Space isn't vast and empty space but a dynamic, cosmic storm. It's a storm that could kill us, but without it we wouldn't be here at all. This is a story about the weird connections, the near misses, the lucky breaks that created this amazing world. For 4.5 billion years our planet has been battered and bruised and punched and pummeled but we're still standing. It's actually the battle that's built us and this is the tale of the tape. Ever wonder how our planet got here? It was born in a cosmic storm. The violence could have destroyed us, but instead it made us.
We sure lucked out with Planet Earth. Blue skies, rolling hills, water everywhere. But our home didn't come like this out of the box. Earth was a real fixer-upper, and it took some seriously hard work to build this paradise. Nearly four billion years of renovation. Some tiny, some huge, to make this house a home. Creatures on Earth don't just live and die. They actually change the world around them. The story of how for nearly 4 billion years, microbes, plants and animals have emerged and sculpted the planet's surface and atmosphere in the strangest of ways.
Can we find a way to distribute power so that everyone has their say? A U.S. president explains the challenges of making decisions that affect hundreds of millions of lives, and Freeman learns about an African woman who has created a society without men. He explores how the rise of the internet may fundamentally change how democracy works.
Freeman's quest to understand what makes a rebellion successful brings him face-to-face with exiles, whistle blowers, hackers and movement leaders. From Berlin to Bolivia to the United States, he'll see the courage, dedication, hard work and hope that it takes to try to change the world.
Targeting unsuspecting Americans, a group of payday lenders made millions off small loans with undisclosed charges, inflated interest rates and incomprehensible rules. But the way the laws are written, is that a crime or just business?
Valeant Pharmaceuticals was a multinational specialty pharmaceutical company based in Canada. It grew rapidly through a series of mergers and acquisitions under the leadership of J. Michael Pearson. The company was involved in a number of controversies surrounding drug price hikes and the use of a specialty pharmacy for the distribution of its drugs, which led to an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and caused its stock price to plummet more than 90 percent from its peak while its debt surpassed $30 billion. Wall Street short-sellers exposed a scam that regulators overlook: how Big Pharma gouges patients in need of life-saving drugs.
Ever wonder how our planet got here? It was born in a cosmic storm. The violence could have destroyed us, but instead it made us.