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The Truth about Sleep

   2017    Medicine
Western countries are the most sleep-deprived countries in the world. Insomniac Michael Mosley finds out what happens if we don't get enough sleep and looks at surprising solutions to help us get more.
Series: The Truth About

The Legend of 420

   2017    Medicine
The documentary explores the controversial use of marijuana and the evolution of mainstream society. From a dangerous narcotic, listed as a Schedule 1 Drug substance since the 1970s, to the rush to decriminalize it today. What has changed and why? What will the cannabis industry look like in five years? Will it retain its integrity as a homegrown industry or be co-opted by Big Business? Experts, growers, celebrities and politicians weigh in on the future of Cannabusiness.

The Magic Pill

   2017    Medicine
The Magic Pill follows doctors, patients, scientists, chefs, farmers and journalists from around the globe who are combating illness through a paradigm shift in eating. According to its followers, this simple change - embracing fat as our main fuel - is showing profound promise in improving the health of people, animals and the planet. The film is highly controversial and was criticized by some medical associations.
The Paleo diet proposes that humans were genetically adapted to eating specifically those foods that were readily available to them in their local environments. Advocates of the diet claim many chronic diseases and degenerative conditions evident in modern Western populations have arisen because of a mismatch between Stone Age genes and modern lifestyles. The Paleo diet typically includes vegetables, fruits, nuts, roots, and meat and excludes foods such as dairy products, grains, sugar, legumes, processed vegetable oils, salt, alcohol or coffee.

The Golden Age

   2016    History
This episode tells the tale of what's broadly considered China's most creative dynasty - the Song (960-1279). Michael Wood heads to the city of Kaifeng, the greatest city in the world before the 19th century. Here in Twin Dragon Alley, locals tell him the legend of the baby boys who became emperors.
He explores the ideas and inventions that made the Song one of greatest eras in world culture, helped by China's most famous work of art, the Kaifeng scroll, which shows the life of the city in around 1120. A chef makes Michael a recipe from a Song cookbook, while a guide to 'how to live happy, healthy lives for old people', published in 1085 and still in print, is discussed with local women doing their morning exercises. The Song was also a great era for scientific advance in China. Michael steers a huge working replica of an astronomical clock, made by China's Leonardo da Vinci.
Then at a crunch Chinese Premier League match, Michael tells us the Chinese invented football! The golden age of the northern Song ended in 1127, when invaders sacked Kaifeng, but they survived in the south. At their new capital, Hangzhou, Wood joins locals dancing by the West Lake, while in the countryside he meets Mr Xie with his records of 40 generations of ancestors. The final defeat of the Song took place in a naval battle in the estuary of the Pearl River in 1279. When all was lost, rather than surrender to the Mongols, a loyal minister jumped into the sea with the young boy emperor in his arms. 'So ended the glory of the Song', Wood concludes, 'but a new age would arise... as in China, it always has!'.
Series: The Story of China

A Year in Space

   2016    Technology
Follow astronaut Scott Kelly’s record-breaking 12-month mission on the International Space Station, from launch to landing, as NASA charts the effects of long-duration spaceflight. A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carried Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos to the space station for the longest space mission ever assigned to a NASA astronaut". The expedition provided important insights into operational and scientific areas in human research in space and on Earth. Integrated scientific investigations between NASA and Roscosmos will combine resources to improve data sharing among space medical and human research communities, as well as help inform current assessments of crew performance and health and better determine and validate countermeasures to reduce the risks associated with future exploration as NASA plans for missions around the moon, to an asteroid and eventually to Mars.

Cooked: Water

   2016    Culture
Michael Pollan looks to the kitchens of India for a lesson in the value of pot cooking and examines the consequences of eating highly processed food.
Series: Cooked
The Jinx

The Jinx

  History
Vegan

Vegan

2020  Culture
The Story of Maths

The Story of Maths

2008  Science
Space Deepest Secrets

Space Deepest Secrets

2020  Science
The Story of India

The Story of India

2007  History