Calif.) KCET (Television station : Los Angeles
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English
Description
Humans are storytellers, says host Roger Bingham. "Show us the sun, moon, and stars and we'll spin any number of tales about life and death, good and evil. We tell stories to feel at home in the universe." Humans are both mythmakers and scientists. Often, myth and science produce very different stories, different paths to the truth. And yet, they are both products of our brains, trying to make sense of our experience. This program explores the way...
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English
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Throughout human history, the everyday miracle of consciousness, of being aware, has led philosophers, poets, and mystics to believe that the essence of our being can exist independently of our bodies. This program examines: What do we know about human consciousness at the end of the 20th century? What progress has neuroscience made in explaining consciousness? How does our brain organize the sensory information it receives to create a coherent picture...
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English
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This documentary takes viewers on a tour of the world's most prolific manufacturer and user of drugs-the human brain. The biochemistry of the brain is responsible for joggers' highs, for the compulsion of some people to seek thrills, for certain kinds of obsessive-compulsive behavior, even for the drive to achieve power and dominance. The program explores developments in the biochemistry of addiction and addictive behavior.
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English
Description
This program explains research on the brain's processes: how individual parts of the brain work, how the brain uses pattern recognition rather than logic to interpret reality, which experiments with computer analogs have been successful and which have failed, and why. The program also provides interviews with some of the foremost researchers in the field, including neuroscientist John Hopfield, vision scientist V. S. Ramachandran, and physicist Carver...
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English
Description
Study of the brain provides some of the answers that separate cultural and social from physiological distinctions between the sexes. Mammalian brains, including our own, show distinct differences between male and female in the thickness of the cortex and the size of the corpus callosum. The program shows some startling effects of hormone injections on brain structure and raises provocative questions about the sexual and reproductive roots of structural...
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English
Description
This program looks at the various areas that brain researchers are now exploring: What kind of brain chemistry can explain memory? If long-term memory is a kind of permanent pattern on the fabric of the mind, what structural changes occur in the brain? Are different types of memory located in different areas of the brain? Are specific memories stored in separate places? What is the process of forgetting? Is it possible to improve memory? The program...
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English
Description
Why do dreams occur? What is their function? What do they mean? This provocative program looks at the facts and examines the theories, from Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams to today's neuroscience laboratory findings. The program visits a sleep research lab to explain REM sleep; another lab where researchers are using positron emission tomography (PET scanning) to explore the dreaming brain; and a therapy session where a patient describes a recurring...
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English
Description
The genre of the hard-boiled detective story, which is Raymond Chandler's contribution to the history of American literature, was derived from his observations of life in Los Angeles during the 1930s. Using period newsreels and clips from feature films made from his stories, this program shows the excesses of a frontier town shedding conscience in pursuit of possessions-the crime and corruption that provided the backdrop and inspiration for Chandler's...
10) The Social Brain
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English
Description
By nature, humans are a social species. Our brains are wired from birth with programs that were crucial to our distant ancestors. Infants come equipped with a basic repertoire of social skills. And yet, as history has shown, there is a dark side to the human brain. The evidence is overwhelming that throughout our history as a species, relations between individuals and societies have been destructive as well as positive. As series host Roger Bingham...
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English
Description
Helen Hunt Jackson's novel of 1884 crystallized opinion about the whites' maltreatment of Indians (much as Uncle Tom's Cabin had done for slavery). This program uses feature film clips to recap the plot and historical sources and sites to explain both the immense popularity of the book and its transformation into a mythic symbol of whites and Indians in the West.
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English
Description
This program introduces what series host Roger Bingham calls "the second Darwinian Revolution"-our new understanding of the evolutionary history of the human brain. Evolutionary psychologists believe that the brain, like the body, is a product of natural selection. Our minds can be thought of as a kind of patchwork quilt of successful solutions to the challenges faced by our ancestors over millions of years. Many scientists think that, because of...
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English
Description
This program examines the biological evolution of our internal timekeepers, examining the conflict between the time in our bodies and brains and the time on our wrists. It looks at the fish with the most accurate pacemaker known to science; shows how cell cycles are being tracked and biological clocks transplanted; reveals the novel ways in which human biological clocks are being reset; and explains why Greenwich is where time starts, how conversations...
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English
Description
"'Auschwitz: inside the Nazi state' is the result of three years of research, drawing on the close involvement of world experts, recently discovered documents and nearly 100 interviews with camp survivors and perpetrators, many of whom are speaking on the record for the first time. Their stories are brought to life through the innovative use of archive footage, dramatic recreations of key ... moments, and their ... testimony"--Container label.
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English
Description
This biography explores whether Americans should celebrate Jackson or apologize for him. The program reveals the world of America's 7th president, who founded the Democratic Party, yet was viewed by his enemies as an American Napoleon. The film contains reenactments, lithographs, letters and the insights of distinguished scholars.
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English
Description
Joseph Stalin - the supreme leader of the Soviet Union - was a tyrant responsible for the death of millions. He also had some unlikely relationships during the Second World War. This ambitious series uses exclusive evidence gained from the actual conversations and secret meetings Stalin conducted. Dramatic reconstructions carefully sourced from archive material, reveal how the great leaders decided the future shape of the post-war world. These decisions...
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English
Description
A documentary about the lives, experiences and humor of six working comedians who have various types of disabilities including cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness, and mobility limitations. The project is filmed at comedy clubs across the country and spotlights some of the most talented and funny comics presently in the field.
20) American family
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English
Description
This set contains all 22 episodes from season one of this critically acclaimed dramatic series as seen on PBS. "American Family" is the first broadcast TV drama series featuring an all Latino cast.