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This engaging program explains the level of organization necessary for the structure and functioning of multicellular organisms, including cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems. Focusing on the nervous system of multicellular organisms, the video features dissections of a cane toad and a worm to illustrate the different forms and functions of both vertebrate and invertebrate nervous systems.
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In order for an animal to survive, it must be able to respond instantly to changes in its external and internal environments. This program compares and contrasts animal nervous and endocrine systems, explains stimulus feedback mechanisms, and places coordination and control in a cellular context with explanations of what happens in signal transduction pathways. Narration is supported by animations and footage of animals in action. A powerful tool...
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In a South American jungle we will unravel the secrets of night time "hunt and evasion" flying, as bats and moths fight for the upper hand in one of the world's oldest arms races. And we will take the viewer inside a giant flock for the first time to unlock the secrets that keep half a million birds from colliding in the same air space.
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We are up and away with the world of powered flight—revealing why peregrine falcons can top 200 miles an hour and how a hummingbird is a slave to its own rather manic lifestyle. Then there are heavyweight beetles breaking the rules to find love, a devious sparrowhawk who uses agility to execute a lightning fast raid on his prey, and half a million mother bats who dominate the sky above—and below the ground—with a dazzling display of aerial prowess....
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In this episode Brian Cox visits South East Asia's 'Ring of Fire'. Attending the annual Day of the Dead in the Philippine highlands, he explores the thin line between life and death, and raises the question: what is life? Brian explains the laws governing energy and reveals life to be a conduit through which energy passes. Visiting a volcano, he demonstrates how the first spark of life may have arisen through a source of energy created by chemical...
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A high-energy blend of wildlife footage and quirky motion graphics, this collection of 26 fun and informative one-minute video clips highlights important facts about animals, from basic to bizarre. What's on these creatures' menus? Where do they like to hang out? How do they get from place to place? Animal Crackers tells it like it is as it introduces viewers to penguins with crazy hairdos, monkeys with massive noses, dancing lemurs, ferocious frill-necked...
11) Size Matters
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In this episode, Prof. Brian Cox travels around Australia to explore the physics of the size of life. He explores the largest flowering plant- the Mountain Ash, takes to the seas to get up-close with a great white shark, tracks the largest living marsupial (a the red kangaroo) in the outback, examines the insects of Queensland's rainforests, scrutinizes trichogramma in the Glass House Mountains, studies thrombolites near Perth, inspects the tiny Southern...
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Metamorphosis seems like the ultimate evolutionary magic trick. From Ovid to Kafka to X-Men, tales of metamorphosis richly permeate human culture. The myth of transformation is so common that it seems almost pre-programmed into our imagination. But is the scientific fact of metamorphosis just as strange as fiction or...even stranger? Filmmaker David Malone explores the science behind metamorphosis.
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Professor Alice Roberts is making a new human being - she is pregnant with her second child. But before he is born, she wants to find out what makes a human, human? What separates us from our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees? We share 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees and yet from the moment of birth, our lives are completely different. So are we just another animal, or is there something special about being human? Before her new baby emerges...
15) Respiration
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In order to live, grow, and reproduce, all living things need energy obtained from oxygen. From the simplest of cells to the largest of animals, energy is generated from oxygen in a process called respiration, or breathing. Learn about the definition and characteristics of aerobic respiration, the respiratory organs, the process of photosynthesis in plants, different organisms and their respiratory processes, human respiration, lungs and other organs...
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This film is a discovery of the secrets and wonders of how living things fly, from the flying styles and patterns of the oldest flyer in the world—the dragonfly—to arguably the most beautiful insect flyer: the butterfly. We look into the bumblebee myth; is it true that bees, technically, cannot fly? Of course, we mustn't forget our feathered friends, from the expert flyer of all time, the eagle; to the poor flyer, the chicken; and to the no-flyer,...
17) Evolve: Skin
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From the delicate membranes that encased the earliest animals to the leathery hides that protected the dinosaurs, this program looks at how skin has changed and adapted to practically any challenge it has faced over time.
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Insects outnumber us by 200 million to one. They thrive in environments where humans cannot and without insects, entire ecosystems would collapse, crops would disappear and waste would pile high. The secret of their success? Their incredible alien anatomy. To reveal this extraordinary hidden world, entomologists Dr. James Logan and Brendan Dunphy carry out a complete insect dissection. Cutting-edge imaging technology shows us the beauty and precision...
19) The Worm Hunters
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In a Turkish headquarters the world's top earthworm scientists concoct a plan to find and name their ultimate discovery. Nothing will stop them as they travel to all corners of the world with spades, GPS worm locators, and secret worm outing fluids to unearth their prize. But love turns savage when things don't go as planned and the worm gets the upper hand. An epic adventure into an underground science and an unstoppable passion.
20) Evolve: Flight
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This program reveals the secrets - and the continuing mysteries - of the very first vertebrate flyer: the pterosaur, which escaped its earthly bounds 220 million years ago.