Season 12

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.

The Pacific Islands in Nicolas Hulot's documentary: Hawaii, emerging from the depths of the ocean; Tahiti, the oldest, and the Marquesas Islands with their extraordinary fauna. An unprecedented exploration in a world where fire and water have reigned since the dawn of time. Interview with Craig Venter, one of the scientists who played a leading role in decoding the human genome. Today Venter studies the bacteria found in the oceans. In the future, bacteria capable of extracting hydrogen from water could be created in the laboratory. Is the era of hydrogen energy approaching? In Lorenzo Pinna's report. 75 years ago in Italian cities there was only one car for every 225 inhabitants, flocks and herds of oxen crossed the streets among pedestrians and bicycles, the tram was the preferred means of transport. In the column "75 years ago", edited by Fiorella Ravera and Giancarlo Di Giovine, urban traffic before and after the automobile boom.

Wild horses in Iceland: in a beautiful and desolate nature, the race of these magnificent animals that live free. The majestic rides in the Icelandic highlands in the documentary “Running with the herd” by Thorfin Gudnason. Mice that eat few calories live longer and without diseases. And humans? For the moment in America they are conducting studies on monkeys, animals that live quite long, but a NASA engineer is even carrying out the experiment on himself: a life with few calories, in the report by Lorenzo Pinna. Alberto Angela went to visit the shipyards in Toulouse where the giants of the air are built: airplanes. The maxi hangar where the A380 model is built is the largest industrial warehouse in Europe for civil aviation. The behind the scenes of the flying machines that help us travel every day, in the report by Michelangelo Pepe. Today 60% of Italian families own a comfortable home.

Among the ferocious lions of the Samburu National Park in Kenya, there is a lioness who has adopted a baby antelope, an extraordinary case in the world of felines. The dramatic story of this lioness who goes outside the norms of nature, in the documentary "Cuore di Leonessa". Our body, even if old and worn out, is capable of renewing itself, both by giving birth to children and by regenerating its own tissues. The tissues of the heart are renewed, for example, thanks to stem cells, the new frontier of the youth of the human body. In the report by Marco Rosi and Marco Visalberghi. A great treasure of the Romans is found in Switzerland: precious pieces of silver and ornaments of great value, found by chance in the 1960s. Three officers of the Roman fort of Augusta Raurica, pursued by the Barbarians, are said to have buried their precious trunk right here. Alberto Angela and Michelangelo Pepe tell the stages of this incredible story.

The last episode of the 2005 edition of Superquark will be entirely dedicated to Albert Einstein. In fact, 2005 represents a double anniversary: 100 years ago Einstein published the theory of relativity and 50 years ago he died, in the United States. For this reason, the international scientific community has declared 2005 the year of physics and dedicated it to the scientist who, more than any other, has contributed to changing our way of understanding the world. Superquark will tell the story of Einstein the man, with the help of the drama produced by RAI in co-production with Antenne 2 and Telecip, directed by Lazare Iglesis and starring the English actor Ronald Pickup. We will follow Albert Einstein since he was a child, when he was even diagnosed with a “delay” in development, and as a boy, when he had problems at school, except in mathematics.