Science fare Nov. 7, 2009
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11/6/2009 - 11/7/09
Upcoming science, nature and technology programs on KNME Public Television, channel 5.NOVA: Becoming Human, Part 1
Ch. 9.1 — 7 p.m. today
Ch. 5.1 — 11 a.m. today
NOVA presents a definitive three-part special that investigates explosive new discoveries that are transforming the picture of how we became human. The first program explores fresh clues about our earliest ancestors in Africa, including the stunningly complete fossil nicknamed "Lucy's Child." These three-million-year-old bones from Ethiopia reveal humanity's oldest and most telltale trait, upright walking, rather than a big brain.
Nature: Born Wild, The First Days of Life
Ch. 9.1 — 8 p.m. today
Ch. 5.1— 10 a.m. today
Follows the birth and first day of several species, from marmoset to moose to elephant and gorilla.
Independent Lens: Power Paths
10 p.m. today
This program follows the efforts of American Indian tribes as they explore ways to bring renewable energy projects into their communities. From the Sioux tribes of Great Plains in the Midwest to the Navajo and Hopi of the Southwest, tribes are fighting to protect their land, air and water from the harmful impacts of mining and burning coal on their lands. This program documents how young Native leaders formed the Just Transition Coalition and succeeded in a legal battle to close a large dirty coal plant not far from Las Vegas, Nev., which sends electricity to California. Power Paths follows their efforts to bring training and new jobs in renewable energy, installing solar energy and large wind turbines on their lands. Now for the first time in 60 years, Native Americans may receive some economic justice for the harm caused to their natural resources.
Wild!: The Secret of Cats
9 a.m. Sunday
An intimate portrait of nature's big cats "told" by an expert on feline behavior, a domestic cat. Secrets of lions, tigers, pumas and more are uncovered, including how they brush their teeth, which actually like to get wet, and what similarities there are between housecats and wild cats.
Design Squad: Shooting for the Sun
Ch. 5.1 — 8 a.m. Sunday
Ch. 9.1 — 4 p.m. Sunday
It comes down to the buzzer when WNBA players Lindsay Whalen and Tameka Raymond challenge the Design Squads to build T-shirt shooters that reach their arena's upper deck. The winning T-shirt shooter is announced live at a Connecticut Sun home game.
Nature: Black Mamba
Ch. 5.1 — 7 p.m. Sunday, 8 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. Nov. 15
Ch. 9.1 — 8 p.m. today
The black mamba is one of Africa's most dangerous and feared snakes, known for being very aggressive when disturbed. Rearing up with its head four feet above the ground, it strikes with deadly precision, delivering venom that is packed with three different kinds of toxins and is ten times more deadly than needed to kill an adult human. Without treatment the mortality rate is 100 percent, the highest among all venomous snakes in the world. Until now, little has been known about the black mamba's natural behavior in the wild because in Africa most people kill a black mamba on sight and feel lucky to have done so. But in the tiny country of Swaziland in southern Africa, a team of herpetologists has an entirely different "take" on these creatures and hopes their six-week study will change public perception of what they feel is the world's most misunderstood snake. (Play KNME's NATURE Bingo Contest in October and November — Call 277-2121 for details, or go to: www.knme.org.)
Hoover Dam: American Experience
Ch. 5.1 — 8 p.m. Monday
Ch. 9.1 — 10 p.m. Nov. 15
Rising more than 700 feet above the raging waters of the Colorado River, it was called one of the greatest engineering works in history. Hoover Dam, built during the Great Depression, drew men desperate for work to a remote and rugged canyon near Las Vegas, Nev. There they lived in tent cities, struggled against heat, choking dust and perilous heights to build a colossus of concrete that brought electricity and water to millions and transformed the American Southwest.
NOVA: Becoming Human - Part 2
Ch. 5.1 - 8 p.m. Tuesday and again 9 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. Nov. 15
Ch. 9.1 - 8 p.m. Wednesday and again 7 p.m. Saturday 11/14
NOVA presents a definitive three-part special that investigates explosive new discoveries that are transforming the picture of how we became human. The second program tackles the
mysteries of how our ancestors managed to survive in a savannah teeming with vicious predators, and when and why they first left the African cradle to colonize every corner of the earth.
Shot "in the trenches" as discoveries were unearthed throughout Africa and Europe, each hour of "Becoming Human" unfolds with a forensic investigation into the life and death of a specific hominid ancestor. Dry bones spring back to vivid life with stunning animation, the product of a unique NOVA collaboration between top anthropologists and a talented team of movie animators.
Frontline: Sick Around The World
9 p.m. Tuesday
Four in five Americans say the U.S. health-care system needs "fundamental" change. Can the U.S. learn anything from the rest of the world about how to run a health-care system or are these nations so culturally different from us that their solutions would simply not be acceptable to Americans? Frontline correspondent T.R. Reid examines the health-care systems of other advanced capitalist democracies — the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Taiwan — to see what tried and tested ideas might help us reform our broken health-care system.
Secrets of the Dead: Airmen and the Headhunters
7 p.m. Wednesday
This program investigates a fantastic WWII tale of jungle ambushes, extreme engineering, blow darts defenses, and enemy headhunting. In 194 5, an American B24 bomber is shot down over Japanese - controlled Borneo. The airmen bail out and survive, only to find themselves isolated and lost in the impenetrable jungle. Briefed to fear the "savage" Dayak inhabitants, the Americans are instead taken in by these tribes and become witness to a compassionate, resourceful people who shatter stereotypes, protect them from the Japanese, and eventually deliver them safely into the hands of an eccentric British Major who orchestrates their rescue by building a bamboo runway deep in the Borneo interior.
Wild!: Warthog
7 p.m. Thursday and again 9 a.m. Nov. 15
The fortunes of a family of warthogs are followed in Nakuru National Park, Kenya. When the family leaves its burrow, dangers multiply and the females must defend their young from such predators as leopards, jackals, eagles and hyenas.
Design Squad: Snow Problem? - Part 1
Ch. 5.1 - 8 a.m. Nov. 15
Ch. 9.1 - 4 p.m. Nov. 15
In this two-parter, viewers come along for the ride as the Design Squads build dry land dog sleds for Jamaican Dog Sled team members Damion Robb and Newton Marshall.
Great Museums Smithsonian National Zoo: Wild Thing!
3 p.m. Nov. 15
This program is a window to the animal kingdoms of the world, showcasing the global leadership role of our nation's zoo in preserving endangered species on the edge of extinction. Interviews with scientists, curators, animal keepers, veterinarians and volunteers at this living museum reveal the National Zoo's mighty mission: the preservation of all life on earth. Beautifully shot and showcased in high definition, the stars of the program are the animals themselves, each representing a worldwide conservation effort that stretches from Bolivia to Namibia.
In Search of Myths and Heroes "Shangri-La"
6 p.m. Sunday
The third of Michael Wood's historical journeys takes viewers on a thrilling trek through India, Nepal and Tibet in search of Shangri-La. The tale of the magical valley hidden behind the Himalayas was popularized in the 1930s movie Lost Horizon, but the myth of a secret earthly paradise is much older. To find the truth behind the legend, Wood travels on foot through some of the world's most sacred mountains before finally reaching the fantastic ruins of a lost city, which he believes is the real inspiration behind the myth.
