Last Watched

Desert Worlds

   2022    Nature
Plants that have developed to thrive in the desert, including cacti that grow in the shade of other trees and collect water in pleated trunks that expand and contract - but can also find themselves a host to other plants, like desert mistletoe. This programme also reveals how tobacco plants being eaten by caterpillars are able to summon the creatures' natural predators, and how tumbleweeds roll across the landscape, only unfurling and growing when they encounter rain.
Series: The Green Planet

Deserts

   2007    Nature
Around 30% of the land's surface is desert, the most varied of our ecosystems despite the lack of rain. Unravel the secrets of desert survival and experience the ephemeral nature of this dynamic environment. Watch Saharan sandstorms nearly a mile high and desert rivers that run for a single day. In the Gobi Desert, rare Bactrian camels get moisture from the snow. In the Atacama, guanacos survive by licking dew off cactus spines. In the USA, the brief blooming of Death Valley triggers a plague of locusts 65km wide and 160km long. A unique aerial voyage over the Namibian desert reveals elephants on a long trek for food and desert lions searching for wandering oryx.
Series: Planet Earth

Desserts

   2017    Culture
The sweet stuff. This "Best Of" episode of The Mind of a Chef takes a long, hard look at the cherry on top of a dining experience. On the list is burnt miso apple pie, the English classic Banoffee pie, sorghum ice cream. Grab a spoon.
Series: The Mind of a Chef

Destination Titan

   2011    Technology
It's a voyage of exploration like no other - to Titan, Saturn's largest moon and thought to resemble our own early Earth. For a small team of British scientists this would be the culmination of a lifetime's endeavour - the flight alone, some 2 billion miles, would take a full seven years. This is the story of the space probe they built, the sacrifices they made and their hopes for the landing. Would their ambitions survive the descent into the unknown on Titan's surface?

Destruction

   2017    Culture
Our relationship with destruction is not a simple one. It can release endorphins and relax our minds. It can amp us up and make us even more aggressive. It can even help us regulate our emotional reactions. Can violently breaking things calm us down? Or does it simply anger us more? Find out as Michael Stevens takes a look into our urge to destroy.
Series: Mind Field Season 1

Determined Fighting Alzheimer

   2022    Medicine
Follow three women at risk of developing Alzheimer’s and join a groundbreaking study to try to prevent the disease, while sharing their ups and downs, anxiously watching for symptoms, and hoping they can make a difference. Barb, Sigrid, and Karen all had mothers with Alzheimer’s and witnessed first hand the devastation wrought by the disease, not only on the mind and body, but on patients’ families.