2016
Season 52Season 54

S53 2016

Horizon / Season 53

16 Mar, 2016 · 16 episodes

 
Season 52Season 54

S53 2016

Horizon / Season 53

16 Mar, 2016 · 16 episodes

 
The Immortalist
S53 | E01

1h

Investigating the story of how a Russian internet millionaire, Dmitry Itskov, is turning to cutting edge science to try to unlock the secret of living forever. The programme investigates the real science inspiring his bold plan to upload the human mind to a computer, and examines whether his goal of bringing about immortality for humans within thirty years is attainable.

16/03/2016 | 21:00
Project Greenglow - The Quest for Gravity Control
S53 | E02

1h

Documentary exploring science's long-standing obsession with the idea of gravity control, including recent breakthroughs in the search for loopholes in conventional physics. The programme examines how the groundwork carried out by Project Greenglow in the mid-1990s by UK defence manufacturer BAE Systems (based on the work of Eugene Podkletnov[82]) has changed the understanding of the universe, mak... Read more

23/03/2016 | 21:00
The Mystery of Dark Energy
S53 | E03

1h

Examining Dark Energy, the mysterious force that is unexpectedly causing the universe's expansion to speed up. Its effects were discovered in 1998, but physicists still do not know what it is, and its very existence calls into question Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity; the cornerstone of modern physics. The hunt for the identity of Dark Energy is on, and although experiments conducte... Read more

30/03/2016 | 20:00
Oceans of the Solar System
S53 | E04

1h

The oceans define the earth. They are crucial to life and we used to think that they were unique to our blue planet. But we were wrong. It has recently been discovered that there are oceans all over our solar system and they are very similar to our own. And now scientists are going on an epic journey in search of new life in places that never seemed possible. Nasa is even planning to dive to the ... Read more

06/04/2016 | 20:00
The End of the Solar System
S53 | E05

1h

This is the story of how our solar system will be transformed by the aging sun before coming to a spectacular end in about eight billion years. Astronomers can peer into the far future to predict how it will happen by analysing distant galaxies, stars and even planets in their final moments. In this film, Horizon brings these predictions to life in a peaceful midwestern town that has a giant scal... Read more

13/04/2016 | 20:00
Should We Close Our Zoos?
S53 | E06

1h

Liz Bonnin presents a controversial and provocative episode of Horizon, investigating how new scientific research is raising hard questions about zoos - the film explores how and why zoos keep animals, and whether they need to change to keep up with modern science or ultimately be consigned to history. Should zoos cull their animals to manage populations? Liz travels to Copenhagen Zoo, who killed... Read more

17/04/2016 | 20:00
How to Find Love Online
S53 | E07

1h

Dr Xand Van Tulleken is single and looking for love. Mathematician Dr Hannah Fry wants to use him as her guinea pig to test whether the algorithms that dating sites use to match people actually work. While Hannah builds a dating site, Xand meets the scientists investigating online dating - and learns what pictures to use and what to write in his profile. He tries out a 'bot' that has automated a ... Read more

25/04/2016 | 20:00
Ice Station Antarctica
S53 | E08

1h

Antarctica is the last great wilderness. It's the coldest, windiest, driest and most isolated place on Earth. And every winter, for over three months of the year, the sun never rises. But it's also home to the British Antarctic Survey's Halley Research Station. A veteran of living and working at Halley in the early eighties, BBC weatherman Peter Gibbs makes an emotional return to the place he onc... Read more

04/05/2016 | 20:00
Curing Alzheimer's
S53 | E09

1h

Horizon investigates a new era of Alzheimer's research, which is bringing hope to millions of sufferers across the world. New scanning and gene technology is allowing scientists to identify the disease at its earliest stages, often 15 years before symptoms appear and the brain cells are destroyed. A series of new drugs trials in Colombia, the USA and Europe are showing startling success in reducin... Read more

11/05/2016 | 20:00
E-Cigarettes: Miracle or Menace?
S53 | E10

1h

Michael Mosley investigates the dramatic rise in e-cigarettes. They're everywhere these days, but what does the latest scientific research on them reveal? Michael reveals what e-cigarettes are really doing to your health. Are they really better for you than cigarettes? What is actually in them? Is passive vapour harmful? And can they really stop you from smoking? Michael meets some of the scientis... Read more

22/05/2016 | 20:00
Why Are We Getting So Fat?
S53 | E11

1h

Over 62% of adults in the UK are currently overweight or obese and this figure is set to rise. A common attitude is that obese people should be ashamed - it is their fault, they have no will power and if they could just 'eat less and exercise more', the problem would soon be solved. Yet, despite millions of pounds being spent on this simple message, the UK is getting fatter every year. Cambridge ... Read more

07/06/2016 | 20:00
Sports Doping - Winning At Any Cost?
S53 | E12

1h

Dr Xand van Tulleken investigates the world of performance-enhancing drugs - from the athletes seeking the rewards of fame, glory and lucrative sponsorship deals to the hundreds of thousands of people in the UK now regularly taking anabolic steroids to look good and buff up. What are these drugs? What do they do to the body? And is it worth it? Xand's investigation reveals the extraordinary gambl... Read more

19/07/2016 | 20:00
Inside CERN
S53 | E13

1h

With exclusive behind-the-scenes access, Horizon follows the highs and lows of an extraordinary story in particle physics. In June 2015, teams at CERN started running the large hadron collider at the highest energy ever. Rumours quickly emerged that they were on the brink of a huge discovery. A mysterious bump in some data suggested a first glimpse of a brand new particle that could change our und... Read more

10/08/2016 | 20:00
My Amazing Twin
S53 | E14

1h

The acerbically witty and severely facially disfigured broadcaster Adam Pearson presents a personal film about genetics. He and his twin brother Neil are genetically identical and both share the same genetic disease, Neurofibromatosis 1 (Nf1) - yet they are completely different. Adam's face is covered with growths, whereas Neil has none. Neil has short term memory loss, whereas Adam is razor sharp... Read more

25/08/2016 | 20:00
The Lost Tribes of Humanity
S53 | E15

1h

Alice Roberts explores the latest discoveries in the study of human origins, revealing the transformation that has been brought about in this field by genetics.

12/10/2016 | 20:00
The Wildest Weather in the Universe
S53 | E16
SEASON FINALE

1h

We love talking about the weather - is it too hot or too cold, too wet or too windy? It's a national obsession. Now scientists have started looking to the heavens and wondering what the weather might be like on other planets. Today, we are witnessing the birth of extra-terrestrial meteorology, as technology is allowing astronomers to study other planets like never before. They began with our solar... Read more

23/10/2016 | 20:00
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