Last Watched

"Information"  Sort by

Words on a Page

   2020    History
Writing itself is 5,000 years old, and for most of that time words were written by hand using a variety of tools. The Romans were able to run an empire thanks to documents written on papyrus. Scroll books could be made quite cheaply and, as a result, ancient Rome had a thriving written culture. With the fall of the Roman Empire, papyrus became more difficult to obtain. Europeans were forced to turn to a much more expensive surface on which to write: Parchment. Medieval handwritten books could cost as much as a house, they also represent a limitation on literacy and scholarship.
No such limitations were felt in China, where paper had been invented in the second century. Paper was the foundation of Chinese culture and power, and for centuries how to make it was kept secret. When the secret was out, paper mills soon sprang up across central Asia. The result was an intellectual flourishing known as the Islamic Golden Age. Muslim scholars made discoveries in biology, geology, astronomy and mathematics. By contrast, Europe was an intellectual backwater.
That changed with Gutenberg’s development of movable type printing. The letters of the Latin alphabet have very simple block-like shapes, which made it relatively simple to turn them into type pieces. When printers tried to use movable type to print Arabic texts, they found themselves hampered by the cursive nature of Arabic writing. The success of movable type printing in Europe led to a thousand-fold increase in the availability of information, which produced an explosion of ideas that led directly to the European Scientific Revolution and the Industrial Revolution that followed.
Series: The Secret History of Writing

Curse of the White Holes

   2021    Science
The white hole is a region of spacetime and that cannot be entered from the outside, although energy-matter, light and information can escape from it. In this sense, it is the reverse of a black hole. Einstein predicted strange cosmic phenomena known as white holes, but scientists have yet to prove they exist.
Today, astronomers race to find the clues that can unlock the secrets of white holes. They investigate the tiny black holes that hide in the most ancient parts of the universe to finally find the smoking gun.
Series: Space Deepest Secrets Series 8

The Web

   2017    Culture
Edgar Davidson agrees to talk to investigators but tells a different story. Cathy’s sister Marilyn indicates her interest in solving the case. Tom Nugent casts doubt on Gerry Koob’s story about the night of Cathy’s disappearance. The search for the other man at Cathy’s apartment Pete McKeon may have information about Koob’s relationship.
What Cathy’s roommate Sister Russell knew about the abuse and Cathy’s relationship comes into question. 'Jane Doe' and 'Jane Roe' meet for the first time and talk about the Keough. Abbie investigates Baltimore’s investigation into the abuse reports they received. Marilyn Cesnik Radakovic recalls receiving a mysterious letter from her sister after her death.
Series: The Keepers

Cyber Warfare

   2022    Technology
The way that wars are fought is constantly evolving. In the warfare of today and the future, it's the push of a button rather than the pull of a trigger, bringing disorder without a single soldier setting foot on the ground. The real-world battlefield has morphed from the bloody trenches of the front line into an age of cyber warfare. From collapsing all the infrastructure of a country to changing minds for elections, any threat you can imagine can be done.
Series: Future Warfare

Death by SWAT

   2022    Culture
The series tells stories of people caught in the dark and twisted web of modern misinformation and digital deception. Haunting, bizarre and up-to-the-moment relevant, the series explores consequences of 'SWATing', takes a chilling trip down the rabbit hole of white supremacy, joins a Federal hunt for the suspect of a brazen IRS heist and dives into Russian election interference.
In the first episode, when an online gamer makes a series of fraudulent 911 calls to lure SWAT teams to innocent people's homes, his targeted trickery turns to tragedy.
Series: Web of Make Believe: Death Lies and the Internet

The Whistleblower

   2022    Technology
In the third episode, during cleanup at the plant, insiders claim that cost-cutting measures and intimidation tactics create a danger war force than the accident itself.
Several state and federal government agencies mounted investigations into the crisis, the most prominent of which was the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island, headed by chairman John G. Kemeny. The investigation strongly criticized Babcock & Wilcox, Met Ed, Graphics processing unit, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for lapses in quality assurance and maintenance, inadequate operator training, lack of communication of important safety information, poor management, and complacency.
Kemeny said that the procedures and that the control room were greatly inadequate for managing an accident.
Series: Meltdown: Three Mile Island
The Hunt

The Hunt

2015  Nature
Planet Earth

Planet Earth

2007  Nature
Hiroshima

Hiroshima

2005  History
Top Gear

Top Gear

2012  Technology
Cooked

Cooked

2016  Culture
The Last Czars

The Last Czars

2019  History