What If the Moon Didn't Exist?

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present two video features that will allow us to take a glimpse an alternative evolutionary history of our planet. How would our world and the life on it have evolved it if our planet wasn’t accompanied by a natural satellite such as the Moon? How would have the evolutionary history of our planet have unfolded over the course of its four and half billion year history if the Moon didn’t exist?



Without the moon, humans wouldn’t exist. Life, if it had started at all, would be in the earliest stages of evolution. Days would last four hours, winds would blow at hurricane force and there would be a dense and toxic atmosphere resembling that of Venus.


Luckily, fifty million years after the formation of the solar system, our proto-planet was hit by a celestial body more than twice the size of Mars, which formed the moon. In this one-hour special, viewers will learn what Earth was like before the moon and what Earth would be like if the moon disappeared.

Neil F. Comins wrote a series of articles and a book entitled "What if the Moon Didn't Exist: Voyages to Earth's that Might Have Been" that looks at these alternative evolutionary scenarios. In fact it has formed the basis for series of radio, TV, and planetarium shows. It was also the theme of the Mitsubishi pavilion at the World Expo in Aishi, Japan in 2005 and is now a show at the "Huis Ten Bosch" resort near Nagasaki, Japan. Dr. Comins’ most recent book is "What If the Earth Had Two Moons?: And Nine Other Thought-Provoking Speculations on the Solar System".

If We Had No Moon

Watch The Earth With No Moon in Educational View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The Universe - The Day The Moon Was Gone

Mission to the Moon's Farside?

Lockheed Martin have been looking at what can be done with the Orion spacecraft. Their latest proposal is a Lunar Farside mission:

From a halo orbit around that L2 point, a crew would control robots on the lunar surface. Teleoperated science tasks include snagging rock specimens for return to Earth from the moon's South Pole-Aitken basin – one of the largest, deepest, and oldest craters in the solar system – as well as deploy a radio telescope array on the farside. [Graphic: The moon's far side explained]

"We have come up with a sequence of missions that we've named 'Stepping Stones,' which begins with flights in low Earth orbit and incrementally builds towards a human mission to the moons of Mars in the 2030s," said Josh Hopkins of Lockheed Martin's Human Spaceflight Advanced Programs department.

Shakedown cruise

The first Orion missions to the moon's far side, viewed as feasible by 2016 to 2018, would accomplish science goals on the lunar surface using robotic rovers controlled by astronauts in space "as practice for doing the same thing at Mars," Hopkins told SPACE.com.

Hopkins said that the L2 missions would also be a "shakedown cruise" to practice medium duration missions and the higher-speed reentry needed for exploration missions before the next step - missions to asteroids. Those in turn, he added, demonstrate additional capabilities for longer and more distant exploration before the Mars orbit mission.

According to a Lockheed Martin white paper on the proposed concept, a number of benefits stem from such a mission:

Astronauts on an L2-Farside mission would travel 15 percent farther from Earth than the Apollo astronauts did - and spend almost three times longer in deep space.

Each flight would prove out the Orion capsule's life support systems for one-month duration missions before attempting a six-month-long asteroid mission.

It would demonstrate the high speed reentry capability needed for return from the moon or deep space – 40 percent to 50 percent faster than reentry from low-Earth orbit.

The mission would measure astronauts' radiation dose from cosmic rays and solar flares to verify that Orion provides sufficient protection, as it is designed to do. Currently the medical effects of deep space radiation are not well understood, so a one-month mission would improve our understanding without exposing astronauts to excessive risk.

Just how they propose to launch the vehicle is most interesting: 

If that mega-booster is a no-show, smaller rockets can be used instead, but a more complex arrangement would be required. First, Orion would be launched to low-Earth orbit on a rocket such as a Delta 4 Heavy. Then, a modified Centaur upper stage would launch on a separate rocket. Orion would dock to the Centaur stage in orbit, and the Centaur would boost Orion toward the moon.

Now, if a Moon mission can be done without a Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle just why is a HLLV required? The Loockheed Martin paper is here.

In Search of real life Superhumans - Hammer Head

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the third instalment of an exciting new documentary series entitled “Stan Lee’s Superhumans” hosted by the legendary American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics- Stan Lee and Daniel Browning Smith, who's been dubbed the most flexible man in the world. Together they take us on thrilling journey into the farthest reaches of the world in search of real life superhumans.


In the third episode Daniel meets Dean Karnazes. He's run 50 marathons in 50 days, and then ran 1300 miles back to the start. But how can Dean's body not suffer the exhaustion and fatigue faced by everyone else on earth? John Ferraro is rumored to have a skull that can withstand sledgehammers, bowling balls and even jackhammers. Daniel investigates to find out if he has a genetic difference that makes his skull superhumanly strong. Chris claims to have incredible powers like that of the Marvel comic-book character "Destiny"; he believes that his dreams are a window into the future. But will Chris' remarkable claims of premonitions stand up to the scrutiny of our host? Kenny Muhammad, aka "The Human Orchestra", is the most extraordinary human mimic on the planet. This wizard of sound possesses an astounding ability that enables him to simultaneously generate an entire orchestra of sounds from his mouth.

Throughout history, the forces of evolution and genetic mutation have endowed humans with astonishing new abilities and features. It's a process that continues to this day, and nowhere is it more evident than in the fascinating world of Stan Lee's "Superhumans."


Stan Lee's Superhumans - Episode 3 Hammer Head

Easter Island Eclipse 2010

Today on Discovery Enterprise we are going to watch one of nature’s grandest celestial spectacles - a total eclipse.

A total solar eclipse is the rarest of celestial occurrences, and in this documentary we will be witnessing this grand phenomena over Easter Island one of the most mysterious and remote archaeological sites in the world. The last time an eclipse occurred over Easter Island was 591 A.D. We will follow scientists as they gather new research that could play a key role in the race to understand the sun and its extraordinary impact on Earth.


Easter Island Eclipse 2010

3001 The Final Odyssey- Prologue

Today’s blog post is dedicated to the memory of the greatest science fiction visionary of all time – Arthur C Clarke.

Prologue of 3001 The Final Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke, read by Garrick Hagon.

Call them the Firstborn. Though they were not remotely human, they were flesh and blood, and when they looked out across the deeps of space, they felt awe, and wonder— and loneliness. As soon as they possessed the power, they began to seek for fellowship among the stars.


In their explorations, they encountered life in many forms, and watched the workings of evolution on a thousand worlds. They saw how often the first faint sparks of intelligence flickered and died in the cosmic night.

And because, in all the Galaxy, they had found nothing more precious than Mind, they encouraged its dawning everywhere. They became farmers in the fields of stars; they sowed, and sometimes they reaped.


And sometimes, dispassionately, they had to weed.


The great dinosaurs had long since passed away, their morning promise annihilated by a random hammerblow from space, when the survey ship entered the Solar System after a voyage that had already lasted a thousand years. It swept past the frozen outer planets, paused briefly above the deserts of dying Mars, and presently looked down on Earth.


Spread out beneath them, the explorers saw a world swarming with life. For years they studied, collected, catalogued. When they had learned all that they could, they began to modify. They tinkered with the destiny of many species, on land and in the seas. But which of their experiments would bear fruit, they could not know for at least a million years.


They were patient, but they were not yet immortal. THere was so much to do in this universe of a hundred billion suns, and other worlds were calling. So they set out once more into the abyss, knowning that they would never come this way again. Nor was there any need: the servants they had left behind would do the rest.


On Earth, the glaciers came and went, while above them the changeless Moon still carried its secret from the stars. With a yet slower rhythm than the polar ice, the tides of civilization ebbed and flowed across the Galaxy. Strange and beautiful and terrible empires rose and fell, and passed on their knowledge to their successors.


And now, out among the stars, evolution was driving towards new goals. The first explorers of Earth had long since come to the limits of flesh and blood; as as soon their machines were better than their bodies, it was time to move. First their brains, and then their thoughts alone, they transferred into shining new homes of metal and gemstone. In these, they roamed the Galaxy. They no longer built spaceships. They were spaceships.


But the age of the Machine-entities swiftly passed. In their ceaseless experimenting, they had learned to store knowledge in the structure of space itself, and to preserve their thoughts for eternity in frozen lattices of light.


Into pure energy, therefore, they presently transformed themselves; and on a thousand worlds, the empty shells they had discarded twitched for a while in a mindless dance of death, then crumbled to dust.


Now they were Lords of the Galaxy, and could rove at will among the stars, or sink like a subtle mist through the very interstices of space. though they were freed at last from the tyranny of matter, they had not wholly forgotten their origin, in the warm slime of a vanished sea. And their marvelous instruments still continued to function, watching over the experiments started so many ages ago.


But no longer were they always obedient to the mandates of their creators; like all material things, they were not immune to the corruption of Time and its patient, unsleeping servant, Entropy.


And sometimes, they discovered and sought goals of their own.


3001: The Final Odyssey- Prologue

7 Amazing Exoplanets

Scientific American has an excellent interactive article on the planets we are finding beyond our Solar System:

Hundreds of planets around other stars have been discovered recently, but many centuries may pass before human eyes actually see them up close. Interpreting current data, Hugo award-winning artist Ron Miller takes us to seven of the most fascinating of these worlds. Text and narration by Ed Bell

Well worth going too. Here's  the introductory video:

Hyperspace – Are We Alone?

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the first episode of the six part BBC documentary series “Hyperspace” hosted and narrated by veteran actor Sam Neill.

The first instalment of this exciting series explores the possibility of extraterrestrial life and human contact with it.

Hyperspace – Are We Alone?

The Next Ice Age

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present two documentary features that explore the possibility that global warming, as paradoxical as it may sound, may be rushing our planet into the next ice-age.

What on Earth is Wrong With Gravity?

Today we join physicist Dr. Brian Cox in understanding one of the fundamental forces that underlie the workings of the Cosmos – Gravity.

In this BBC Horizon documentary particle physicist and ex-D:Ream keyboardist Dr Brian Cox believes that the answer to the meaning of the universe lies in gravity. Both Einstein and Newton believed that gravity was powered by God.

On a road trip across the USA, Brian fires lasers at the moon in Texas and goes wild in the desert in Arizona. He encounters the bending of space and time at a maximum security military base and tries to detect ripples in our reality in the swamps of Louisiana and searches for hidden dimensions just outside Chicago.

What on Earth is Wrong With Gravity?

Watch earth is wrong with gravity in Educational View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The Genius of Britain Episode 2 - The Chemical Brothers

Today on Discovery Enterprise we will present the second episode of a new documentary series entitled “The Genius of Britain”.

The second instalment of this landmark series is entitled “The Chemical Brothers: How Science Created the Industrial Revolution”. This episode looks at the scientific spark that ignited the Industrial Revolution in Britain.


James Dyson tells the story of how a young James Watt was inspired to perfect the steam engine that would change the world forever.

Jim Al-Khalili explains how Joseph Priestley, a clergyman with a fascination for gases, discovered the very air we breathe and started a craze for soda water.

David Attenborough talks about his hero Joseph Banks, the great naturalist who sailed to the South Seas and founded Kew Gardens on his return.

And Robert Winston reveals the extraordinary story of John Hunter, surgeon, anatomist... and body-snatcher.


Britain may indeed be only a small island, but it is an island of colossal intellects. Its great scientists, engineers and inventors have literally created the modern world: from the invention of the steam engine, computers and the world-wide web to the discovery of the theory of evolution and the atom.

In this five-part series some of Britain's leading scientific figures - Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, James Dyson, David Attenborough, Robert Winston, Paul Nurse, Jim Al-Khalili, Kathy Sykes and Olivia Judson - tell the stories of the people behind these innovations.


The Genius of Britain Episode 2 - The Chemical Brothers: How Science Created the Industrial Revolution







Also on YouTube:

The Ancient World: Hypatia and Alexandria

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present a new documentary series about classical antiquity hosted by Brittany Hughes entitled “The Ancient World”. A new film about Hypatia and the ransacking of the Great Library of Alexandria entitled “Agora”, directed by Alejandro Amenábar, provides the centrepiece of Bettany Hughes' definitive history of the ancient world and classical civilisation.

In the first episode of this series “Alexandria: The Greatest City” we focus our attention on perhaps the greatest city of the classical age – Alexandria and a woman by the name of Hypatia who was a noted mathematician, astronomer and philosopher.

The Motion picture Agora dramatises the story of Hypatia’s battle with Cyril, the patriarch of Alexandria, casting both historical figures in symbolic roles as the central protagonists in the historical battle between science and reason against the dark forces of religious bigotry and superstition.

Three cities dominated the ancient world: Athens, Rome and a third, now almost forgotten. It lies hidden beneath the waters of the Mediterranean and a sprawling modern metropolis.

Alexandria was a city built on a dream; a place with a very modern mindset, where one man had a vision that all knowledge on earth could be stored in one place.

Bettany Hughes goes in search of this lost civilisation, revealing the story of a city founded out of the desert by Alexander the Great in 331 BC to become the world's first global centre of culture, into which wealth and knowledge poured from across the world.

Until its decline in the fourth and fifth Centuries AD, Alexandria became a crucible of learning; Hughes uncovers the incredible discoveries and the technical achievements of this culture.

The film's cast of characters reads like a list of the greatest figures of ancient times: political figures like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, and intellectuals including female mathematician, astronomer and philosopher Hypatia, Euclid, Archimedes, Eratosthenes and Ptolemy.

At last, after 1,500 years squashed under a modern metropolis, new clues are emerging from the earth to the real nature of this grand experiment in human civilisation.

Alexandria: The Greatest City

Official Trailer of the Motion Picture Agora

Sci-Fi Science - AI Uprising

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present another exciting instalment of Dr. Michio Kaku’s acclaimed television series “Sci Fi Science”. How would humanity survive a Robot Uprising as depicted in such motion pictures as The Terminator (1984) and I, Robot (2004).
Imagine a world ruled by machines where humanity has been wiped out. This is no sci-fi fantasy; machines will one surpass the human species in intelligence and evolve rapidly into the new dominant species on our planet. Here to save the day is, as always, is Dr. Michio Kaku. In this episode of Sci Fi Science he is drawing up a plan to save the human race from the onslaught of an A.I. Uprising.



A very interesting book with this very theme was published in 2005 and entitled “How to Survive a Robot Uprising" by Daniel Wilson and is available from Amazon in the United States and the United Kingdom and has recently been released in MP 3 audio book format by Blackstone audio.

The first and second seasons of Sci Fi Science, hosted by Dr. Michio Kaku is a available on DVD from the Discovery Channel’s onlinestore.

Sci-Fi Science Physics of the Impossible - AI Uprising

The mind blowing complexity of the human brain

  The computing power the human brain  has is just astounding:

"A typical, healthy one houses some 200 billion nerve cells, which are connected to one another via hundreds of trillions of synapses. Each synapse functions like a microprocessor, and tens of thousands of them can connect a single neuron to other nerve cells. In the cerebral cortex alone, there are roughly 125 trillion synapses, which is about how many stars fill 1,500 Milky Way galaxies.

These synapses are, of course, so tiny (less than a thousandth of a millimeter in diameter) that humans haven't been able to see with great clarity what exactly they do and how, beyond knowing that their numbers vary over time. That is until now:

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have spent the past few years engineering a new imaging model, which they call array tomography, in conjunction with novel computational software, to stitch together image slices into a three-dimensional image that can be rotated, penetrated and navigated. Their work appears in the journal Neuron this week. 

To test their model, the team took tissue samples from a mouse whose brain had been bioengineered to make larger neurons in the cerebral cortex express a fluorescent protein (found in jellyfish), making them glow yellow-green. Because of this glow, the researchers were able to see synapses against the background of neurons. 

They found that the brain's complexity is beyond anything they'd imagined, almost to the point of being beyond belief, says Stephen Smith, a professor of molecular and cellular physiology and senior author of the paper describing the study: 

One synapse, by itself, is more like a microprocessor--with both memory-storage and information-processing elements--than a mere on/off switch. In fact, one synapse may contain on the order of 1,000 molecular-scale switches. A single human brain has more switches than all the computers and routers and Internet connections on Earth. 

Smith adds that this gives us a glimpse into brain tissue at a level of detail never before attained: "The entire anatomical context of the synapses is preserved. You know right where each one is, and what kind it is."

Twenty-five Years With the Discovery Channel

Today on Discovery Enterprise we salute the Discovery Channel and celebrate its twenty fifth anniversary. On June 17, 1985), U.S. viewers were introduced to the Discovery Channel. Founded by John Hendricks with the simple mission of satisfying curiosity about our world, Discovery Communications now reaches 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in over 180 countries.

In this anniversary special, famous faces and Discovery fans alike will call out their favourite moments and look ahead to what the future may bring, while we revisit the most extraordinary things we've ever seen on the Discovery Channel.

Twenty-five Years With the Discovery Channel

Uncertain Principles - The Triumph of Quantum Physics

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present, for your viewing pleasure, a BBC documentary entitled “Uncertain Principles” which explorers the historical development of Quantum Mechanics as a new field in physics. Quantum physics led to a major paradigm shift regarding the nature of reality and the Cosmos in which we live.

This documentary explores the emergence of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle in the early 20th century, and how its implications shook up the scientific establishment of the day.

Quantum mechanics, through the pioneering work of Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Louis de Broglie and several others, revealed that on the subatomic scale - energy, matter and even light has a dual, almost Jekyll and Hyde personality, showing both particle and wave like characteristics.


Simply put, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle states that it is impossible to know both the exact position and the exact velocity of an object at the same time. However, the effect is tiny and so is only noticeable on a subatomic scale.

Light can be considered as being made up of packets of energy called photons. To measure the position and velocity of any particle, you would first shine a light on it, and then detect the reflection. On a macroscopic scale, the effect of photons on an object is insignificant. Unfortunately, on subatomic scales, the photons that hit the subatomic particle will cause it to move significantly, so although the position has been measured accurately, the velocity of the particle will have been altered. By learning the position, you have rendered any information you previously had on the velocity useless. In other words, the observer affects the observed.

Its detractors, foremost among them Albert Einstein, wanted to believe that an underlying determinism and realism underlies the workings of the universe. How ironic that it was Einstein’s own work on the photoelectric effect using Max Planck’s earlier work on black body radiation would lay one of the major foundation stones for this emerging new field.

Despite experiments attempting to disprove Heisenberg’s work, the Uncertainty Principle prevailed and remains one of the fundamental concepts of quantum theory.

Author’s Notes: For a detailed overview of the Historical Development of Quantum Mechanics allow me to suggest the entry on Wikipedia and John Gribbin’s delightful book “In search of Schrödinger’s Cat” and a very informative article of the same title.

Uncertain Principles

The Spaceships of Walt Disney - Mars and Beyond

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the final episode of Walt Disney’s exciting “Man in Space” series.

Mars and Beyond was the third featurette instalment of Walt Disney's highly acclaimed Disneyland television Tomorrowland specials of Man in Space which aired on December 4, 1957.

The Spaceships of Walt Disney - Man and the Moon

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the second instalment of a series that we highlighted on Christmas Day 2007 from Walt Disney’s acclaimed television series Disneyland from 1955 depicting the human future in space.

Man and the Moon was the second featurette instalment of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland specials of Man in Space, which originally aired on December 28, 1955. It was directed by Disney animator Ward Kimball, and is about the Moon. It begins with a humorous look with Man’s fascination with the Moon through animation. This segment features the Moon’s usage in everything from William Shakespeare and children’s nursery rhymes to lunar superstitions and scientific research. Then Kimball comes on with some information on the moon, supplemented by graphics. Kimball then introduces Dr. Wernher Von Braun, who discusses plans for a trip around the moon.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Today on Discovery Enterprise we delve into the fantasy and amazing accuracy of Jules Verne's classic novel and discover what it will take for humanity to conquer the final frontier – the centre of the earth. This documentary first aired on the Discovery Channel in 2003.

Man has always been fascinated with the soil beneath his feet, but just how far beneath the earth's crust have we gone? Miners reveal some of the deepest mines ever constructed, while naval engineers demonstrate a deep-sea submersible capable of going 22,000 feet below the surface. In the lab, civil engineers talk of adapting NASA technology to develop a super-drill that could reach the center of the earth. And, scientists explain that there isin fact life very near the earth's molten core – just as Verne predicted.

Travel through the mouth of a volcano, through a sea of lava and emerge into a land of floating continents and upside mountains. This is the strange, violent world near the earth's iron core. Scientists explain how the core protects us from the sun's deadly cosmic rays and reveal how the molten core of iron – Verne's shining "sea” – benefits from our planet's built-in recycling system. Learn how the seafloor is pushed under the continents and down into the hot mantle where it melts – only to return to the surface years later as molten lava and eventually the very soil on which we stand.

Inspired by Jules Verne's novel of the same name, this made-for-cable documentary follows a group of scientists embarking upon a perilous journey toward the Earth's core. The "actuality" footage of the members of the expedition exploring subterranean caves and the like are juxtaposed with dramatized excerpts from the Verne novel, neatly comparing fact with fiction (though truthfully, the "facts," backed up by state-of-the-art technology, are far more fascinating).

The Discovery Channel's Journey to the Center of the Earth

15 storey Hotel built in six days

Here's an amazing piece of modern day construction technology. The Ark Hotel in China was built in six days.




The website is in Chinese but was able to find the following:

Level 9 Earthquake Resistance: diagonal bracing structure, light weight, steel construction, passed level 9 earthquake resistance testing 6x Less Material: even though the construction materials are much lighter(250kg/m2) than the traditional materials(over 1500kg/m2), the floors and walls are solid with surefootedness, airtight and sound-proofing5x Energy Efficient: 150mm thermal insulation for walls and roofs, triple glazed plastic windows, external solar shading, heat insulation, fresh air heat recovery, LED lighting, yearly HAVC A/C energy consumption equivalent to 7 liters oil. 20x Purification: after 3 levels of purification, the purification efficiency for fresh air reaches 95%-99.9%; air exchanged 1-2.5 times per hour, and indoor air is 20x cleaner than out door air 1% Construction Waste: all components are factory made, construction waste, mainly package materials, result from on site set-up only and amount to 1% of the total weight of the building. This is the first building in human history which combines almost all environmental friendly, comfortable and secure elements. So, we call it: Sustainable Building.

Sci-Fi Science – Holodeck

Today on Discovery Enterprise we join Dr. Michio Kaku for another exciting episode of his acclaimed television series “Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible”.

In this episode, professor Kaku is on a mission to use technology to create an imaginary world indistinguishable from the real thing. Can we use our current knowledge of physics to create the technology that will one day make possible, one of the greatest inventions to emerge from the collective imagination of science fiction, - Star Trek's Holodeck?

The holodeck is a virtual reality entertainment and recreational facility located on starships and starbases in the fictional Star Trek universe. An episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, "The Practical Joker", formed the groundwork for the idea in the 1970s by portraying a recreation room capable of holographic simulations. The holodeck was first seen in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint". The concept of a holodeck was first shown to humans through an encounter with the Xyrillan race in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Unexpected".

The first and second seasons of Sci Fi Science, hosted by Dr. Michio Kaku is a available on DVD from the Discovery Channel’s onlinestore.

Sci-Fi Science - Holodeck

Free Science Fiction

Project Gutenberg has been making public domain books freely available to computer users for years. There are now have several hundred stories available many by top writers. Worth having a look.

The Spaceships of Walt Disney - Man in Space

Today on Discovery Enterprise we revisit a series that we highlighted on Christmas Day 2007 from Walt Disney’s acclaimed television series Disneyland from 1955 depicting the human future in space.

Man in Space is an episode of Disneyland which originally aired on March 9, 1955. It was directed by Disney animator Ward Kimball. Later, it was edited into a featurette to play in theatres, accompanying Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. This Disneyland episode (set in Tomorrow land), was narrated partly by Kimball and also by such famed scientists as Dr. Willy Ley, Dr. Heinz Haber, Dr. Wernher von Braun and Dick Tufeld of Lost in Space fame. The show talks briefly about the light hearted history of rockets and is followed by discussions of satellites, a practical look (through humorous animation) at what spacemen will have to face in a rocket (both physically and psychologically, such as momentum, weightlessness, radiation, even space sickness) and a rocket takeoff into space.

Destroying the Death Star

Today on Discovery Enterprise we join Dr. Michio Kaku for another exciting episode of Sci Fi Science. His mission, to come up with innovative ways to destroy the most dreaded weapon in the know Galaxy - The Death Star.
Dr. Michio Kaku brings physics to bear on the most iconic scene in sci fi and designs a star fighter that could blow up a moon-sized Death Star.

The first and second seasons of Sci Fi Science, hosted by Dr. Michio Kaku is a available on DVD from the Discovery Channel’s onlinestore.
 

Sci Fi Science  - Destroy the Death Star

Walking With Dinosaurs - Episode 6 Death of a Dynasty

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the sixth and final episode of the highly acclaimed documentary series “Walking with Dinosaurs” entitled “Death of a Dynasty”.


In this instalment we voyage back in time some sixty five million years to Late Cretaceous Montana in North America just before the eve of the great extinction level event that led to the death of the Dinosaur’s dynasty from a hammer blow from space.


This episode starts months before the extinction of the dinosaurs. The last dinosaurs are depicted living under stress due to excessive volcanism. The episode focuses on a female 14 metre long Tyrannosaurus who abandons her nest, the eggs rendered infertile due to volcanic poisoning. Her calls for a mate are answered by a smaller male who has killed a young Triceratops and is eating it. Later, after repeated copulation, she eventually drives him off. The mother fasts for an extended period as she tends to her nest, dealing with raids by dromaeosaurs and Didelphodons. Only three eggs hatch and the mother brings down an Anatotitan to feed herself and her brood. While defending her two surviving offspring several days later, the mother tyrannosaur is fatally injured by an Ankylosaurus. The chicks remain next to the carcass of their mother until they, and the rest of the non-avian dinosaurs, are killed when an asteroid slams into the Earth, a catastrophe that triggers the K-T extinction. A short final sequence shows the present-day Earth, dominated by large mammals, but still populated with numerous dinosaurs known as birds, Crocodiles and Turtles.

Walking With Dinosaurs - Episode 6 “Death of a Dynasty”

The Last Day of the Dinosaurs

Today on Discovery Enterprise we travel back 65 million years with the acclaimed documentary series National Geographic Explorer to break down the chain of events that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and changed the world forever.

In this documentary we visit a high-tech NASA lab where scientists use new technology to recreate the force of the blast and reveal the likely cascade of effects following the catastrophic impact.

National Geographic Explorer - 24 Hours After Asteroid Impact

The Coming Solar Storm

Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore the dangers posed by a sudden devastating electromagnetic pulse (EMP) emanating from the Sun or a deliberate attack from a rogue nation with two very informative video features – the Discovery Channel’s “The Perfect Disaster - Solar Storm” and the National Geographic Channel’s documentary series “Explorer - Electronic Armageddon”.

The Perfect Solar Storm (The Carrington Event)

The Sun has bathed our planet with its eternal light and warmth for some 4.6 billion years and has provided life on earth with the energy to go about its terrestrial business. But, every now and then the Sun shows its full fury in the form of Solar Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).

A Solar flare is a sudden eruption of hydrogen gas on the surface of the sun, usually associated with sunspots and accompanied by a burst of ultraviolet radiation that is often followed by a magnetic disturbance.

A Coronal Mass ejection is an ejection of material from the solar corona. The ejected material is a plasma consisting primarily of electrons and protons (in addition to small quantities of heavier elements such as helium, oxygen, and iron), plus the entrained coronal magnetic field.

If these two events occur together you have the makings for the perfect solar storm. Just such a thing happened on September 1st, 1859 and is widely known in astronomers as the Carrington Event.

What happened in 1859 was a combination of several events that occurred on the Sun at the same time. If they took place separately they would be somewhat notable events. But together they caused the most potent disruption of Earth's ionosphere in recorded history. "What they generated was the perfect space storm," says Bruce Tsurutani, a plasma physicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Recent evidence points to the possibility that this event, the most powerful super solarflare ever observed, was responsible for depleting away our ozone layer at levels greater than chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

This breakdown caused global atmospheric ozone levels to drop by 5%. In comparison, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other chemicals have depleted the levels by about 3% in recent years.

However, unlike CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals, which can persist in the atmosphere for some time, the flare-induced ozone thinning probably lasted for just four years, the researchers report. That is because the nitrogen oxides that cause the depletion eventually rain down with water or ice. Indeed, it was this acid rain that was eventually recorded in the ice cores.

This solar storm also had a severe effect on the newest global communications technology of the Victorian Age - the telegraph.

Within hours, telegraph wires in both the United States and Europe spontaneously shorted out, causing numerous fires, while the Northern Lights, solar-induced phenomena more closely associated with regions near Earth's North Pole, were documented as far south as Rome, Havana and Hawaii, with similar effects at the South Pole.


"Perfect Disasters" and National Geographic Explorer “Electronic Armageddon” are two exciting documentaries you should add to your DVD collection and are available from Amazon.com.

The Perfect Disaster - Solar Storm

The Perfect Disaster - Solar Storm Also on Veoh video


Watch Perfect Disaster- Solar Storm in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

National Geographic Explorer - Electronic Armageddon

What do future presidents need to know about existential dangers this country and the developed could face? Explorer investigates the science behind the dangers of a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse, or HEMP. Picture an instantaneous deathblow to the vital engines that power our society, delivered by a nuclear weapon designed not to kill humans but to attack electronics. What could happen if an electromagnetic pulse surged to earth, crippling every aspect of modern society's infrastructure?

Sci-Fi Science - First Contact

Today on Discovery Enterprise we join Dr. Michio Kaku on a mission to make first contact with highly advanced extraterrestrial civilizations.










Explore the world of the seemingly impossible with the series SCI FI SCIENCE. Hosted by internationally-renowned physicist and co-founder of string field theory, Dr. Michio Kaku, this series poses the idea that science fiction may not be so far from science fact.

The Universe – Jupiter the Giant Planet

Today on Discovery Enterprise we will embark on an odyssey of over eight hundred million kilometres to a mini solar system of over 60 moons orbiting a giant gas planet over one thousand times larger than our own world.

Its atmosphere is graced by flowing pastel colour streamers and spots that hold us entranced by their strange beauty, but contain violent storms and jet streams. These complex arrays of colours and dynamic atmospheric phenomena also reveal a complex organic chemistry is percolating within the cloud tops of Jupiter.

Currently the planet Jupiter is gracing the night sky. It is the jewel in our celestial vault and with a magnitude of -2.8; it can hardly be missed by even the most casual of sky watchers as it dominates the southern sky in the evening.

It will become a little smaller and a little fainter as the month progresses - down to -2.7 and with an angular size of 45 arc seconds. It well worth observing with a telescope, as Jupiter has temporarily, we presume, lost its South Equatorial Belt and at the same time its Great Red Spot has intensified in colour and is now standing out very well. Even a modest telescope will easily show Jupiter’s four Galilean moons as they weave their way around it.

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass slightly less than one-thousandth of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is so massive; it can hold 1,321 Earth sized planets within its volume.

Jupiter is also a mini solar system in its own right, with over sixty moons orbiting around it. Could one of these moons Europa, harbour life under its icy exterior?

The Universe is available on DVD from Amazon.com and the History Channel’s online store.

The Universe – Jupiter the Giant Planet

The Genius of Britain Episode 1 - Defying Gravity

Today on Discovery Enterprise we will be hosting a new documentary series entitled “The Genius of Britain”.

Britain may indeed be only a small island, but it is an island of colossal intellects. Its great scientists, engineers and inventors have literally created the modern world: from the invention of the steam engine, computers and the world-wide web to the discovery of the theory of evolution and the atom.

In this five-part series some of Britain's leading scientific figures - Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, James Dyson, David Attenborough, Robert Winston, Paul Nurse, Jim Al-Khalili, Kathy Sykes and Olivia Judson - tell the stories of the people behind these innovations.

From Isaac Newton to Frank Whittle, James Watt to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and Joseph Banks to Rosalind Franklin, these are the people who - through blood, sweat and tears - overcame all obstacles in the search for answers.

The first programme begins 350 years ago when a small group of friends, colleagues and rivals defied everything that was known about the world at that time.

Stephen Hawking and Jim Al-Khalili explain how Isaac Newton saw mathematics at the root of everything, from gravity to light.

James Dyson demonstrates Robert Boyle's air pump, which revealed the life-giving invisible world around us, whose laws could be understood through experiment and reason.

David Attenborough celebrates the many interests of Christopher Wren, who was best known as an architect, but was equally fascinated by surgery and astronomy.

Richard Dawkins explores Robert Hooke's revelatory microscopic world, and champions the virtues of a scientist whose name was almost wiped from the history books by men who despised him: most notably his arch-rival Newton.

And Kathy Sykes charts Edmond Halley's exploration of the stars, which helped Britain's sailors to rule the waves.

The Genius of Britain Episode 1 -Defying Gravity: The Beginnings of British Science
Also on YouTube !!!!

Walking With Dinosaurs - Episode 5 Spirits of the Ice Forest

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the fifth episode of the highly acclaimed documentary series “Walking with Dinosaurs” entitled "Spirits of the Ice Forest".

In this instalment we voyage back in time one hundred and six million years to Antarctica during the Middle Cretaceous.

There is considerable evidence for the existence of dinosaurs in polar latitudes. This episode is based on remarkable finds made at two sites in Australia. The evidence for that part of Australia being then within the Antarctic Circle and being seasonally very cold is based on several lines of evidence. We can determine the palaeolatitude from magnetised particles in certain rocks. Evidence for the climate being seasonally cold comes from both plant fossils and sedimentary structures which form when the ground freezes.

This episode focuses upon a clan of Leaellynasaura as they struggle to survive in the South Polar Region over the course of a year. The small ornithopods are seen building nests, rearing their young, avoiding predators and defending their territory against a rival clan. During the long polar winter, they use their large eyes to forage in perpetual darkness.

Walking With Dinosaurs - Episode 5 "Spirits of the Ice Forest"