The Chemistry of Life: Milestones in Genetics
Cells are, in a sense, just tiny bags of chemicals—so what “instructs” them to divide and function? This program shows how biologists addressed the question during the 19th and 20th centuries. Starting with Friedrich Miescher’s discovery of ...
Seeking Perfection
Gary’s love of soccer might wreck his wedding plans. Rosemary embezzled four million dollars in order to shop and hoard. An attractive young woman, Jennifer sees herself as disfigured due to body dysmorphia. These and other cases are used to illus...
Rice, Salmon, and Beef: Jimmy and the Food Price Hike
In this revelatory series farmer Jimmy Doherty travels the globe to find out why the price of our food is spiraling out of control. Focusing on one meal in each episode—breakfast, lunch and dinner—Jimmy uncovers why staple ingredients we take fo...
Diarmaid MacCulloch's a history of Christianity: Episode 4. Reformation : the individual before God
The Amish today are peaceable folk, but five centuries ago their ancestors were seen as some of the most dangerous people in Europe. They were radicals - Protestants - who tore apart the Catholic Church. In the fourth part of his History of Christia...
Diarmaid MacCulloch's a history of Christianity: Episode 3. Orthodoxy : from empire to empire
Today, Eastern Orthodox Christianity flourishes in the Balkans and Russia with over 150 million members worldwide. It's quite unlike Catholicism or Protestantism: worship is carefully choreographed, icons pull the faithful into a mystical union with...
Diarmaid MacCulloch's a history of Christianity: Episode 6. God in the dock
Diarmaid MacCulloch's own life story makes him a symbol of a distinctive feature about Western Christianity - skepticism, a tendency to doubt which has transformed Western culture and transformed Christianity. In the last program in the series he as...
Diarmaid MacCulloch's a history of Christianity: Episode 5. Protestantism : the evangelical explosion
In his fifth part of A History of Christianity, Diarmaid MacCulloch traces the growth of an exuberant expression of faith that has spread across the globe - Evangelical Protestantism. Today, it's associated with conservative politics, but the whole ...
The Will to Win
The will to win is an instinct that has kept the human species alive for millions of years. This program explains why victory feels so good and why defeat is a losing proposition. Topics under consideration include the genetic basis for the euphoria...
Diarmaid MacCulloch's a history of Christianity: Episode 1. The first Christianity
When he was a small boy Diarmaid MacCulloch's parents used to drive him round historic churches. Little did they know that they had created a monster - the history of the Christian Church became his life's work. Now, no other subject can rival its s...
Diarmaid MacCulloch's a history of Christianity: Episode 2. Catholicism : the unpredictable rise of Rome
Diarmaid MacCulloch's grandfather was a devout pillar of the local Anglican church and felt that any dabbling in
Catholicism was liable to pollute the English way of life. But now his grandfather isn't around to stop him from exploring the extraordi...