KCET Premieres The History of Science featuring Medical Journalist Michael Mosley Beginning Tuesday, November 13
Burbank, CA - November 05, 2012 - KCET, the nation's largest independent public television station, invites viewers to tune in to History of Science, a series which unveils the breakthrough ideas that emerged to make the modern world, airing Tuesdays at 8 p.m.
Beginning Nov. 13, medical journalist Michael Mosley traces the often unpredictable path we have taken. Each episode starts with a disarmingly simple question that everyone asks, and then delves into the past, uncovering human stories and recreating the great experiments of the men and women who sought the answers. From recreating a famous alchemist's experiment, to following in Galileo's footsteps, and putting himself in the hands of a hypnotist, Michael unpicks how science has changed the way we see ourselves, and the way we see our world.
History of Science shows how the political upheavals of history combine with iconic inventions and discoveries, along with the ideas of great thinkers, to create the advances that have transformed our lives. It is a tale of courage and of fear, of hope and disaster, of persistence and success. It interweaves great forces of history - revolutions, voyages of discovery and artistic movements - with practical, ingenious inventions and the dogged determination of experimenters and scientists.
Episode Descriptions:
Episode 1 - "What is Out There?" airs Nov. 13
Michael Mosley begins with the story of one of the great upheavals in human history - how we came to understand that our planet was not at the center of everything in the cosmos, but just one of billions of bodies in a vast and expanding universe.
Episode 2 - "What is the World Made Of?" airs Nov. 20
Michael Mosley demonstrates how our society is built on our search to find the answer to what makes up everything in the material world. This is a story that moves from the secret labs of the alchemists and their search for gold to the creation of the world's first synthetic dye - mauve - and onto the invention of the transistor.
Episode 3 - "How Did We Get Here?" airs Nov. 27
The question of our human origins is one of the most controversial science has wrestled with. Michael Mosley tells the story of how scientists came to explain the beauty and diversity of life on earth, and he reveals how its evolution is connected to the long and violent history of our planet.
Episode 4 - "Can We Have Unlimited Power?" airs Dec. 4
We are the most power-hungry generation that has ever lived. Michael Mosley explores how that power has been harnessed - from wind, steam and from inside the atom. It took centuries for science to explain what power is, rather than simply what it does.
Episode 5 - "What is the Secret of Life?" airs Dec. 11
Michael Mosley presents the story of how the secret of life has been examined through the prism of the most complex organism known - the human body. It begins with attempts to save the lives of gladiators in Ancient Rome and unfolds all the way through to the microscopic world of cells and DNA.
Episode 6 - "Who Are We?" airs Dec. 18
We now know that the brain - the organ that more than any other makes us human - is one of the wonders of the universe, and yet until the 17th century it was barely studied. Michael Mosley explores how the twin sciences of brain anatomy and psychology have offered different visions of who we are.
ABOUT KCET
On-air, online and in the community, KCET plays a vital role in the cultural and educational enrichment of Southern and Central California. KCET offers a wide range of award-winning local programming as well as the finest public television programs from around the world. KCET currently produces the Emmy®, duPont-Columbia and Peabody Award-winning SoCal Connected, a hard-hitting prime-time nightly television news program that examines the issues and people of Southern California. Throughout its 48-year history, KCET has won hundreds of major awards for its local and regional news and public affairs programming, its national drama and documentary productions, its quality educational family and children's programs, its outreach and community services and its website, kcet.org. KCET is a donor-supported community institution. For additional information about KCET productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org.
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