In the marine environment, there’s a lot of really small scale processes that affect large ecosystems. For example, coral reefs, while they can extend hundreds or thousands of miles, they’re built by individual coral polyps that are around a millimeter in size. Currently, if you want to study an individual coral polyp, you take a sample from the reef and bring it back to the lab. But, that sampling process in itself is going to disturb the organism...

An epic jump in our ability to produce innovation will come from the real-time observation of moving matter in the atomic scale. In 2001, Ferenc Krausz and his team pioneered a new technology, enabling the generation and measurement of bursts of light at the speed of attoseconds (one quintillionth of a second), thus bringing us into the era of attophysics, where the fastest physical events can be studied with unprecedented time resolution. Krausz...

Practical skills are paramount for science students, and learning laboratory techniques is an ongoing process. New skills are constantly being introduced, some of which build on more basic concepts. This instructional film demonstrates the correct and safe procedure for carrying a scalpel and using a microscope; using a spring balance, ticker timer and Hodson light box; connecting meters in circuits; separation techniques; how to test for the presence...

Host Molecular Mike invites students to join in on some awesome science fun! This series takes students through science lessons, emphasizing National Science Standards, using experiments, demostrations, classroom links and professionals working with real life science applications. A talking computer shows how to apply new science concepts to technology. Molecular Mike look at living structures that make organisms unique. Cells, human body systems,...

Research into the pathology of calcification is building momentum. This program follows the work of scientists and physicians dedicated to the study of calcium in the human body-including how and why it accumulates to fatal levels and how diseases linked to calcification can be prevented, treated, or cured. Science journalist Douglas Mulhall introduces the basic issues; Dr. Clarke Anderson of the University of Kansas Medical Center describes his groundbreaking...

The microscopic structure of food significantly affects its processing characteristics, flavor properties and texture. This program highlights research that could provide keys to understanding and controlling food behavior, which would solve the 'reduced fat but better taste' challenge facing modern society.

Host Molecular Mike invites students to join in on some awesome science fun! This series takes students through science lessons, emphasizing National Science Standards, using experiments, demostrations, classroom links and professionals working with real life science applications. A talking computer shows how to apply new science concepts to technology. Take a close look at matter's measurable, observable properties. Density, phases of matter, atoms,...

The fascinating interplay of genetic predispositions and experience in the development of the brain after birth is demonstrated in this program filmed at the Brain Development Laboratory at the University of Oregon. Three profiles of plasticity are depicted with compelling footage of behavioral, MRI, and EEG research into the development of visual perception and language acquisition from infancy through old age. A congenitally Deaf young woman, university...

Biodiversity describes the incredible variety of life found on our planet. This program explores Earth’s biodiversity, the fundamental processes and characteristics of the Earth’s biological history, the extinction of existing species, and the appearance of new ones, such as Homo sapiens. What are the long-term consequences of human population growth? Are we heading towards a great extinction? Is the Earth’s biological diversity diminishing...

This program investigates how psychological principles determine a smell's level of repellence. After testing natural smells found to be offensive to most people, scientists at Monell Chemical Services Center and the University of California propose that our reactions are heavily shaped by personal experience. Demonstrations of how olfactory lobes work are featured. Host Nigel Marven observes how one of nature's worst smells, skunk, fails to bother...