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In order for an animal to survive, it must be able to respond instantly to changes in its external and internal environments. This program compares and contrasts animal nervous and endocrine systems, explains stimulus feedback mechanisms, and places coordination and control in a cellular context with explanations of what happens in signal transduction pathways. Narration is supported by animations and footage of animals in action. A powerful tool...
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What gives jet airplanes, which have been known to reach the size of office buildings, the ability to leave the ground? It isn't rocket science-although that's also covered in this high-energy program on the complexity of flight. For basic training in aerodynamic principles, viewers take an exhilarating hang-glider ride and venture inside a high-tech wind tunnel used by Olympic ski jumpers. Next up: the launch of a mammoth homemade rocket, the centrifuge...
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If great runners are born, not made, what roles do training and technology play? Will cutting-edge engineering and chemistry create vehicles that move faster than previously thought possible? This program presents a quest to understand speed in all its manifestations. Viewers get a look at the North American Eagle, an automobile that's more fighter jet than car, designed to challenge the world land speed record. At the Walthamstow dog track in east...
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A tough outer layer can come in handy, but the strongest defense isn't always the thickest. This program explores all kinds of bodily protection, from animal hides and shells to artificial armor to human skin-showing how anatomy and technology have evolved to guard against potential dangers. Viewers meet sea and land creatures with sophisticated protective suits, including lobsters, snails, turtles, alligators, sharks, and abalone-which sport some...
6) Animal Minds
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The question of animal intelligence has been debated for centuries. In recent years, science has come closer to proving that animals think and feel-perhaps not at the level of humans, but in ways that are nevertheless authentic. This classic program brings viewers into the midst of eye-opening zoological, neurological, and psychological research, revealing what many scientists believe to be cognitive abilities in animals. These include communication,...
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This program presents fossil evidence for the evolution of reptiles and amphibians; explains the reasoning processes scientists must use when no direct evidence is available for examination; illustrates field techniques for collecting fragile fossils for transportation to the laboratory, where examination can take place under controlled conditions; and traces the evolution of some modern mammals back through time. After viewing the program, students...
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Food has taken on so many meanings over the ages that we often forget what it really is: a source of chemical energy. This program takes a scientific look at food, showing how people and animals capture nutrients while revealing some disturbing eating habits with hidden benefits. After a look at the importance of fire and yeast in early culinary history, viewers experience "molecular gastronomy" at a Chicago restaurant where lasers, centrifuges, and...
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The hunt for life within the long-dead bones of dinosaurs may sound like the stuff of Hollywood fantasy-but one woman has found traces of life within the fossilized bones of a T. rex. Dr. Mary Schweitzer has seen the remains of red blood cells and touched the soft tissue of an animal that died 68 million years ago. She believes she may have found signs of DNA. Her work is revolutionizing our understanding of these iconic beasts.