A single issue of The New York Times is said to contain more information than could be learned in a lifetime by a person living in the 15th century. This program traces the development of books, newspapers, and magazines in the Western world, from the invention of the printing press, metal type, paper, and oil-based ink to the present day. Experts from the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard University Press, MIT, and The New York Times discuss the effect...

This short program introduces the viewer to the Science Fictions genre offering context and examples. Salient points include the four most common themes: our use of technology, the relationships between humanity and science, depictions of the “other,” and visions of the past, present, or future. It also includes a short discussion on how the science fiction genre approaches deeper philosophical questions like what it means to be human.

Animal stories and action movies are perennial box office attractions. Who are the men and women who work with the animals and take the hard knocks? This program gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the exciting (and dangerous) worlds of animal training and stunt performing.

Director Robert Vas was himself a refugee from Hungary, having arrived in London only three years earlier when he received a grant from the BFI to make the film. Despite its slightly incongruous use of voiceover,Refuge Englandwas adopted by the Free Cinema movement for its stylistic contrast of contradictory images and sound and its focus on the dispossessed. With its enquiry into themes that are just as resonant in today’s society, and its uncompromising...

Television first arrived in American homes just as the Hollywood studio system was collapsing. As the new medium took hold, so did a new era of motion picture entertainment. Top directors, actors, and film scholars trace the influence of each medium on the other, from the live and fresh dramas of the Golden Age of Television and the growth of Hollywood spectacles to the megalithic entertainment industry of today.

Fred Zinnemann, the Austrian-born American film director, won 4 Academy Awards as well as 19 for the actors who starred in his films. He was among the first directors to insist on using authentic locations to create more realism. Among his most-noted films were the western classic High Noon (1952) starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly, From Here to Eternity (1953), Oklahoma! (1955), The Nun's Story (1959) starring Audrey Hepburn, The Day of the Jackal...

In the late-19th century, with the American Civil War in full swing, millions of Americans relied on the written word, illustrations and engravings for news about the conflict; until the groundbreaking work of New York photographer Mathew Brady, brought the harsh realities of war home for the very first time.

We delve into the world of contemporary Arab art through the inter-connected stories of one man, three museums. We look at his art, his protégés and the people who collect it. From exhibitions in London's British museum to the region's largest ever retrospective to an Arab artist in Qatar, this episode of Inside The Middle East gets to know artist Dia Azzawi.

This program takes us on a tour of what has become one of the most popular and prolific beats in television, on both the network and local levels. The depth and range of medical reporting have grown considerably in the last decade, but, with few exceptions, we were tragically late in reporting the scope and severity of the AIDS story. Controversial cures and dubious wonder drugs have always gotten lots of air-time, but television has dallied in addressing...

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson features his interview with Bas Lansdorp, co-founder of Mars One, a non-profit organization with the goal of establishing a permanent human settlement on Mars. Comedian co-host Eugene Mirman and former astronaut Mike Massimino join Tyson in the Hall of the Universe to discuss topics including the logistics of getting to Mars, how to sustain human life there, and even speak via live video call to one of the finalists out of...