The Search for Solutions

An astronomer discusses his method of collecting photographic evidence; a giant hole in Arizona was learned to be the imprint of a meteorite; a re-enactment of a recorded sighting by English monks; a phone company employee uses his highly-trained ear to listen for subtle signs of disturbance on the phone lines; an epidemiologist was able to deduce why the women and children of a tribe in New Guinea were dying; a criminologist discusses the types of legal evidence used in criminal trials; a psychologist testifies in court about the unreliability of the human memory and a witness's response to police photos; in the case of the man convicted of bank robbery, a criminologist comments on how the witness identifications may have been manipulated; paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey collects evidence of his theory that there were once three human species co-existing in Africa at once; a recent photo of a huge crater on the dark side of the moon may have been the result of a major meteorite.

An interview with Dr. Geerat Vermeij, a blind University of Maryland malacologist who collects mollusks and examines their shell patterns to determine vulnerability to predators; a look at the shorthand pattern of words, symbols, and gestures used by merchants in the Tokyo fish market; a discussion of Thomas Jefferson's coded correspondence with John Adams; New York Yankees third base coach Dick Howser explains baseball hand signs; an examination of how a meteorologist decodes weather information from tropical cloud formations in order to predict weather; the complex word symbols of the Japanese language; how heat-sensitive photography allows the turbulent patterns of gases and fluids to be analyzed; a look at Spain's Alhambra Palace; an interview with Bernhardt Weunsch of M.I.T., who discusses man's fascination with crystals; and how the Greek translation of Egyptian hieroglyphics on the Rosetta stone allowed linguists to decipher the lost Egyptian language.

How a television camera was used to investigate life below the South Pole ice shelf; the use of a one-million-volt electron microscope in the study of human cells; a look at scientists in Africa who investigate the population patterns of elephants in an effort to end the practice of killing these animals when national parks become overrun with the gargantuan, trunked creatures; an interview with Dr. Charles W. Stockton of the University of Arizona, who studies tree growth rings to determine cycles of drought in the Third World; scientists who use electrical current to stun and study native fish, in a conservation program; a look at the massive radio telescopes in New Mexico used to listen to the stars; an interview with Dr. William S. Hall of the University of Illinois, who is in the process of studying children's behavior and sense of language in an effort to understand how children learn best. Includes a voice-over promo for the second program in the series.

An interview with David Gordon Wilson of M.I.T. who talks of trial and error as a focused learning process; an interview with Paul MacCready, designer of a flying bicycle called the "Gossamer Condor," relates the process by which the final structure of the Condor was determined; Vincent J. Schaefer recounts his accidental discovery, in 1946, of a way to eliminate the supercooling of clouds which caused airplane wings to ice; a look at the Tour de France, where cyclists and designers continually experiment with ways to increase speed; a discussion of the work of German immunologist Paul Ehrlich, who, in 1901 discovered a cure for syphilis; a scientist who looks in the ocean for organisms, avoided by others, which may contain chemicals that fight disease; and another visit to the Human Powered Championship, including interviews with designers of unusual vehicles.

An interview with a scientist who studies the songs of the humpback whale; an interview with an archaeologist who collected and painstakingly documented tiny button-like ancient clay objects -- regarded with disinterest by other scientists, who assumed they were toys or gambling pieces -- which ultimately revealed the origins of writing fifty centuries earlier than previously assumed; the work of German physicist W.C. Roentgen, whose experiments with cathode ray tubes led to the development of the X-Ray; an interview with a scientist whose work yielded an answer to the problem of why sound dies out faster in sea water than in fresh water; Dr. Ralph Nelson and colleague Nancy Bagley discuss their study of the metabolism of hibernating bears, leading Nelson to suggest that an overweight astronaut would be the most logical choice for a long space expedition; designers Ray Merry and Andrew Jones discuss their wind-inflated kite sculptures.

A scientist brings solar energy equipment to address the needs of a small Egyptian village; an ingenious solution to the possible loss of blades during a storm from a giant windmill in Denmark; German architect Frei Otto discusses his designs of lightweight buildings; Arthur Riggs and Keiichi Itakura discuss gene alteration; firefighter Captain Fred Bruno discusses a chemical additive which allows more water to pass through small-diameter firehoses; adjustments made by a vigilant Japanese potter's assistant; the adaptations of the desert camel; a scientist from the Norwegian Polar Research Institute describes the adaptations of polar bears to freezing temperatures; swimmer Diana Nyad discusses how the human body reacts to swimming in cold water; Dr. Rolf Sorbye discusses his creation of a motorized prosthesis for a ten-year-old Swedish girl born without a lower arm; an experimental computer system installed in cars in Tokyo, giving motorists directions from a central system.