Some ACE Science and Mathematics Documentaries

MATHEMATICS

N Is a Number: A Portrait of Paul Erdős

Paul Erdős (26 March 1913 -- 20 September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician. Erdős published more papers than any other mathematician in history, working with hundreds of collaborators. He worked on problems in combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, classical analysis, approximation theory, set theory, and probability theory. He is also known for his "legendarily eccentric" personality. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnCrUroeVlI


The Story of Maths

Marcus du Sautoy's The Story of Maths is a total of four hours attempting to give an overview of the history of mathematics from ancient to modern time, spending 5-10 minutes each on the life and work of some of the most famous mathematicians. While one could quibble with some of the selections, the project is overall a fantastic production.

:  http://www.infocobuild.com/books-and-films/science/story-of-math.html


Fermat's Last Theorem

At the age of ten, browsing through his public library, Andrew Wiles stumbled across the world's greatest mathematical puzzle. Fermat's Last Theorem had baffled mathematicians for over 300 years. But from that day, little Andrew dreamed of solving it. Tonight's HORIZON tells the story of his obsession, and how, thirty years later, he gave up everything to achieve his childhood dream.
Deep in our classroom memories lies the enduring notion that "the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides": Pythagoras's Theorem for right-angled triangles. Written down, it is also the simplest of mathematical equations: x^ 2+ y^2 = z^2

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FnXgprKgSE


Alan Turing: Codebreaker and AI Pioneer

The code-breaking work at Bletchley Park, which helped save Britain from Nazi Germany, qualifies as one of the greatest stories of World War II, and the misunderstood genius, Alan Turing, stands at the center of this tale. Perhaps no one understands Turing's role during this period -- and his larger impact on mathematics and computing -- like B. Jack Copeland. In this lecture, Copeland contends that Turing should be celebrated as the father of artificial intelligence.

:  http://video.mit.edu/watch/alan-turing-codebreaker-and-ai-pioneer-9212/


Dangerous Knowledge

In this one-off documentary, David Malone looks at four brilliant mathematicians - Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing - whose genius has profoundly affected us, but which tragically drove them insane and eventually led to them all committing suicide.
The film also talks to the latest in the line of thinkers who have continued to pursue the question of whether there are things that mathematics and the human mind cannot know. They include Greg Chaitin, mathematician at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center, New York, and Roger Penrose.
Dangerous Knowledge tackles some of the profound questions about the true nature of reality that mathematical thinkers are still trying to answer today.

:  http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/dangerous-knowledge/


Taking the Long View: The Life of Shiing-shen Chern

The Life of Shiing-shen Chern (2010) examines the life of a remarkable mathematician whose formidable mathematical contributions were matched by an approach and vision that helped build bridges between China and the West. Shiing-shen Chern is portrayed as a man who dedicated his life to pure mathematics with the style of a classical Chinese sage.

:  http://vimeo.com/16185312


Science Lives

The Simons Foundation presents a series of extended interviews with some of the giants of 20th-century mathematics and science. This collection, organized in collaboration with Hugo Rossi of the University of Utah, provides an opportunity to watch these great men and women discuss their lives and their thinking about science and our world.

:  http://simonsfoundation.org/category/features/science-lives/


The Memoirs and Legacy of Évariste Galois

Évariste Galois was born 200 years ago and died aged 20, shot in a mysterious early-morning duel in 1832. He left contributions to the theory of equations that changed the direction of mathematics and led directly to what is now broadly described as 'modern' or 'abstract' algebra.  In this lecture, designed for a general audience, Dr Peter Neumann will explain Galois' discoveries and place them in their historical context. Little knowledge of mathematics is assumed - the only prerequisite is sympathy for mathematics and its history. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfJ4vwQ3vpo


Achieving the Unachievable

It features many mathematicians discussing M.C. Escher's Print Gallery 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6iJ_U59ZwI


John Forbes Nash (A Brilliant Madness) 

A Brilliant Madness is the story of a mathematical genius whose career was cut short by a descent into madness. At the age of 30, John Nash, a stunningly original and famously eccentric MIT mathematician, suddenly began claiming that aliens were communicating with him and that he was a special messenger.
 Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Nash spent the next three decades in and out of mental hospitals, all but forgotten. During that time, a proof he had written at the age of 20 became a foundation of modern economic theory. In 1994, as Nash began to show signs of emerging from his delusions, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Economics.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXIfhJ36Iw



Some ACE Talks from CMI 
 :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEFzul7s9-4&feature=list_other&playnext=1&list=SP0767A09CF0864F8A


Mathematical Mystery Tour 

Nova's Mathematical Mystery Tour is a really nice one

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbOyXO-JFX8&feature=related


RAMANUJAN: Letters from an Indian Clerk 

The extraordinary story of how in 1914 the self-taught maths genius SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN was brought from Madras to Trinity College, Cambridge, by the great English pure mathematician GH Hardy, who called their relationship 'the one truly romantic episode of my life'. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OARGZ1xXCxs


A walk through mathematics! 

A film for a wide audience! Nine chapters, two hours of maths, that take you gradually up to the fourth dimension. Mathematical vertigo guaranteed!

:  http://www.dimensions-math.org/Dim_E.htm


To Infinity and Beyond - BBC Horizon (HD)

Mathematicians have discovered there are infinitely many infinities, each one infinitely bigger than the last. And if the universe goes on forever, the consequences are even more bizarre. In an infinite universe, there are infinitely many copies of the Earth and infinitely many copies of you. Older than time, bigger than the universe and stranger than fiction. This is the story of infinity. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBsywDWmwyA



How to make better decisions - BBC Horizon

According to science: We are bad at making decisions. Our decisions are based on oversimplification, laziness and prejudice. And that's assuming that we haven't already been hijacked by our surroundings or led astray by our subconscious!
Featuring exclusive footage of experiments that show how our choices can be confounded by temperature, warped by post-rationalisation and even manipulated by the future, Horizon presents a guide to better decision making, and introduces you to Mathematician Garth Sundem, who is convinced that conclusions can best be reached using simple maths and a pencil!

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHSzAqiIl_M



A Nice collection of videos in VI Hart's Blog :  http://vihart.com/


Some More Mathematical Documentaries you MUST watch :  http://www.cosmolearning.com/mathematics/documentaries/ 



PHYSICS

A Brief History of Time

A film about the life and work of the cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, who despite his near total paralysis, is one of the great minds of all time. 

: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeaIHB5mBqU


Newtons Dark Secrets

Centuries old manuscripts reveal the hidden pursuits of a scientific genius. Delving into his studies from the question of God, to his scientific discoveries, and his obsession with alchemy... It is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen, considering that it portrayed the life of one of the greatest scientists in history and how he thought. 

:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdmhPfGo3fE


In search of Giants 

In this series physicist Brian Cox introduces electrons, neutrons, protons etc .. and forces that underpin our world: the strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetism and gravity. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw5TE5o7JtE&playnext=1&list=PL30FBB7AD93C34876&feature=results_main


Most of our Universe is Missing - BBC Horizon

There was a time, not so long ago, when science seemed to understand how the universe worked. Everything us, the Earth, the stars and even exotic-sounding supernovae was made of atoms which were all created at time-zero: the Big Bang. In between the atoms was nothing, a void: quite literally, 'space'.
But recently things have started to unravel. There is, it seems, a lot more to the universe than meets the eye. According to the best estimates, we only really know what about 4% of it is made of. But if only 4% is made of atoms, what about the rest? The rest is made of mysterious entities about which very little is understood, with equally mysterious names: dark matter and dark energy.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv6uJjF19DE&feature=BFa&list=PL3A8A65946890C4BD


Exploring Einstein: Life of a Genius

One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein changed the world with four papers that led directly to the development of atomic weapons, space travel, satellite technology and a profound understanding of the universe. But, wracked with guilt over the real-world applications of his science - specifically, how the use of atomic weapons clashed with his humanitarian beliefs. Einstein spent the last half of his life desperately trying to disprove the implications of so much of his work. Learn how the greatest scientist of the 20th century would spend his final years enduring appalling professional humiliation. While most of the world hailed him as a genius, he slowly became a marginal figure within the scientific community - revered, but ignored. And it was all because he could not accept the fact that his life's work stood at odds with his personal beliefs. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0ED68ADF1BA4051A


Large Hadron Collider - The Search For The Higgs

This documentary is when the Large Hadron Collider was about to start working and unravel/recreate the conditions in the early universe. By revisiting the beginning of time, scientists hope to unravel some of the deepest secrets of our Universe.
Within these first few moments the building blocks of the Universe were formed. The search for these fundamental particles has occupied scientists for decades but there remains one particle that has stubbornly refused to appear in any experiment. It explains how fundamental particles acquire mass, or as one scientist plainly states: "It is what makes stuff". Two Public Lectures have also been added so as to explain the basics and importance of the discovery of the Higgs Like particle.  

:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?playnext=1&index=0&feature=PlayList&v=_fJ6PMfnz2E&list=PLEF1B69117E068274 ,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuZJFzFKLwo ,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqNg819PiZY


Physics / 100 Greatest Discoveries

Scientists have transformed the way we think and live throughout the centuries. What are the most important scientific discoveries of all time?

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vu23EbuBVI


Through The Wormhole - With Morgan Freeman 

Hosted by Morgan Freeman, Through the Wormhole will explore the deepest mysteries of existence – the questions that have puzzled mankind for eternity. What are we made of? What was there before the beginning? Are we really alone? Is there a creator? These questions have been pondered by the most exquisite minds of the human race.
Now, science has evolved to the point where hard facts and evidence may be able to provide us with answers instead of philosophical theories. Through the Wormhole will bring together the brightest minds and best ideas from the very edges of science – Astrophysics, Astrobiology, Quantum Mechanics, String Theory, and more – to reveal the extraordinary truth of our Universe.

:  http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/through-the-wormhole/


The Fabric of the Cosmos

The Fabric of the Cosmos, a four-hour series based on the book by renowned physicist and author Brian Greene, takes us to the frontiers of physics to see how scientists are piecing together the most complete picture yet of space, time, and the universe.
With each step, audiences will discover that just beneath the surface of our everyday experience lies a world we’d hardly recognize – a startling world far stranger and more wondrous than anyone expected.

:  http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-fabric-of-the-cosmos/


Who's Afraid Of A Black Hole ? (BBC Documentary)

Black Holes are one of the most destructive forces in the universe, capable of tearing a planet apart and swallowing an entire star. Yet scientists now believe they could hold the key to answering the ultimate question - what was there before the Big Bang? The trouble is that researching them is next to impossible. Black holes are by definition invisible and there's no scientific theory able to explain them. Despite these obvious obstacles, Horizon meets the astronomers attempting to image a black hole for the very first time and the theoretical physicists getting ever closer to unlocking their mysteries. It's a story that takes us into the heart of a black hole and to the very edge of what we think we know about the universe.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP0Ig99In3s


BBC Horizon 2012: How Small is the Universe ¦ 720p

It is a journey where things don't just become smaller but also a whole lot weirder. Scientists hope to catch a glimpse of miniature black holes, multiple dimensions and even parallel Universes. As they start to explore this wonderland, where nothing is quite what it seems, they may have to rewrite the fundamental laws of time and space.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LH0wO16Me8&feature=related


BBC Horizon - How Big is the Universe?

Cosmologists discuss their project to create a map of everything in existence, and reveal that their research has yielded some highly unexpected results, creating a picture stranger than anything they had imagined. Scientists also explain why the map suggests the universe may not be an all-encompassing entity - but merely the starting point for something much bigger.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIAu5nBz2gw&feature=related


Seeing Stars - BBC Horizon

Around the world, a new generation of astronomers are hunting for the most mysterious objects in the universe. Young stars, black holes, even other forms of life.They have created a dazzling new set of super-telescopes that promise to rewrite the story of the heavens. This film follows the men and women who are pushing the limits of science and engineering in some of the most extreme environments on earth. But most strikingly of all, no-one really knows what they will find out there.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Modhxyakk


BBC Horizon Project Poltergeist (Missing Neutrinos) - Full Documentary

This is the story of two genuine scientific heroes. For forty years, John Bahcall and Ray Davis were engaged in a single extraordinary experiment - to find out why the Sun shines. In the end they would triumph. Davis would win the Nobel Prize and, thanks to their work, a whole new theory about how the universe is put together may have to be created.At the heart of this story is a tiny, utterly mysterious thing called a neutrino. Trillions of them pass through your body every second, touching nothing, leaving no trace. Yet neutrinos are one of a handful of fundamental particles in the universe, essential to every atom in existence and clues to what makes the Sun work. But their ghost-like quality made trapping and understanding them immensely difficult.What then followed was a bizarre series of experiments. They led from a vat containing 600 tons of cleaning fluid, to a vast cavern in a Japanese mountain, to a hole in the ground in Canada two kilometres deep. What they would reveal would stun the world of science. It seems that neutrinos may be our parents. They may be the reason why everything, including us, exists.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xemmtr2X9yY&feature=related


Cracking the Colour Code

Why is the sky blue? Why do leaves turn yellow in autumn? And why does red play so powerful a role in so many cultures? Is colour real or is it just a construct of our brains?
Drawing on the latest scientific findings and technology, Cracking the Colour Code is a series for people who are seeking answers to many of the questions that relate to colour and who, at the same time, wish to enjoy the incredible diversity and sensation that colour has to offer in our world. While colour is a child of physics, it triggers within us a host of emotional, intuitive and intellectual responses – deeply rooted within ourselves.
The series is both food for the intellect and the senses – delivered as a carefully arranged and orchestrated feast, yet one that is playful and provocative.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL25AFB4DE713E4CEC&v=EM60JiF_4_4&feature=player_embedded


Brave New World with Stephen Hawking

Brave New World is a show about our future and the technological advances that await us. Except Stephen Hawking of course, many more science celebrities are featured in this show, such as Richard Dawkins and Jim Al-Khalili.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLDFF3E1E5DE04E1AC&v=EgG43ScR-EA&feature=player_embedded


Faster than the Speed of Light? 

In September 2011, an international group of scientists has made an astonishing claim – they have detected particles that seemed to travel faster than the speed of light.In this film, Professor Marcus du Sautoy explores one of the most dramatic scientific announcements for a generation. In clear, simple language he tells the story of the science we thought we knew, how it is being challenged, and why it matters.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSRTQA_iuHQ


TEDxCaltech – Simon Fölling – Quantum Simulations 

Simon Fölling studies quantum many-body systems, such as the ones found in magnetic and semiconducting materials, by using ultracold atomic gases. At TEDxCaltech event, he talks about quantum simulations; field of science connecting material science with quantum nature of reality.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_n4xaJ1h34&feature=player_embedded


Hunting for Neutrinos

This is a CERN documentary about the neutrino, an elementary particle that usually travels close to the speed of light, is electrically neutral, has close to zero mass, and is able to pass through ordinary matter almost undisturbed. Naturally such properties make it extremely difficult to detect so this documentary also covers the scientific methods involved in hunting down the neutrino. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hohp_HTrYZc&feature=player_embedded


Garrett Lisi: A beautiful new theory of everything

“For the next 18 minutes I’m going to try to explain the beauty of particle physics without equations”, that is how physicist and surfer Garrett Lisi starts this lecture, and he sure does. He presents a controversial new model that could answer some big questions. His theory gives us a pattern, or layout for sub-atomic particles (similar to the periodic table of elements). DISPROVED: This theory has been disproved in the meantime, although Lisi updated the theory and published new papers. You can read about it on Wikipedia.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-Gk_Ddhr0M&feature=player_embedded


The Hawking Paradox - BBC Horizon

This is a BBC production documentary on Stephen Hawking’s work on black holes and the implications of his theory. Stephen Hawking is probably the most famous physicist in the whole world. He became famous for his work on the Big Bang theory as well as his research on black holes. Science had long predicted that if a sufficiently large star collapsed at the end of its life, all the matter left in the star would be crushed into an infinitely small point with infinite gravity and infinite density – a singularity. Hawking laid the foundations of black hole thermodynamics, a theory that explains a lot, but also appears to break some basic physical laws. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH428LQ5cD8


Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum

The electromagnetic (EM) spectrum is just a name that scientists give a bunch of types of radiation when they want to talk about them as a group. Radiation is energy that travels and spreads out as it goes– visible light that comes from a lamp in your house and radio waves that come from a radio station are two types of electromagnetic radiation.This is a very nice short movie series from the ScienceAtNASAYouTube channel, explaining the basics of the EM spectrum. Going from the introduction to each type of EM waves in a bit of more detail. Well worth the watch.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL2D385B547292AE5B&v=lwfJPc-rSXw&feature=player_embedded


Miracle Planet

Miracle Planet is a 5-video series co-produced by the NFB, NHK Japan, the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel. Filmed around the world and based upon the most recent scientific findings, Miracle Planet combines location footage and interviews with leading scientists, along with computer animation, to vividly depict the cataclysmic events that have shaped our planet and all of the life-forms within it. The five episodes tells a profound and gripping story which places the evolution of life on Earth in perspective with our place in the universe – from the simplest microbes to the complexity and diversity that is found on the planet today.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0200B1524E220C5A&v=LJ0jBq-hUQ0&feature=player_embedded


Inside Planet Earth

A Discovery Channel documentary film about the insides of our planet, all the way to the molten core. With the aid of stunning visual effects, the unexplored interior of the Earth is split wide open, giving us an unbelievable view. From glowing seams of pure iron ore to sparkling diamond caverns to the magnetic field that keeps us safe from the lethal radiation of space.Very nice production with really beautiful visuals, informative and entertaining, although sometimes visuals can get a bit too much in the first plan, but still a good documentary overall. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLC793D6DD7C4F0C67&v=YDK_VIQ6M2E&feature=player_embedded


The Poetry of Science: Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson

Two of science’s luminaries converse on the beauty of science. Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and host of NOVA and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins will explore the wonders of the Cosmos and of Life, its origins, its inspirations, and why science is not just an option, it is the only reality we possess.
This is a brilliant talk by some of the brightest scientific minds. Both of them great speakers and great teachers.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RExQFZzHXQ&feature=player_embedded


Carl Sagan’s Last Interview

Carl Sagan gave his last interview with Charlie rose on May 27th 1996. He discussed pseudo-science, religion, unfounded claims, his personal love affair with science and his struggle with myelodysplasia as well as other elements of his last book: The Demon-Haunted World.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL303C7D89440BD561&v=jod7v-m573k&feature=player_embedded


For All Mankind

This is a documentary about the NASA Apollo missions that brought the mankind to moon. During the Apollo lunar missions from 1968 to 1972, those onboard were given 16mm cameras and told to film anything and everything they could, in space, in orbit, and on the surface of the moon itself.
Two decades later, filmmaker Al Reinert went into the NASA vaults to create this extraordinary compendium of their journeys and experiences. Assembled from hundreds of hours of the astronauts’ own footage, with a soundtrack made up of their memories and a specially composed score by Brian Eno, the film takes the form of one journey to the moon and back again, building with elegant simplicity and exquisite construction to create an overpowering vision of human endeavour and miraculous experience.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLAEEDF8F1DD61F630&v=otvtMfEI_9w&feature=player_embedded


2057 – The World

This is the third and final part of the 2057 series, a Discovery Channel production documentary series, hosted by theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, which deals with the predictions of the future, describing how the world could look in the year 2057.“The World” is probably the most complex episode of the three, discussing topics as varied as satellites that transmit data at extreme speed using lasers, to more political topics such as probable future geopolitical scenarios involving China and the United States as two opposing superpowers and the ramifications of a worldwide energy crisis with solar power positioned as a likely candidate to relieve the world’s energy needs.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLB60C19055FADE237&v=aSxUKyDoRbc&feature=player_embedded


The Story of Science – Can We Have Unlimited Power?

Medical journalist Michael Mosley introduces the fundamental questions and the great forces of history that have shaped the story of science. What is out there? What is the world made of? What is the secret of life?
This is the fourth episode in the series, dealing with power and energy. It describes the innovations that lead up to the industrial revolution, such as steam powered engines. This gave rise to the laws of thermodynamics. It then follows with the unification theory of electricity and magnetism giving us the electric power, something we cannot imagine our lives without anymore. Finally the episode concludes with Einstein’s famous formula E=mc2, that preceded the discovery of nuclear energy.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL4B53F5DB458B11CC&v=5k8gW1tBjOg&feature=player_embedded


Understanding Space and Time

This is a pretty old documentary explaining Einstein’s special relativity. There are no special effects here, but enough information to make you watch it twice. It explains the fundamental laws of physics such as the conservations of energy and momentum, then it follows with the examples from special relativity, explaining in detail the famous Einstein’s equation. It finishes with particle physics with the examples of the pictures of particle collisions from the accelerator. This is truly one of the most informative and educational documentaries ever made, although without any special effects whatsoever (if you don’t count the particle accelerator). 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL3DC83C388E06CF5E&v=tnQnAaVGPK0&feature=player_embedded


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

Medical journalist Michael Mosley introduces the fundamental questions and the great forces of history that have shaped the story of science. What is out there? What is the world made of? What is the secret of life?
This is the second episode of the series, trying to find the answer to the question: What is the world made of, through scientific history.  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, and onto the invention of the transistor.  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.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL413E2993FB33BF21&v=qOA067ZZpkk&feature=player_embedded


The Story of Science – What Is Out There?

Medical journalist Michael Mosley introduces the fundamental questions and the great forces of history that have shaped the story of science. What is out there? What is the world made of? What is the secret of life?
The Story of Science is a BBC produced documentary series dealing in such fundamental questions through scientific history. Examining how a certain concept was changed with years and with new discoveries. This is a first episode in the series, dealing in astronomical discoveries and how they influenced the world, changing our viewpoint and banishing us from the center of the cosmos.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0C0EC9B162C33DFE&v=o8_ik7lDWRo&feature=player_embedded


The Secret Life of Chaos

Chaos theory has a bad name, conjuring up images of unpredictable weather, economic crashes and science gone wrong. But there is a fascinating and hidden side to Chaos one that scientists are only now beginning to understand. It turns out that chaos theory answers a question that mankind has asked for millennia – how did we get here?In this documentary, Professor Jim Al-Khalili sets out to uncover one of the great mysteries of science – how does a universe that starts off as dust end up with intelligent life? How does order emerge from disorder? This is a nice, educational show that explains the basics of chaos theory pretty well. 

:  http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/secret-life-chaos/


The Atom

In this three-part documentary series, Professor Jim Al-Khalili tells the story of one of the greatest scientific discoveries ever: that the material world is made up of atoms. First episode deals with the discovery of atoms and its impact on the scientific community, it also tackles the quantum mechanics of Heisenberg, and the problems Einstein had it with it. The next episode deals in the radioactivity, atom bomb and the big bang.Finally, the last episode questions the nature of reality. How the composition of the atom made us rethink physical existence, giving a possibility to parallel universes and showing that empty space is far from empty.

:  http://science-documentaries.com/?p=483


What on Earth is Wrong With Gravity?

BBC documentary, hosted by Dr. Brian Cox, a particle physicist at the Manchester University. As the title says, the subject is of course gravity, the weakest of the four forces but also the one that is the least understood. Brian Cox is a good host explaining the effects of gravity and their consequences but goes much further into the nature of reality, hidden dimensions and bending of the space-time. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL8B4529A98A393D73&v=hOpRP4M8zEA&feature=player_embedded


An Experiment to Save the World - BBC Horizon

In March 2002, the scientific world was rocked by some astonishing news: a distinguished US government scientist, Rusi Taleyarkhan, claimed he had made nuclear fusion out of sound waves in his laboratory. This is a BBC Horizon production documentary, trying to explain what exactly is it about. Taleyarkhan’s fusion breakthrough was based on a little-understood process called sonoluminescence. Sonoluminescence is the emission of short bursts of light from imploding bubbles in a liquid when excited by sound. It’s been called the star in a jar. The star in a jar effortlessly reaches temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees, hotter than the surface of the sun.This documentary has often been criticized of being very skeptic, to the point of faking data and experiments in order to disprove this claim. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PdQEX49w4M


Richard Feynman – Pleasure of Finding Things Out

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.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgaw9qe7DEE



UniverseThe Cosmology Quest Part 1 of 2

A documentary about the controversy around the redshift of stellar objects. And Halton Arps struggle whit mainstream cosmology in presenting controversial evidence. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFFl9S39CTM


Universe The Cosmology Quest Part2 of 2

In this part they show many of the problems whit the Big Bang theory. Like background temperature and an expanding Universe. The age of the Universe, black wholes, dark mater and dark energy. And they present the founders of plasma cosmology Kristian Birkeland and Hannes Alfven. And the work of modern plasma cosmologists.  

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb_EWnXCu2w


Cosmos - A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan

 Carl Sagan's series named COSMOS was pure awesomeness, this series is a reconstruction of the actual series and is good.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClPShKs9Kr0&feature=BFa&list=PL5DEA923D9201E8FF


Strangeness Minus Three (BBC: Horizon - 1964)

Horizon explores the discovery of the Omega-minus particle. After two years and thousands of photographs, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory confirmed the existence of a new particle which had a unique characteristic: "strangeness minus three."
This video is a great display of the excitement involved in scientific discovery as well as the philosophical and physical implications of natural symmetry in particle physics. Feynman in particular discusses this near the end of the segment.
This documentary contains interviews with Richard Feynman, Murray Gell-Mann, Yuval Ne'eman, and Nicholas Samios.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Vc-cL9lTM


Beautiful Equations (BBC)

Artist and writer Matt Collings takes the plunge into an alien world of equations. He asks top scientists to help him understand five of the most famous equations in science, talks to Stephen Hawking about his equation for black holes and comes face to face with a particle of anti-matter.
 Along the way he discovers why Newton was right about those falling apples and how to make sense of E=mc^2. As he gets to grips with these equations he wonders whether the concept of artistic beauty has any relevance to the world of physics.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDQmIZTvFaI&feature=related


More Physics Documentaries you MUST watch :  http://www.cosmolearning.com/physics/documentaries/



BIOLOGY

The Brain: Our Universe Within

This Discovery Channel documentary explores the depths of the human mind, its mechanisms of reasoning and awareness that we are all born with, as well as its evolution over the ages.
Hosted and narrated by Canada’s legendary scientist, Dr. David Suzuki.

: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1wPhTbGFHA


Human Body: Pushing the Limits

It has interesting information coupled with great presentation and CGI. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWl67Cv5c6c&feature=BFa&list=PL3CBD3AE053BD48AC


Richard Dawkins: The Greatest Show on Earth

A documentary made upon the book: The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, by the biologist Professor Richard Dawkins, who has spent a lifetime educating the general public about the basic principles and mechanism behind the evolution. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQfM4fEJMUI&feature=player_embedded


Is Seeing Believing?

This is a documentary from BBC Horizon about sensory illusions. It’s fascinating to see in how many ways can our brains be fooled. Most popular are of course optical illusions, included are the illusions with colors where our brain perceives the same color as different depending on the surroundings, or the illusions with 3D space. However, all of our senses can be fooled in different ways.
Now the big question is the following. Is this simply an error in the way our brains work, or is it there for a reason? What if those errors our brains do, are actually an advantage in some way? Could they have evolved and prove useful? 

:  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF1C6237BDCE7CE63


DNA – The Molecule of Life

What is the force at the heart of life? What is the engine that drives it forward? That links all living things from the smallest to the largest, that links families through generations, looks, personality, health, and in sickness?Scientists have searched for the answer for hundreds of years, until 1953 when two young men ran into a British pub shouting that they’ve discovered the secret of life.The secret was DNA, a microscopic strand of only four chemicals but capable of such infinite variety that it carries the blueprint and directs the growth of every living thing on earth. The genetic revolution was about to begin. This is a documentary about genetics and ethics.

:  http://science-documentaries.com/?p=712


2057 – The Body

This is the first part of the 2057 series, a Discovery Channel production documentary series, hosted by theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, which deals with the predictions of the future, describing how the world could look in the year 2057. Subject of this part are our bodies and medicine, predicting how the medicine could develop until that year, from robotic surgery to flying ambulances. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL5090423D4AB0D4B7&v=5-px4MAKREs&feature=player_embedded


The Story of Science – Who Are We?

Medical journalist Michael Mosley introduces the fundamental questions and the great forces of history that have shaped the story of science. What is out there? What is the world made of? What is the secret of life?
This is the sixth and final episode in the series, dealing with the question of our personality, an answer to such a question lies in our heads, in the brain. The brain is, without a doubt an organ that makes us who we are. It’s the source of all our thoughts, emotions and abilities and yet during most of our history it was barely understood and mostly ignored until the 17th Century when medical science started to develop.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL484DB43E2B22E57F&v=SBUzj-mguVE&feature=player_embedded


The Story of Science – How Did We Get Here?

Medical journalist Michael Mosley introduces the fundamental questions and the great forces of history that have shaped the story of science. What is out there? What is the world made of? What is the secret of life?
A third episode in the series deals with one of the most controversial issues science had to deal with. It’s the question of human origins, a question of evolution. Naturally, dealing with such questions brought science into an unavoidable conflict with religion, old beliefs do not change easily; from measuring Earth’s age in thousand of years to billions of years, from a perfect image of God to a family of apes. Theory of evolution had a volatile history.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL88F8657053AEDD72&v=UBSfBA4OSYM&feature=player_embedded


The Story of Science – What Is the Secret of Life?

Medical journalist Michael Mosley introduces the fundamental questions and the great forces of history that have shaped the story of science. What is out there? What is the world made of? What is the secret of life?
Fifth episode in the series, it’s topic is life itself. It begins with attempts to save the lives of gladiators in Ancient Rome, unfolds with the macabre work and near-perfect drawings of Leonardo in the Renaissance, through the idea of the ‘life force’ of electricity, to the microscopic world of the cell. This episode shows us the history of medicine with some very interesting stories of it’s progress.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL4AA3F3CDF39492DF&v=elZGvGeCJ6M&feature=player_embedded


What Darwin Never Knew

The source of life’s endless forms was a profound mystery until Charles Darwin’s revolutionary idea of natural selection, which he showed could help explain the gradual development of life on earth.
But Darwin’s radical insights raised as many questions as they answered. What actually drives evolution and turns one species into another? And how did we evolve? On Charles Darwin’s 2009 bicentennial, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, NOVA reveals answers to the riddles that Darwin couldn’t explain.
Stunning breakthroughs in a brand new science-nicknamed evo devo – are linking the enigma of origins to another of nature’s great mysteries, the development of an embryo. To explore this exciting new idea, NOVA takes viewers on a journey from the Galapagos Islands to the Arctic, and from the Cambrian explosion of animal forms half a billion years ago to the research labs of today.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I91Huv4jbCk


The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey

The Journey of Man is a documentary that talks about our evolution, our recent history, and how we came to be to the way we are today. It looks at the Y chromosome, that’s passed down from male to male, and tracks the marker mutations to map our ancestors’ journey. It’s how we conquered the Earth in just the last 59,000 years. This informative film, full of surprising news, is based on the work of Spencer Wells, who is both innovative scientist and an enthusiastic host. He and his crew scour the world for indigenous people with deep roots in one place, asking for samples of DNA to test, in order to piece together our “big family” genetic tree. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV6A8oGtPc4&feature=BFa&list=PL4F797572E08B24DE


Phages: The Virus that Cures

With Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) threatening to infect huge numbers of patients who make even short trips to the hospital, and the gradual increase in the number of bacteria that are resistant to all known antibiotics, scientists are turning to new ways to conquer the killer bugs.
The emergence of dangerous antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria is most prevalent in the USA where antibiotics are available over the counter and are often mishandled.
The answers to these problems may be locked in the science of the former Soviet Union, and whether this potential can be unlocked depends on subtle aspects of intellectual property and patent law, since pharmaceutical companies must be able to control the revenues from a discovery.

:  http://science-documentaries.com/?p=434


Life

The series takes a global view of the specialized strategies and extreme behavior that living things have evolved in order to survive; what Charles Darwin termed “the struggle for existence”. All the episodes here are embedded in one playlist in HD. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ_DgcvZeHE&playnext=1&list=PL94EF02D34C9C7735&feature=results_main


Mapping Stem Cell Research – Terra Incognita

“I absolutely, firmly believe, with every ounce of my intellect, that stem cell biology is going to revolutionize medicine….Every impediment that gets thrown up delays it. And that’s very personal for me now…”—Dr. Jack Kessler
Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita puts a human face on this controversial subject. When neurologist Dr. Jack Kessler’s daughter injured her spine in a skiing accident, he turned his energies toward finding a method to repair damaged spinal cords, re-focusing his research on developing a therapy using embryonic stem cells to regenerate the damaged parts of the nervous system.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWiNC0WLxs8&feature=player_embedded


Human Body – Pushing the Limits: Brain Power

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.Unfortunately it is the fourth and the last of the episodes in the Discovery Channel’s series, but it’s the only one I was able to find online.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEGJzHKXDa4&feature=BFa&list=PL980B6517D3ED4624


Do You Want To Live Forever?

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, 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). 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtHgIJ6kalk


Break the Science Barrier

Break the Science Barrier is a television documentary written and presented by Richard Dawkins, a renowned author and a professor of public understanding of science at Oxford, which promotes the viewpoint that scientific endeavour is not only useful, but also intellectually stimulating and exciting. It’s not about the details of scientific methods, but about the general principles that should be understood by everyone. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KR8SigWQuY&feature=BFa&list=PLAC1ACC36E9981CE3


The Cell 

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. Few supplimentary videos have been provided as well which are too good. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfL6RLJDUTQ&playnext=1&list=PLDC4CB07B39EB2D25&feature=results_main


Evolution (PBS Series)

 Another PBS special, this one is an eight-hour series. The rich, baritone voice of Liam Neeson gives it the authoritative tone a comprehensive work like this requires. From the genius and torment of Charles Darwin to the scientific revolution that spawned the tree of life, from the power of sex to drive evolutionary change to the importance of mass extinctions in the birth of new species, the Evolution series brings this fascinating process to life. The series also explores the emergence of consciousness, the origin and success of humans, and the perceived conflict between science and religion in understanding life on Earth.

:  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?annotation_id=annotation_321914&feature=iv&list=PL96C450DBC78EA694&src_vid=xHHv9XdN_e4


The Ascent of Man

This thirteen-volume series was a co-production of the BBC and Time-Life Films and features Dr. Jacob Bronowski as the narrator. A deep and original thinker, Bronowski lends a passionate voice to the material he presents: the development of modern man from ancient times. A truly awe-inspiring experience. An extra video featuring  David Attenborough has been introduced which is good as well.

:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QetE6WvBFY&feature=BFa&list=PL9C1F900966EBA342


Walking with Monsters

A 90-minute documentary about life before the dinosaurs. Starting from the Cambrian Period (530 MYA) and ending at the Early Triassic Period (248 MYA), Walking With Monsters shows the life and death struggles prehistoric creatures before the dinosaurs went through. It also portrays an accurate picture of our first ancestors.

1. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xknl8f_bbc-walking-with-monsters-1-of-3_tech
2. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xknl8n_bbc-walking-with-monsters-2-of-3_tech
3. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xknl8p_bbc-walking-with-monsters-3-of-3_tech

Walking With Dinosaurs

This is a six-series documentary by BBC, this time with the distinguished voice of Kenneth Branagh that has even paleonologists gasping with awe. The series provides insights into how these mammoth creatures appeared, how they survived for millions of years and probes the mysteries of their sudden disappearance leaving only a fossil record to show they had ever existed!

:  http://walkingwithdinos.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Videos


The Ghost in Your Genes - BBC Horizon 2011

Biology stands on the brink of a shift in the understanding of inheritance. The discovery of epigenetics -- hidden influences upon the genes -- could affect every aspect of our lives. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6cQSR3mPm8


Why do we Dream - BBC Horizon

Horizon uncovers the secret world of our dreams. In a series of cutting-edge experiments and personal stories, we go in search of the science behind this most enduring mystery and ask: where do dreams come from? Do they have meaning? And ultimately, why do we dream?
What the film reveals is that much of what we thought we knew no longer stands true. Dreams are not simply wild imaginings but play a significant part in all our lives as they have an impact on our memories, the ability to learn, and our mental health. Most surprisingly, we find nightmares, too, are beneficial and may even explain the survival of our species.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nmVzXxdUeU


Bruce Lipton ' The Power Of Consciousness'

Bruce Lipton ' The Power Of Consciousness' Interview by IainMcNay. Pretty controversial at times from a scientific view, but amougst the dubious ideas are gems of, slightly overblown, wisdom. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYYXq1Ox4sk


 Is Alcohol worse than Ecstasy - BBC Horizon

Recent research has analysed the link between the harmful effects of drugs relative to their current classification by law with some startling conclusions. Perhaps most startling of all is that alcohol, solvents and tobacco (all unclassified drugs) are rated more dangerous than ecstasy, 4-MTA and LSD (all class A drugs). If the current ABC system is retained, alcohol would be rated a class A drug and tobacco class B.
The scientists involved, including members of the government's top advisory committee on drug classification, have produced a rigorous assessment of the social and individual harm caused by 20 of the UK's most dangerous drugs and believe this should form the basis of future ranking. They think the current ABC system is arbitrary and not based on any scientific evidence.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRgb5coMXGk


Dirty Pictures, Alexander Sasha Shulgin, "Mr Ecstasy"

DIRTY PICTURES is a documentary about Dr. Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin, the rogue chemist who discovered the effects of MDMA (aka Ecstasy) and over 200 other mind-altering drugs. Shulgin’s alchemy has earned him the title “The Godfather of Psychedelics,” and a reputation as one of the great chemists of the 20th century.
Working from a lab in his home, and using himself and his wife Ann as test subjects, Shulgin's discoveries have brought him into conflict with the law but made him a worldwide underground hero. The two books they co-authored, “Pihkal” and “Tihkal”, have built a foundation for cutting-edge neuroscience and medical research. DIRTY PICTURES examines the impact of Dr. Shulgin's lifelong quest to unlock the complexities of the human mind.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu0O-HPpE0M


BBC Horizon - The Secret You 2011

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.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Biv_8xjj8E


BBC Horizon: Psychedelic Science - (DMT, LSD, Ibogaine)

A documentary about the psychedelic drugs: DMT, LSD and Ibogaine. From Strassmans work on DMT role in your body to LSD therapy

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEdxrHud5tE


DMT: The Spirit Molecule 

An investigation into the long-obscured mystery of dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a molecule found in nearly every living organism and considered the most potent psychedelic on Earth.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4T5LduZ9vg


Horizon - Out of Control? - 13/03/12

Cutting edge research on our subconscious and how it works.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM_iiPFkNas


Documentary-The Day I Died

Controversial documentary about near death experience reports that are still viewed with extreme sketismism by the scientific ommunity. This has nothing to do with religion or god but all too do with how the materialiastic nature of science is going to deal with such un-material subjective accounts in the future. Hopefully will open your mind to something we dont yet understand.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD9jigzzuas


Battle of the Brains - BBC Horizon

Can you think of 100 different uses for a sock? How would you cope with glasses that turn everything upside down? What's your emotional intelligence? Can you create a work of art in ten minutes?
The principle way that we measure intelligence, the IQ test, remains popular and convenient. Yet most psychologists agree that it only tells half the story... at most. Where they disagree is how to measure intelligence, for the simple reason that the experts still don't know exactly what it is.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJXz2Z3RLdw


Playing God (BBC Documentary 2012)

Adam Rutherford meets a new creature created by American scientists, the spider-goat. It is part goat, part spider, and its milk can be used to create artificial spider's web. It is part of a new field of research, synthetic biology, with a radical aim: to break down nature into spare parts so that we can rebuild it however we please. This technology is already being used to make bio-diesel to power cars. Other researchers are looking at how we might, one day, control human emotions by sending 'biological machines' into our brains. 

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKxmqMH4w_A


Nice Guys Finish First

(BBC Horizon television series) is a 1986 documentary by Richard Dawkins which discusses selfishness and cooperation, arguing that evolution often favors co-operative behaviour, and focusing especially on the tit for tat strategy of the prisoner's dilemma game. The film is approximately 45 minutes long and was produced by Jeremy Taylor.

:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I71mjZefg8g



List of more Science Documentaries :http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/01/100-best-free-science-documentaries-online/



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