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The Nature of Things

Season 8 1967 - 1969

  • 1967-05-12T00:00:00Z on CBC Television
  • 45m
  • 9h 45m (13 episodes)
  • Canada
  • English
  • Documentary
Hosted by the world-renowned geneticist and environmentalist, David Suzuki, every week presents stories that are driven by a scientific understanding of the world.

13 episodes

Season Premiere

1967-05-12T00:00:00Z

8x01 Canadian Wildlife (1): Retreat to the Rockies

Season Premiere

8x01 Canadian Wildlife (1): Retreat to the Rockies

  • 1967-05-12T00:00:00Z45m

Retreat to the Rockies" with an especial look at bighorn sheep.

This week viewers are told of the recovery of the trumpeter swan from near extinction.

The authentic sights and sounds of wildlife activity in the Arctic during the summer. Animals seen include polar bears and seals.

Wildlife in Alberta is the subject of tonight's episode of the four-part series.

1968-11-15T01:00:00Z

8x05 Communications

8x05 Communications

  • 1968-11-15T01:00:00Z45m

Much of this program deals with the basic communications problem of getting a signal through noise. Includes gesture, speech, code, braille, telegraph, radio, television, laser beams, computers and power grid monitors to space communications and satellites.

1968-11-22T01:00:00Z

8x06 Canals and Tunnels

8x06 Canals and Tunnels

  • 1968-11-22T01:00:00Z45m

The great engineers of the past - men like de Lesseps of Suez fame and Panama infamy and Bradley - whose canals were the arteries of the industrial revolution, sacrificed the health and fortune, and sometimes the lives, of themselves and others, to build the first great canals and tunnels. Their story and the story of all kinds of modern canals and tunnels used for transportation are told. Includes historic footage.

1968-11-29T01:00:00Z

8x07 Central Power

8x07 Central Power

  • 1968-11-29T01:00:00Z45m

One test of civilization is the ability to organize sources of energy. Central power was something new in 1876, when Paris became the "City of Light". By 1879, Edison had developed the incandescent bulb. The program looks at more modern developments, including use of natural steam, ocean tides, and nuclear power. Also looks at attempts to tame fusions and harness the sun itself. The film also reviews what happened when the lights went out all over eastern North America in November 1965, illustrating our dependence on central power.

1968-12-06T01:00:00Z

8x08 Man and Machines

8x08 Man and Machines

  • 1968-12-06T01:00:00Z45m

The Greek inventor, Alexander the Hero, first defined the five basic devices which make all machines possible: the lever, the wedge, the wheel, the pulley and the screw. They all contribute to the conversion of energy into usable power. This film examines the development of these principles into such everyday examples as the nutcracker, and more complex machines such as the automated typesetter, computers and an automatic pilot.

1968-12-13T01:00:00Z

8x09 Land and Water

8x09 Land and Water

  • 1968-12-13T01:00:00Z45m

This program shows how man changes his environment by shaping the land he lives on, reclaiming land from the sea, making new lakes and rivers. The Netherlands is a prime example of what reclamation can accomplish. The film shows some of the Dutch techniques and accomplishments.

1968-12-20T01:00:00Z

8x10 Man Aloft

8x10 Man Aloft

  • 1968-12-20T01:00:00Z45m

This film looks, sometimes whimsically, at examples of old and modern flying machines. Bush planes, barnstormers, gliders and war planes are seen, and the program concludes with a look at the present and possible future at airports, supersize jets and passenger aircraft. Includes historic footage of man's early attempts to fly, and the explosion of the Graf Zeppelin.

1968-12-27T01:00:00Z

8x11 Portable Power

8x11 Portable Power

  • 1968-12-27T01:00:00Z45m

Man's first "portable power" device was part of his own body, the energy from the contraction of long molecules in the presence of sugar: muscle power. Muscle power was amplified with primitive levers, and later by the use of domesticated beasts. Some of the modern portable power devices seen in this film are portable nuclear reactors, internal combustion engines, rockets and fuel cells.

1969-01-03T01:00:00Z

8x12 Transportation

8x12 Transportation

  • 1969-01-03T01:00:00Z45m

Are the problems of urban transportation insurmountable? The traffic jams which are a regular feature of city life make it appear so. This program examines the many cures being considered for the hardening of vehicular arteries: faster vehicles, mass transit methods, supersonic subways, bigger and better expressways, air transport, better control and direction of traffic. Over all this, however, lies a Malthusian gloom inspired by the population explosion of both people and automobiles.

1969-01-10T01:00:00Z

8x13 Systems Engineering

8x13 Systems Engineering

  • 1969-01-10T01:00:00Z45m

A system, according to the Oxford dictionary, is a whole composed of parts in orderly arrangement, according to some scheme or plan. A sailing ship is a system; so is the U.S. manned space program. Both are analysed in this program which examines the organization of systems.

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