are racing to answer one of humanity's chief questions: can we turn back the human clock?
A decent documentary about the current researches in prolonging life expectancy. Several very interesting and promising methods are introduced along with the already popular caloric-restriction diet of which I am really no fan.
Enjoy.
Brian Cox from Manchester University discuses the possibility of making a star here on earth, a process known as nuclear fusion. Creating fusion on Earth was done a lot of times, in the explosion of a hydrogen bomb, however it is an uncontrolled process , therefore extremely destructive, controlled fusion is a different story all together. If successful, a controlled nuclear fusion would solve most of our energy problems as it provides massive quantities of energy from an extremely cheap and abundant fuel, hydrogen.
Originally aired in 1980. Carl Sagan's Cosmos series explains a great number of scientific theories in a way a layman can understand. It inspired many people to appreciate scientific studies and sparked their intellectual curiosity.
This playlist contains all 13 episodes, each one hour long and deals in various topics such as Einsteinian relativism, theory of evolution and many others...it is a classical masterpiece.
There really is no point denying that internet completely revolutionized our lives. Only twenty years ago it was a difficult task to find some obscure information and now, almost any information is simply a google search away. This documentary gives us a brief history of the web, from it's beginning to present day, including all the major events such as the over-inflated dot-com downfall. It also features the interviews with the key players of the internet revolution. Worth a watch.
Stem cell research is a controversial topic these days. The morality here is very grey and many arguments are made against, however most of those for political purposes not really moral or ethical ones. This story is told from a perspective of a neurologist and a stem cell biologist.
Can science answer to the questions of morality? A common answer would be that science is not concerned about morality, but however can it still give us moral answers. Sam Harris advocates that it can and it should, as science can answer to the questions of real consequences of certain actions, therefore it can give answers to moral questions in a way.
TED Talks gives us the lecture of Craig Venter who, along with his team, created the first fully functioning, reproducing cell controlled by synthetic DNA. In his words he describes this life form as the first life form on this planet whose parent was a computer.
A lecture about the predictions of near-future technologies, some of what actually already exist. Such as "Augmented reality", a new emerging media used in cell phone applications that is gaining popularity fast and is almost certain to become a part of our daily lives, the same way cell phones, internet or GPS did.
Our bodies are amazingly complex machines, which this production presents with great detail. I must say I'm rarely surprised by the CGI animations but this time, I'm amazed. Great presentation, great detail, great information on a great topic, most complex organ of our complex machines, the brain.
Question as old as sentient life is. Stopping aging was always one of the central motives explored in all medias. From Biblical stories and religion to modern day film-making as shown in the Fountain. Average human life span has already doubled or perhaps even tripled so the question is how far can it go? Dr. Aubrey de Grey is a central figure of this story. Computer scientist turned biologist now Cambridge biomedical gerontologist, he gathered as many experts in all fields of science in an attempt to break the puzzle of aging. His opinion is that we could extend life indefinitely by addressing seven major factors in the aging process. He describes his work as Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS).
The Universe: Alien Faces, a History Channel production about the possible appearances of alien life-forms on other planets. It goes through 5 types of planets that could support life of some kind and analyzes how that life would actually look like.
Alex Zettl [Professor of Physics, UC Berkeley], demonstrates recent advancements his research team has made in nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is often described as sci-fi or far future, yet there are experimental nano-devices that actually work today as presented here. Crystal powered nanomotor and single-moleculed radio receivers and transmitters.
From its roots in the 19th century to its full flowering in the 20th, existentialism has made a profound impression on the course of modern history. This powerful three-part series profiles the lives and critically examines the contributions of proto-existentialist Friedrich Nietzsche; Martin Heidegger; and Jean-Paul Sartre, under whom it ripened to its fullest expression. 3-part series, 50 minutes each.
Cutting-edge stories about the origins of the universe, black holes, exploding stars, the search for ET life, and the nature of the planets. Original productions from SPACERIP TV and Space.com.
Series features 12 episodes, each lasting around 20 minutes.
It's very professionally done, nice production and no time-wasting, each of 12 episodes has enough information for a full length documentary film.
Richard Dawkins, a renowned author and a professor of public understanding of science at Oxford delivers a documentary about the importance of understanding the general scientific principles. It's not about the details of scientific methods, but about the general principles that should be understood by everyone, most importantly by politicians and government officials.
The Cell, a three-part BBC documentary about the building blocks of all life, cells.
Starting with a bit of history about the first discoveries of the existence of cells and how it shattered the general view on life in a world filled with religious dogmas.
It then continues delving deeper in the cell itself, the structure and the famous DNA code contained in its heart.
The final part offers a glimpse on the future possible technologies that could be made possible with the knowledge about the cell we have now. Genetic manipulation offers many wonders...bacteria producing diesel fuel? - possible
A three-part series in which cosmologist Sir Martin Rees tackles some of the most fundamental questions of existence. Are we alone? Why are we here? Are we real? Answer to each of them is a journey of it's own and well worth the watch.
A short presentation explaining the higher dimensions. Mind-boggling at first and even more so at second or third watch. Although the presentation itself is very simple, the concepts it tries to explain is far from that. Recommended if you want to blow your brains.
Douglas Adams was the best-selling British author and satirist who created The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In this hilarious talk, Adams describes some truly weird lifestyles of some creatures that most of us never heard about as well as describing his travels around the world and the difficulties he faced during that time. Throughout the whole talk, Douglas Adams delivers his typical satirical and common-sense humor while providing a scientific talk about the biology of different species, meaning of the universe, and everything else.
A three part documentary, provocatively titled "Technocalyps", describes the various ideas and prediction about the future technologies and how it would affect us. Divided into three parts, it begins with exploring the ideas how would technology change the human race physically thus evolving us into "Transhumans" which is the name of the first part. In the second part, "Preparing for Singularity" it explores the idea of Rai Kurzweil's singularity, a fascinating prediction of the near-future where the amount of new information created in a unit of time approaches infinity...which brings us to "The digital Messiah", the last part of this series describing the appearance of a godlike artificial intelligence.
The revolutionary discovery that the expansion of the universe is speeding up, not slowing down from gravity, means that 75 percent of our universe consists of mysterious dark energy. Berkeley Lab theoretical physicist Eric Linder delves into the mystery of dark energy as part of the Science in the Theatre lecture series on Nov. 24, 2008.
Very fast paced lecture, covering a lot of information very quickly, however nicely presented so it's not too difficult to follow. Recommended for anyone interested in astronomy.
Oxford professor Richard Dawkins presents a series of lectures on life, the universe, and our place in it. With brilliance and clarity, Dawkins unravels an educational gem that will mesmerize young and old alike. Illuminating demonstrations, wildlife, virtual reality, and special guests (including Douglas Adams) all combine to make this collection a timeless classic.
Is it possible to construct an artificial intelligence? If it is, how far away is it? A truly thought-provoking documentary about the advancements in robotics, cybernetics and AI presented by four people, each having a different viewpoint. In the movie itself they are presented as a philosopher, a brain builder, a "cyborg" and a theologian. All of those viewpoints are very interesting but what really surprised me was a theologian's point that Abrahamic religions should not be in conflict with the hypothetical artificial life.
This is a short talk from TED given by Kevin Kelly. It's an interesting presentation of what technology is in a philosophical sense, displaying it not only as human technology meaning the things or ideas that our civilization invented but more as a natural process that has become the extension of life. I'm not really certain what to think about some thing Kelly mentions here, like connecting the climate changes to the first appearance of man made technology thousands of years ago, however, it beautifully illustrates the irrationality of the fear of technology which makes it is so common in our society to confuse wrong uses of technology for the technology itself, often at the expense of scientific progress.
