What forms might life take in the Solar System and beyond? In the Academy's newest original planetarium show, see how a deeper understanding of Earth might help us locate other living worlds, light years away.
Daveed Diggs
as Narrator (voice)
A vivid journey into the mysterious subterranean world of mycelium and its fruit— the mushroom. A story that begins 3.5 billion years ago, fungi makes the soil that supports life, connecting vast systems of roots from plants and trees all over the planet, like an underground Internet. Through the eyes of renowned mycologist Paul Stamets, professor of forest ecology Suzanne Simard, best selling author Michael Pollan, food naturalist Eugenia Bone and others, we experience the power, beauty and complexity of the fungi kingdom.
A team of international scientists attempt to document the first-ever image of a black hole.
Before the internet. Before social media. Before breaking news. The victims of Thalidomide had to rely on something even more extraordinary to fight their corner: Investigative journalism. This is the story of how Harold Evans fought and won the battle of his and many other lives.
The recent discovery by the Kepler satellite of thousands of Earth-like planets where life could be possible, has given a big boost to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). In 2011, for the first time ever, Kepler provided us with a census of the Milky Way. We can now calculate how many stars in the Milky Way could have a planet like ours: around a billion.
Astrophysicist Jean Surdej brings a small group of teenage pupils on a trip to the Lofoten islands in northern Norway, for a very special class on the solar system. Using the geography of the archipelago to illustrate the distances between the planets, they journey through space by car and ferry, with the picturesque landscapes standing in for the black emptiness that surround the heavenly bodies. A masterstroke of both pedagogy and filmmaking, Children of Stars is a captivating documentary about humanity's place in the grand scheme of things.
The first American space station Skylab is found in pieces scattered in Western Australia. Putting these pieces back together and re-tracing the Skylab program back to its very conception reveals the cornerstone of human space exploration.
Capturing the Electrons documents the life and career of Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian physicist Ferenc Krausz. His research team has generated and measured the first attosecond light pulse and used it for capturing electrons' motion inside atoms, marking the birth of attophysics. In 2023, jointly with Pierre Agostini and Anne L'Huillier, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Documentary about the Griffith Observatory, shown at their Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater
Near the cold Pyrenees of Iberia, surrounded by ancient and dark green forests, lies a strange land where the rain is scarce and the wind is always blowing. The soil is poor, there are no trees and the landscape resembles the moon. Is this what the future of desertification will look like? Incredible creatures with surprising behavior live in this strange landscape. The documentary explores a place with very dry skin but a wet hidden heart where even waterfowl or amphibians can live. Living in such conditions is not easy and only the toughest animals will survive.
This feature-length documentary is a portrait of eclipse chasers, people for whom solar eclipses - among nature's more spectacular phenomena – are a veritable obsession. The film follows 4 of them as they travel incredible distances to witness the last total eclipse of the millennium as it sweeps eastward across Europe to India. At various points along the way enthusiasts Alain Cirou in France, Paul Houde in Austria, Olivier Staiger in Germany and Debasis Sarkar in India offer their impressions of the historic event.
Explores the $10 billion JWST's engineering and construction process, historic Dec. 25, 2021 launch, and the release of its first full-color, galaxy-sprinkled images on July 12, 2022 witnessed by the entire planet.
Oil is a primary energy source in the world. Global oil consumption reached approximately 95 million barrels per day but oil fields' quality is constantly declining. A team of Russian scientists came up with more accurate, cheaper, and faster technology that can increase the oil production rate. After all, modern civilization is built in the way that 'to live well' means 'consume more oil'
A documentary chronicling the history of the telescope from the time of Galileo. Featuring interviews with leading scientists discussing Galileo's first use of the telescope to the latest discoveries in cosmology.
Chaco Canyon, located in northwest New Mexico, is perhaps the only site in the world constructed in an elaborate pattern that mirrors the yearly cycle of the sun and the 19-year cycle of the moon. How did an ancient civilization, with no known written language, arrange its buildings into a virtual celestial calendar, spanning an area roughly the size of Ireland?
In a world where 92 million Americans rely on statins as their lifeline, one man's unexpected health journey uncovers a medical mystery that could upend everything we think we know about heart health, cholesterol, and the ketogenic diet.
Cave paintings and lunar calendars exist in the caves and remains of prehistoric hunters studied recently. What if Prehistoric Man were clever enough to develop in depth scientific knowledge? As unlikely as it may seem, new data tend to prove that Prehistoric Man actually invented Astronomy!
This movie explores the saga of the telescope over 400 years - the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and failures.
At Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, “Near Earth Asteroids: Dr. Anne Virkki” tells the story of Research Scientist Anne Virkki and her ongoing studies on asteroids and their threat to humanity. Originally from Finland, Anne Virkki shares her experience in education as well as her studies on asteroids, including her work hunting and tracking asteroids headed for Earth.
