WEED

This 1971 color anti-drug use and abuse film was produced by Concept Films and directed by Brian Kellman for Encyclopedia Britannica. “Weed: The Story of Marijuana” combines time-lapse, montage, illustrations, animation (by Paul Fierlinger and emigre Pavel Vošický) and dramatized, documentary-style interviews to survey the evolving role of cannabis in U.S. society, with emphasis on the legal risks faced by young people. A unique score of experimental synthesizer music is provided by Tony Luisi on an EMS VCS 3 “Putney”

1971-01-23 | en

How Levers Help Us

This instructional film shows the three parts of a lever and demonstrates how various levers help to move things more easily, or move them farther and faster.

1970-01-01 | en

Plastic People

Are we becoming Plastic People? Our ground-breaking feature documentary investigates our addiction to plastic and the growing threat of microplastics on human health. Almost every bit of plastic ever made ends up ground down into "microplastics". These microscopic particles drift in the air, float in the water and sit in the soil. And now, leading scientists are finding them in our bodies: organs, blood, brain tissue and even the placentas of new mothers. What is the impact of these invisible invaders on our health? Ziya Tong, author and science journalist, makes it personal by visiting leading scientists and undergoing experiments in her home, on her food, and on her body.

2024-03-09 | en

The Sun: Inferno in the Sky

Explore the sun’s powerful storms, its impact on Earth, and groundbreaking research shaping our understanding of solar activity and its effects on our planet.

2018-01-01 | en

Living Worlds

What forms might life take in the Solar System and beyond? In the Academy's newest original planetarium show, see how a deeper understanding of Earth might help us locate other living worlds, light years away.

2021-11-01 | en

The Conquest of Light

The film discusses the evolution and potential of using light waves, particularly coherent light, for communication. It highlights the development of lasers at Bell Telephone Laboratories, explaining how they produce a highly controlled and intense beam of light that could revolutionize communication. The film emphasizes the vast possibilities of lasers, including applications in telecommunications, surgery, and exploring the universe, suggesting that this technology represents a significant step in humanity's understanding and use of light.

1960-08-13 | en

Attacking the Devil: Harold Evans and the Last Nazi War Crime

Before the internet. Before social media. Before breaking news. The victims of Thalidomide had to rely on something even more extraordinary to fight their corner: Investigative journalism. This is the story of how Harold Evans fought and won the battle of his and many other lives.

2014-06-09 | en

The Hunt for Dark Matter

CERN and the University of California-Santa Barbara are collaborating in the search for the elusive substance that physicists and astronomers believe holds the universe together -- dark matter. Where is this search now in the realm of particle physics and what comes next?

2017-05-04 | en

Microcosmos

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

1996-09-06 | fr

Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution

The 1977 discovery of RNA splicing by Dr. Phillip A. Sharp, Kentucky farm boy turned Nobel-prize winning scientist, set the stage for a revolution in molecular biology, enabling research into a new class of medicines predicated on recombinant DNA techniques ranging from the development of synthetic insulin and human growth hormone to the COVID-19 vaccine.

2025-02-05 | en

Hermann Heinzel Ornithologist

Portrait of Hermann Heinzel.

1990-03-07 | fr

A Symphonic Odyssey with Professor Brian Cox

Explore the secrets of the universe with Professor Brian Cox in this special event that combines ground-breaking science with the power of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

2024-01-02 | en

Perseverance, une année sur Mars

2022-12-17 | fr

Horizon: Which Universe Are We In?

2015-09-02 | en

Kingdom of Saturn: Cassini's Epic Quest

Before the joint NASA/ESA Cassini-Huygens mission, humanity only knew what had been learned, decades earlier, with the previous limited, rapid "fly-by" Pioneer and Voyager missions. Cassini-Huygens spent more than 13 years in wildly varied orbits around Saturn, allowing the spacecraft to pass near many of its moons, as well as execute a soft-landing of its Huygens lander on the moon Titan. By mission end, it accumulated a mountain of imagery and scientific data that will continue to be studied for years to come. This film is a testament to the amazing efforts of the scientists who planned and executed the mission. It combines breathtaking images, movies, and a variety of animations to take the viewer into Saturn's complex system of rings and moons, as well as stepping viewers through some of the more exciting scientific discoveries made over the course of the elaborately complex mission.

2017-01-01 | en

Under The Shoreline

With rising sea levels, land reclamation runs rampant in Singapore. Labrador Park is one such waterfront facing this change, and both the ecosystem and frequent fishermen have often been overlooked. This documentary seeks to explore the park's development from a scientific, economic and sociological perspective, produced in collaboration with SOTA and NUS.

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The Nervous System

An educational film about the nervous system produced by Encyclopædia Britannica Films, an educational film production company in the 20th century owned by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.

1937-06-15 | en

The Frog

An educational film about frogs produced by Encyclopædia Britannica Films, an educational film production company in the 20th century owned by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.

1931-02-24 | en

The Biggest Little Fish You've Never Seen

At only twelve inches long, the menhaden are a keystone species in the East Coast's marine ecosystem, yet their numbers are threatened by industrial-scale fishing operations in the Chesapeake Bay.

2024-06-26 | en

The Venom Interviews

A crash course in the professional and scientific work related to the field of venomous herpetology. The film covers diverse topics, including biochemistry, biology, law and public policy, conservation, venom collection, animal husbandry, antivenom production, emergency medicine, veterinary medicine, toxicology and toxinology. The film follows the personal and working lives of prominent experts in the field, beginning with their childhood interest through their professional careers, with particular emphasis on the sciences related to their work.

2016-01-10 | en