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Chapter 4: Mescaline

   2022    Medicine
The last episode explores Mescaline, the psychoactive molecule in San Pedro and peyote cacti, a sacred medicine that Native Americans have had to fight for the right to use. At the Indigenous practices there's always an elder, someone who knows the territory very well, who's presiding. There's usually a group, a community is involved, There's always an intention, a purpose to what you're doing, and you're treating it as sacred, in order to achieve altered states of consciousness, which contribute to worship in various ways, or celebration or healing.
But maybe all this is not so new to Western culture after all. In the old Greek histories of Eleusis, people who were initiated there got the drink, the kykeon, and then they had the illumination. The precise recipe is a mystery, but we know that the kykeon was a psychoactive brew that was used at the Eleusinian mysteries, a sacred annual ritual of enlightenment practiced by some of the world's greatest minds including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. So why did this ritual come to an end more than 1,000 years ago? Was the possibility of illumination or achieving a higher consciousness considered threatening to the powers that be? Have the drug wars been merely an extension of that fear?
Psychedelics has a major part in how we can heal as a community, how we can heal as a city, and how we can heal as a country. The current renaissance of psychedelics could not come at a better time as the world confronts a crisis in mental health. But psychedelics have much to offer. The psychedelic experience changes the mind in ways that will help scientists better understand how it works. All these altered states allow us to probe what is the greatest mystery in all of nature. The emergence from mere matter of something as miraculous as consciousness. But an even bigger question is whether psychedelics might help us address the environmental crisis of how we think about our place in nature. One of the greatest gifts of psychedelics is how they reanimate the natural world, allowing us to perceive the subject, the spirit of all species, not just our own. And to feel a deeper sense of interconnectedness with nature.
Series: How to Change Your Mind

Chased by Sea Monsters 2of3

   2003    Nature
You will feel a lot more comfortable about going out for a swim or an afternoon boat ride knowing that such behemoths are extinct today!The Dunkleosteus is school bus-sized armored fish with razor sharp bladed jaws for cutting through anything in its path. The mighty Liopleurodon is a true monster, largest and most powerful of the Pliosaurs. The deadly Mosasaurs where the real sea serpents of their day, and some where large enough to dispatch an adult tyrannosaur easily.
Series: Chased by Sea Monsters

Childbirth: All or Nothing

   2015    Medicine
What's your idea of the perfect birth? Do you want every medical intervention known to science or do you want to go it alone, without the help of a doctor or midwife? And what about after birth? Perhaps you'll hang on to your baby's placenta and carry it around with your newborn until it dries and drops off naturally? Or maybe you'll decide to eat it by whizzing it up into a smoothie? This film follows four pregnant women all making very different choices around their births, all determined to do it their way." 37-year-old Jo plans to deliver her baby completely alone on board her barge, without the assistance of any medical professional. By contrast, 34-year-old Anna is opting to sidestep the pains of labour and book in for a c-section at the Portland Hospital in London. Anna wants all the medication available and she doesn't want to feel a thing. There are plenty of unusual plans for after the birth too. In Devon, 33-year-old Lisa plans to lotus birth - she'll leave her baby's umbilical cord attached to its placenta and she'll keep it fresh by dusting it with salt, rose petals and lavender oil. 35-year-old Kati from Manchester is going to whizz her afterbirth into a smoothie and consume it over a number of days. She hopes it will help her stave off post-natal baby blues and bounce back as quickly as possible. Fending off bewildered looks and concerns from friends, family and medical professionals, each woman is going against convention to have the birth she wants. There are free and frank discussions between mums and daughters and decisions to go against medical advice. So does breaking with the norm and sticking to your guns pay off? And what really is the perfect birth?

Coldplay Live 2of2

   2012    Art
'Every show is different. When the lights go down that's 30,000 people's lives colliding... for that one moment. Everyone that's there working or watching is there for that moment. It's when you're all kind of in agreement about what you're all doing at that time... so it's a wonderful feeling of togetherness and possibility Then I start getting real adrenaline... and start doing 'Rocky' shadow boxing and all that kind of stuff.
So I get as excited as anyone else. And I still get that excitement when I go and see anyone else's concert. I love that moment. And then it's about trying to hold that energy for an hour and a half... because it can go if you're not careful Whilst it might not be perceived as cool to be really enthused by the fact that people show up to hear your music... we don't really give a f***, we really love that and it's exciting, you know?'
Series: Coldplay Live

Con Mum

   2025    History
In a world where technology outpaces understanding, a mother and her child become the center of a global controversy. As secret experiments unravel and media frenzy escalates, hidden truths about AI, surveillance, and identity emerge.
This gripping documentary explores the boundary between love and control, science and ethics, in a story that feels stranger than fiction. With exclusive access to never-before-seen footage and testimony, it invites you to question everything you thought you knew about motherhood—and the future.

Counselling

   2023    Nature
Everyone's still reeling from the council's decision and its implications: the money Jeremy's spent on cows for the restaurant, the locals who won't find work there now and the farmers' co-operative that's now defunct. Charlie sets out to find a legal team to help Jeremy appeal the decision, as Jeremy and Kaleb get to work on tagging the new calves and attempting to navigate a government helpline where you're supposed to register them.
There are other useful distractions from the council in the shape of Diddly Squat's Hedge Laying Competition and a mouse that brings the whole farm to a standstill. The legal team that Charlie has assembled pay a visit. They outline their strategy for the appeal, but also the costs that come with it.
Series: Clarkson Farm Season 2