Lucy Worsley continues her journey through Russia in the footsteps of the Romanovs, the most powerful royal dynasty in modern European history. In this episode she examines the extraordinary reign of Catherine the Great, and the traumatic conflict with napoleonic France that provides the setting for the novel War and Peace. At the magnificent palace of Peterhof near St Petersburg, Lucy charts the meteoric rise of Catherine the Great, who seized the Russian throne from her husband Peter III in 1762 and became the most powerful woman in the world. Catherine was a woman of huge passions - for art, for her adopted country (she was German by birth) and for her many lovers. Catherine expanded her empire through military victories overseas, while at home she encouraged education and introduced smallpox inoculation to Russia. But Catherine struggled to introduce deeper reforms, and the institution of serfdom remained largely unchanged. Lucy explains how this injustice fuelled a violent rebellion. Nevertheless, Catherine left Russia more powerful on the world stage than ever. But all she had achieved looked set to be undone when Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. Lucy relives the pivotal battle of Borodino, when the Russian army finally confronted the French forces; the traumatic destruction of Moscow; and, under Catherine's grandson Alexander, the eventual victory over the French that provided the Romanov dynasty with its most glorious hour.
The final episode begins with a description of the extreme cold conditions that characterized the beginning of the Holocene period, and how species like the bison and the wolf adapted to survive in these hostile environments. We will witness the majesty of the woolly mammoth and the fierce cave lion, with a vivid reconstruction of their struggles for survival. We'll see the impact of climate change during this period, from the expansion of the deserts to the transformation of the tropical rainforests of Africa into grasslands, deeply affecting primates and other animals. It highlights how these changes forced primates to adapt to life on the ground, facing new challenges and predators. A crucial turn occurred with the emergence of humans as dominant predators and their influence on the extinction of large mammals. The documentary describes humanity's transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers, a change that radically altered the landscape and biodiversity of the planet. Finally, it poses a reflection on the current challenges of climate change and the sixth mass extinction, inviting viewers to consider humanity's crucial role in shaping the future of the Earth.
In this captivating film hosted by Anderson Cooper, viewers are presented with an insightful exploration of artificial intelligence (AI), its profound implications, and the ethical dilemmas it poses. The documentary begins with a startling revelation: what appeared to be Anderson Cooper was actually an AI-generated version, raising questions about the authenticity of what we see and hear. The narrative then shifts to broader concerns about AI replacing human roles across industries and its capability to outperform humans in tasks ranging from driving to creating art. Viewers are taken on a journey through various facets of AI, from the streets of San Francisco, where robot taxis hint at a future dominated by AI, to the insights of Yoshua Bengio, a pioneer in deep learning. The film also addresses the darker side of AI, including the potential for misuse and the challenges in distinguishing between reality and AI-generated content. The climax of the documentary presents a critical question: Can AI save humanity, or does it pose a threat to our existence? This thought-provoking exploration of AI's impact on our world is a must-watch for anyone curious about technology and its intersection with human life.
In Southeast Alaska, there's an ice-bound Eden that harbors possibly the richest temperate rainforests of all. Where the coastal mountains meet the Pacific, lays the Alexander Archipelago, a remote island chain running for almost 300 miles along the Alaskan Panhandle. This frozen frontier is one of the last great wildernesses of North America. And a stronghold for the country's highest diversity of megafauna, feasting on the abundance of fleeting summers to make it through relentless winters.
A team of intrepid palaeontologists recently discovered a lost world of dinosaurs in the unlikeliest of places — deep in the dark, snowy wilds of northern Alaska. Surprisingly, new findings indicates that dinosaurs thrived year-round and raised their young in frigid and dark conditions in the far north of the Arctic Circle. Rappelling down giant ice cliffs bordering the Colville River, the team wields chainsaws to extract fossils frozen into the permafrost. Newly found dinosaur tracks indicates that a wide variety of species once flourished there, including herds of duck-bills, horned herbivores, pterosaurs, a new type of velociraptor, and northern relatives of T-rex.
The computer animated drama takes place on Darwin IV, a planet 6.5 light years from earth, with 2 suns and 60% of Earth's gravity. Earth sends a pilot mission with three probes. This robotic fleet is responsible for finding and assessing any life forms on Darwin IV. The probes soon find themselves in the middle of a developed ecosystem teeming with diversity of life of all sizes. "Alien Planet" is motivated by real science missions, such as the NASA Origins Program and the NASA / JPL Planet-Finder Mission, as well as the European Space Agency's Darwin Project. It is a cosmic expedition along side Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, Jack Horner, Craig Venter, and George Lucas, and NASA's Chief Scientist Jim Garvin. No longer just the domain of science fiction, "Alien Planet" dramatizes an exciting and possible answer to what alien life really looks like and when we'll find it.
Catherine expanded her empire through military victories overseas, while at home she encouraged education and introduced smallpox inoculation to Russia. But Catherine struggled to introduce deeper reforms, and the institution of serfdom remained largely unchanged. Lucy explains how this injustice fuelled a violent rebellion. Nevertheless, Catherine left Russia more powerful on the world stage than ever. But all she had achieved looked set to be undone when Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. Lucy relives the pivotal battle of Borodino, when the Russian army finally confronted the French forces; the traumatic destruction of Moscow; and, under Catherine's grandson Alexander, the eventual victory over the French that provided the Romanov dynasty with its most glorious hour.