Curiosity

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you could live forever? What would happen if aliens attacked? Why is sex fun? Welcome to CURIOSITY. More than just a landmark television series, CURIOSITY is an adventure of discovery, an expedition to uncover the truth behind life’s most challenging questions. With an insatiable thirst for answers and experiences, we’re prepared to do anything, go anywhere and ask anyone to get to the heart of the matter. Whether it’s jumping out of an airplane to confront fear, having neuroscientists implant false memories, or donating tissue to test the possibility of regeneration, there is nothing stopping us as we embark on a global journey of learning and surprises.

CURIOSITY asks and answers the most fundamental questions facing the world today. Each episode will focus on a single enduring question in science, technology and society. As is always the case, one single question cascades into several more, making each episode of CURIOSITY a rich and textured experience. From the micro the macro, we tackle provocative and insightful questions. Is it likely there’s an alternate universe? Could you find out exactly how you are going to die and would you want to know? Are some people genetically prone to violence? Is time travel really possible? Why is it that we dream? What don’t we know about gravity and does it hold the secret for exploring the universe?

CURIOSITY fearlessly dives into a world of questions posed by well-known personalities including world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking tackling the mysteries surrounding the origins of the universe, horror master, auteur director Eli Roth testing the nature of evil, Academy Award® winner Morgan Freeman investigating the possibility of a parallel universe, Maggie Gyllenhaal exploring why sex is fun, Lost and Avatar star Michelle Rodriguez asking how we might survive an alien attack, Robin Williams delving into the topic of how drugs work, MythBusters’ Adam Savage testing if we can really live forever, award-winning filmmaker Morgan Spurlock seeing if living as a primitive caveman would actually improve our health and Dirty Jobs’ Mike Rowe revealing the hidden live organisms that call our bodies home.

Online viewers whose wonder has been set to overdrive by CURIOSITY the series can find in-depth video interviews with an eclectic group of experts, short segments from the show, articles related to episodes and blogs from writers dedicated to thoughtfully dissecting episode questions at: www.curiosity.com. 

Intel is the presenting sponsor of CURIOSITY.

CURIOSITY premieres Sunday, October 30 at 9pm (8pm BKK/JKT) and airs a different episode each Sunday.

Go on an expedition to uncover answers to the universe’s biggest questions in the following episodes of CURIOSITY:

Is There A Parallel Universe?
Premieres Sunday, 30 October at 9pm (8pm BKK/JKT).
On the edge of space, buried in a black hole, or right on top of you, there could be an exact copy of yourself living a parallel reality. In those parallel worlds, you may be living your wildest dreams, or your worst nightmares. Now, game changing theories suggest that finding these alternative realities is no longer restricted to the realm of science fiction: and that intelligent life in these worlds could be trying to send us messages. Morgan Freeman investigates if there could be more than one version of reality - and more than one ‘you’.  As scientists unravel this possibility, an astounding one emerges: these parallel worlds could determine the destiny of the entire universe.

What’s Beneath America?
Premieres Sunday, 6 November at 9pm (8pm BKK/JKT).
Molten lava and colliding tectonic plates. Floods, asteroid impacts, volcanic explosions, and gigantic floods. From these and other remarkable natural events, the landmass that is North America came into being but the geological story behind its creation is extraordinary. Welcome to one of nature’s most dramatic and visually arresting puzzles, pieced together by award-winning actor Martin Sheen.

How Will The World End?
Premieres Sunday, 13 November at 9pm (8pm BKK/JKT).
The Mayans tell us it will happen next year, on 21st December to be precise. And terrible recent events from Indonesia through Haiti to Japan seem, to some, evidence of impending global doom. But just how likely is a global apocalypse – from a scientific point of view? When will it happen, if at all? Where? And how? Actor Samuel L. Jackson hosts this CGI spectacular which examines the most likely ways the world might end, and uses the latest geological, seismic and telescopic devices to put a number on the likelihood of their occurrence, the timeframe within which they’ll take place, and even the potential casualties.

Did God Create the Universe?
Premieres  Sunday, 20 November at 9pm (8pm BKK/JKT).
Stephen Hawking unfolds his personal, compelling vision of the biggest question of all – who or what created the universe in which we live? In this programme, physics and cosmology become tools to answer questions that philosophers have struggled with for thousands of years. 

I, Caveman
Episode 1 premieres Sunday, 27 November at 9pm (8pm BKK/JKT) and Episode 2 premieres Sunday, 4 December at 9pm (8pm BKK/JKT).

Were we better off as cavemen? Acclaimed filmmaker Morgan Spurlock and a group of nine ordinary men and women leave civilization behind to take part in an ambitious experiment.  Using only stone-age technology and their wits, they attempt to survive in the wilderness as cavemen. A group of four experts observe the group, evaluating their performance and drawing surprising conclusions about modern people and our caveman ancestors. Will Morgan and the group endure, or will their dependence on modern conveniences be their undoing? It’s ten days that will push them all to the limit of human physical and psychological endurance.

How Does Orgasm Work?
Premieres Sunday, 11 December at 9pm (8pm BKK/JKT).
Sexual pleasure is among the most prized, most meaningful and richest experiences known to man. But the orgasm is a true scientific puzzle. Film star Maggie Gyllenhaal hosts this revealing investigation. In men, it helps expel sperm. But in women, its role is unknown. Some feel it’s just a ‘bonus’; others that it may help play a role in conception. In this documentary, ultrasound scans, MRI imaging, and the scientific tracking of sperm journeying towards the fallopian tubes suggest that it’s a highly sophisticated device which has evolved to guide partner choice, select DNA, and even help fertilize the most appropriate eggs at the most appropriate time.

Can I Live Forever?
Premieres Sunday, 18 December at 9pm (8pm BKK/JKT).
In 2011, Mythbusters’ Adam Savage was 43. Now it is the year 2967 and he is 1000 years old. He looks back on his long life revealing how medical science in the 21st century transformed his body, creating a supercharged cyber-human, allowing him to love forever. Along the way, we’ll learn about transhumanism, brain downloads, self-regenerating organs, and full body transplants – all in the name of becoming the world’s first 1000 year-old man.

When Robots Rule
Premieres Sunday, 25 December at 9pm (8pm BKK/JKT).
Moore’s Law (named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore) states that the number of transistors on a chip will double every two years. By this calculation, somewhere around 2050, computers will be able to out-think, out-wit and out-perform human brains in almost every area of cognition. At the same time, medical advances will likely to able to blend man and machine into one superintelligent, bionic organism. This watershed moment is known as The Singularity. But what happens on the other side of this momentous event? And will it be a force for good – or ill? Join host Will.I.Amon a journey into the history of our future with a dramatized documentary exploring the direct aftermath of The Singularity.

Coming up in 2012:

How Does Life Begin?
Premieres Sunday, 1 January at 9pm (8pm BKK/JKT).
Witness the miracle of birth, from conception to birth; follow the sperm's fight for survival in the winner-take-all conditions of the womb, the struggle between mother and child for precious resources, and the epic fight to be born.

World’s Dirtiest Man
We shower, we bathe, we apply perfumes and deodorants. We’re cleaner and healthier than at any other point in human history. So it may surprise us to learn that there are 10 times more things living on us than cells in our body. From the flora of our gut to the fauna on our skin and hair, this film explores the wildlife park that is the human body in stunning, microscopic detail – combining the creativity of natural history filmmaking with the charisma of Discovery’s very own Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs.

How Evil Are You?
Weaving together a Blair Witch-style experiment in which he scares a group of unwitting volunteers while monitoring their brains and bodies, horror auteur Eli Roth explores humankind's most puzzling emotion.

Your Body On Drugs
Since time immemorial, human have ingested substances designed to give them superhuman energy, strange visions, otherworldly sensations. Sometimes, the reasons have been ritualistic, sometimes religious, sometimes simply recreational. But exactly what’s in this class of special substances known as narcotics? What is their chemical makeup? How do they alter the body and the brain, and why are many of them so addictive – and often deadly? Robin Williams, who’s experienced both the highs and the lows of substance abuse, takes viewers on a candid, shocking and sometimes sobering journey into the psychophysiology of psychotropic drugs, aided by high end 3-D CGI.

Alien Invasion: Is It Happening?
We’ve read the books, we’ve seen the movies. But they’re all fiction, right? Well, probably not. New science is suggesting that aliens may be very real, and that they may not be as cuddly as E.T. We’ve brought together top scientists, military strategists and writers to dramatize what would happen if and when aliens attacked. Michelle Rodriguez (Lost, Battle Los Angeles) hosts.