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Are Video Games Really That Bad

   2015    Medicine
The video game industry is a global phenomenon. There are over 1.2 billion gamers across the planet, with sales projected soon to pass $100 billion per year. But their very popularity fuels the controversy that surrounds them. They frequently stand accused of corrupting the young - of causing violence and addiction. But is this true? The scientific community is deeply divided". Some are convinced that video games incite aggression. Others insist they have no effect whatsoever on real-world violence. But away from the controversy, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests video games may help keep the brain sharp, and could soon revolutionise how we combat mental decline as we age.

Dark Net Rewire

   2016    Technology
The Internet enables us to connect with people, images and information in ways that were unimaginable 30 years ago. But with every click we are re-wiring the physical structure of our brains. Are we evolving or actively de-evolving down a dopamine-laced click-hole? In this episode meet a 17-year-old boy struggling with an addiction to online pornography; autistic technologists in Silicon Valley who are turning their genetic variation to an advantage; plus, Nootropics, a class of cognition-enhancing supplements that claims to rewire the brain.
Series: Dark Net

Playing with Nuclear Fire

   2014    Technology
Playing with Nuclear Fire' - In March 2011, the Tohoku earthquake in Japan created a tsunami that killed some 16,000 people and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In the aftermath, the government and TEPCO, the plant's operator, withheld information about the extent of the damage. Three years later, citizens and the international community are left wondering if Japan really does have the situation under control, as the government is insisting, or if the danger is far greater than anyone is willing to admit. 'No Man Left Behind' - It's estimated that over a quarter million vets from recent wars have sought treatment for PTSD. Despite these statistics, veterans often face an uphill battle to get treatment, receiving inadequate attention and, most dangerously, overprescribed narcotics and other pharmaceuticals. Ryan Duffy meets veterans struggling with mental illness and addiction.
Series: Vice

Exploit

   2016    Technology
The digital era gives rise to unprecedented opportunity to exploit, and be exploited. Troves of child pornography are available at the click of a mouse. Who are these children - and who profits from their abuse? While facilitating the darker side of our impulses, technology is also being touted as a cure to rehabilitate predators. In this episode meet the children who are forced to perform sex acts on camera; people who use the same technology to protect kids and nab the perpetrators; plus, a pedophile who reveals the roots of his addiction.
Series: Dark Net

How to Collapse a Superpower

   2014    Technology
With a little imagination, could a few terrorists sabotage a mighty nation? Perhaps even tear down modern civilization? The stability of the US, Europe, China, or any global power depends on high-speed digital communication. Our increasing dependence on digital devices and global interactivity may be placing us in grave danger. Scientists around the world are dealing with new threats such as body hacking, Trojan horse viruses, and brain-damaging Internet addiction. But what if the ultimate threat isn’t an attack on technology, but the technology? Could the final superpower be the disembodied mind of the Internet itself?
Series: Through the Wormhole Season 5

Cannabis: The Evil Weed

   2009    Medicine
Cannabis is the world's favourite drug, but also one of the least understood. Can cannabis cause schizophrenia? Is it addictive? Can it lead you on to harder drugs? Or is it simply a herb, an undervalued medicine? Addiction specialist Dr John Marsden discovers that modern science is finally beginning to find answers to these questions. John traces the cannabis plants' birthplace in Kazakhstan; finds the origins of our sensitivity to cannabis in the simple sea squirt; and finds out just what it does to our brains. He meets people who have been changed by this drug in drastically different ways - from those whose lives have been shattered to those who lives have been revived.