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The Universe - The Complete Season Two (History) (Steelbook)

Actor: History Channel
ASIN : B0016OKQOO
Sales Rank : 591
Director : Douglas Cohen (II)
Brand : A&E
Studio : A&E Home Video (New REleaset)
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0733961109474
UPC : 733961109474
Release Date : December 14, 2008
Publisher : A&E Home Video (New REleaset)
Manufacturer : A&E Home Video (New REleaset)
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : A&E Home Video (New REleaset)
Running Time : 846

Product Description

We once considered ourselves to be at the center of the universe now we know that we are just a small spec in a giant cosmos. This season, HISTORY® ventures outsides of our solar system in another epic exploration of the universe and its mysteries. With strikingly realistic computer re-creations, you ll feel like you ve traveled to the edge of the unknown: visit strange and unfamiliar worlds in Exoplanets, prepare for the worst in Cosmic Collisions, and uncover the secrets of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. And that s just the beginning... learn exactly what Dark Matter is and how it takes up 95% of the universe; take a front-row seat for the ultimate light show with Supernovas; and while most people have heard of black holes (which swallow all matter that they come in contact with), find out more about White Holes which actually create matter.

Episodes Include:
Alien Planets
Cosmic Holes
Mysteries of the Moon
The Milky Way
Alien Moons
Dark Matter
Astrobiology
Space Travel
Supernovas
Constellations
Unexplained Mysteries
Cosmic Collisions
Colonizing Space

Amazon.com

With the DVD release (on five discs) of this, the complete second season of The Universe, the History Channel has now devoted a combined total of more than 25 hours, not including bonus material, to its documentary study of that combination of time, space, and matter that we call our universe. That’s a lot. But then you consider the mind-boggling age and size of the universe itself: 13.7 billion years old, and big beyond our comprehension; infinite, in fact, and expanding rapidly. By those measures, it’s apparent that this fascinating series could probably air for longer than The Simpsons and Gunsmoke (the two longest running shows in TV history) put together and still not run out of things to talk about.

The 18 episodes from Season Two cover an appropriately wide range of topics, from "Cosmic Holes" to "Cosmic Collisions," from supernovas to gravity. There are episodes about the weather in space, the largest objects in space (hint: they’re really, really big, like the so-called "cosmic web" of galaxies, which is a hundred million billion times bigger than Earth), and traveling to and colonizing space. The amount of information and data provided is enormous. Jargon abounds, including terms like "lunar transient phenomena," "pulsar planets," "hot Jupiters," "dark matter" and "dark energy," "collisional families," the "heavy bombardment period," and many, many more. And the numbers are mind-boggling: for instance, it’s estimated that the impact of the asteroid that landed on the Yucatan Peninsula some 65 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs, was equal to that of dropping a Hiroshima-sized atomic bomb every second for 140 years! Still, some may find the episodes that involve informed speculation more interesting than those that deal in facts. We know that the Moon affects ocean tides, but does it also have an effect on human behavior? If the Big Bang was the beginning of the universe, what came before it? Instead of using rockets to go to space, can scientists actually build a "space elevator" that will reach from an orbiting satellite some 60 thousand miles down to Earth? All of this is delivered by way of very convincing computer-generated imagery and other effects, along with dozens of interviews with astronomers and other experts, photos, film footage, and so on. Best of all, while it can get a bit dense, technically speaking, by and large The Universe will be readily accessible to most viewers. --Sam Graham

The Universe - The Complete Season One (History Channel)

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From the mysteries of our own solar system those that surround unexplored galaxies, history and science collide in this ambitious investigation of the Universe.

Questions about the Universe have consumed man since the dawn of time. In the 50 years since humans made their first tentative explorations of space, we have increased our knowledge of the cosmos dramatically, using powerful telescopes, robotic probes, and manned missions. But only recently has computer technology allowed scientists to illustrate in stunning detail their awe-inspiring conclusions. THE UNIVERSE, a groundbreaking series from THE HISTORY CHANNEL®, employs cutting-edge computer-generated imagery to bring distant planets and faraway stars up close, allowing viewers to gaze at black holes and comets, and witness the births and deaths of galaxies and solar systems.

This epic miniseries takes viewers on an exhilarating voyage through the cosmos. From the farthest reaches of distant galaxies back to the familiar face of our moon, THE UNIVERSE brings the mysteries of the heavens down to earth.

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Who Killed the Electric Car?

Actor: Martin Sheen
ASIN : B000I5Y8FU
Sales Rank : 476
Brand : Sony
Studio : Sony Pictures
Region Code : 99
Format : AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0043396152861
UPC : 043396152861
Release Date : December 14, 2006
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Manufacturer : Sony Pictures
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Sony Pictures
Running Time : 92

Product Description

In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline. Ten years later, these futuristic cars were almost entirely gone. What happened? Why should we be haunted by the ghost of the electric car?

Amazon.com

It begins with a solemn funeral…for a car. By the end of Chris Paine's lively and informative documentary, the idea doesn't seem quite so strange. As narrator Martin Sheen notes, "They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline." Paine proceeds to show how this unique vehicle came into being and why General Motors ended up reclaiming its once-prized creation less than a decade later. He begins 100 years ago with the original electric car. By the 1920s, the internal-combustion engine had rendered it obsolete. By the 1980s, however, car companies started exploring alternative energy sources, like solar power. This, in turn, led to the late, great battery-powered EV1. Throughout, Paine deftly translates hard science and complex politics, such as California's Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, into lay person's terms (director Alex Gibney, Oscar-nominated for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, served as consulting producer). And everyone gets the chance to have their say: engineers, politicians, protesters, and petroleum spokespeople--even celebrity drivers, like Peter Horton, Alexandra Paul, and a wild man beard-sporting Mel Gibson. But the most persuasive participant is former Saturn employee Chelsea Sexton. Promoting the benefits of the EV1 was more than a job to her, and she continues to lobby for more environmentally friendly options. Sexton provides the small ray of hope Paine's film so desperately needs. Who Killed the Electric Car? is, otherwise, a tremendously sobering experience. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Stills from Who Killed the Electric Car? (click for larger image)

Writer/Director Chris Paine Blogs About Who Killed the Electric Car

When Who Killed the Electric Car premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (on the same weekend as An Inconvenient Truth), we wondered whether movie goers were ready for a new kind of 'action film'. Fortunately people jumped onboard and this seems even more true today.

We put this DVD together after the release of the film to include a dozen short scenes we couldn't quite fit into our story. My favorite is one with Stan and Iris Ovshinsky who developed the revolutionary battery technology that powered GM's electric car (and today's Prius). These two brilliant octogenarians took our small camera crew on a Willy Wonka style tour of their inventions including the world's largest thin film solar cell factory. As we stood under a football field size machine in Troy Michigan, I blustered "Is solar power back?" Stan exclaimed " What?! Solar never went away... What was back was backward thinking!" And as his machine cranked out miles of solar cells above us, we knew he was right.

I'm especially glad that the optimistic last scene of Who Killed the Electric Car has proven that we weren't just wishful thinkers when we finished our edit. The clips feature the first glimpse of the ultra fast Tesla electric sports prototype as well the Zenn neighborhood electric vehicle. Both cars are starting to roll off production lines today. And while the State of California (and some car companies) are still gambling on hydrogen fuel cells, plug-in cars are proving to be more environmentally efficient and popular. Early adopters deserve a lot of the credit. Oil companies and the internal combustion engine monopoly may have "killed" thousands of electric cars (EVs) in the 1990s, but EVs are coming back. (Stay tuned for next film...)

I hope you'll find our documentary takes you on a wild ride out of the 20th century and into the 21st. --Chris Paine, Writer/Director

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In the Shadow of the Moon

Actors: Harrison Schmitt, Alan Bean, Edgar D. Mitchell, Michael Collins (II), Neil Armstrong
ASIN : B000XJ5TPE
Sales Rank : 1034
Director : David Sington
Brand : Image Entertainment
Studio : VELOCITY / THINKFILM
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, Dolby, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0821575555951
UPC : 821575555951
Release Date : December 22, 2008
Publisher : VELOCITY / THINKFILM
Manufacturer : VELOCITY / THINKFILM
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : VELOCITY / THINKFILM
Running Time : 110

Product Description

IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON is an intimate epic, which vividly communicates the daring and the danger, the pride and the passion, of this extraordinary era in American history. Between 1968 and 1972, the world watched in awe each time an American spacecraft voyaged to the Moon. Only 12 American men walked upon its surface and they remain the only human beings to have stood on another world. Now for the first, and very possibly the last, time, IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON combines archival material from the original NASA film footage, much of it never before seen, with interviews with the surviving astronauts, including Jim Lovell (Apollo 8 and 13), Dave Scott (Apollo 9 and 15), John Young (Apollo 10 and 16), Gene Cernan (Apollo 10 and 17), Mike Collins (Apollo 11), Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), Alan Bean (Apollo 12), Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14), Charlie Duke (Apollo 16) and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17). The astronauts emerge as eloquent, witty, emotional and very human.

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National Geographic - In the Womb

Actor: Dilly Barlow
ASIN : B000E8JNT2
Sales Rank : 952
Director : Toby Macdonald
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : National Geographic Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0727994751267
UPC : 727994751267
Release Date : December 02, 2006
Publisher : National Geographic Video
Manufacturer : National Geographic Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : National Geographic Video
Running Time : 120

Description

From the moment of conception, every human embryo embarks on an incredible nine month journey of development. Now, cutting-edge technology makes it possible for National Geographic's In the Womb to open a window into the hidden world of the fetus and explore each trimester in amazing new detail. Revolutionary imagery sheds light on the delicate, dark world of a fetus as never before.

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The Privileged Planet

Actor: John Rhys-Davies
ASIN : B0002E34C0
Sales Rank : 3037
Director : Lad Allen
Studio : Illustra Media
Region Code : 0
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 8046712074986
UPC : 804671207498
Release Date : December 07, 2004
Publisher : Illustra Media
Manufacturer : Illustra Media
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Illustra Media
Running Time : 58

Product Description

Today, most scientists and philosophers claim that Earth is an ordinary speck of dust adrift, without purpose or significance, in a vast cosmic sea. This idea (popularized by the late astronomer, Carl Sagan) is an outgrowth of the naturalistic philosophy that has dominated science for the past 150 years. Yet, remarkable evidence--unveiled by contemporary astronomy and physics-may now tell a very different story. Building upon the overwhelming success of Unlocking the Mystery of Life (widely acclaimed as the most effective refutation of Darwinian theory, ever produced), Illustra Media presents The Privileged Planet. This hour-long documentary explores the scientific evidence for intelligent design and purpose in the universe. In the process, Earth is revealed as far more than the product of time, chance, and random natural processes. We now know that a rare and finely tuned array of factors makes Earth suitable for complex life. We depend on our planet's oxygen-rich atmosphere, its large moon, its planetary neighbors, and its precise location within the solar system and Milky Way galaxy. But the story does not end here. For, the same factors that make a planet like Earth hospitable to life also provide the best conditions for scientific discovery. Is this correlation merely a coincidence? Or does it point to a deeper truth about the purpose of the cosmos and the reality of a transcendent designer? The answer could dramatically affect 21st century science. Through stunning computer animation, interviews with leading scientists, and spectacular images of Earth and the cosmos, The Privileged Planet explores a startling connection between our capacity to survive and our ability to observe and understand the universe. A connection that points directly to the work of a creative mind and plan. This extraordinary documentary will be a focal point in the escalating debate between evolution and design.

How the Earth Was Made (History Channel)

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From a once seething, hellish mass of molten rock to the world that inhabits life today, take a rollercoaster ride through the entire history of Planet Earth. Its 4.5 billion year epic, a story of unimaginable timescales, earth-shattering forces, incredible life forms, radical climates and mass extinctions. Discover how the continents were formed, canyons were carved, and why the world's animals live where they do.

DVD Features: Additional Scenes; Bonus Documentary Inside the Volcano

Amazon.com

There's a lot of information in How the Earth Was Made, but perhaps the most interesting relates to time. Quite often, the numbers are so staggering that scientists refer to it as "deep time," an appropriate term when one grapples with the notion that our planet is 4.5 billion years old, or that the oceans were formed by rainfall that lasted literally millions of years, or that 700 million years ago, Earth was completely covered by ice that was a mile thick, with surface temperatures reaching minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. On the other end of the scale are numbers that seem surprisingly small: for instance, it wasn't until 220 years ago that the accepted church doctrine regarding the planet's age (no more than 6000 years, according to the Bible) was seriously challenged and that the key to its past was found in rocks, not scripture, while the discovery that dinosaurs once ruled the Earth came considerably later than that. Using a combination of computer graphics and animation, various drawings and diagrams, photos, location footage, and expert commentary, this fascinating, 94-minute History Channel production takes us from the very beginning, when the planet was formed by meteors colliding in space, through numerous major events (including the appearance of water, granite, and oxygen) and mind-boggling catastrophes (such as mass extinctions caused by volcanic eruptions or the enormous meteor that wiped out 75% of all living things, including the dinosaurs, some 65 million years ago), right up to the present; there's even a glimpse into the future, when Earth will likely end up as barren and lifeless as Mars (no need to hit the panic button yet, though--a few billion more years will pass before that happens). Bonus features include additional scenes and a documentary entitled "Inside the Volcano." --Sam Graham

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Unlocking The Mystery Of Life

Actor: Jay Richards
ASIN : B00007KLDW
Sales Rank : 4845
Director : Lad Allen
Studio : Illustra Media
Region Code : 0
Format : Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 8046712223926
UPC : 804671222392
Release Date : December 01, 2002
Publisher : Illustra Media
Manufacturer : Illustra Media
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Illustra Media
Running Time : 67

Product Description

In 1859, Charles Darwin published, On the Origin of Species . In it, he argued that all of life on earth was the product of undirected natural processes. Time, chance, and natural selection. Since Darwin, biologists have relied on such processes to account for the origin of living things. Yet today, this approach is being challenged as never before. "Unlocking the Mystery of Life" is the story of top-notch, contemporary scientists who are advancing a powerful idea -- "the theory of intelligent design." Using state-of-the-art computer animation, "Unlocking the Mystery of Life" transports you into the interior of the living cell to explore systems and machines that bear the unmistakable hallmarks of design. Discover the intricacy of a microscopic bacterial rotary motor, which spins at 100,000 rpm. Within the nucleus explore the wonder of DNA, a thread-like molecule that stores instructions to build the essential components of every living organism. It is part of a biological information processing system more complex and more powerful than any computer network. This compelling documentary examines an idea with the power to revolutionize our understanding of life... and to unlock the mystery of its origin.

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The BBC High Definition Natural History Collection (Planet Earth / Wild China / Galapagos / Ganges) [Blu-ray]

Actor: David Attenborough
ASIN : B0019MG35O
Sales Rank : 4146
Director : Bbc
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : BBC WARNER
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, Subtitled, Widescreen
Binding : Blu-ray
EAN : 0883929026340
UPC : 883929026340
Release Date : December 05, 2008
Publisher : BBC WARNER
Manufacturer : BBC WARNER
Availability : Usually ships in 7 to 13 days
Label : BBC WARNER
Running Time : 1150

Product Description

Planet Earth From the makers of The Blue Planet: Seas of Life, with an unprecedented production budget of $25 million, comes the epic story of life on Earth. Five years in production, over 2000 days in the field, using 40 cameramen filming across 200 locations, shot entirely in high definition, this is the ultimate portrait of our planet. A stunning television experience that captures rare action, impossible locations and intimate moments with our planet's best-loved, wildest and most elusive creatures. From the highest mountains to the deepest rivers, this blockbuster series takes you on an unforgettable journey through the daily struggle for survival in Earth's most extreme habitats. Planet Earth takes you to places you have never seen before, to experience sights and sounds you may never experience anywhere else. Wild China An exotic fusion of natural history and Oriental adventure, "Wild China" is a series of journeys through four startlingly different landscapes, each based around the travels of a real historical character. With splendour, scale and romance, Wild China lifts the veil on the world's most enigmatic and magnificent country, delving into its vibrant habitats to reveal a land of unbelievable natural complexity. Journey across China from the glittering peaks of the Himalayas to the barren steppe, the sub-Arctic to the tropical islands, through deserts both searingly hot and mind-numbingly cold and see, in pioneering images, a dazzling array of mysterious, beautiful, wild and rare creatures. Galapagos The inspiration for Darwin 's theory of evolution, the Galápagos Islands are a living laboratory, a geological conveyor belt that has given birth to and seen the death of many species of plants and animals. As the western islands rise up from the sea offering a chance of life, the eastern islands sink back beneath the waves guaranteeing only death. Between the two are the middle islands; fertile, lush land in its prime that contains an incredible diversity of life. Nowhere else on the Earth are the twin processes of creation and extinction of species so starkly apparent... see it all unfold before your eyes in this stunning series filmed entirely in high definition from the BBC and the National Geographic Channel. Ganges A sumptuous series that tells the story of the most extraordinary river in the world - the Ganges. Human life and nature bustle along her river banks, in a kaleidoscope of colour and energy. From man-hunting tigers to giant lizards, here the wildlife is as diverse as the people. Traversing from the peaks of the Himalayas through frenetic cities to the teeming delta where the river meets the sea, this is a vibrant and colourful look at how the Ganges shaped the wildlife, culture and beliefs of India.

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NOVA: Secrets of the Mind

Actor: V.S. Ramachandran
ASIN : B000JJ5F8O
Sales Rank : 4544
Director : Alan Ritsko, Christopher Rawlence
Brand : WGBH BOSTON VIDEO
Studio : WGBH Boston
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0783421349698
UPC : 783421349698
Release Date : December 09, 2007
Publisher : WGBH Boston
Manufacturer : WGBH Boston
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : WGBH Boston
Running Time : 56

Product Description

The award-winning NOVA series brings the complications surrounding brain distortion and how it affects people who suffer from it. V.S. Ramachandran leads the viewer through a discovery of neuroscience that involves misperception of the human mind research that has been done to correct it.System Requirements:Running Time 60 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 783421349698 Manufacturer No: WG34969

Browse Science & Technology Online

The Universe - The Complete Season Two (History) (Steelbook)

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Amazon.com

The Universe - The Complete Season One (History Channel)

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Who Killed the Electric Car?

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In the Shadow of the Moon

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National Geographic - In the Womb

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The Privileged Planet

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How the Earth Was Made (History Channel)

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Amazon.com

Unlocking The Mystery Of Life

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The BBC High Definition Natural History Collection (Planet Earth / Wild China / Galapagos / Ganges) [Blu-ray]

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NOVA: Secrets of the Mind

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