Scientific documentaries are of great importance, as they stand in the middle between scientific knowledge with its weight and coldness, and artistic enjoyment with its visual dazzle and story plots. Therefore, it is suitable for a much broader sector than the sector of readers of popular books, which in turn represents a wider area than readers of specialized books. .
In 2022, Al-Jazeera Documentary released many interesting documentaries. In this report, we in the scientific section of “
Meydan
” selected some of them, with a prerequisite: that the platform has shown these films on its YouTube channel, so that you can Watch it at any time that suits you.
Finishing this collection in a month or two is like having read two interesting books, and it's a very good investment of your time, we're only talking about 15 hours, can you imagine that?
It's a great cognitive boost for relatively little time.
ignorance industry
In this film, we learn about "ichnotology", which is a relatively new field of philosophical research related to how ignorance is built among people by means of skepticism, especially through the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data that does not refute the opinions of scientists, but only makes them "possible". In a way that affects people's political decisions.
We are not talking about conspiracy theories here, but for example, we have known since the fifties and sixties that smoking is very harmful to health, so why did it take so long for this to be confirmed?
The same applies to climate change, for example, so what delays people's conviction of documented science?
Robert Proctor, the American historian and university professor, spent decades searching for the answer to this question, to discover that just as knowledge is manufactured, ignorance is also capable of being manufactured and spread among people, usually for economic purposes.
We and viruses
We have always considered ubiquitous viruses a threat, but the truth is that we urgently need them, so that some of them are used as a treatment for some diseases, do you know the “bacteria”?
They are viruses that invade bacteria, and they are among the most common living organisms on Earth. There are billions of them in the human intestine and help them fight harmful bacteria in them. Doctors are currently using them to treat some infections of the joints, kidneys, eyes, throat, intestines, and wounds related to diabetes … etc.
In this film, you get to know the white face of viruses, after two years in which we got to know - in a practical way - unfortunately - the damage of viruses in our lives.
piercing holes
As for this film, it is concerned with a special kind of black holes, which are giant black holes, those that are found in the center of galaxies and scientists do not yet know the reason for their existence completely, or the secrets of their origin, especially since we know that one of them has a mass of millions to billions of suns, that sun Which in turn amounts to the mass of a thousand lands like the ones we live on!
Of course, the film deals with the most important event during the past few years, which is the capture of the first picture of a black hole in history, so how was that picture taken?
And what did you remove from the secrets of those piercing holes?
Algorithms
What algorithms?
If you do not know the answer to this question, we are facing a big problem, as it controls what you see on “Facebook”, “Instagram” and “Twitter” of people and publications, and currently it interferes in selecting and evaluating employees, and if you meditate a little, you will find that it interferes in almost everything in your life, and you You don't know anything about it.
In this 4-part film, which you can find in full on Al Jazeera Documentary Channel on YouTube, we meet Anjan Sundaram, an author, journalist and mathematician, who travels the world to meet the people who design the code for algorithms, as we learn about the powerful effects of algorithms in our lives. And how can this affect the fate of states and the freedom of individuals? Are algorithms good or bad?
Or are they just tools we created to help us live better lives?
This is part of what we will discover as Anjan explores the impact of these symbols on our new world order.
Clever molluscs
Eight arms, two rows of sucking glands, three hearts, and several brains!
Some change their color and shape as they please, and some have deadly weapons.
Squid or octopus, strange soft animals that never cease to surprise us, they adapt quickly to environmental changes and easily overcome the risks that usually cause the disappearance of other organisms, this wonderful biological structure undoubtedly deserves an in-depth look, especially since these organisms have flourished in the past few decades This wonderful movie, with its calmness, colors and gentle music, presents to you this dangerous and beautiful world.
They are space objects
In the closing years of World War II, Allied pilots began reporting strange objects flying alongside their aircraft.
Were these pilots hallucinating, or were these scenes real?
This series explores UFOs from the time of World War II at the hands of the experienced scientist, Dr. David Hall, who investigates the causes and possible explanations for the appearance of these UFOs, in particular the military aspect, spy planes, stealth technology and remotely piloted aircraft, all of which contributed to Building an aspect of the UFO myth.
The film comes in two episodes, which you can find on Al-Jazeera Documentary's YouTube channel.
Find the end of space
Does this universe have an end?
And if it's out there, where is it?
This movie starts from Earth to go out into the vast space, so it teaches us simply and creatively how small we are compared to this vast universe, at the same time we are huge compared to the smallest components of this universe of atoms, a view that we took from history thousands of years to reach, and it turns out in the end that what it informs us about Modern physics, and in particular Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, about the end of the universe and its center and what lies outside it, is stranger than our wildest imaginations;
Because the universe could simply be endless!
Speed date
This is one of the most interesting documentaries you can watch;
Because it is interested in examining the history of one of the concepts that amazed humans over their long history during more than 300 thousand years ago;
It made them obsessed, so they went as far as they could in tracking it, and what began in the sea as a simple slow boat evolved into a missile escaping from Earth's gravity at a speed of 11.2 kilometers every second!
It's the history of speed, the documentary is divided into four parts;
Each of them is between 40-50 minutes long, concerned with human history with speed in 4 ranges: “earth, sky, space, and oceans.” What is beautiful about this type of presentation of history is that it mixes science and technology with human ideas and emotions, and with visual enjoyment, it will undoubtedly attract you. to follow it to the end.
Inspired by butterflies
As for this film, it reveals the life of butterflies and the genius and ingenuity hidden in these beautiful little creatures that inspired scientists in revolutionary inventions.
There are an estimated 160,000 species of butterflies in the world that live everywhere on the planet, literally everywhere, from the Arctic to the rainforests on the equator to the Antarctica. , and managed to remain very vulnerable for the first moment.
Space mines
Well, the world is on its way to a new type of economy that feeds on space resources, not Earth, and the next trip to the moon by the United States of America is not only exploratory, but also has an aspect related to the wealth on the moon.
Currently, a team of astronomers and economists is interested in what we can get from rare metals from asteroids that pass close to Earth, platinum, for example, or scandium, yttrium and lanthanides. Those elements that we talked about are included in the manufacture of almost everything, from batteries and electronics, to to oil refining and energy production.
In this film, we get to know the precious space treasures that some countries are already aspiring to plow soon. The famous American physicist, "Neil deGrasse Tyson," says: The first "trillionaire" in the world will not be a king of technology or programming, but rather an "asteroid miner."
The good in space is much greater than you might think, and there are always clever ways to bring it to Earth or make use of it while it's in place.
This movie teaches us about some of them.