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Press Releases
Horizon returns to 91Èȱ¬ Two this winter
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Horizon, 91Èȱ¬ Two's flagship science documentary strand, returns to screens in early 2008 with a new series of cutting-edge science programmes.
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Highlights this season include Michael Portillo investigating the most humane method of execution, top psychologists examining sensory deprivation as volunteers agree to be locked alone in a nuclear bunker and Dr Brian Cox exploring gravity.
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Andrew Cohen, Horizon Series Editor, said: "Horizon is back with a new series of cutting-edge but accessible programmes. In each film we aim to bring some of the most exciting and, often controversial, science alive for the audience.
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"The next run of Horizon is a powerful collection of films that are delivering a combination of important and relevant science to the audience."
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Michael Portillo makes it his mission to find a new method of execution that is fundamentally humane in The Science Of Killing (working title, Optomen Television).
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Through a unique series of experiments he unmasks the flaws in existing methods of capital punishment such as the electric chair, gas chamber and hanging and unearths the controversy surrounding the lethal injection.
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Horizon investigates the controversial science of sensory deprivation in Alone. Six volunteers – including comedian Adam Bloom and a self-proclaimed hermit – are taken to a nuclear bunker and left alone for 48 hours. The changes in their mental functioning are investigated and interpreted by leading psychologists.
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What On Earth Is Wrong With Gravity? sees presenter and physicist Dr Brian Cox pursue the concept of gravity to the unimaginable world of quantum mechanics. Over the last 400 years the world's greatest scientists have all tried to answer one simple question, what is gravity? Newton described it. Einstein explained it. Dr Cox reveals there's more to gravity than even Einstein had predicted.
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Other programmes in the series will include How To Live To 101 Without Trying which explores the science of how to live longer as told through the lives of residents at three of the longest living communities in the world – Sardinia, Okinawa and California.
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According to science, our decisions are based on oversimplification, laziness and prejudice. Equations For A Perfect Life shows how our choices can be confounded by temperature, warped by post-rationalisation and even manipulated by the future.
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Is ecstasy worse than alcohol? What are the risks of cannabis? Britain's Most Dangerous Drug looks at the science behind the top 20 most dangerous recreational drugs of our time.
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The Hunt For Second Earth examines whether there are other planets in the galaxy just like Earth. Until 12 years ago, astronomers had not seen one. Horizon joins the hunt for second Earth, as astronomers are finding new planets that may just be like Earth.
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The New Body Snatchers explores the dark and grisly tale of the undercover trade in human body parts: crooked funeral directors, shady Italian-American businessmen, slick young entrepreneurs all making their fortunes from the medical profession's insatiable appetite for human tissue.
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Think of a memory, any memory – say, your last trip to the seaside. It feels like the simplest thing in the world. And yet you have just performed a feat of the utmost complexity which is still beyond most animals and any computer. It is an ability which took millions of years to evolve, but which scientists are now beginning to understand fully for the first time. A Life In Memory will take you on the remarkable journey of your memory – from birth until death.
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Notes to Editors
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Series Editor is Andrew Cohen.
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The Science Of Killing (working title) has been produced by Optomen Television.
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All other programmes are 91Èȱ¬ Vision Studios Productions.
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The series is due to be broadcast on 91Èȱ¬ Two during winter 2008.
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Titles, transmission information and programme line-up are not final and may be subject to changes.
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