Bringing Up Baby

Natural World investigates the vital bond between animal mothers and their babies.

The more we study animals, the more we realize just how emotional they are; all mothers are faced with tough choices as they struggle to bring up babies in a difficult and dangerous world, constantly balancing their own needs with those of their infants.

Yet there are many ways to raise your brood, from the fish who looks after her young in her mouth to the extended childhoods of gorillas or orang-utans.

Male lions may protect or kill cubs, for example. Orang-utans spend more time growing up than almost any other animal, as each ape may spend a decade learning from its mother.

Baby broad-snouted caiman spend much less time in the company of their mother. But even these reptiles help their young hatch from their eggs.

The very act of giving birth is traumatic, and baby guanacos must be alert for predators from almost the moment they are born.

Even males sometimes get in on the act. Male California mouse support the females as they give birth, acting the doting father, helping to keep his mate and the nest clean.

Female Amourobius spiders make the ultimate sacrifice, giving up their bodies to feed their offspring. The spiderlings feast directly upon the flesh of their mother.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 40 minutes)

The Fall of Lehman Brothers

On September 15, 2008, the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following the massive exodus of most of its clients, drastic losses in its stock, and devaluation of its assets by credit rating agencies.

The filing marked the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

The following day, the British bank Barclays announced its agreement to purchase, subject to regulatory approval, Lehman’s North American investment-banking and trading divisions along with its New York headquarters building.

On September 20, 2008, a revised version of that agreement was approved by Judge James Peck.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 59 minutes)

Countdown to Zero

Countdown to Zero is a documentary film released in 2010 which argues that the likelihood of the use of nuclear weapons has increased since the end of the Cold War due to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, theft of nuclear materials and weapons, and other factors.

The film features interviews with leading statesmen and experts, including Tony Blair, Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Robert McNamara, Pervez Musharraf, and Valerie Plame Wilson.

The idea for the film first occurred to the producers when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Al Gore after the success of his documentary about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth.

A History of Britain

Stretching from the Stone Age to the year 2000, Simon Schama’s Complete History of Britain does not pretend to be a definitive chronicle of the turbulent events which buffeted and shaped the British Isles.

What Schama does do, however, is tell the story in vivid and gripping narrative terms, free of the fustiness of traditional academe, personalizing key historical events by examining the major characters at the center of them.

Not all historians would approve of the history depicted here as shaped principally by the actions of great men and women rather than by more abstract developments, but Schama’s way of telling it is a good deal more enthralling as a result.

A study of the history of the British Isles, each of the 15 episodes allows Schama to examine a particular period and tell of its events in his own style.

1. Beginnings: 3100 BC – 1000 AD. Simon Schama starts his story in the stone age village of Skara Brae, Orkney. Over the next four thousand years Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Danes, and Christian missionaries arrive, fight, settle and leave their mark on what will become the nations of Britain.

2. Conquest: 1000–1087. 1066 is not the best remembered date in British history for nothing. In the space of nine hours whilst the Battle of Hastings raged, everything changed. Anglo-Saxon England became Norman and, for the next 300 years, its fate was decided by dynasties of Norman rulers.

3. Dynasty: 1087–1216. There is no saga more powerful than that of the warring dynasty – domineering father, beautiful, scheming mother and squabbling, murderous sons and daughters, (particularly the nieces). In the years that followed the Norman Conquest, this was the drama played out on the stage of British history.

4. Nations: 1216–1348, this is the epic account of how the nations of Britain emerged from under the hammer of England’s “Longshanks” King Edward I, with a sense of who and what they were, which endures to this day.

5. King death: 1348–1500. It took only six years for the plague to ravage the British Isles. Its impact was to last for generations. But from the ashes of this trauma an unexpected and unique class of Englishmen emerged.

6. Burning convictions: 1500–1558. Here Simon Schama charts the upheaval caused as a country renowned for its piety, whose king styled himself Defender of the Faith, turns into one of the most aggressive proponents of the new Protestant faith.

7. The body of the Queen: 1558–1603. This is the story of two queens: Elizabeth I of England, the consummate politician, and Mary I, Queen of Scots, the Catholic mother. It is also the story of the birth of a nation.

8. The British wars: 1603–1649. The turbulent civil wars of the early seventeenth century would culminate in two events unique to British history; the public execution of a king and the creation of a republic. Schama tells of the brutal war that tore the country in half and created a new Britain – divided by politics and religion and dominated by the first truly modern army, fighting for ideology, not individual leaders.

9. Revolutions: 1649–1689. Political and religious revolutions racked Britain after Charles I’s execution, when Britain was a joyless, kingless republic led by Oliver Cromwell. His rule became so unpopular that for many it was a relief when the monarchy was restored after his death, but Cromwell was also a man of vision who brought about significant reforms.

10. Britannia incorporated: 1690–1750. As the new century dawned, relations between Scotland and England had never been worse. Yet half a century later the two countries would be making a future together based on profit and interest. The new Britain was based on money, not God.

11. The wrong empire: 1750–1800. The series is the exhilarating and terrible story of how the British Empire came into being through its early settlements—the Caribbean through the sugar plantations (and helped by slavery), the land that later became the United States and India through the British East India Company – and how it eventually came to dominate the world. A story of exploration and daring, but also one of exploitation, conflict, and loss.

12. Forces of nature: 1780–1832. Britain never had the kind of revolution experienced by France in 1789, but it did come close. In the mid-1770s the country was intoxicated by a great surge of political energy. Re-discovering England’s wildernesses, the intellectuals of the “romantic generation” also discovered the plight of the common man, turning nature into a revolutionary force.

13. Victoria and her sisters: 1830–1910. As the Victorian era began, the massive advance of technology and industrialisation was rapidly reshaping both the landscape and the social structure of the whole country. To a much greater extent than ever before women would take a center-stage role in shaping society.

14. The empire of good intentions: 1830–1925. This episode charts the chequered life of the liberal empire from Ireland to India – the promise of civilisation and material betterment and the delivery of coercion and famine.

15. The two Winstons”: 1910–1965. In the final episode, Schama examines the overwhelming presence of the past in the British twentieth century and the struggle of leaders to find a way to make a different national future. As towering figures of the twentieth century, Churchill and Orwell (through his 1984 character Winston Smith) in their different ways exemplify lives spent brooding and acting on that imperial past, and most movingly for us, writing and shaping its history.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 13 hours)
There are only 50 videos embedded here. Go to YouTube to watch the rest of it.

The 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction

This incisive documentary analyzes the extreme, yet persistent, theories that cloud the memory of our national tragedy. Experts in engineering, intelligence and the military scrutinize 9/11 conspiracy theories. Based in large part on a breakthrough exposé by Popular Mechanics. Produced by the authoritative NBC News Productions.

The tragedy of the attacks of 9/11 is ours to share; it is ours to remember; it is ours to understand. Yet, our memory and understanding were clouded almost from the first horrible moment Flight 11 struck the north tower. No-one could believe such a brazen and simple attack could be so tragically effective.

Disbelief quickly gave way to conspiracy theories and suspicions. These ideas from the fringe found a fertile breeding ground on the Internet and today many of them, through the power of almost infinite repetition, have nearly gained the status of truth.

The 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction exhaustively examines some of the most persistent of these theories: that the World Trade Center was brought down by a controlled demolition; that a missile, not a commercial airliner, hit the Pentagon; and that members of the U.S. government orchestrated the attacks in hopes of creating a war in the Middle East.

Each conspiracy argument is countered by a variety of experts in the fields of engineering, intelligence and the military. The program also delves into the anatomy of such conspiracies and how they grow on the Internet. A must see if you regard Loose Change, Final Cut as a credible documentary.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 1 hour, 17 minutes)
I don’t know if this is the same documentary, but here it is at Google Videos.

America’s Bankrupt Banks (Inside the Meltdown)

On Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008, the astonished leadership of the U.S. Congress was told in a private session by the chairman of the Federal Reserve that the American economy was in grave danger of a complete meltdown within a matter of days. There was literally a pause in that room where the oxygen left, says Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)

As the housing bubble burst and trillions of dollars’ worth of toxic mortgages began to go bad in 2007, fear spread through the massive firms that form the heart of Wall Street. By the spring of 2008, burdened by billions of dollars of bad mortgages, the investment bank Bear Stearns was the subject of rumors that it would soon fail.

Rumors are such that they can just plain put you out of business, Bear Stearns’ former CEO Alan Ace Greenberg tells FRONTLINE.

The company’s stock had dropped from $171 to $57 a share, and it was hours from declaring bankruptcy. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acted. It was clear that this had to be contained. There was no doubt in his mind, says Bernanke’s colleague, economist Mark Gertler.

Bernanke, a former economics professor from Princeton, specialized in studying the Great Depression. He more than anybody else appreciated what would happen if it got out of control, Gertler explains.

To stabilize the markets, Bernanke engineered a shotgun marriage between Bear Sterns and the commercial bank JPMorgan, with a promise that the federal government would use $30 billion to cover Bear Stearns’ questionable assets tied to toxic mortgages. It was an unprecedented effort to stop the contagion of fear that seemed to be threatening the rest of Wall Street.

While publicly supportive of the deal, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a former Wall Street executive with Goldman Sachs, was uncomfortable with government interference in the markets. That summer, he issued a warning to his former colleagues not to expect future government bailouts, saying he was concerned about a legal concept known as moral hazard.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 52 minutes)

Hawaii: Message in the Waves

Hawaii: Message in the Waves is a film from the BBC Natural History Unit looking at some of the environmental challenges facing the people and wildlife of the Hawaiian Islands.

Although the documentary is from a Hawaiian perspective it is really a global film. Because of their size, location and social history, the Hawaiian Islands represent a microcosm of the planet and are in a unique position to tell all of us where we are going wrong and what we can do to help put things right.

For more than just surfers, the ocean is an integral and inseparable part of Hawaiian life. To see the magnificent waves crash upon the Hawaii’s beaches, it’s clear why: From a Hawaiian perspective the ocean represents the ultimate beauty and bounty of life.

The waves that carry this bounty also carry a message. It is becoming increasingly clear that the oceans, not just around Hawaii but the world over, are in peril.

Now, scientists, surfers, environmentalists, and local Hawaiians, are mobilizing to address the issue. Hawaii: Message in the Waves follows their efforts as they try to clean the waters and save the marine life that calls them home.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 48 minutes)

Wild Russia

Wild Russia is a landmark High Definition series charting a journey across this vast land that stretches from Europe to the Pacific Ocean.

Covering 11 time zones, this huge country contains a wealth of unspoilt natural wildernesses – beyond the huge cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, a primal world with rough mountain summits, wild rivers and an unmatched flora and fauna reveals itself.

Through unprecedented access we showcase the wild spectacle that is the Russian continent. Across six dramatic episodes we explore this diverse and even exotic country.

Russia is a place of superlatives proving that size does matter. Few countries are home to such extraordinary mammals: the Amur Tiger is the world’s largest cat; the Polar Bear is the world’s largest land predator; massive brown bears scour the rivers in search of salmon.

The Russian skies are home to the world’s largest owl and majestic sea eagles. In the freezing northern waters, walruses and Beluga whales hunt for fish.

It also provides a refuge for some for some incredibly rare species – including the beautiful and elusive Amur Leopard.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 4 hours)

A History of Scotland

Landmark documentary series presented by Neil Oliver.

The Last of the Free – At the dawn of the first millennia, there was no Scotland or England.

Hammers of the Scots – Oliver charts the 13th century story of the two men who helped transform the Gaelic kingdom of Alba into the Scotland of today.

Bishop makes King – Robert Bruce’s 22-year struggle to secure the Scots’ independence is one of the most important chapters in Scotland’s story.

Language is Power – At one time, Gaelic Scotland – the people and the language – was central to the identity of Scots.

Project Britain – Oliver describes how the ambitions of two of Scotland’s Stuart monarchs were the driving force that united two ancient enemies, and set them on the road to the Great Britain we know today.

God’s Chosen People – Neil Oliver continues his journey through Scotland’s past with the story of the Covenanters, whose profound religious beliefs were declared in the National Covenant of 1638.

Let’s Pretend – Bitterly divided by politics and religion for centuries, this is the infamous story of how Scotland and England came together in 1707 to form Great Britain.

The Price of Progress – Through the winning and losing of an American empire and the impact of the Scottish Enlightenment, Neil Oliver reveals how in the second half of the 18th century Scotland was transformed from a poor northern backwater with a serious image problem into one of the richest nations on Earth.

This Land Is Our Land – At the start of the 19th century, everything familiar was swept away. People fled from the countryside into the industrial towns of Scotland’s central belt.

Project Scotland – As a partner in the British Empire, Scotland began the 20th century with an advanced economy and a world-beating heavy industry.

Despite being hailed by BBC Scotland as “one of its most ambitious projects ever”, the show has not been without controversy. There have been some claims, on the website of the BBC, that the programme made some errors.

Further, the 10-part series has come under fire over claims that it is too “anglocentric”. The failure to front it with a historian (Neil Oliver is an archaeologist) has also been attacked. A couple of Scottish academic advisers also resigned before some programmes were completed.

Watch the full documentary now

Series 1 (playlist – 4 hours)

Series 2 (playlist – 4 hours)

Ancients Behaving Badly

Ancients Behaving Badly is an eight part series for History Television that applies a modern analytical take to some of classical history’s most infamous rulers.

Evidence for the lives of these people comes from very limited and biased sources. Like all histories, they’re written by the victors, whether the dynasty that usurped the line of Nero and Caligula and therefore had a vested interest in making them look bad, or the history of the Mongols, a hagiography to Genghis Khan written by his successors designed to make him look great.

Because of their bias, how much of these stories can we trust? Were these men as depraved or as noble as the stories suggest?

This series will answer these questions. Using physical testing, archaeology and a modern knowledge of the sciences from toxicology to ballistics we will re-appraise their lives to separate fact from fiction.

Historical experts will take us to the sites of some of the most pivotal or infamous events of their lives and we will piece together what really happened. Highly stylized two and a half D graphics will be used to bring the crucial and violent moments of their lives to life.

And psychiatric profiling will help us to piece together what was going on inside their heads and then see how they measure up to other brutal rulers on our unique Ancients Behaving Badly Psycho-graph.

By looking at these tyrants with a modern eye, the series aims to show them as real people, who behaved and thought and acted in ways that we can recognize. We will test the stories told about them in the crucible of the modern world.

Episodes included: Caligula, Attila The Hun, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Nero, Hannibal, Genghis Khan and Cleopatra

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 5 hours)

The Big Silence

Abbot Christopher Jamison, a Benedictine monk, believes that he can teach five ordinary people the value of silent meditation, as practised by monks in monasteries, so they can make it part of their everyday lives.

He sets up a three-month experiment to test out whether the ancient Christian tradition of silence can become part of modern lives.

Christopher brings the five volunteers to his own monastery, Worth Abbey, before sending them to begin a daunting eight days in complete silence at a specialist retreat center.

Journey into the interior space that time in silence reveals. They encounter anger, frustration and rebellion, but finally find their way to both personal and spiritual revelation.

Will they make silent contemplation a part of their everyday lives? How much will their lives be changed by what they have discovered in their time in silence And will Abbot Christopher’s hope, that they will discover a new belief in God, be fulfilled?

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 2 hours, 56 minutes)

History of Advertising

9 parts 

The World History of Organized Crime

Watch full documentary: Click here.

Seven Ages of Britain

Seven Ages of Britain is a BBC television documentary series which is written and presented by David Dimbleby.

The series covers the history of Britain’s greatest art and artifacts over the past 2000 years. Each episode covers a different period in British history.

Age of Conquest. The first part of the chronicle begins with the Roman invasion and ends with the Norman Conquest. David travels throughout Britain in search of the greatest works of art from the time: the mosaics of Bignor Roman Villa, the burial treasure of Sutton Hoo, Anglo-Saxon poetry and Alfred the Great’s Jewel.

Age of Worship. The story of British art in the Middle Ages, spanning from the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 to the death of Richard II in 1400. It was an age defined by worship – whether worship of God, the king, or one’s lady love.

Age of Power. This episode looks at the Tudors and spans from Henry VIII’s accession in 1509 to the first performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII exactly 100 years later.

Age of Revolution. In the 17th century, when the people of Britain learned to question everything. The result was the Civil War, in which everyone, including artists, had to take sides. Out of it came a reinvented monarchy, a scientific revolution and, ultimately, the great Cathedral of St Paul’s.

Age of Money. In the 18th century, the triumph of commerce led to the emergence of a new ‘middle’ class, a group of people who craved pleasure and novelty, and developed its own tastes in art. The result was a golden age in painting, with Hogarth, Reynolds and Gainsborough reinventing the British style.

Age of Empire. The story of the British Empire from 1750 to 1900, revealed through its art and treasures. David Dimbleby travels through Britain, America and India, tracing the descent from adventure and inspiration into moral bankruptcy as the Empire became a self-serving bureaucratic machine.

Age of Ambition. In the last episode, David Dimbleby looks at how the 20th century saw ordinary Britons upturning ancient power structures and class hierarchies. The catalyst was the First World War, which embroiled the whole nation and called traditional values into question.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 6 hours)

The Secret You

With the help of a hammer-wielding scientist, Jennifer Aniston and a general anaesthetic, Professor Marcus du Sautoy goes in search of answers to one of science’s greatest mysteries: how do we know who we are?

While the thoughts that make us feel as though we know ourselves are easy to experience, they are notoriously difficult to explain. So, in order to find out where they come from, Marcus subjects himself to a series of probing experiments.

He learns at what age our self-awareness emerges and whether other species share this trait. Next, he has his mind scrambled by a cutting-edge experiment in anesthesia.

Having survived that ordeal, Marcus is given an out-of-body experience in a bid to locate his true self. And in Hollywood, he learns how celebrities are helping scientists understand the microscopic activities of our brain.

Finally, he takes part in a mind-reading experiment that both helps explain and radically alters his understanding of who he is.

Fix Me

Horizon follows the emotional journey of three young people with currently untreatable conditions to see if within their lifetime, they can be cured.

Sophie is desperate to discover if there’s a medical breakthrough which will get her walking again – a car crash after celebrating her A level results left her paralyzed from the waist down.

Anthony’s leg was amputated after a rugby accident on the eve of his eighteenth birthday. Will he ever be able to regrow his leg? Father of four Dean is desperate for a cure for his damaged heart to avoid an early death.

They’ve all read the headlines about the astonishing potential of stem cells to heal the body. Now they’ve been given access to the pioneering scientists who could transform their lives.

With so much at stake, each meeting is highly emotional as our three young people find out if science can fix them.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 58 minutes)

The Jews: A People’s History

This five-part documentary explores 4,000 years of Jewish history, starting with the origins of the Jewish people in the Middle East right through to present day Judaism.

The series researches the roots of the Jewish people, seeking clues about Judaism at the archaeological excavation sites, the centers of culture and in the written evidence of the Jewish Diaspora.

The purpose of the documentary is to give the public deeper insight, beyond the Holocaust and Israeli politics, into the Jewish people, Nina Koshofer, director of the documentary, said. We wanted to enlighten people on the historical development of Jews and their faith. We chose people with whom the public could identify.

Koshofer has focused most of her attention on known personalities. We also want to show the diversity of the Jewish people the rich and the poor, the famous and unknowns… We also wanted to try and answer the question that perhaps never really can be answered who is Jewish and what is Jewish… Koshofer added.

Koshofer is aiming to show that the answers to many questions are as varied as the number of Jews who live in the world today. One cannot portray Jews as one idea or ideal. Episodes included: Exodus, Diaspora, Stigma, The Star of David, Zion.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 4 hours)

The Truth According To Wikipedia

Google or Wikipedia? Those of us who search online -- and who doesn't? -- are getting referred more and more to Wikipedia. For the past two years, this free online "encyclopedia of the people" has been topping the lists of the world's most popular websites. But do we really know what we're using? Backlight plunges into the story behind Wikipedia and explores the wonderful world of Web 2.0. Is it a revolution, or pure hype?

Director IJsbrand van Veelen goes looking for the truth behind Wikipedia. Only five people are employed by the company, and all its activities are financed by donations and subsidies. The online encyclopedia that everyone can contribute to and revise is now even bigger than the illustrious Encyclopedia Britannica.

Does this spell the end for traditional institutions of knowledge such as Britannica? And should we applaud this development as progress or mourn it as a loss? How reliable is Wikipedia? Do "the people" really hold the lease on wisdom? And since when do we believe that information should be free for all?

In this film, "Wikipedians," the folks who spend their days writing and editing articles, explain how the online encyclopedia works. In addition, the parties involved discuss Wikipedia's ethics and quality of content. It quickly becomes clear that there are camps of both believers and critics.

Wiki's Truth introduces us to the main players in the debate: Jimmy Wales (founder and head Wikipedian), Larry Sanger (co-founder of Wikipedia, now head of Wiki spin-off Citizendium), Andrew Keen (author of The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy), Phoebe Ayers (a Wikipedian in California), Ndesanjo Macha (Swahili Wikipedia, digital activist), Tim O'Reilly (CEO of O'Reilly Media, the "inventor" of Web 2.0), Charles Leadbeater (philosopher and author of We Think, about crowdsourcing), and Robert McHenry (former editor-in-chief of Encyclopedia Britannica). Opening is a video by Chris Pirillo.

The questions surrounding Wikipedia lead to a bigger discussion of Web 2.0, a phenomenon in which the user determines the content. Examples include YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and Wikipedia. These sites would appear to provide new freedom and opportunities for undiscovered talent and unheard voices, but just where does the boundary lie between expert and amateur? Who will survive according to the laws of this new "digital Darwinism"? Are equality and truth really reconcilable ideals? And most importantly, has the Internet brought us wisdom and truth, or is it high time for a cultural counterrevolution?  

Watch:

BrainSex – Why We Fall in Love?

BrainSex – Why We Fall In Love, is an interesting documentary about the science and natural findings as to why humans fall in love.

For centuries, love has been celebrated – and probed – mostly by poets, artists, and balladeers. But now, its mysteries are also yielding to the tools of science, including modern brain scanning machines.

A handful of young people who had just fallen madly in love volunteered to have their brains scanned to see what areas were active when they looked at a picture of their sweetheart. The brain areas that lit up were precisely those known to be rich in a powerful feel good chemical, dopamine – the substance that brain cells release in response to cocaine and nicotine.

Dopamine is the key chemical in the brain’s reward system, a network of cells associated with pleasure – and addiction.

In the same lab, older volunteers who claimed to still be intensely in love after two decades of marriage participated in the same experiment. The same brain areas lit up, showing that, at least in some lucky couples, that honeymoon feeling can last.

But in these folks, other areas lit up, too – those rich in oxytocin, the cuddling chemical that helps new mothers make milk and bond with their babies, is secreted by both sexes during orgasm, and that, in animals, has been linked to monogamy and long-term attachment.

It’s way too soon – and hopefully, always will be – to say that brain scientists have translated all those warm and fuzzy feelings we call romantic love into a bunch of chemicals and electrical signals in the brain.

But they do have a plausible hypothesis: that dopamine plays a big role in the excitement of love, and oxytocin is key for the calmer experience of attachment. Granted, the data are preliminary. But the findings so far are provocative.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 58 minutes)