Edge of your seat science!

January 31, 2011 7:57 PM

What are some jawdroppingly awesome videos about science?

I recently saw Absolute Zero and Encounters at the Edge of the World and I want more like it!

What are your favorite medium to feature-length videos about frontier science or nature. Videos that amaze you.

Thanks!

posted by ian1977 to media & arts (19 answers total)

Any segment of the BBC series Planet Earth.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:07 PM on January 31, 2011

(Especially in HD)
posted by Rhaomi at 8:08 PM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Inner life of the cell
posted by lizzicide at 8:10 PM on January 31, 2011

Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It's sheer poetry. I watch it when I have the blues, when I have nightmares, whenever. Always makes me feel great.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 8:14 PM on January 31, 2011 [3 favorites]

Ants - Nature's Secret Power

Ants are amazing.
posted by littlesq at 8:15 PM on January 31, 2011

Powers of 10
posted by phrontist at 8:50 PM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

The Blue Planet, esp. The Deep.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:04 PM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

The Private Life of Plants (wiki)

Time lapse + Attenborough. It's pretty much perfect.
posted by mireille at 9:04 PM on January 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Connections was a great series of shows. Not really feature length, and a bit more on the history side, but still plenty of content and very interesting.
posted by Scientifik at 9:20 PM on January 31, 2011

The two Titan descent videos prepared by NASA stand out to me as some of the best data visualization efforts ever. Watch this one first (and make sure the sound is up) and then leave the sound up for the second one. The first one is OK to watch on Youtube but you really do need to download the high-resolution version for the second one. Each is only about 5 minutes long.
posted by intermod at 9:38 PM on January 31, 2011

On the nature side, Winged Migration was as mesmerizing as it was controversial. Definitely worth a watch.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 10:29 PM on January 31, 2011

Youtube has quite a lot of short videos of weird physics. Here's my own list:

http://amasci.com/physvids/

posted by billb at 1:58 AM on February 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

There are tons of great science TED talks.

I really like Jill Bolte's discussion on Strokes and the Brain
and Dimitar Sasselov's discussion of Planets Around other Stars

But there are hundreds of great talks at TED
posted by Flood at 4:20 AM on February 1, 2011

Any of the BBC "Life of" shows are great, but Life of Mammals is just off-the-charts stellar.

I also liked this documentary about doggies and their genes: Dogs Decoded.

Both are available on Netflix streaming!
posted by Greg Nog at 8:04 AM on February 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

In addition to Greg Nog's suggestion of Dogs Decoded, National Geographic: Science of Dogs on netflix streaming was pretty awesome too.

But then again i like puppies a lot.
posted by mrsshotglass at 9:36 AM on February 1, 2011

I also could have linked that.... National Geographic: Science of Dogs
posted by mrsshotglass at 9:37 AM on February 1, 2011

I'm mildly obsessed with nature documentaries. Here are some of my favorites:

Animals Are Beautiful People (My absolute favorite!)
Alone in the Wilderness
Life
Planet Earth
The Blue Planet
Life in the Freezer
Cosmos
Fishing with John
Nature: Animal Minds
The Natural History of the Chicken
Battle at Kruger
Joshua Klein on The Intelligence of Crows (This fella built a vending machine for crows. You gotta see it.)
Janine Benyus Shares Nature's Designs
Janine Benyus: Biomimicry in Action
posted by Surinam Toad at 12:00 PM on February 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

Microcosmos. Macro filmography of bugs (not nearly as gross as that sounds). Almost no voiceover. Watch it on as big a screen as possible. Winged Migration was the followup, made by the same people.
posted by The Dutchman at 12:05 PM on February 1, 2011

Another weird physics one on youtube: NASA does thin film and spherical fluid dynamics experiments in space. Or as I like to call it... Water Physics In Spaaaaaace!
posted by lizbunny at 8:34 AM on February 7, 2011