American Museum of Natural History

Detectable from every direction as a whisper of microwave radiation, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the oldest, most distant feature of the observable Universe. A better understanding of that primal moment promises to reveal a great deal about the true fabric, and ultimate fate, of the Universe. This science bulletin travels to the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, where an instrument called DASI measures the CMB, and...

Welcome to Beverly Hills, California, where some of America's wealthiest citizens have created their own personal versions of paradise. But don't get too comfortable-this program whisks viewers off to Mexico City and Lilongwe, Malawi, as well, showing how different life can be in all three parts of the world and how globalization has amplified the economic gaps between them. In addition, the film provides an extensive analysis of the development of...

This science bulletin depicts the emotional reintroduction of takhi to their last known home range in Mongolia's Gobi desert. Takhi, also known as Przewalski's horse, is the last surviving horse species that has never been domesticated. An important national symbol for Mongolians, the takhi also serves as an important case study for conservation biologists who struggle to support the viability of thousands of species verging on extinction.

Beautiful, complex, and enigmatic, rainforests are time capsules from the ancient Earth. They carry the genetic inheritance of millions of years of evolution, and although they are home to half the world's living species, much of their elaborate web of life is still waiting to be discovered. Filmed in woodlands on the slopes of Australia's Mount Warning, this program provides a stunning example of rainforest habitat as it examines the area's unusual...

As urban and suburban sprawl continue to spread across the country, road mortality has been found to be a major factor in the decline of turtle populations throughout the Northeast. This science bulletin visits the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where, in the hopes of informing future development, researchers are radio-tracking wood turtles to better quantify their movement patterns and habitat needs.

On the world's fourth-largest island, and virtually nowhere else, lives an entire "infraorder" of primates: the three dozen or so lemur species. But Madagascar has radically transformed since another primate - humans - arrived 2,000 years ago. Rampant deforestation, habitat fragmentation, and other anthropogenic factors are impacting lemurs much faster than evolution can mitigate the effects. This science bulletin follows American and Malagasy scientists...

In the 1600s, New York City's Bronx River was a drinking water source and a sylvan haven for beaver, oysters, and herring. It became blighted as urbanization progressed, transforming into an industrial power source, an open sewer, and a garbage dump. Today, landscape ecologists are reconstructing the waterway's ecological history as a reference point for its restoration effort. In this science bulletin, conservation teams coax new life into the Bronx...

Astrophysicists are discovering new extrasolar planets - those outside our Solar System - almost daily. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (originally called SIRTF, or the Space Infrared Telescope Facility) and AMNH's Lyot Project Coronograph are two of the many technologies uncovering the attributes and evolution of these faraway worlds. The techniques employed by these instruments may one day help answer one of astronomy's reigning mysteries: do any...

Collisions between space objects are a vital part of the evolution of our Solar System. Most of Earth's impact craters have been wiped away due to plate tectonics, but evidence of such cosmic catastrophes, such as Arizona's 50,000-year-old meteor crater, do remain. When is Earth due for another major blast? This science bulletin introduces viewers to the professional and amateur astronomers who may be the first to know: first at LINEAR, a near-earth...

Most, though not all, anthropologists agree that human culture, imagination, and symbolic thought emerged approximately 45,000 years ago. The evidence ranges from fantastic cave paintings and elaborate graves to the first fishing equipment and sturdily built huts. When, why, and what brought on this burst of modern behavior is the subject of much research. This science bulletin focuses on the field research of one of the recently excavated sites in...