The Story of Science – How Did We Get Here?

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the third episode a new BBC documentary series about the history of science entitled “The Story of Science” hosted by Michael Mosley.

In the third installment of the series, Mosley explores the most controversial and contentious questions that science has ever wrestled with – that of our human origins.

This is the story of how scientists came to explain the beauty and diversity of life on earth, and reveal how its evolution is connected to the long and violent history of our planet. Featuring ocean adventurers, eccentric French aristocrats, mountain climbers, a secret Victorian publisher with 12 fingers, a ridiculed German meteorologist, and only a brief hint of Charles Darwin.

The Story of Science – How Did We Get Here?

The Cosmos: A Beginners Guide – Life in the Cosmos

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the first installment of the popular documentary series – The Cosmos: A Beginners Guide and explore the exciting possibility of life elsewhere in our vast and ancient Cosmos.

This series is the story of everything – from the first microseconds of our universe’s beginning to the exciting future of first contact and homes beyond our Earth. Join Adam Hart-Davis, Janet Sumner and Maggie Aderin for a journey around the planet to discover the latest thinking about the Cosmos.

In the first episode of this series Adam Hart-Davis presents this episode from the Allan Telescope Array (ATA), an impressive group of telescopes in the Mountains of Northern California. It’s at the cutting edge in the search for intelligent life. Adam teams up with Dr Seth Shostack (SETI Institute), an alien hunter with twenty years’ experience under his belt. We find out why the ATA is the most powerful telescope ever built – and learn about future plans for the hugely powerful Square Kilometre Array.

The Cosmos: A Beginners Guide – Life in the Cosmos

Wonders of the Solar System – The Thin Blue Line

Today on Discovery Enterprise we continue our whirl wind tour of the wonders of the solar system with episode three of Wonders of the Solar System, presented by Professor Brian Cox.

Professor Cox visits some of the most stunning locations on earth to describe how the laws of nature have carved natural wonders across the solar system.

In the third installment of Wonders of the Solar System, Professor Cox reveals how something as flimsy as an envelope of gas – an atmosphere – can create some of the most wondrous sights in the solar system. He takes a ride in an English Electric Lightning and flies 18 km up to the top of earth’s atmosphere, where he sees the darkness of space above and the thin blue line of our atmosphere below. In the Namib Desert in south-west Africa, he tells the story of Mercury. This tiny planet was stripped naked of its early atmosphere and is fully exposed to the ferocity of space.

Against the stunning backdrop of the glaciers of Alaska, Professor Cox reveals his fourth wonder: Saturn’s moon Titan, shrouded by a murky, thick atmosphere. He reveals that below the clouds lies a magical world. Titan is the only place beyond earth where we’ve found liquid pooling on the surface in vast lakes, as big as the Caspian Sea, but the lakes of Titan are filled with a mysterious liquid, and are quite unlike anything on earth.

Wonders of the Solar System – The Thin Blue Line

VIDEO: Worst drink in the US

This is also disgusting, but I like it.

VIDEO: Worst drink in the US

Doctors want to mutilate girls

AUSTRALIAN doctors are considering a controversial form of genital mutilation on baby girls.

The practice involving cutting a girl’s genitals, sometimes with razors or pieces of glass, could be allowed in a clinical setting to stem illegal backyard procedures which are leaving young girls scarred for life.

The Royal Australian New Zealand College of Obstetricians will next month discuss backing “ritual nicks”, a modified form of genital mutilation.

But experts are divided on whether to allow the practice, given that in some cultures it is used to remove the sexual feelings of women.

Female genital mutilation has been outlawed in Australia since the 1990s but is common among African, Asian and Middle Eastern communities.

Excuse me doctors but in Australia female circumcision is considered barbaric and an attack on human rights. No effort should ever be made to condone such practices. Any doctor preforming such surgery should be charged. 

Also what word was conspicuously missing from that article?

National emergency declared

This is just outrageous. The mining companies are mounting an advertising campaign against the Rudd governments’ mining tax so what do they do? Use the national emergency powers to bypass their own rules tnd attack the miners:

WAYNE Swan is preparing to escalate his pitched battle with the mining industry over the resource super-profits tax, obtaining a special exemption under national emergency powers to waive the government’s own advertising rules for a campaign against the miners.

The exemption granted this week to the Treasurer by Special Minister of State Joe Ludwig will allow the government to rush out an advertising campaign to counter a mining industry blitz against the new 40 per cent super profits tax….

Mr Swan on May 10 sought permission from Senator Ludwig, in his role as Cabinet Secretary, to mount a tax reform advertising campaign.

How many millions will they spend? We have a federal government which has no respect for the Australian people.

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Dino Sex But, Where Afraid To Ask

Birds do it, bees do it and people do it to. But, how on Earth did dinosaurs do it? Find out today on Discovery Enterprise as we explore – Everything you ever wanted to know about dino sex, but where afraid to ask.

You can also see this remarkable video in full screen mode here or right click on the screen and choose full screen view and the advert will disappear.

Paleoworld Dino Sex

The Story of Science – What is the World Made of?

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the second episode a new BBC documentary series about the history of science entitled “The Story of Science” hosted by Michael Mosley.

In the second instalment of the series, Mosley demonstrates how our society is built on our search to find the answer to what makes up everything in the material world. This is a story that moves from the secret labs of the alchemists and their search for gold to the creation of the world’s first synthetic dye – mauve – and onto the invention of the transistor.

This quest may seem abstract and highly theoretical. Yet it has delivered the greatest impact on humanity. By trying to answer this question, scientists have created theories from elements to atoms, and the strange concepts of quantum physics that underpin our modern, technological world.

The Story of Science – What is the World Made of?

The intellectual and the redneck

 Dennis Prager is an American conservative intellectual, speaks four languages and a fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford. The other day he shared a platform with self confessed redneck Sarah Palin. Have a look at the first 5 minutes or so of the panel discussion here.  Although there may be a lot of truth in what Mr Prager said but Sarah’s comments took the wind out of his sails.  She is no fool.

The 11th Hour

Today on Discovery Enterprise, as part of our Oceans 911 funding drive, we present another in a series of documentaries concerning the major dangers of environmental degradation and climate change facing our world. Today’s video feature is the documentary – the 11th Hour. Join in the fight against the environmental degradation of our oceans by contributing to the Oceans 911 fund.

With contributions from over 50 politicians, scientists, and environmental activists, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Stephen Hawking, Wangari Maathai, the film documents the grave problems facing the planet’s life systems.

Global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and depletion of the oceans’ habitats are all addressed. The film’s premise is that the future of humanity is in jeopardy. The film proposes potential solutions to these problems by calling for restorative action by the reshaping and rethinking of global human activity through technology, social responsibility and conservation.

Not all scientists agree on the fact that global warming is an immediate threat. Although, every scientist in this movie apparently does. Every expert interviewed stressed the fact that human involvement in the fight against global warming is mandatory. This is due to the fact that the increased anthropogenic cycle is pinned down as the main cause of climate change in the movie.

The role of humans in the destruction of the environment is explained from the viewpoint of several different professional fields: environmental scientists, oceanographers, economic historians, medical specialists, etc. The best example of this came from philosopher Wade Davis who theorized that to people, “You are either a person or property,” referring to mankind’s view on land and natural resource.

The 11th Hour