Rebellion
As time creeps by, the exercise of reward and punishment and the friction of social inequality within the microsociety of prison take their toll, fraying nerves among the prisoners and generating anxiety among the guards. In this episode, two inmate...
Flesh and Blood: Sibling Rivalry
Why are siblings often so different? Are “only” children lucky or disadvantaged? What are the long-term effects of birth order and sibling relationships? This program underscores recent theories that suggest relationships among a nuclear family�...
Barbie’s Midlife Crisis: Mighty Mattel Fights Back
At 44, Barbie had been the queen of fashion dolls for generations of children. But her sales and profits began to slip as she was forced to fend off attacks from enemies both new and old: the fashion-conscious Bratz pack and Sindy, a former rival th...
Connections: countdown
What happens when you combine a carbon arc light, a billiard ball coating, a spoked wheel and consecutive images? Motion pictures! Complex and sometimes incredible events led to Thomas Edison's remarkable invention; the beginnings of limelight on a ...
The “Muvver” Tongue
In the 19th century, English spread throughout the British Empire—but which English? This classic PBS program traces the roots of white Commonwealth English to Cockney, the language of London’s working class. Explaining the influence of Cockney ...
The pipeline
This ambitious documentary follows the circuitous route of the 1,100-mile BTC Pipeline, a string of 150,000 steel pipes that links the cities of Baku, in Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, in Georgia; and Ceyhan, in Turkey. The pipeline will transport the rich, p...
To Infinity and Beyond: Mathematics in Modern Times
In this program, Professor Marcus du Sautoy addresses mathematical advances of 20th-century Europe and America. Topics include Georg Cantor’s exploration of the concept of infinity; chaos theory, formulated by Henri Poincaré; Kurt Gödel’s inco...
Dining and Traveling in Spain: Paella and More
When Valencianos want to get away from it all, they have a lot to choose from. This program offers plenty of food for thought through scenarios involving dining at La Matandeta, a restaurant known for its regional cuisine; traveling by train to Spai...
Bones of contention: Native American archaeology
The remains of more than 10,000 Native Americans unearthed at archaeological sites across the U.S. are in the possession of museums such as the Smithsonian. Is the analysis of the bones valid scientific research, or is it a desecration of Native Ame...
How we study children: observation and experimentation
This program asserts that the testing of a causal hypothesis involving cognitive development is best done through a combination of observational and experimentational methods. Kathy Sylva and Peter Bryant, both of the University of Oxford, and other...