What if you have to live somewhere and could never leave, go outside? Could you live that way for six months? That is the usual length of time an astronaut spends on board the International Space Station. Now double that to nearly a year and you have Scott Kelly's historic mission. The ultimate goal is deep space travel, to Mars, and maybe beyond. Kelly's mission was the first step in determining if the human bodyand psyche can withstand the harsh...

In this program, the widely-respected press and television journalist John Pilger introduces ideas about reporting. He describes his basic training, and some of the editorial constraints on his writing. He advocates principles of simplicity, truthfulness, meticulous checking of facts, and steadfastness in the face of powerful censors. He gives examples of brave reporting by V. H. Russell (of the Crimean War) and W. S. Pritchett (of the Second World...

China is now the world’s largest market for red wine, home to a growing middle-class exploring new tastes and discovering labels beyond Bordeaux. While big multinational brands are setting up shop, and international vintners try to win their share of the market, Chinese winemakers are working to find their own identity: what grapes to grow in which region, and how to make clean, drinkable wine. But they’re up against some major challenges, including...

For many young people, the school environment is a place of learning, creating friendships, forging an identity, and searching for a direction in life. However, there are some students who have difficulty actively engaging in the learning process due to low ability, an unsafe or unsupportive family life, or other factors, and therefore run the risk of not completing their education. This program focuses on how educators can identify at-risk students,...

Whether you've got a baby face or a poker face, your identity is deeply rooted in your own unique face. With the many muscles in your face, you can express a near infinite number of emotions and feelings, but your brain is also highly adept at recognizing what other peoples' faces are saying. In this episode, we will show you that there's more to a face than meets the eye. Discover the most important feature of your face, how staring can make you...

This program takes viewers through the chief temple of pre-Hispanic Mexico, tracing the myths, rituals, history, and daily life and death of the Aztec civilizations it served.

Toni Morrison exists in two worlds: the visible world, bustling around her, and the world of her novels, whose characters tell about an interior reality hidden from the eyes of strangers. In her work, Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison has transported millions of readers into the experience of being black in America and confronting the realities of race. In this program with Bill Moyers, Morrison discusses the characters in her work, the people in her...

This program explores the nature of the Arab identity and the main cultural ties that hold the Arab world together - language, the Koran, historical vision, literature and poetry, and humor. Cultural diversity among various Arab groups is examined, along with the role of women in Islamic society. Methods of education - the ancient Arab technique stressing memory versus more modern methods introduced during the period of European colonization - are...

Is the surveillance society inevitable? In No Place to Hide, Peter Jennings examines high-tech monitoring methods that promise greater safety and security but threaten personal privacy. The program shows how Acxiom, ChoicePoint, and other companies use supercomputers to obtain data on more than 90 percent of American households-and how law enforcement and government intelligence agencies increasingly rely on this information. It also studies questionable...

The year 2013 was very bad for big business. In February $45 million was stolen from ATMs around the world after cyber criminals hacked credit cards and gave them unlimited withdrawal limits. Then, in November, 40 million credit card numbers were removed from the point-of-sale terminals of U.S. retailer Target. Ben Hammersley travels to New York and Washington D.C. to look at how crime has evolved, forensically examining the many ranks and roles of...