Naked Science - Close Encounters

Throughout history, countless people have reported mysterious light displays and other unexplained phenomena in the sky. Others claim to have been abducted by these unidentified flying objects, and they share eerily similar stories of intimate encounters with the alien beings that inhabit them. Government officials and skeptics have long denied the veracity of these tales, but their efforts have done little to quell the popular belief that we've been visited by intelligent life forms from worlds far beyond our own. The engrossing documentary Close Encounters challenges the likelihood of these claims through the prism of scientific reasoning.

The film establishes its premise by speaking with direct participants or peripheral students...

Title: Naked Science - Close Encounters
Published on Jan 27, 2016
Uploaded by: Naked Science

Naked Science - Atlantis

This episode of National Geographic's Naked Science centers on the fabled lost city of Atlantis, believed to have been destroyed by a natural disaster an estimated 11,000 years ago. The filmmakers explore ancient ruins in four Mediterranean and Caribbean locations in an effort to confirm or dispel theories of where - and if - Atlantis may have been.

Writer Ignatius Donnelly first sparked public interest in the search for Atlantis in the 19th century, a quest that has continued to maintain its momentum through present day. First introduced by the writings of Plato, Atlantis is said to have been an advanced, sophisticated civilization rich in art and culture. It is widely believed that a ...

Title: Naked Science - Atlantis
Published on Jul 3, 2013
Uploaded by: Naked Science

Catastrophe - Episode 1 - Birth of the Planet

In this first episode of Catastrophe series, host Tony Robinson speaks with planetary experts, archaeologists and paleontologists to understand one of our solar system's first great disasters and its most notable outcome: the emergence of our Moon and oceans and their roles in enabling life on Earth.

In the early stages of our solar system's development, Earth had a twin planet that shared its orbit around the sun. According to Planetary Scientist William K. Hartman when this planet, Thea, ultimately collided with Earth it destroyed itself and created a ring of debris around its sister planet. This ring of debris eventually settled, leaving behin...

Title: Catastrophe - Episode 1 - Birth of the Planet
Published on Mar 24, 2014
Uploaded by: Naked Science

Naked Science - What is Human?

Every other Wednesday we present a new video, so join us to see the truth laid bare...

What do you need to compete with the fiercest predators on Earth, to tame fire, to make tools, to survive cataclysmic natural disasters, and ultimately turn yourself from being an ape like creature, into human being?

Uncovering the secrets of the dead, we're looking back millions of years. This is the story of our battle to survive. Our species nearly became extinct. The struggle that eventually propelled one animal to rise above all other creatures on Earth. This is our story, the story of what makes us, human.

Evolution, what is human? In the beginning there were amoebas. Then there were fish and then there were walking, air-breathing fish. Then there were apes and then, well, me and you. At some point along the vast evolutionary scale a change occurred, a genetic mutation was born giving rise to a new species, the first 'human'. The problem is when? Naked Science travels the globe in search of our earliest ancestor, the first animal we can say is undeniably not an ape, but one of 'us'.



Title: Naked Science - What is Human?
Published on Sep 3, 2013
Uploaded by: Naked Science

Catastrophe - Episode 4 - Asteroid Impact

Geological findings prove that the impact of a large asteroid brought about the obliteration of up to 70% of all life on Earth 65 million years ago. Asteroid Strike traces each step of this catastrophic event, and shows how this planet's last occurrence of mass extinction led to the birth and evolution of the human species.

The formation of this theory came to be during an investigation into what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, an event that has obsessed researchers for many decades. Thirty years ago, paleontologist Jan Smit made unearthed one of the most startling pieces of evidence in support of this theory while trekking among the rolling cliffs of northern Spain. Through careful chemical analysis of rock samples, Smit detected large quantities of iridium, an extremely rare element most commonly found in meteorites and asteroids. This revelation provided the breakthrough scientists had been searching for, and the hunt was on for the site where the asteroid's landing may have originated and evidence of the events that transpired in the aftermath of its impact.

As documented in Asteroid Strike, what follows plays like the ultimate detective story, as the filmmakers join a team of scientists on a journey of discovery across the globe from the mountain ranges of Colorado to the glorious natural environment of the Yucatan Peninsula. In retracing this global catastrophe, they make us frighteningly aware of our planet's vulnerabilities among the scope of an infinitely larger universe, and how our very existence was brought about by mere happenstance.

Title: Catastrophe - Episode 4 - Asteroid Impact
Published on Apr 15, 2014
Uploaded by: Naked Science

Naked Science - Tsunami Warning

Every other Wednesday we present a new video, so join us to see the truth laid bare...

Can we predict future tsunami, and if not, why not?

To know this we need to understand how tsunamis are created, the way they speed across oceans, and how they inflict such devastation.

When the Tsunami hit on December 26th 2004 it killed over two hundred and fifty thousand people, destroyed thousands of homes and caused billions in damage. It was a global catastrophe and the world now knows the meaning of the word Tsunami.

Naked Science is looking at the work of scientists who are out to discover which areas are most prone to a tsunami, and how past discoveries will help us in predicting them in the future, and the potential causes of tsunamis, underwater landslides, exploding volcanoes, earthquakes and even asteroids.

A Geologist from The Institute of technology in California, ‘Sieh’, believes that the answer is in studying past tsunami events and has been working out in Indonesia for the past few years. He takes us to an island just off the west coast of Sumatra ‘Simeulue’, an island which has newly risen out of the ocean by up to 10 feet after the December 2004 earthquake. Just by looking at the uplifting coral reefs Sieh will be able to tell when the last tsunami happened and this could give an accurate prediction of when the next one might occur.

Simeulue was also one of the closest islands to the fault line that ruptured in December 2004 yet no one on the island died. In 1900 a tsunami hit the island bigger than that of 2004 and killed many islanders in the process. Since that day the islanders have passed on the stories of this event through each generation and when the last earthquake occurred they knew exactly what to do. Run for the hills!

This proves that education plays a big key in tsunami survival and that in passing stories and information to the next generation could save a lot more lives.

But Indonesia is not the only place under threat from Tsunamis. The West Coast of America is vulnerable along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. This is a 680 mile long fault line that runs up the Pacific coast from Northern California to Vancouver Island, in Canada.

The last such earthquake is thought to have occurred around 300 years ago. Although subduction earthquakes along here are rare when they do happen they can be massive, magnitude 8 or 9 on the Richter scale. The Indian Ocean earthquake was 9.1, the earthquake that destroyed San Francisco in 1906 was 8.3. so if this happened again there is no telling to what might happen.

Title: Naked Science - Tsunami Warning
Published on Jun 22, 2016
Uploaded by: Naked Science

Naked Science - Pyramids

For over four and a half thousand years the pyramids of Egypt have stood as wonders of the world. The facts are astonishing, the Great Pyramid alone weighs almost six million tons and contains over 2.3 million stone blocks. Naked Science sets out to uncover four great mysteries that still surround the pyramids, how were they built, who built them, why were they built, and what secrets may still lie hidden within their stones. As four millennia and countless generations stand between us and the men who built the pyramids we have to study the buildings themselves to uncover the answers.

With British engineer Denys Stocks we learn the art of pyramid building. Stocks has spent twenty years mastering the techniques used by the ancient workmen and shows how such vast quantities of stone were quarried, transported and fitted by a civilisation that had not even invented the wheel. To show the scale of the achievement we asked construction manager and pyramid scholar Craig Smith to calculate what it would take to build a pyramid in today’s money.

We may know the names of the pharaohs who commissioned the pyramids but who actually hauled the blocks. Legends have always held that slaves built the pyramids but we venture into the science of Forensic Egyptology to discover the truth. Mark Lehner discovered the town of the pyramid builders while Zahi Hawass takes us on a tour of their tombs.

There may be few records of how the pyramids were built but hieroglyphic texts within some pyramids hint at their reveal purpose. Salima Ikram and Jim Allen help us find for the reason why the pyramids were built within these spells and incantations. However Robert Bauval, believes there may be deep connections between the pyramids and astronomy. He believes links to the stars are hidden within their stones and chambers.

Finally we follow work in pyramid exploration as teams hunt for hidden chambers and use robots to explore the mysterious shafts at the centre of the Great Pyramid of Giza.


Title: Naked Science - Pyramids
Published on Aug 3, 2016
Uploaded by: Naked Science

Natural Born Killers - The Science of Shark Attacks

One of the most feared predators of the sea is the shark, many species of which can strip a man to ribbons in a matter of minutes. But what prompts sharks to attack human beings, who are not their natural enemies? “The Science of Shark Attacks” is a documentary in which survivors of shark attacks share their life-and-death stories, as ichthyologists explain the attack behaviour of sharks, how to keep yourself safe in the water, and discuss attempts to cure sharks of their killer instinct.

Contrary to popular belief, only a few sharks are dangerous to humans. Out of more than 470 species, only four have been involved in a significant number of fatal, unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, oceanic whitetip, tiger, and bull sharks. These sharks are large, powerful predators, and may sometimes attack and kill people. Despite being responsible for attacks on humans they have all been filmed without using a protective cage.

The perception of sharks as dangerous animals has been popularised by publicity given to a few isolated unprovoked attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, and through popular fictional works about shark attacks, such as the Jaws film series. Jaws author Peter Benchley, as well as Jaws director Steven Spielberg later attempted to dispel the image of sharks as man-eating monsters.


Title: Natural Born Killers - The Science of Shark Attacks

Uploaded by: Naked Science

Britain's Worst Weather - Snow

What do we talk most about in the United Kingdom? The Great British Weather, it’s part of our culture, we’re obsessed with it, but sometimes it can turn from being a mere talking point, into something deadly.

Professor Nick Middleton continues his investigation by visiting the Cairngorms in Scotland. He experiences first-hand the effects snow and extreme cold can have on the human body, including the disorientation caused by blizzards and the onset of hypothermia. The threat avalanches pose also comes under the spotlight, along with the havoc wreaked on the nation's roads by heavy snowfall.


Title: Britain's Worst Weather - Snow
Published on Nov 18, 2014
Uploaded by: Naked Science

Extreme Weather - Flood Rescue

Footage of flood rescue training at Tees Barrage International White Water Course, from the 2012 production, "Is Our Weather Getting Worse?".

In Britain we love to moan about the weather. And over the past decade we have experienced some extraordinary weather conditions, with 2012 no exception.

It has led many people to wonder if our weather really is getting worse.

The year started with storms and gale-force winds tearing across much of the UK, before our driest spring in a century left 35 million people in the UK suffering from drought.

In Aberdeen in March, temperatures soared to 23 degrees Celsius. But within four weeks, everything had changed.

April 15 marked the beginning of our wettest summer on record. Towns such as Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire were flooded not once, but twice, and by the end of August 4000 homes across Britain had been devastated by floods.

But the strange events of 2012 are only part of the story. For the past decade, our weather has been so erratic that government scientists have begun to use words like 'unprecedented' and 'extraordinary'.

This programme gets to the truth of our extraordinary decade of extreme weather.

Blending dramatic archive footage, expert insight and cutting-edge graphics, the film investigates the most severe weather events to have struck Britain in recent memory and puts them into the wider context of climate change.

Are the strange events of 2012 a one-off or an ominous sign of climate change in action? How does the changing global climate affect the British weather and what can we expect in the future? Is our weather getting worse?

Title: Extreme Weather - Flood Rescue
Published on Mar 18, 2013
Uploaded by: Naked Science

How old is the Sun?

How old is the Sun? This is a question which has fascinated scientists for a long time. Scientists have now established the Sun’s age with the aid of one remarkable fact that the Sun sings. Naked Science visits Big Bear Solar Observatory in California to meet one of the scientists who has been at the forefront of using the Sun’s sounds to determine its age.

The Sun was formed about 4.57 billion years ago from the collapse of part of a giant molecular cloud that consisted mostly of hydrogen and helium and that probably gave birth to many other stars. Roughly halfway through the most stable part of its life, it has not changed dramatically for four billion years, and will remain fairly stable for four billion more. However, after hydrogen fusion in its core has stopped, the Sun will undergo severe changes, both internally and externally.

Title: How old is the Sun?
Published on May 25, 2016
Uploaded by: Naked Science

Britain's Worst Weather - Lightning

Every other Wednesday we present a new video, so join us to see the truth laid bare...

What do we talk most about in the United Kingdom? The Great British Weather, it’s part of our culture, we’re obsessed with it, but sometimes it can turn from being a mere talking point, into something deadly.

Professor Nick Middleton of Oxford University investigates how the raw electric power of lightning is created, and examines the dire consequences of being struck by a bolt. Plus, why some buildings are set alight during a storm and others are not, and how a plane can fly into such bad weather and remain safe.

Investigating Floods, Storms, Lightning and Snow, this four-part series will combine archive footage of some of the most spectacular weather phenomena ever caught on film with on-location footage of some of the UK's most notorious weather black-spots. Using original footage and Nick Middleton's expert knowledge, the series will provide viewers with the most up-to-date and comprehensive understanding of these ever-increasing natural occurrences.

Title: Britain's Worst Weather - Lightning
Published on Jan 7, 2015
Uploaded by: Naked Science

The Living Body - Our Extraordinary Life

Title: The Living Body - Our Extraordinary Life
Published on Dec 30, 2015
Uploaded by: Naked Science

Every other Wednesday we present a new video, so join us to see the truth laid bare...

The story of a human life, from first cry to final breath, told from within the body.

This documentary film combines state-of-the-art special effects, pioneering CGI, startling realistic models and real in-body photography. Exploring human physiology from birth, through the drama of puberty, into adulthood, and finally old age, the programme offers a visually-stunning insight into how our bodies function.

Throughout life we undergo a continuous second-by-second transformation, every move we make and every outside stimulus triggers a reaction through the skin, bones, organs, muscles and cells. We breathe on average 700 million breaths in a lifetime, an adult skeleton is replaced every seven to 10 years, we shed as many as 30,000 dead skin cells every minute, and the food we eat travels 30 feet on its journey through our bodies. The Living Body takes you beneath the skin to reveal how our bodies evolve from birth to old age, and the amazing biological systems we need to thrive.

Embark on an incredible journey tracing the story of one everywoman using milestones to examine the everyday workings of a living, functioning body in ways not seen before. Cutting-edge miniature endoscopic HD cameras delve deep inside the mouth, throat, heart, lungs, digestive tract, brain and reproductive organs to shed new light on how and why our bodies do what they do. Stunning photography reveals universal moments in human development at the most minute level, providing insight into both our own individual metamorphosis and our shared human experiences.

Critically acclaimed “Inside the Living Body” won an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Artistic Direction. Special Effects sequences created by David Barlow, 2004 winner of the prestigious Lennart Nilsson award for excellence and innovation in medical photography, and Bandito, one of the UK's leading CGI directors responsible for sequences in Animals in the Womb.

Naked Science - Surviving Nature's Fury

Naked Science - Surviving Nature's Fury

Every other Wednesday we present a new video, so join us to see the truth laid bare...

Surviving Nature's Fury - Human beings now travel the globe, to some of the most remote and hostile regions, and in doing so come up against the most deadly weather, violent storms that can rip a person to shreds, floods that carry them away and drown them and blizzards that can freeze an individual to death.

But extreme weather can also seek us out. Tornados and flash floods have no regard for society and can destroy whole communities, freezing weather can descend on cities and lightning can strike in the very heart of towns.

Naked Science will seek out those incredible individuals who have survived the worst that Mother Nature can throw at them and ask the question; what is the deadliest weather that a human being can survive?...