How Beer Saved the World

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present –“How Beer Saved the World”.


Did you know that beer was critical to the birth of civilization? That’s right – beer.
Scientists and historians line up to tell the amazing, untold story of how beer helped create math, poetry, pyramids, modern medicine, labour laws, and America.

If you think beer is just something cold and filling to drink during sporting matches or in the kind of bars that you probably shouldn’t order wine in, then, boy, are you ever in the dark. It turns out beer is responsible for, like, all the greatest things on earth. Learn more about what beer did for you.


How Beer Saved the World

Is the Khan Academy the future of education

Will online teaching revolutionize education? The blogger at the Singularity Blog thinks so. He raves about the Khan Academy:

I’m just going to come out and say it: the Khan Academy is the best thing that has happened to education since Socrates. The brainchild of Salman Khan, the Khan Academy became famousmillions in donations and an expansion of the company, the academy is so much more. The website for the Khan Academy already had exercises you could use to test your understanding of the videos you just watched, but in the past few weeks the website has exploded with wonderful new features. You can create a profile for the site simply by logging in through Google or Facebook. You can track your progress with some wonderful metrics. Teachers (or ‘coaches’) can monitor student progress in groups. Students can earn badges to keep them interested. The list goes on and on and it’s all free. Free, I tell you! In true Khan Academy fashion, Sal explains these new features in the video below. As they continue to expand beyond math, and increase the sophistication of their platform, I am left with little doubt that the Khan Academy represents the future of education. And it’s already here. by teaching simple math lessons for free through over 2000 YouTube videos. Now, after

Bill Gates like it so may be it will be the future of education.


Heres a video on it:

Robot teachers

If these Korean robots work out Alex may have to look for another line of work.:

As part of the nation’s big plans for introducing automated systems to all levels of education, major robotics developers have been unveiling new designs for machines that could help students learn. Since late last year, Yujin Robotics has been demonstrating Robosem, a telepresence enabled bot that can teach basic lessons or allow a remote human instructor to teleconference into a class. It recently complete several weeks of testing in elementary schools. Like many other such platforms, Yujin’s bot is focused on English instruction (a subject that has required Korea to import many foreign tutors). Check out all the great pics of the classroom friendly robot below. Robosem is just one of many different machines that could help South Korea achieve its goal of placing a robot in every kindergarten by 2013.

Read the rest here.

Powering the Future - Striking a Balance

Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore the future of Alternative Energy with the third episode of a four part documentary series entitled “Powering the Future” hosted by M. Sanjayan.

We are bombarded daily with conflicting messages about energy from sources with vastly different agendas and motives. This episode filters out politics and special interests by looking at numbers: How many people will be on the planet by 2050 and how much energy will we need? What happens if we grow and consume at our current rate? It's common knowledge that we use enormous amounts of energy, but until it's quantified, it's impossible to grasp the true extent of how much is wasted.

Powering the Future - Striking a Balance

Mars Rising - Six Minutes of Terror

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present another exciting episode of the acclaimed documentary series “Mars Rising” – “Six Minutes of Terror”. William Shatner narrates this exciting series.


Mars is littered with the carcasses of crashed robotic landers and the Martian environment is very unforgiving. Historically there has been a fifty percent failure rate in all previous landings attempts.
The crew attempting the first ever landing on this alien and desolate world will find the last six minutes of their journey to be the most terrifying. Only an inflatable aeroshell and the thin ceramic skin of their capsule will protect them during their blazing entry through the Martian atmosphere. The crew must face hellish temperatures reaching four thousand degrees Celsius and a death defying plunge towards the surface at speeds reaching sixteen thousand kilometres per hour. After the capsule's speed has been slowed, the astronauts have only a minute and a half to pinpoint a safe place to land. Yet, if the first crew survives these dangers they will open a brave new world for humans to explore and conquer.  

Mars Rising is available in an exciting DVD collection from Amazon.com.

Mars Rising - Six Minutes of Terror

Hitler's Secret Science

Today on Discovery Enterprise we take another voyage through Alternate History and explore the world of a Hitler Victorious as a result of a powerful war machine backed by the most advanced weapons that science could devise.

In the crucible of World War II, Germany’s most brilliant scientists race to create an arsenal of terrifying new weapons of mass destruction, even an atomic bomb.


Before the war is over, Germany will produce a series of technological firsts that remain the basis for many modern day air and spacecraft – from a stealth-like trans-Atlantic bomber, to the world’s first cruise missile. Now, seventy years later, secret Nazi files reveal the classified blueprints for these – and many other – devastating ‘Wonder Weapons’.

This documentary reveals the circumstances scientists faced under Hitler‘s National Socialist party, and tracks amazing technological innovations from the beginning of the Third Reich through the modern post-war period. It highlights major scientific disciplines and designs, and the inventions of Wernher von Braun, Alexander Lippisch, Irene Bredt, Viktor Schauberger and Werner Heisenberg, among others.

Hitler's Secret Science

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

The Mysterious Mr. Tesla

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present an episode of the acclaimed science documentary series Horizon produced in 1982 concerning the man that many regard as "the patron saint of modern electricity" and "The man who invented the twentieth century" - Nikola Tesla


“The Mysterious Mr Tesla” is a BBC Horizon documentary about the Croatian-American scientist Nikola Tesla, whose experiments with electricity and wireless foreshadowed the discoveries of Edison and Marconi. Some of his most spectacular experiments are recreated by the programme's presenter Robert Symes.

BBC Horizon - The Mysterious Mr. Tesla (1982)

Our Secret Sun

Today on Discovery Enterprise we join scientists to explore the secrets of our Sun.

In this documentary we explore how scientists are solving the mysteries of Earth's nearest star, from the surface to its nuclear core.

Our Secret Sun

Mars Rising - Rocket Power

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the second episode of “Mars Rising” – “Rocket Power”. William Shatner narrates this exciting series.
The spacecraft that will take a crew to Mars will be assembled—in space. Up to ten rockets will be required to carry equipment and the astronauts to the mothership. The fifty six million-kilometre journey to and from the Red Planet could take up to three years. Will the fuel be thermo-nuclear or super-heated charged particles? Engineers must get it right the first time—or the astronauts will die.

Mars Rising is available in an exciting DVD collection from Amazon.com. 


Mars Rising - Rocket Power

Journey to the Red Planet

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the first episode of “Mars Rising” – “Journey to the Red Planet”. William Shatner narrates this exciting series.

Dr. James Garvin, lead scientist for Mars and Lunar Exploration at NASA, and Dr. Paul Delaney, Professor Physics and Astronomy at Toronto's York University, outline the extraordinary challenges and obstacles faced by the international space community in sending a manned mission to Mars and bringing it back. 

Mars Rising is available in an exciting DVD collection from Amazon.com. 

Mars Rising - Journey to the Red Planet

Powering the Future - The Energy Planet

Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore the future of Alternative Energy with the second episode of a four part documentary series entitled “Powering the Future” hosted by M. Sanjayan.


Powering the Future is a four-part television event forecasting the world of energy in the not-too-distant future. We address the Earth's energy challenge from every angle, and cut through the noise by establishing a simple target: a clean, limitless, and secure energy supply by the middle of this century. Powering the Future puts energy on the national stage with programming that builds to the inescapable logical conclusion we must act now to safe guard our energy future.


The second instalment of the series starts from an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, and our host M Sanjayan explores how the abundance of the planet's energy fuels every aspect of life on Earth. From wind, water, the sun, volcanoes and hurricanes, to the smallest cells to the tallest trees, Earth has the natural energy to power the planet but mankind is not using it. What can humans learn from the creation of the natural world that will help create energy?

Powering the Future - The Energy Planet

The Genius of Britain - The Secrets of Life

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the final episode of the acclaimed documentary series “The Genius of Britain - The Secrets of Life”.

The final programme in the series looks at the incredible discoveries of the last 50 years and reveals where some of the greatest minds of our time think we are heading.


Richard Dawkins and Olivia Judson reveal the controversial true story of how Rosalind Franklin's work in crystallography helped Watson and Crick to discover the double-helix structure of DNA, and the wealth of knowledge now gathered about the human genetic blueprint as a result.

Jim Al-Khalili charts the career of astronomer Fred Hoyle, who helped to popularise science, worked out that we are all made of star-dust and, ironically, coined the term 'Big Bang' for a theory he rejected.

James Dyson explores a revolutionary new discovery - carbon nanotubes - which, as well as being the toughest material known to man and 50,000 times thinner than a human hair, offer potential applications from cheap and super-efficient solar power to building a 'space elevator'.

To end the series, Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins ask each other the questions they really want answered: Is there life on other planets? Why are you so obsessed with God?

And all of the scientists explain just why they think science is now more important than ever.

The Genius of Britain - The Secrets of Life

Ancient Apocalypse - The Minoans

Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore the possibility that the disappearance of the Minoan civilization may be very well linked to the major cataclysmic disaster that destroyed the island of Thera (Santorini) that inspired Plato’s tale of the sad fate of Atlantis.

Three and a half thousand years ago, the tiny Aegean island of Thera was devastated by one of the worst natural disasters since the Ice Age – a huge volcanic eruption.

This cataclysm happened one hundred kilometers from the island of Crete, the home of the thriving Minoan civilization. Fifty years after the eruption, that civilization was in ruins. Did the volcano deliver a death blow to the Minoans? It’s a whodunnit that has haunted historians and scientists for decades.

In the 1900s, British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans excavated and restored the ruins at Knossos on the island of Crete. Beautiful and delicate frescoes of bulls and dolphins revealed a highly artistic civilization and a people who apparently lived in harmony with nature.

Ancient Apocalypse - The Minoans

The Smartest Machine on Earth

Today, February 14th, 2011, “Watson”, IBM’s Super computer is scheduled to faceoff with two past "Jeopardy!" champions - Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings . Who will win? Today’s video features take a close look at what has been dubbed - the Smartest Machine on Earth.

NOVA investigates the world of artificial intelligence and profiles the computer that could be the "Smartest Machine on Earth." Known as "Watson," this IBM supercomputer is so advanced it's pursuing the first-of-its-kind challenge competing against "Jeopardy!" champions to prove its uncanny ability to mimic the human thought process.


NOVA: The Smartest Machine on Earth

IBM and the Jeopardy Challenge

The stage is set. The excitement is building. Soon Watson will face the two greatest Jeopardy! champions in history, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings, in a challenge of bytes vs. brains. Check your local listings and tune in on February 14, 2011. Watch the video to learn more about the competitors. Let the games begin

New Ways to Space: Excalibur Almaz

Image via Wikipedia

The spacecrafts mentioned so far in this series are completely new vehicles, but Excalibur Almaz has taken a different approach. The Isle of Mann based company  is recycling flight proven Soviet technology.  

Excalibur Almaz is designing a spacecraft based on the Soviet space program's TKS space capsules and Almaz space stations. The TKS-derived capsules, which vaguely resemble a cross between the American Gemini and Apollo capsules, are unique by Russian/Soviet standards. They are equipped to carry three passengers or operate autonomously, but unlike the American capsules the Almaz capsules are reusable from 50 to 100 times. They can launch atop any of several rockets of various spacefaring countries, and they possess a Launch Escape System to ensure the safety of their passengers. They use parachutes and retrorockets to return to Earth, and have soft landing engines which fire just prior to touching down on land. Water-landings are also possible. TKS vehicle/service module design resembles U.S. plans for Manned Orbital Laboratory. Excalibur plans to have multiple options for launch vehicles. The vehicle has three parachutes for redundancy.

They currently have three space capsules and two space station hulls. Heres a short video clip. Notice that the propulsion module is in the fron of the spacecraft not the back:

Powering the Future - The Energy Revolution

Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore the future of Alternative Energy with the first episode of a four part documentary series entitled “Powering the Future” hosted by M. Sanjayan.


In this first installment, M. Sanjayan, explores the beginnings of a shift in energy use that will change the world. Whether for national security, the economy, or the health of our planet, there are as many drivers for change as there are technologies vying for a top spot. The hope is for a silver bullet to solve the problem all at once; the reality is that mankind is looking at the next industrial revolution, requiring the greatest minds and all the creativity we can harness. This episode looks at cutting edge technologies that could allow us to break our dependence on fossil fuels.


Powering the Future is a four-part documentary series forecasting the world of energy in the not-too-distant future. We address the Earth's energy challenge from every angle, and cut through the noise by establishing a simple target: a clean, limitless, and secure energy supply by the middle of this century. Powering the Future puts energy on the national stage with programming that builds to the inescapable logical conclusion we must act now to safe guard our energy future .

Powering the Future Episode One - The Energy Revolution

Stone Age Atlantis

Satellite view of Northwest Europe - showing Britain as an Island (the land that once joined Britain to the rest of Europe has been destroyed by a tsunami)

Melting ice, rising seas and a huge tsunami heads for the coast. These are not headlines from the twenty first century. But they are stories from prehistory. Today, we worry about the effects of global warming, but humans have lived though eras of extreme climate change before. During the Middle Stone Age, the world's seas were rising far more rapidly than today.

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the story of a vanished kingdom - a Stone Age Atlantis.


In Stone Age times Northern Europe was a wonderful place to live where people pioneered a new advanced culture. But these were also times of frenzied climate change when the seas were rising and drowning huge swards of land.

In today’s video feature we investigate the story of a lost world of the Stone Age. In Northern Europe, an area the size of California disappeared under the waves. This documentary features the archaeologists who are now reconstructing this lost land and have given it a name - Doggerland.

Stone Age Atlantis

Do We Really Need The Moon?

Today on Discovery Enterprise we are proud to present a recent BBC documentary entitled “Do We Really Need The Moon?” hosted by Space scientist and self confessed lunar fanatic Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock.


In today’s video feature Dr. Aderin-Pocock. explores our intimate relationship with the Moon.



The Moon is such a familiar presence in the sky that most of us take it for granted. But what if it wasn’t where it is now? How would that affect life on Earth?

Besides orchestrating the tides, the moon dictates the length of a day, the rhythm of the seasons and the very stability of our planet.

Yet the Moon is always on the move. In the past it was closer to Earth and in the future it’ll be farther away. That it is now perfectly placed to sustain life is pure luck, a cosmic coincidence.

Using computer graphics to summon up great tides and set the Earth spinning on its side, Maggie Aderin-Pocock implores us to look at the Moon afresh: to see it not as an inert rock, but as a key player in the story of our planet, past, present and future.

Do We Really Need The Moon?

Thinking Caps

Image via WikipediaThis is really amazing. Someone has invented a real thinking cap! I need one of these in the morning.

The possibility of a thinking cap was first suggested by Prof Snyder eight years ago and its development has been widely reported.

The "thinking cap" experiments have since yielded positive results. The scientists' publication in peer review journal PLoS ONE is the first to demonstrate that brain stimulation can help people to "think outside the box".

Urban legends have abounded for decades about people struck by lightning who suddenly acquire the ability to play Brahm's piano concerto, or head- trauma patients suddenly developing artistic abilities they didn't have before.

In many of these cases, brain trauma victims experience a suppression of the left temporal lobe – which, in layman's terms – frees up the right side of the brain to be more creative.

Prof Snyder and Mr Chi's cap artificially manipulates the hemispheres of the brain to recreate the phenomenon.

After being exposed to low-level electrical pulses for 10 to 15 minutes, subjects were easily able to acquire new modes of thinking and were able to apply them for up to an hour.

The subjects were also three times as likely to solve complex problems while wearing the cap.

"Without the stimulation, only 20 per cent of people could do it," Mr Chi told news.com.au.

"With the stimulation, 60 per cent of people could solve the problem."

Prof Snyder said it was "the largest cognitive enhancement we are aware of".

Moon Graffiti - What If the 1st Lunar Landing Had Failed?

History has the strange quality that it easily could have been otherwise. You can experience one conceivable "what if?" in Moon Graffiti, an excellently executed radio story that plays out what could have happened had the first moon landing gone awry.

Based on a chilling contingency speech written for Richard Nixon titled "In the Event of Moon Disaster," this nostalgia-laced 15-minute radio broadcast, courtesy of American Public Media, tells its story entirely through the radio communication between Mission Control and the astronauts.


Seconds after tuning in, you'll witness Apollo 11's crash landing on the moon. Buzz and Neil are okay, but the lunar module is destroyed, and the men are running out of oxygen.
The story is haunting in its plausibility, and despite the fact that the astronauts sound less like test pilots from the Air Force than hipsters from Brooklyn, the quality writing and sound effects bring this macabre counterfactual deliciously close to reality.


Hot on the heels of the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, this gripping radio play reminds us of how history could have played out. Remove interruptions, grab some hot soup or tea, close your eyes and enjoy a rare NPR gem.


Alt URLs:

The Truth: Moon Graffiti: The Landing Gone Awry

On FaceBook

In Event Of Moon Disaster written by William Safire:

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice. These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding. They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by the nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man. In ancient days, men looked at the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood. Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts. For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.

PRIOR TO THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT: The President should telephone each of the widows-to-be.

AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT, AT THE POINT WHEN NASA ENDS COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MEN: A clergyman should adopt the same procedure as a burial at sea, commending their souls to "the deepest of the deep," concluding with the Lord's Prayer.

Genius of Britain - Out of the Darkness

Today on Discovery Enterprise we will present the fourth episode of a the acclaimed documentary series “The Genius of Britain”.

This instalment entitled “Out of the Darkness” tells the story of the scientists and engineers who helped us come out of the darkness of war. These names are Frank Whittle who invented the jet engine, Robert Watson-Watt, the inventor of radar, Paul Dirac who formulated Dirac equation and Alexander Fleming who saved the lives during the war using penicillin.



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.


Genius of Britain - Out of the Darkness

Oceans 3D

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present a tribute to the oceans of our planet with - "Oceans 3D".

"Oceans 3D" takes viewers on a voyage through, among others, Californian kelp forests, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and Roca Partida Island off the coast of Mexico, which is home to thousands of sharks. Audiences will witness some of the most spectacular and unforgettable scenes of life beneath the waves ever captured in 3D: the manta ray's enchanting ballet; the noble procession of hammerhead sharks; the lion fish's relentless hunt; a group of young dolphins playing algae-football; the astonishing beauty of the Spanish dancer sea slug; and a unique encounter with the largest cetaceans on the planet. Written by Francois Mantello.

Oceans 3D

A Jetpack for the Masses

If you ever dreamed of owning you very own Jetpack, well dream no more……

Behold: The Water-Powered Jetpack
by Mike Krumboltz

A jetpack for the masses is finally here and not a moment too soon. Canadian inventor Raymond Li has come up with a new kind of jetpack that is water-powered and will allow the flyer to hover 30 feet in the air and zoom at speeds up to 22 miles per hour. The contraption should be available this summer for around $136,000.

Called the Jetlev (and available for sale within weeks), Li's invention requires the flyer to be above water. A long hose sucks up water and then the attached jetpack blasts the water downward, "creating up to 500 pounds of thrust," according to CNN. Once in the air, the flyer can use the hand controls to adjust the speed and height.

Alas, it ain't cheap. But just because you can't afford to buy one, that doesn't mean you'll be completely shut out of the futuristic fun. A spokesperson for the Jetlev's manufacturer, MS Watersports GmbH, says that his company may make the invention available at certain resorts. Why own when you can rent?

Wired.com goes into more detail on how the jetpack really works. "Your horizontal distance is only limited by flight time... and you can scoot around at 35 mph for up to two hours." Wired also writes that, all things considered, the Jetlev isn't all that dangerous. "Falling 30 feet onto water might not be pleasant, but neither is it going kill you." That sounds like a perfect tagline to us.

A Jetpack for the Masses

The End of the Line -The World Without Fish

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the documentary “The End of the Line: The World Without Fish”.

The End of the Line, the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. Sundance took place in Park City, Utah, January 15-25, 2009.

Scientists predict that if we continue fishing as we are now, we will see the end of most seafood by 2048.

Picture the World’s Oceans without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This is the future if we do not stop, think and act.

The End of the Line chronicles how demand for cod off the coast of Newfoundland in the early 1990s led to the decimation of the most abundant cod population in the world, how hi-tech fishing vessels leave no escape routes for fish populations and how farmed fish as a solution is a myth.

The film lays the responsibility squarely on consumers who innocently buy endangered fish, politicians who ignore the advice and pleas of scientists, fishermen who break quotas and fish illegally, and the global fishing industry that is slow to react to an impending disaster.

To donate and show support against over fishing please visit The End of the Line website.

The End of the Line: The World Without Fish

Space Race Episode Four: Race for the Moon

Today on Discovery Enterprise we are proud to present the final episode of the acclaimed BBC docudrama “Space Race” entitled “Race for the Moon”.


This series chronicles the major events and characters in the American/Soviet space race up to the first landing of a man on the moon. It focuses on Sergei Korolev, the Soviet chief rocket designer, and Wernher von Braun, his American counterpart. The series was a joint effort between British, German, American and Russian production teams.


In the final instalment of this docudrama both sides now plan to put a man on the Moon - the Americans pull ahead in the space race with Project Gemini, but then suffer a disaster with the Apollo 1 fire. Meanwhile, despite a few notable successes such as the first space walk by Alexei Leonov, the Soviet space programme struggles to keep up amid internal strife. Glushko and Korolev permanently fall out in an argument about fuel; Korolev turns to Nikolai Kuznetsov to develop engines instead. Kuznetsov delivers the NK-33, very efficient but much less powerful than the Americans' F-1. The Soviet program suffers further blows when Korolev dies during surgery, Gagarin dies in a jet crash, Soyuz 1 crashes and kills Vladimir Komarov, and the prototype booster for the moon shot, the N-1 rocket, fails to successfully launch. In America, von Braun has continuing difficulties with the Saturn V, especially combustion instability in the large F-1 engine, but these are ultimately overcome almost by brute force at great expense, and the rocket successfully launches the first manned lunar mission, Apollo 8, and the first manned lunar landing, Apollo 11. The final episode finishes with brief textual summaries of the remaining careers of the various people involved.

Space Race Episode Four: Race For The Moon (1964–1969)

Space Race Episode Three: Race for Survival

Today on Discovery Enterprise we are proud to present the third episode of the acclaimed BBC docudrama “Space Race” entitled “Race for Survival”.


This series chronicles the major events and characters in the American/Soviet space race up to the first landing of a man on the moon. It focuses on Sergei Korolev, the Soviet chief rocket designer, and Wernher von Braun, his American counterpart. The series was a joint effort between British, German, American and Russian production teams.


In the third instalment of this docudrama both the Americans and Soviets are planning manned space flight, and we see both sides preparing to do so with the development of the Vostok programme (USSR) and Project Mercury (USA). As well as basic details about the capsules and their delivery vehicles, we also see some of the selection and training of the Russian cosmonauts, and rather less of that of their counterparts in the US. After difficulties and failures on both sides, the Soviets succeed in putting Yuri Gagarin into space first, with the Americans putting Alan Shepard up shortly afterwards.

Space Race Episode Three: Race For Survival (1959–1961)

Antarctica - Secrets Beneath the Ice

Today on Discovery Enterprise we visit the vast frozen wasteland of Antarctica to glean the secrets of our planet’s climatic history and perhaps a glimpse of our future.

In today’s video feature we examine the ANDRILL project, which is drilling deep beneath the Antarctic ice in order to gather information about Earth’s paleoenvironmental history. Scientists battle the elements in the harsh environment in order to retrieve rock cores that shed light on past climate changes and, perhaps, give a glimpse of what the planet’s future may be like.

NOVA Secrets Beneath the Ice

The Death of the Earth

Today on Discovery Enterprise we take a stunning foray into the far distant future to witness the demise of our planet.

A report by a team of leading astronomers in May 2008 seems to have finally put to rest an age old question…


What is the ultimate fate of planet Earth? Traditionally, the prevailing view has been that billions of years in the future the aging Sun would loosen its gravitational grip on the planet and allow it to escape a fiery demise. The sobering reality is quite different and the clock is now ticking for our beloved home planet.