Superquark

In this episode we will explore the world of the Sun King as if it were a distant planet where everything was different: medicine, technology, education, hygiene and daily life. Even nature was different: Europe at that time was still full of forests where deer, wild boars and wolves roamed. Hunting was a typical pastime of the king, Louis XIV set out every day on horseback with his squires to go and capture some game. He was a good eater at the table, but devouring all that game eventually gave him a deadly gout, which at a certain point degenerated into gangrene that led to his death.

Waterloo was Napoleon's last battle, marking his final disappearance from the scene and his exile on Saint Helena until his death. The Battle of Waterloo was one of the bloodiest events of the 19th century: it is estimated that the dead, missing and wounded were a total of 48,000, all of which took place in the space of a few hours, on a relatively small terrain and with a violence rarely seen.

In this first issue, an impressive report: cigarette smoke causes pollution to the lungs that is 100 times greater than that which leads to blocking traffic in the city. For Superquark, researchers from the National Cancer Institute in Milan have repeated the experiment that allows us to see what happens in a closed environment when someone lights up a cigarette, thus revealing the real damage caused by passive smoking, as Giovanni Carrada will explain. Alberto Angela will tell us the story and secrets of the long and careful restoration thanks to which Giotto's frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua were brought back to their ancient splendor. A "behind the scenes" of a construction site capable of moving. Guests in the studio will be Salvatore Mannone and Gustavo Torreggiani, billiard champions. The champions of the green baize will talk about the passion, studies, techniques, and secrets of a game with precise rules that requires knowledge and a lot of concentration.

They are the largest baths of all time. They are located in Rome and have resisted looting and destruction over the centuries. They are the Baths of Emperor Diocletian. Alberto Angela went to visit them to discover their history, their architectural structure and their artistic treasures. For the usual appointment with the documentary, the second episode of the BBC series "Blue Planet" dedicated to the Ocean will be proposed. This evening we will talk about the so-called "coral seas", the richest and most colorful communities of all the seas in the world. Spectacular images of coral reefs, true underwater paradises. Guest in the studio is Dr. Donata Lodi of UNICEF with whom Piero Angela will address the sad topic of infibulation. A mutilation, a painful cut, an indelible mark. There are at least 40 countries in which the practice of genital mutilation on small victims is widespread.

The subsoil of Rome hides real treasures. In areas of the city where modern buildings stand, remains of the ancient Imperial City are discovered: streets, baths, walls and even rooms where the frescoes made by our distant ancestors have remained intact. Like in the tomb of a family of senators of ancient Rome, buried for centuries under a building in the Porta Latina district. Alberto Angela went to visit it. For the usual appointment with the documentary, the third episode of the BBC series "Blue Planet" dedicated to the Ocean will be proposed. This evening we will talk about the Arctic and Antarctic. Extraordinary images will make us discover the life of apparently deserted and unreal worlds, where only darkness and cold seem to dominate. Guest in the studio is the writer Carlo Lucarelli. With Piero Angela he will talk about his profession as an author of crime novels, some of which have become screenplays for successful films.

Sanseverino entrusts the Certosa to the care of the monks who create an efficient agricultural company and enrich the construction of statues, gardens, works of art. Plundered by Napoleon's militias and long in decline, since the 1960s the Certosa has been restored and brought back to its former splendor. Alberto Angela tells us the history of the Certosa, but also legends and curiosities related to the life of the Carthusians. Piero Angela's guest for the column "Come si fa", edited by Rossella Li Vigni, is the director Franco Dragone, creator of the most beautiful shows of "Le cirque du Soleil", and of the extraordinary show for Celine Dion "A new day" on stage in Las Vegas. Dragone describes his human and professional adventure as the son of a miner, who emigrated to Belgium and achieved worldwide success. The nature documentary takes us to get to know the life of a very particular penguin: Harry is in fact a wild penguin who joins a band of city penguins.

Extraordinary finds have emerged such as a pipe organ that archaeologists have reconstructed, allowing us to hear again the sounds that the Romans liked. Michelangelo Pepe visited the port of Rotterdam. Founded in the fourteenth century, it is still the largest port in the world for goods movement. Directly connected to the Rhine, the port is characterized by spectacular bridges and tunnels. The nature documentary deals with much-loved mammals: elephants. The mysteries of their bodies, the territories in which they live, their eating habits, and life with their young are described in every aspect. Piero Angela's guest in the studio is Emilio Previtali, champion of an extreme sport, freeride, that is, the descent from high and impervious peaks with a snowboard. Previtali describes the techniques and secrets of this sport and explains how avalanches can be caused with reckless behavior. Two extraordinary journeys: Superquark goes back in time to the Middle Ages.

The 1928, the recovery begins after years of attempts and a colossal effort. The ships are taken to the Nemi Museum, built specifically for this purpose, but unfortunately they are destroyed in 1944 following the retreat of the Germans from Italy. The Museum, however, preserves exceptional finds. Through computer graphics reconstructions, you can admire the ships in their original appearance with their temples, colonnades and palaces. Michelangelo Pepe tells us the fabulous story of a train linked to everyone's imagination: the Orient Express. In this episode, the journey begins aboard the wonderful carriages that have crossed all of Europe until they reach the East, since 1883. It is a journey back in time, because famous people have been guests of the train, and because the Orient Express has been the scene of historic events, such as the transport of Churchill's coffin. But it is also the story of a cutting-edge technology that has revolutionized the way of conceiving travel.

A journey in Borneo inaugurates the new series of documentaries made by Nicolas Hulot: one of the last Edens of the earth described with spectacular and unforgettable images in the first episode of Superquark, broadcast Thursday at 9:00 pm on RaiUno. A guided tour, with Alberto Angela, in the heart of Tokyo where, before dawn, the large Tsukiji fish market comes to life, unique in the world for its size and quantity of fish: the tuna auction, the ice factory, the strangest fish species, curiosities and humanity in a sanctuary where business and tradition coexist. For the new column "75 years ago" curated by Fiorella Ravera and Giancarlo Di Giovine, the historic rooms of the 1930s of the Forlanini Hospital in Rome, specially transformed into a set for Superquark, to tell how people were treated in the past and what progress has been made to date. New technologies at the service of an investigation, human instinct and science to solve the most complex cases.

The second appointment of the Ushuaia documentary series is with the spectacular images of Siberia: the land of ice, with its extreme nature. We will discover the customs of the nomadic populations who live in the North, and an extraordinary underwater world, rich in vegetation, in the depths of Lake Baikal. The secrets of the samurai swords: the Katana, symbol of the physical power and spiritual discipline of the Japanese warriors. Alberto Angela shows us exclusively, with the images of Michelangelo Pepe, the phases of the manufacturing of a sword, in the workshop of a blacksmith, who forges the weapon according to ancient tradition. The touching story of a former alcoholic, in the report by Marco Visalberghi. Alcoholism increasingly affects women and the path to overcome addiction is long and painful. Doctors and scientists study the damage caused by alcoholism and the possible therapies to defeat this often underestimated disease.

The Ushuaia Nature Team, in France, describes the natural beauties of a world close to us and full of surprises. At 2500 meters above sea level, Nicolas Hulot flies over the limestone plateau of Lozere with an ultralight. Under the plateau, a sort of cathedral made of stone and rainwater is discovered. The typical products of our agriculture can be helped by genetics, to avoid being victims of parasites. Giovanni Carrada and Filippo Amisano analyze the Italian way to biotechnology. Alberto Angela and Michelangelo Pepe visit the Villas of Stabia: the Beverly Hills of Pompeii. Destroyed by the eruption, they still preserve the vestiges of their original luxury. Under many deserts there are large basins of fossil water. Lorenzo Pinna and Caterina Borelli went to the Libyan desert to document the cyclopean work that is underway to exploit this submerged resource. Diseases, corporal punishment, illiteracy: childhood in the 1930s, in our country, was not as protected as it is today.

Superquark begins this year with an exploration of Planet Earth, the first of a beautiful series of documentaries made by the BBC in the most hidden and fascinating corners of the planet. In this episode, the journey from one pole to the other in the observation of the main ingredients that have shaped our earth as it is: salt, water, atmosphere, inclination of the earth's axis, etc. Alberto Angela and Michelangelo Pepe will accompany us in the exploration of one of the largest catacombs of Roman times, those of Peter and Marcellinus on the Via Casilina, which extend for a few dozen kilometers and preserve spectacular traces of wall paintings. A strange disorder, prosopagnosia, that is, the difficulty in recognizing faces, cited by the famous neurologist Oliver Sacks, in the case of an English girl told by Marco Visalberghi. Radar and sonar derived from the observation of bats and dolphins, hang gliders from the study of the remiges of condors and so on.

In this episode of Superquark, the documentary from the BBC Planet Earth series focuses on fresh water, our most precious resource, which constitutes only 3% of the planet's water. The directions in which it falls or flows determine the distribution of life forms on Earth. The cameras will follow the course of rivers, from their sources to the sea, exploring waterfalls, canyons, lakes and swamps, with their fauna and incredible landscapes, shaped and brought to life by water. Incinerators, regasification plants, TAV... The planet of protest and protest against major works (the so-called NIMBY, "Not in my back yard") which, at least in theory, should promote the development of the country, in the report by Lorenzo Pinna and Vanessa Strizzi. Alberto Angela and Michelangelo Pepe will accompany us in the exploration of Castel dell'Ovo in Naples. It only seems like an ancient fortress, but in reality it holds 2700 years of history.

In this episode of Superquark, the documentary from the BBC Planet Earth series deals with mountains. When a man reaches the top of a mountain, he is pleased to have conquered it, but mankind can only visit this hostile world. Planet Earth presents the ‘real’ inhabitants of the mountains and reveals the secrets of their survival on the highest peaks of the planet, in an extreme environment made of rocks, ice and snow, a vertical life as impervious to man as the surface of another planet. What links a rich tomb of Ancient Rome with an expedition to the seabed of Puglia? Stories of tombs, sarcophagi and shipwrecks in the report by Alberto Angela and Michelangelo Pepe. Today many types of drugs circulate in the world. However, one, despite being different from the others, generates a similar addiction and similar consequences: gambling. In the report by Marco Visalberghi. Thanks to the oil extracted from the seabed, Brazil manages to be energy self-sufficient.

The first episode opens with a fascinating documentary on Ethiopia from the French series Ushuaia. Ethiopia, a surprising country for the complexity of its aspects; with a changing, arid territory and large salt lagoons; with the Omo Valley populated by men and women, whose origins seem to date back to the dawn of time, inhabited by a fauna unique in the world. Ethiopia, the country of origins. In the reportage by Alberto Angela and Michelangelo Pepe, we will discover the most important gold mine of the Roman Empire, Las Medulas in Spain, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 100 years after its construction, the Panama Canal, one of the greatest engineering works that connects the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, will be doubled. By taking the Panama shortcut, in fact, ships save the 15-20 days needed to circumnavigate all of South America. And over 95% of global freight traffic takes place by sea.

A journey to the edge of the imagination, 600 km off the coast of Chile, in the Juan Fernandez archipelago. This is Robinson Island (that of the hero of Daniel Defoe's novel, in turn freely inspired by the real adventure of Alexander Selkirik). The gigantism and the profusion of wild and original flora make this place one of the greatest examples of endemic botanical phenomenon on the planet and a model of nature conservation. Alberto Angela and Michelangelo Pepe, on the trail of Saint Exupery, the author of one of the most read books in the world, The Little Prince. Was he really shot down by a German pilot while flying from Corsica to France? Lorenzo Pinna, assisted by Caterina Borelli, will take us to the tunnel, located on the seabed under the Bosphorus, which will connect European Istanbul to Asian Istanbul with a subway. During the works, the remains of 32 ships from 1000 AD were found.

We will travel to Asia with Nicolas Hulot along the Mekong, a river over 4,000 km long, to discover the people who still live along the river. We will follow him into caves, inside waterfalls, in Buddhist temples, flying over forests and floating houses, to reach the lost city of Beng Melea, a short distance from the historic site of Angkor Vat, the famous temple-mountain, with its five ringed towers, erected at the time our cathedrals were built and immersed in the jungle. Nothing remains of the living beings that populated the Earth thousands of years ago. Everything has been pulverized. But in some cases, thanks to the fossilization of animals and plants, today we can reconstruct the skeletons of dinosaurs, or entire forests of prehistory. This is what happened in Argentina, where Alberto Angela and Michelangelo Pepe went to film an extraordinary example of a petrified forest, with the trees still all aligned.

The second episode of Superquark opens with a magnificent documentary from the BBC series The Great Show of Nature: the epic journey of over two million wildebeest, zebras and Thomson's gazelles, across crocodile-infested rivers, to graze on the Serengeti plain made fertile by the rains. But how will they manage to survive in this arena full of carnivores? In this episode many columns and reports, including: the earthquake in L'Aquila has urgently brought up an old question: is it possible to predict earthquakes? Superquark has tried to understand. There is not much gold on Earth. That's why it is precious. But how is gold extracted today? SuperQuark visited one of the largest gold mines in the world: GoldStrike Mountain in Nevada, United States.

Superquark opens the third episode with the great thaw of the Arctic, that immense expanse of ice that in the long winter remains in the dark and freezing, almost as if it were another planet and in the summer, slowly, loses its mantle of ice, the sun is almost always on the horizon, and whales, belugas, foxes, lemmings and large flocks of birds return to swimming, running, flying. Only for the masters of the ice, the polar bears, this is a delicate moment. Especially since the warming has begun to thin the frozen crust and compromise its ancient habitat. In this episode many columns and services, including: with Alberto Angela in the rooms of Augustus and Livia on the Palatine, now enjoyable for the public, after the restoration of the frescoes, which enhance the wonderful original reds and greens. How do you defend yourself from earthquakes? Obviously by trying to predict them and building buildings appropriately, or by reinforcing old ones.

This episode of Superquark opens with a magnificent documentary from the USHUAIA series: One day the earth sank. From the Bahamas to Mexico, crossing Cuba and the island of Montserrat, Hulot and his team tell us the story of the geological, animal and human evolution of those places that witnessed an upheaval, 60 million years ago, due to the fall of a meteorite, one of the probable causes of the disappearance of the dinosaurs. A few hundred thousand years later, the immense desert was transformed into a sea, due to the melting of the polar ice caps caused by global warming. In this episode, many reports, guests in the studio and columns: the Apocalypse of 2012 is a lie. Superquark explains why, starting from the Mayan prophecy. Alberto Angela in the Etruscan necropolis of Tolle, near Siena, for the live opening of tomb no. 1000. A city of science in the desert of Qatar. Even the emirs invest colossal sums in research. 3D: new technologies applied to cinema and television.

In this episode, there will be many topics that will be addressed, starting with the interesting report by Alberto Angela on the discovery of the surgeon's house in Rimini. The house, which dates back to the 2nd century AD, is one of the oldest Roman homes in the area, stands a stone's throw from the sea and represents a true archaeological treasure. Paolo Fresu and his trumpet, guests of Piero Angela, in the studio, to tell us about the characteristics of this instrument and for an unusual musical performance. In the column dedicated to technology, Marco Visalberghi presents the new developments in the field of robotics. In particular, we will see the application of a sophisticated bionic hand. The oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. A report by Lorenzo Pinna will clarify the dynamics, risks, peculiarities and details of this devastating ecological disaster and how, more generally, oil activities are managed and regulated in the world.

The first episode of Superquark opens with a magnificent documentary from the USHUAIA series by Nicolas Hulot: a journey of contrasts between an extremely urbanized India and a Nepal where time seems to have stopped. Immersed in the calm of the Himalayan mountains or among the teeming masses of the Indian megalopolises, the “men-nature” seem to live in harmony with the elements. Strange, surprising and colorful. Alberto Angela will guide us on a visit to an unusual museum, the Cesare Lombroso Museum of Criminal Anthropology in Turin. The countless finds, which Prof. Lombroso had collected, belong to criminals and the mentally ill. The professor's scientific theories, later contested, nevertheless laid the foundations of criminology, with the use of analytical and statistical methods that are still current.

In the second episode of Superquark a documentary from the new BBC series Human Planet: Rivers. The rivers of our planet provide many of the essentials for life: fresh water, natural routes of communication and entertainment, but living on a river can be a risk, whether it is the Amazon or the Ganges. The dangerous and incredible life of those who live "of" the river. How many times in the countryside have we seen those extraordinary webs built by spiders in the bushes, to trap insects? Today researchers have understood that spider thread could be a very precious material, for many uses, because it has a resistance that no other material we have built has. It could, for example, replace the cartilage of the knees. And this prospect is now very close to clinical application. In the report by Barbara Bernardini. In less than a century, cyclists' performances have skyrocketed: from 23 km/h in 1914 to 40 km/h in 2009.

In the third episode of Superquark another documentary from the spectacular new BBC series Human Planet: Jungles. Tropical forests cover only 2% of the planet, but half of living species live there. Surviving in this hostile environment requires a deep understanding of jungle ecology. For example, most edibles grow at more than 30 meters above sea level, so getting enough food is a strenuous daily struggle. Almost 3 million Italians have difficulty reading and writing. It is dyslexia, a disorder that is well known today, but which in the past meant that certain children at school were considered lazy, uninterested, or worse, unintelligent. Today we know that this is not the case, and on the other hand, so were Einstein and Kennedy. In the report by Marco Visalberghi.

The first episode of Superquark opens with a magnificent documentary from the BBC Frozen Planet series, which will take us to the edges of the Earth, to the Arctic and the Antarctic continent, the two largest and most unknown expanses of our planet. After the documentary, the opening report will scientifically examine the phenomenon of earthquakes, with models in the studio that will explain what happens in depth. And it will show a completely new reconstruction technique. But it will also explain how the Richter scale absolutely does not give an idea of ​​the different severity of earthquakes. In the studio, historical seismologist Emanuela Guidoboni. The Vittoriano, with its imposing and controversial monumentality, contains and symbolizes the troubled path that 150 years ago led to the birth of modern Italy.

In the second episode of Superquark, the BBC Frozen Planet series continues: we will see what happens with the arrival of spring in the frozen areas of our planet. The sun returns to heat, allowing the eternal reproduction of all species. Given the extreme conditions, everything is more difficult and longer, but the extraordinary push of life prevails, as every year. The media call it the "God particle", the physicists Higgs boson. Lorenzo Pinna and Barbara Gallavotti went to Geneva to understand why the discovery made at Cern is so important. After the report, Piero Angela and Paco Lanciano with an experiment in the studio, will talk about the world of particles. Accustomed to studying dolphin sonar and fascinated by the interaction between sounds and air bubbles, Prof. Leighton, of the University of Southampton, has developed an instrument capable of drastically reducing the amount of water we use to wash objects.

In the third episode of Superquark, the BBC Frozen Planet series continues. It is midsummer and in the polar regions the sun never sets. Animals concentrate all the intensity of a life in a magical, endless day: they are here to feed, fight and raise their young, taking advantage of this period of abundance. Why do teenagers always seem to be looking for trouble? Neuroscience explores the most turbulent age of life and discovers why kids love risk. Barbara Bernardini and Marco Visalberghi went to the University of Texas, Austin, to tell the story. Alberto Angela is in Moscow, where the Bolshoi Theatre, one of the symbols of the cultural life of an entire nation, has undergone a long restoration project to ensure its stability. Highly specialized work groups have followed the work, which has given the Theatre back its ancient splendor and its famous excellent acoustics.