Thursday, March 15, 2007
Stephen Hawking's Universe - 3 - Cosmic Alchemy
"What is the universe and everything in it made of? The creation of matter, the building up of elements in stars."
GRP All-Star Big Band - Manteca
Personnel: John Patitucci, Dave Weckl, Russell Ferrante, Arturo Sandoval, Randy Brecker, Chuck Findley, Byron Stripling, George Bohanon, Eric Marienthal, Nelson Rangel, Ernie Watts, Bob Mintzer, Tom Scott, Dave Grusin, Gary Burton, Eddie Daniels, Phillip Bent.
The Human Sexes - Part Two - The Language Of The Sexes
"Written and presented by Desmond Morris (1997). How does boy meet girl? Is finding a mate ever easy? How do you send out a signal that you're available? There are as many ways to speak the Language Of The Sexes as there are cultures. The Japanese build shrines to the male phallus. Many Muslim women live behind veils. Ethiopian tribeswomen enlarge their lips with ceramic plates, and some Chinese used to crush women's feet to keep them tiny and delicate. Compare all this to America, where women practice gender amplification with silicone breast implants, collagen lip injections and tight high heels. It's easy to see why the Language Of The Sexes is so hard to understand."
The Woman Who Thinks Like A Cow
"Dr Temple Grandin has a legendary ability to read the animal mind and understand animal behaviour when no one else can. But this is no feat of telepathy; her explanation is simple. She's convinced she experiences the world much as an animal does and that it's all down to her autistic brain."
Life on Earth - Episode 07 - Victors of the Dry Lands
"The seventh episode is devoted to the evolution of reptiles. They are not as restricted as their amphibian ancestors, since they can survive in the hottest climates. The reason is their scaly, practically watertight skin. The scales protect the body from wear and tear and in the case of some species of lizard, such as the Australian thorny devil, serve to protect from attack. The horned iguana from the West Indies is also one of the most heavily armoured. The skin is rich in pigment cells, which provide effective means of camouflage, and the chameleon is a well known example. Temperature control is important to reptiles: they can’t generate body heat internally or sweat to keep cool. Therefore, they rely on the sun and areas of shade. The reptiles were the first vertebrates for whom internal fertilisation was essential, so they developed the watertight egg, which hatches fully formed young. The age of the dinosaurs is explored, and Attenborough surmises that it may have been climate change that led to their abrupt demise. Those that survived were water-dwellers, and the bull Nile crocodile is the largest reptile alive today. Snakes evolved when burrowing lizards lost their legs but returned above ground. The boa, puff adder and sidewinder demonstrate methods of locomotion, the egg-eating snake has an extreme example of a hinged jaw, and the lethal diamondback rattlesnake is described as the most efficient at dispatching its prey."
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