Deutsche Welle
Language
English
Description
Perhaps the most intriguing field of medicine is the one that seeks to understand consciousness itself. This program provides a tour of the most advanced work in brain research and cognitive science, as well as the latest applications of these discoveries in treating patients with brain disorders. Using MRI and EEG to determine areas of brain activity, researchers explore the connection between memory and epilepsy. New treatments are presented for...
Language
English
Description
Although her most important writings came late in life, Annette von Droste-Hulshoff's poetry and prose-often compared to Goethe's-have assured her a place among Germany's great 19th-century writers. This program visits Castle Hulshoff, her Westphalian birthplace; the Ruchhaus; and Meersburg Castle on Lake Constance, where she experienced her period of greatest productivity. Aspects of her life, such as her need for solitude amid nature, and the qualities...
Language
English
Description
Heart valves fabricated from the body's own cells are durable and are not rejected. Stimulating the natural growth of blood vessels to skirt clogged ones could make elaborate bypass surgery obsolete. As this program shows, these are some of the tools, either in use or under development, that place vascular science at the forefront of medicine. The program also highlights innovations in clot-dissolving drugs, artificial hearts, on-the-spot repairs...
Language
English
Description
A tormented genius, van Gogh was only 37 when he shot himself at the scene of his last painting. This captivating program focuses on the final period of Vincent van Gogh's life, from his relocation to Arles to his final move to Auvers-sur-Oise. By retracing his journey to southern France and back, in combination with readings from letters to his brother and interviews with van Gogh experts, this passionate artist's most fruitful period-tragically...
Language
English
Description
The historical Dr. Faust, and the legends that have arisen around him thanks to the writings of Marlowe, Lessing, and Goethe, are the subject of this fascinating program. The real Faust-excommunicated as a heretic-is presented as a victim of the political and religious tensions of his day. In a medieval world that believed in the corporeal presence of the Devil, the accusation that Faust was in league with Mephistopheles seems strangely reasonable....
Language
English
Description
As this program illustrates, direct access to the eye coupled with technological wizardry has meant that ophthalmology is one of the most rapidly advancing areas of medicine. Both up-to-the-minute techniques and experimental procedures are profiled, such as photodynamic therapy, which inhibits macular degeneration by eroding deposits called drusen. The program shows how microsurgery, particularly the LASIK method, has revolutionized the field. Also...
Language
English
Description
Almost half the world gets its drinking water from rivers that cross national boundaries. Analysts predict that more wars will be fought over water than oil. This program surveys a number of active or potential hot spots: Israel and the river Jordan; the Southeastern Anatolia Project in Turkey and its effects on Syria and Iraq; Egypt's Toshka Canal and the Nile Basin Initiative; and the Tehri dam in India. The program also looks at the effects of...
Language
English
Description
The moment demand outpaces supply, water becomes a commodity to be traded in the global market. But who owns the rights to water? And how can a price be set on water? In this program, the pros and cons of privatization are assessed in a number of water management situations around the world: Aguas Argentina in Buenos Aires; the Bechtel corporation in Cochabamba, Bolivia; Thames Water company in Jakarta; and a public/private test partnership in Albania....
Language
English
Description
The Pap smear was a diagnostic milestone in detecting precancerous cells. Researchers are developing similar tests, particularly ones based on genetic predisposition, as they learn to home in on other cancers. As this program illustrates, sophisticated screening is just one of the ways medicine has advanced the fight against a dreaded disease. The program also looks at the targeted destruction of tumors through drugs that either react to substances...
Language
English
Description
Insights into immune system disorders are unlocking new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis. Many of these innovative approaches are explored in this program, such as experimental drugs that suppress messenger proteins, treatments to regenerate cartilage through the use of stem cells, and the cultivation of chondrocyte cells in the lab. The program looks at detection and treatment of reactive arthritis, minimally invasive surgical techniques, and...
Language
English
Description
In Europe and America alike, senior citizens are poised to become the defining demographic group. What is the Western medical community doing to better serve this vital population? To find out, this documentary travels to Germany, a progressive locus of geriatric research and elder-care innovation. Topics include anti-aging therapies, quality-of-life issues, post-hospitalization rehabilitation programs, courses that promote independence and overall...
Language
English
Description
China's economy is booming-and so is its Christian community. This program examines the rise of the country's nondenominational Protestant movement, its basic structure and organization, and its relationship with the government. Spotlighting new, moderate religious freedoms in Chinese society, the film visits Christian churches in Nanjing Province and interviews a number of ministers and congregation members. Cao Sheng-Jie, President of the Chinese...
Language
English
Description
Central to the aims and ideals of the European Union is a single currency standard based on the euro. This wide-ranging program, divided into 12 segments, presents the history of the EMU, the unification timetable up to 2002, the convergence criteria, and the coins and banknotes themselves; provides background on the euro member states and the European Central Bank; examines the impact of the euro on world trade, the job market, and tourism; analyzes...
Language
English
Description
Introducing EinSteinchen, an animated techno-Einstein who has a genius for explaining physics. In section, this likable know-it-all elucidates 12 essential topics in 90-second segments that are perfect for launching lectures or illustrating concepts. Section two departs from EinSteinchen's virtual world to show 12 cutting-edge applications or studies of Einsteinian physics in high-level mini-documentaries of two to five minutes in length.
Language
English
Description
This program takes a hard look at the mounting challenge of providing millions of people in urban areas with potable water and adequate disposal of waste water. To highlight the difficulties, segments focus on the water problems of the megalopolis, cities with populations of over ten million people, such as Lagos, Jakarta, and Mexico City. The massive logistics that enable Las Vegas to prosper in the middle of a desert are also explored.
Language
English
Description
When it comes to water management, many politicians and technocrats have felt that colossal problems are only solved by colossal projects: dams. But blind faith in concrete can often have devastating effects on communities and the environment. This program examines the positive and negative impact, as well as the politics and economics of several ongoing or proposed projects: China's Three Gorges Dam, Egypt's Mubarak pumping station, pit-mine reclamation...
Language
English
Description
The producers of this program were granted unlimited access to Kabul's Baghe Zanana, or Garden of Women-perhaps the only public place in Afghanistan where men are not welcome. Here, women can gather, dance, and remove their burqas without fear of violence or alienation. In stark contrast, a women's prison is also visited. The courageous figures who inhabit these settings-including a resident therapist who conducts support groups for the frightened...
Language
English
Description
No matter where on Earth, the one human activity that consumes the most water is the one that wastes the most: agriculture. From locations around the world, this program surveys both disasters of agricultural irrigation, such as cotton farming in Uzbekistan, and innovative successes in water-efficient techniques and crops, such as in California and India. Numerous examples illustrate the destructive effects of deforestation and overgrazing, the difficulty...
Language
English
Description
From Paris to London, Monte Carlo to Milan, and Munich to LA, taste-makers Li Edelkoort, Gucci's Tom Ford, and Werner Baldessarini, of Hugo Boss, seek to identify the spirit of the age wherever they can find it-and then translate it into the next big trend in fashions. In this program, Edelkoort, Ford, Baldessarini, and others unravel the intricacies of clothing-oriented trend-spotting. In addition, parallel examples of trend-spotting are drawn from...
20) Goethe in Weimar
Language
English
Description
This program pays lyrical homage to the enigmatic relationship between the poet/dramatist Goethe and the Baroness Charlotte von Stein and explores its influence on his work. Excerpts from a selection of the more than 2,000 letters exchanged by Goethe, Charlotte, and their friends bear testimony to the intensity and intimacy of the relationship-one which most experts believe was platonic, despite the often passionate tone of the letters. Dramatized...