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The Nature of Things

Season 40 · 15 episodes · Oct 4, 1999

  1. Episode 1

    Phallacies

    Oct 4, 1999

  2. Episode 2

    How to Live to 100

    Oct 11, 1999

  3. Episode 3

    The Hidden Killer: Portrait of an Epidemic

    Oct 18, 1999

  4. Episode 4

    Parkinson's: Lynda's Story

    Oct 25, 1999

  5. Episode 5

    Lost

    Nov 8, 1999

    We've all felt the terror of being lost - even for just a few moments. We lose our way; a child unexpectedly vanishes in the aisles of a supermarket.

  6. Episode 6

    Designing for Dignity: Engineering Body Parts

    Nov 22, 1999

  7. Episode 7

    Race for the Future

    Nov 29, 1999

  8. Episode 8

    Race for the Future, Part 2

    Dec 6, 1999

  9. Episode 9

    The Sleep Famine

    Jan 24, 2000

  10. Episode 10

    Do Parents Matter?

    Feb 7, 2000

    How much are children influenced by their peers? The documentary Do Parents Matter? examines a controversial concept put forth by Judy Harris, a suburban grandmother and author of the explosive book, The Nurture Assumption.

  11. Episode 11

    Silent Sentinels

    Feb 21, 2000

  12. Episode 12

    Wild Goose Chase

    Feb 28, 2000

  13. Episode 13

    Humans: Who are We, Part 1 – The Birth of The Human Mind

    Mar 13, 2000

    The Birth of The Human Mind takes viewers on an amazing journey back in time, exploring the use of language, tools and how our distant ancestors came to walk. Contrary to long-accepted belief, scientists now believe that Homo sapiens did not evolve from Neanderthals, but shared the earth with them for thousands of years. Our ancestors, the Homo sapiens, are the youngest members on the human family tree, about 150,000 years old. Homo erectus goes back 1.8 million years and Neanderthals about 200,000 years.

  14. Episode 14

    Humans: Who Are We?, Part 2 – The Human Invasion

    Mar 20, 2000

    Paleoanthropologists, linguists, archeologists and other scientists offer the latest interpretations of fossil findings and genetic studies and posit intriguing theories on how Homo sapiens became the only existing human species. Did we kill off our cousins, interbreed and merge with them, or did they just die out? It took five million years for an upright ape to evolve into an agile, quick-thinking and inventive human being. But once our ancestors emerged in Africa, were we destined to dominate the globe?

  15. Episode 15

    Weather: Dragons of Chaos

    Mar 27, 2000

    The nature of weather is so complex that it is really a system of chaos. Weather is often benign, but occasionally the chaos spawns fierce dragons. Severe weather - violent storms, floods and droughts - is largely beyond human control, and can be cruel. Few need reminding of the 1987 tornado that killed 27 people in Edmonton, the flooding of the Saguenay region in 1996 and the Red River in 1997, and the 1998 ice storm in Quebec.