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Rosewood: The Tree that Bleeds – BBC (2020)

May 16, 2020 at 12:14 pm / BBC documentaries, Human Nature, Video

The investigative journalism by BBC Africa Eye summarizes the plight of one of the most trafficked species the Rosewood tree. This tree is distinct for when it’s cut it bleeds a blood red sap. The tree belongs to Dalbergia genus nested within the legume family. Dalbergia species can have analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antimicrobial, antidiarrheal, anti-ulcerogenic, anti-spermicidal, larvicidal and mosquito repellant properties used in traditional medicine.The genus has a wide pantropical distribution, native to the tropical regions of Central and South […]

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The Ancient Oak Tree that Taught the World a Lesson – BBC (2020)

May 14, 2020 at 1:39 pm / BBC documentaries, Natural history, Video

The Turner’s oak is a hybrid of the European oak (Quercus robur) and the Mediterranean holm oak (Quercus ilex). It is a prime example of a hybrid that exhibits blended characteristics of its progenitors: a semi-evergreen tree. Grown out in the open field for centuries, this tree experienced no competition from others and developed a dome shaped canopy. The tree was grown at the Holloway Down Nursery of Spencer Turner, Leyton, Essex, UK. In 1783, it caught the attention of […]

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Wallace in Borneo – Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero – BBC (2013)

June 27, 2019 at 2:35 pm / BBC documentaries, Evolution, Natural history, Video

The theory of evolution was co-discovered independently by two biologists that lived within the same time period. Darwin and Wallace were well known in their time but Wallace’s name gradually has been overshadowed by Darwin. Today we rarely (almost never) hear the name Alfred Russell Wallace. In the past there have been a few documentaries making a rare attempt to focus on the biography of this very influential biologist including an episode in Jacob Bronowski’s 1973 The Ascent of Man […]

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Climate Change – The Facts / David Attenborough – BBC (2019)

April 23, 2019 at 8:46 pm / BBC documentaries, Global Patterns, Human Nature, Video

This documentary has a very urgent message (so urgent that I don’t even have time to write up an accompanying text about it!). It is a call to arms. Climate change from global warming due to Human activities is now a well-established fact. Global atmospheric carbon dioxide level is now more than 410 ppm. In fact, you can check the most up to date atmospheric CO2 reading from Hawaii yourself. We have less than a decade to curb our emissions […]

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Nice Guys Finish First – Richard Dawkins (1987)

March 16, 2019 at 1:54 pm / BBC documentaries, Evolution, Human Nature, Video

In this BBC documentary Richard Dawkins explores the evolution of cooperation. The problem has been discussed intensely since Darwin’s time and is still being investigated scientifically. Cooperative species are quite successful but rare. Social insects (ants, wasps, bees and termites) make up only 3 percent of animal diversity yet they may constitute up to 50 percent of the total animal biomass in land habitats. Among 43,678 known species of spiders cooperative behavior evolved in only a few. How could a […]

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Hungry Polar Bear Ambushes Seal | The Hunt | BBC Earth (2017)

March 9, 2018 at 10:55 am / BBC documentaries, Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Natural history, Short Observations, Video

Being a predator is very difficult. The “one in twenty” success rate is almost a universal rule of thumb to describe predator hunting efficiency. Prey defines the terms of engagement. Predator has to play catch up and therefore has to be stronger, faster more agile and perhaps more clever in planning a successful attack. We know this relationship from studies that have exquisitely measured predator-prey related physical parameters in Cheetahs and Lions hunting Impalas and Zebras. Connections between apex predators […]

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Planet Earth – Jungles – BBC (2006)

October 13, 2016 at 5:15 pm / BBC documentaries, Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

Jungles is the 8th episode of the BBC TV series Planet Earth. It makes a rapid tour around the tropical belt and highlights a few key phenomena and spectacular behavior including mating dance of bird of paradise, forest regeneration after a treefall, plant-animal interactions in the forest canopy, fig trees as a keystone species, primate territoriality, forest sounds, mating leaf frogs, water cycle through evapotranspiration, nutrient cycle through decomposition, food webs, parental care in insects, fungal parasitism, gliding calugos, carnivorous […]

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Bowerbird’s Grand Performance – Life Story – BBC

May 22, 2016 at 9:20 pm / BBC documentaries, Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Natural history, Wildlife Documentaries

With its retina punishing feather colors this is a spectacular solo mating dance performed by a male bowerbird advertising his male qualities. The independent dilation and contraction of the pupils is a striking part of the choreography at the beginning of the performance. In Humans male brains perceive dilated eyes as a signal for sexual readiness of females. Seeing the exaggerated form here should make us curious about our “inner reptile” since birds and mammals have evolved from independent reptilian […]

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Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur – BBC (2016)

April 10, 2016 at 10:56 am / BBC documentaries, Evolution, Natural history

On February 19th 2016, a replica of the massive Titanosaurus dinosaur (Patagotitan mayorum) discovered in Argentinian Patagonia was unveiled at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. It is continuing to send strong waves of excitement to all natural history enthusiasts worldwide. Based on accurate dating of the volcanic ash surrounding the fossil we now know that the animal lived 100.6 million years ago during the Cretaceous. It belongs to the Sauropod group and yet is the largest […]

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Planet Ant – Life Inside the Colony BBC (2012)

October 2, 2015 at 10:39 pm / BBC documentaries, Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Natural history, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

Self-organization skills of ants are impressive. How do they achieve such large-scale project management? Without central control individual behavior of each worker ant contributes to the collective emergent behavior. Once they discover a resource they are extremely efficient in utilizing it. We have a lot to learn from them. This documentary is quite unique in its approach. It documents an entire leafcutter ant colony (Atta cephalotes) re-organize itself from scratch in an artificial nest purposefully built to observe colony-scale behavior […]

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The Antikythera Mechanism: The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Computer – Mike Beckham (2012)

March 21, 2015 at 7:51 pm / BBC documentaries, Human Nature, Video

Antikythera Mechanism is one of the best demonstrations of human intellect attempting to understand nature systematically. The contraption is most certainly a very complex device. It is an impressively accurate “analog model” of our then earth-centric universe. Science gives us prediction power and Antikythera Mechanism is an excellent example for how astronomical observations can be defined mathematically to reconcile lunar and solar calendars and predict eclipses with hourly accuracy using 27 gear pieces. It uses the Metonic Cyle first implemented […]

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The Ladder of Creation – Jacob Bronowski – BBC (1973)

January 20, 2015 at 2:33 pm / BBC documentaries, Evolution, Video

The theory of evolution was co-discovered independently by two biologists that lived within the same time period. Darwin and Wallace were well known in their time but Wallace’s name gradually has been overshadowed by Darwin. Today we rarely (almost never) hear the name Alfred Russell Wallace. In this documentary Jacob Bronowski makes a rare attempt to focus on the biography of this very influential scientist. He tells Wallace’s story beginning from the early years of his childhood. We see a […]

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The Hidden Life of the Cell – BBC (2012)

May 16, 2014 at 11:33 pm / BBC documentaries, Evolution, Human Nature, Molecular Nature, Video

Ebola virus is threatening to spread out of Africa. Zika virus is evolving and circulating in more than 50 countries. At this stage we must inform ourselves and others about viruses. The Hidden Life of the Cell does just that by illustrating a real scenario of adenovirus infection and while doing that introduces major cellular components. The documentary is quite successful in explaining the biology behind events. However, you might also want to see Inner Life of Cell and the […]

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First Life with David Attenborough – Arrival BBC (2010)

February 15, 2014 at 10:32 pm / BBC documentaries, Evolution, Video

BBC’s First Life is a marvelous encapsulation of life’s evolution in two episodes. Episode one “Arrival” covers major events until the Cambrian Explosion. If you are here because you want to know about the origins of life you may be slightly frustrated. The episode will briefly mention underwater hydrothermal vents as possible locations that life may have started and will mention about stromatolites which appeared in geological history around 3.5 billion years ago and that’s it. It will not talk […]

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Harvest of the Seasons – Jacob Bronowski (1973)

August 17, 2013 at 12:26 pm / BBC documentaries, Evolution, Human Nature, Molecular Nature, Video

Harvest of the Seasons is the second episode of a thirteen-part documentary series called The Ascent of Man written and presented by Jacob Bronowski. The series reached wide audiences for Bronowski’s highly intellectual but simple and convincing analysis. Much of his long monologues were unscripted and were a source of inspiration for creating a template for Carl Sagan’s hugely sucessful Cosmos series. The motto used by Bronowski “A personal view” became “A personal voyage” in Sagan’s. The episode provides an […]

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