Ötzi the Iceman is the modern nickname of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 3300 BC, found in 1991 in a glacier of the Otztal Alps, near the border between Austria and Italy. The nickname comes from the valley of discovery. He rivals the Egyptian “Ginger” as the oldest known human mummy, [...]

Superstars Of Speed Brilliant BBC documentary. Jeremy Clarkson finds out why it is that some people can go faster than others. He plays slaps with F1 champion Michael Schumacher, plays tennis against Greg Rusedski, and goes for a spin, literally! with one of Britain’s top test pilots

Former Conservative MP Michael Portillo pushes his body to the brink of death in an investigation into the science of execution. As the American Supreme Court examines whether the lethal injection is causing prisoners to die in unnecessary pain, Michael sets out to find a solution which is fundamentally humane. Armed with startling new evidence, [...]

Is it possible to achieve eternal life? Some believe the first children who will live to the age of 1,000 have already been born. To find out how close humanity is to defeating death, we’ll investigate plans to grow replacement body parts in labs, microscopic robots that could wipe out deadly diseases, and the possibility [...]

Warp speed, transporters, wormholes and lasers – they are all staples of science fiction books, movies, and TV shows. But the fantastic world of tomorrow is quickly becoming the futuristic world of today. While you may not be “beaming” to your next appointment any time soon, researchers are preparing for the first tests of a [...]

The Thrill of Speed The central premise of Speed is an intriguing one, that human beings are the only species capable of exceeding the speed limit that nature intended. Clarkson sets out to explore both what compels us to pursue these limits–often at considerable risk to our own safety–and what effect the quest has on [...]

Get ready to re-think your ideas of reality. Join UCSD physicist Kim Griest as he takes you on a fascinating excursion, addressing some of the massive efforts and tantalizing bits of evidence which suggest that what goes on in empty space determines the properties of the three-dimensional existence we know and love, and discusses how [...]

Early in the 20th Century, individuals who suffered from mental illness had little hope of recovery. Psychiatric medications had yet to be discovered, and the afflicted were often locked away in overcrowded asylums. In 1935 a radical new medical procedure, called a lobotomy, was being performed on the most severely mentally ill. Initially this form [...]

Panayiotis Zavos is a controversial fertility doctor. He said to “The Independent” that he had already cloned human embryos and transferred 11 of them into the wombs of four women who had been prepared to give birth to cloned babies. Since cloning embryos into the human womb is a criminal offense in most countries, Dr. [...]