Curiosity (TV series)

Curiosity: The Questions of Our Life

The development of "Curiosity: The Questions of Our Life", was announced in September 2009. It was to answer questions and mysteries in fields like space, biology, geology, medicine, physics, technology, nature, archaeology, history, and the human mind. It was considered as a groundbreaking series for Discovery like the BBC's Planet Earth and Life. Originally, this series was to be a monthly show airing 12 one-hour episodes each year for 5 years beginning in January 2011. Dan Riskin was initially slated to host.

Curiosity.com

The website was opened in June 2011. It was to be an expert Q&A site, where experts and scholars tried to answer some of life's most profound questions. The 32 topics in site ranges from biodiversity to nanotechnology. So far 12,000 questions have been answered. On November 11, 2014, Curiosity.com became independent of Discovery Communications.

CuriosityStream.com

John Hendricks, founder of the Discovery Channel and creator of the original Curiosity brand, launched CuriosityStream on March 18, 2015. An ad-free subscription video on demand platform for science and history documentaries, CuriosityStream is a continuation of Hendricks' vision for the original Curiosity TV series. The service exclusively features documentaries and series in the areas of Science, Technology, Civilization and the Human Spirit and offers mobile viewing applications on iOS and Android devices.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2011)

In the ancient times, even the Vikings believed that "gods made everything." The narrator [Benedict Cumberbatch] states that multiple gods controlled different phenomena for the Vikings. He cites the example that Ægir "caused stormy seas." According to the narrator, Sköll was a "wolf god" who caused solar eclipses.

In ancient Greece, Aristarchus of Samos was fascinated by eclipses. Aristarchus wanted to know if solar and lunar eclipses were caused by the Greek gods.

A few months before his death in 1277, Pope John XXI declared the laws of nature a heresy.

In 1600s, Galileo Galilei found that "some object do not orbit the Earth." Galileo had discovered the four moons of Jupiter.

Hawking believed in his childhood that "you never get something for nothing", but now he thinks "you can get a whole universe for free!"

Cumberbatch narrates that space is a "vast store of negative energy."

Kaku says that an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) "short-circuits your electronics."

• Interviewed experts: Hakeem M. Oluseyi, Lynn J. Rothschild, Gibor Basri, Michio Kaku, Jacob Haqq-Misra, Jean-Marc Perelmuter, Seth Baum, Seth Shostak, Doug Beason, Christopher Weuve, Charles E. Gannon, David Bartell (sci-fi author), Matt Davis (known around the Dominican University of California as "Disasterman"), Anne Simon.

Researchers have invented the orgasmatron.

• Interviewed experts: Barry Komisaruk, Beverly Whipple, Sarah Ford, Mary Roach, Elisabeth Lloyd, Odile Buisson, Emmanuele A. Jannini at the University of L'Aquila, Ludwig Wildt at the University of Innsbruck, David Puts, Stephanie Ortigue, T. Stuart Meloy.

The Powder River Basin (in Wyoming) of the Rocky Mountains contains coal that can power electricity.

Dead trees and plants turn into peat; over millions of years, the peat turns into coal. In contrast, the raw material for crude oil is "dead animals."

The Bakken oil fields of North Dakota contain thousands of wells.

"America the Beautiful" is a song about America's farmland in the Midwest.

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is rich in iron.

• Interviewed experts: Todd Bracken (jeweler).

1. An ARkStorm
2. An asteroid impact
3. A mega-quake
4. A mega-tsunami
5. A super volcano.

Jackson discusses seismic activity near Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. He spends considerable time talking about Tiptonville, Tennessee.

La Palma in the Atlantic Ocean near Africa is the tip of an undersea volcano.

• Interviewed experts: Brian A. Skiff, Roy Van Arsdale.

• Interviewed experts: James H. Fallon, Jerry M. Burger.

Trump says, "Americans own more cars per capita than any other nation on Earth." He says that the American power grid is worth $1,700,000,000,000 ().

Trump concludes that the total value of America is $31,000,000,000,000 ().

• Interviewed experts: Craig C. Barto (co-founder of Signal Hill Petroleum, Inc.).
• marijuana induces "a lack of urgency" along with impaired memory
• methamphetamine causes confusion and crash
• cocaine causes violence and delusion
• heroin induces panic.

Robin Williams states that although cocaine increases the physical strength of the subject in the experiment, it is physiologically dangerous because the heart rate increases substantially.

Season 2 (2012)

The producers of this episode purchase the Boeing 727 for the "bargain price of $450,000." (). The pilot must jump out of the plane moments before it crashes.

Rogue waves can also sink boats. Rogue waves can form during hurricanes.

Extreme forms of lightning can destroy an airplane.

The ancient Egyptians used a type of salt called natron to mummify humans. The experts go to the KV35 tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. There, they are given access to the mummy of Queen Tiye.

The commentators believe that mummification reached its peak in the 18th Dynasty of Egypt.

• Interviewed experts: William M. Bass, Steven Wilhelm at the University of Tennessee, Stephen Buckley.

For this television episode, the producers use an airsoft gun.

• Interviewed experts: Tom Silver (hypnosis expert).

The Sinclair Institute has been "teaching couples how to make love for decades."

Myllokunmingia were fish-like creatures under threat from Anomalocaris.

Ichthyostega can breathe air or water. The land-dwelling Casineria produce eggs with soft shells.

Varanops eat meat. Varanops preyed on the Protorosaurus.

Ecteninion emerged about 220 million years ago.

Batodon came into being 66 million years ago.

About 65 million years ago, an asteroid strikes the American state of Montana. Purgatorius is the "bug-eating ancestor" of humans. Altiatlasius is the ancestor of primates.

The Pacific Ring of Fire is known for its volcanic eruptions; it includes the Newberry Volcano in Oregon. At Newberry, volcanic rocks such as obsidian and rhyolite are found.

The 2010 eruptions of Ey-jaf-jall-a-jökull is discussed in this television episode.

The Cascade Range contain numerous active volcanoes.

The Yellowstone Super-volcano is in Wyoming.

The Long Valley Caldera is next to Mammoth Mountain in eastern California.

• Interviewed experts: Geoff Mackley, Kenneth Sims (geologist), Freysteinn Sigmundsson, Rikke Pedersen.

The Carrington Event in 1859 caused major damages.

• Interviewed experts: Phil Plait, William (Bill) Murtagh.

References

;General references

References

1. Seidman, Robert. (August 4, 2011). "Discovery to Simulcast 'Curiosity' Premiere Across 7 Networks". Zap2it.
2. (August 1, 2011). "Discovery Channel Announces CURIOSITY - Premieres August 7 at 8pm ET". RealityTVWebsite.com.
3. (September 10, 2009). "Breaking News - Discovery Communications Launches Landmark Original Series: "Curiosity: The Questions of Our Life"". TheFutonCritic.com.
4. (April 12, 2010). "Dan Riskin Named Host Of Discovery Channel's Multi-Year Event Curiosity: The Questions Of Life : Discovery Press Web". Press.discovery.com.
5. (June 20, 2011). "Discovery Launches Curiosity.com Expert Q&A Site". Dmwmedia.com.
6. "LEARNING-FOCUSED DIGITAL DESTINATION CURIOSITY.COM ANNOUNCES OWNERSHIP CHANGE AND SERIES A FUNDING LED BY DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS AND PRITZKER GROUP".
7. "Hendricks to Satisfy Discovery's 'Curiosity'". Ad Week.
8. "Discovery's Hendricks plans CuriosityStream SVoD service".
9. "CuriosityStream Deploys Infotrend Storage to Satisfy its high speed SVOD platform requirements". Infotrend.
10. "Plane Crash".
11. "The Devil's Triangle".
12. "I Was Mummified".
13. (October 18, 2011). "Devon taxi driver Alan Billis's body in mummy test". BBC News.
14. (October 15, 2012). "WATCH: Cab Driver's Unique Journey After Death".
15. "Brainwashed".
16. "Battlefield Cell".
17. "Sex in America".
18. "Megastorm".
19. "Mankind Rising".
20. "Volcano Time Bomb".
21. "Home".
22. "What destroyed the Hindenburg?".
23. "Shows A-Z - curiosity on discovery". the Futon Critic.