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17 Episodes 1974 - 1975
Episode 1
Sun, Nov 3, 1974 60 mins
"Why Do Birds Sing?" Ornithologists explain that birds sing to attract mates, proclaim territorial rights and warn other birds of impending danger. Some offspring learn tunes from their parents. Other birds are said to chirp in dialects.
Episode 2
Sun, Nov 10, 1974 60 mins
How living organisms---from insects to humans---communicate by scent. Among the phenomena surveyed: animals whose chemical secretions, when scented by the opposite sex, trigger an impulse to mate. Also: ways in which people rely on their sense of smell without realizing it.
Episode 3
Sun, Nov 17, 1974 60 mins
"The Hunting of the Quark," a subatomic particle believed to be even smaller than electrons. This report traces attempts to prove that quarks exist, an investigation that involves the use of huge particle accelerators that can isolate an atom's components.
Episode 4
Sun, Nov 24, 1974 60 mins
Sleep is the subject of this report. Among the insomniacs interviewed is a man who sleeps only 15 minutes a night. Also: how factors such as drugs and extended periods of isolation affect a person's sleeping habits.
Episode 5
Sun, Dec 1, 1974 60 mins
Focusing on a geological survey team as it tours San Francisco Bay aboard a floating laboratory. The scientists are seen studying the effects of landfills and pollutants on the area's ecological balance.
Episode 6
Sun, Dec 8, 1974 60 mins
Cro-Magnons painted on cave walls 10,000 years ago. Examples of their works are seen at an excavation in the Dordogne section of France, unearthed in 1868. The site has also yielded implements carved from bone and statuettes of pregnant women.
Episode 7
Sun, Dec 15, 1974 60 mins
Schools of giant starfish that can devour vast areas of coral reef. Known as the Crown of Thorns, the starfish are observed in the Red Sea, where English biologists first learned they are natural predators of coral.
Episode 8
Sun, Jan 5, 1975 60 mins
The history of the strategic bomber is traced The documentary focuses on an early advocate of aerial bombing, Italian general Giulio Douhet. His ideas formed the basis of World War II's devastating air raids and the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Episode 9
Sun, Jan 12, 1975 60 mins
A report on biological clocks believed to regulate bodily functions and mental efficiency. Humans, rodents and insects are seen as subjects of laboratory experiments.
Episode 10
Sun, Jan 19, 1975 60 mins
Reviewing the use of the insecticide DDT. In World War II, DDT was credited with saving lives by killing plague-carrying insects. Also: how some insects have built up an immunity to DDT.
Episode 11
Sun, Feb 2, 1975 60 mins
Two scientists with different philosophical approaches to their work, physicist Richard Feynman and geneticist Richard Lewontin, are profiled. Feynman says he is driven by an urge to unravel the puzzles of nature. Lewontin is more concerned with the sociological impact of his research. Produced by WGBH, Boston.
Episode 12
Sun, Feb 9, 1975 57 mins
The influence of agronomist T.D. Lysenko (1898-1976) on Soviet genetic research is recalled.
Episode 13
Sun, Feb 16, 1975 60 mins
The Tuaregs, nomadic people who inhabit the central region of the Sahara Desert. This documentary focuses on the life of one family and examines the impact of a 1962 Algerian law that ended the Tuaregs' traditional ownership of slaves. Also: a two-year drought that killed the nomads' camels.
Episode 14
Sun, Mar 9, 1975 60 mins
Examining security precautions at nuclear power plants in the U.S. and speculating on potential hazards. Among them: that plutonium (a key bomb ingredient) might be smuggled out of a plant undetected or that a well-armed group of thieves could force their way inside.
Episode 15
Sun, Mar 16, 1975 60 mins
A critic of modern technology, economist E.F. Schumacher, is interviewed about ways to depend less on machines and more on human resources. Schumacher contends that man's dependence on machines has taken away jobs and squandered energy. Produced by the BBC.
Episode 16
Sun, Mar 30, 1975 60 mins
Ruins of Mayan cities that flourished 1000 years ago are surveyed by British archaeologist Eric Thompson, who theorizes why the cities were abandoned. He also discusses how the Mayas lived.
Episode 17
Sun, Apr 6, 1975 60 mins
"Will the Fishing Have to Stop?" reports on the decreasing number of fish being harvested from the world's oceans and scientific explanations of the shortage. The documentary also considers the impact of competition between the U.S. and foreign fishing fleets.