What If we could talk to animals? For as long as we've shared our lives with pets, we've been seeking better ways to communicate with them. In Washington state, Alexis Devine and her sheepadoodle Bunny think they've found a way of making communication a reality. Alexis went further than most, with a set of communication buttons, each programmed with a pre-recorded word to help humans and animals speak the same language. She has 90 buttons with which to express herself and even seems to combine them into simple sentences. Bunny is paving the way in pet communication. The undisputed masters of verbal communication are our pet parrots. They have mastered the art of vocal expression. Some parrots have even learned to fool devices designed to recognize human voices.
A close examination of the Whakaari / White Island volcanic eruption of 2019, in which 22 lives were lost, the film viscerally recounts a day when ordinary people were called upon to do extraordinary things, placing this tragic event within the larger context of nature's unpredictability and the resilience and power of our shared humanity. The film explores the profound impact on survivors, their unwavering determination to recover and rebuild, and the enduring effects of the eruption. With remarkable personal stories, stunning visuals, and a poignant reflection on the forces of nature, this documentary offers a gripping portrayal of the human spirit and solidarity in the face of adversity. It is a must-watch for those interested in powerful storytelling and the resilience of the human spirit, with a captivating and thought-provoking narrative.
The last chapter explains how the 2010s became another lost decade in the fight against climate change – as the move to natural gas delayed a transition to more renewable sources of energy. Engineer Tony Ingraffea, in the 1980s, helped develop a new technique for extracting gas and oil from shale rock, which ultimately became known as 'Fracking'. It was to unleash vast new reserves of fossil fuels and was promoted as a cleaner energy source. But Ingraffea explains how he later came to regret his work when he realized that gas could be even worse for climate change than coal and oil. Dar-Lon Chang, a former ExxonMobil engineer, speaks for the first time on camera alleging that as the company increased its natural gas operations, it was not sufficiently monitoring methane leaks that were contributing to climate change. Now, after a year of unprecedented wildfires, drought and other climate-related disasters, multiple lawsuits are being brought in US courts in efforts to hold Big Oil legally accountable for the climate crisis.
This is the first of two episodes dissecting the psyche of Daniel Ricciardo. A second big money move in two years now sees the Australian set foot on the shore of the McLaren Technology Centre, only to find the territory is already occupied by Lando Norris. The Australian looks like he was really hoping to flash the car up into Q3 with his teeth, only to find it isn’t that easy. Ricciardo is really struggling to get his head around the idiosyncratic MCL35M, but it gets worse: his boyish, funny, charismatic team-mate Norris is doing him over every week. The relations between the two drivers deteriorate also. Can Ricciardo recover his form? The footage is interspersed with short scenes featuring Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
In the last episode, despite disturbing revelations of wrongdoing at Three Mile Island before and after the accident, the utility fights to bring the plant back online. Its Unit 1 had its license temporarily suspended following the incident at Unit 2. Although the citizens of the three counties surrounding the site voted by an overwhelming margin to retire Unit 1 permanently in a non-binding resolution in 1982, it was permitted to resume operations in 1985 following a 4–1 vote by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In 2017, it was announced that operations would cease by 2019 due to financial pressure from cheap natural gas, unless lawmakers stepped in to keep it open. Unit 1 shut down on September 20, 2019. Billed as the worst nuclear incident in U.S. history, what’s particularly scary here is how close Three Mile Island incident came to becoming a national disaster. Without giving away the whole story, cost-cutting 'solutions' almost cause a catastrophic disaster.
Covering one tenth of all species on the planet, Freshwater is a rich, diverse habitat filled with never-ending surprises. The fourth episode is set beneath the Yucatan Peninsula and spanning diverse locations like the rainforests of Costa Rica and the Kalahari Desert and presents a vivid exploration of how freshwater shapes life on Earth. The narrative journeys through the unique breeding rituals of gliding tree frogs in Costa Rica, the strategic hunting methods of mugger crocodiles in Sri Lanka, and the astonishing adaptations of wildlife in the Okavango Delta. It highlights the critical role of freshwater in supporting diverse ecosystems, from the teeming fish species in Lake Malawi to the perilous journey of gobies in Bioko. The episode also addresses human impact, showcasing the extensive irrigation system in Pakistan and its unintended consequences on local wildlife, like the endangered Indus river dolphin. This captivating chapter not only showcases nature's marvels but also underscores the delicate balance between human needs and wildlife conservation.
The undisputed masters of verbal communication are our pet parrots. They have mastered the art of vocal expression. Some parrots have even learned to fool devices designed to recognize human voices.