On the news this week: unmanned space capsule successfully docked onto the ISS; the Trump administration is considering reevaluating climate change; and is TV bad for your memory?
TV
Interview with Steve Crabtree, editor of BBC’s ‘Horizon’
Sophie Walsh interviews Steve Crabtree, editor of BBCs science series ‘Horizon’ to discuss taboo science, the future of Horizon and why he wishes he’s met David Bowie…
Croutons – Fail better
Patrick Kennedy on failure, space exploration, and reality television …
Kangeroos and cleaners
Kangaroo Dundee begins with the music of heroes, lovers and sunsets. Then …
The Secret Life of Starlite
The remarkable story of mysterious polymer Starlite, and how we may never know its full potential …
Delighted by documentary
A thoroughly entertaining DVD box set that looks back over 125 years of National Geographic …
Prodigies and gonad hardships
A Nevada man with 10-stone testicles is the subject of ‘Bodyshock’, while ‘Child Genius’ follows a mathematically gifted 9-year-old …
Selling hope
A Panorama on the Texan doctor selling untested cures for cancer, while Unreported world charts rising sales in cosmetic surgery …
Magic and medicine
A critical look at the promise from magician Ben Earl of miraculously defying science, plus medical hero Rami Habib in Syria …
Africa
The release of a book to accompany David Attenborough’s spectacular television series means the journey into the depths of Africa doesn’t have to end …
Bang Goes The Theory – Sugar
Ahead of the chocolate-filled Easter holidays, ‘Bang Goes The Theory’ uncovered some surprising truths about sugar …
Scare science
The programmes I watched this week served only to scare. Death is near. Trust nothing. Certainly not a cucumber wrapper …
Wild Britain and Brian Cox
I expect we all put off our Friday night plans to watch Wild Britain with Ray Mears. He’s a funny beast, Mears. He seems never to have grown out of that boyish make-a-den-in-the-woods phase. This is not a criticism. I think it’s part of his charm. His programmes are not sensational and neither is he. […]
Lanier vs Zuckerberg
[Visualisation of the world’s Facebook relationships. Click image for large version.] This article is taken from the Winter 2011 issue of I, Science. Douglas Heaven reviews Jaron Lanier’s You Are Not A Gadget (Penguin, 2010) and the BBC’s documentary Mark Zuckerberg: Inside Facebook (December 2011). In You Are Not A Gadget, Jaron Lanier – computer […]
Secret Scientist: Mark Mann
Technologist at BBC R&D The BBC R&D Department is the core of the corporation’s effort to be at the cutting edge of media technology, and drives the exploration of exciting new tools for the production and distribution of programming. In his role as a technologist, Mark Mann has drawn on scientific expertise in developing innovative […]
The Great I, Science Sci Fi TV Survey
Ben Kolb and Adrian Giordani – April 2010 A couple of months ago the I, Science team were ‘geeking’ out in the pub, arguing over the respective merits of Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine and whether the reimagining of Battlestar Galactica s the best science fiction series ever? After much debate and before the […]