Season 16

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.

Another of the spectacular BBC series The Great Spectacle of Nature is the documentary of the fourth episode of Superquark, which takes us along the coasts of Alaska, when the sun returns to warm the earth and the water becomes an enormous pantry, full of food: it is the Time of Abundance. Humpback whales, with their calves, arrive here from as far away as Hawaii, but the price to pay is the very dangerous presence of hungry killer whale. Numerous, as always, the services and columns, among which: how can aesthetic beauty, insulation, recycling and even anti-earthquake systems be reconciled. We are talking about the Academy of Science of San Francisco, where the original solutions are not signed by some brilliant American architect, but by an Italian: Renzo Piano. In the last thirty years the fertility of Western men has drastically reduced: how widespread is male infertility and what are the causes?

Every year, during the flood season, 6,000 square miles of the Okavango Delta desert in Botswana are transformed into a labyrinth of lagoons, islands and swamps. Millions of animals are attracted to the oasis, including large herds of hungry elephants: the stage is set for one of the greatest clashes in nature. As always, there are numerous reports and columns, including: a new study by the Institute of Neuroscience in Pisa, “Train the Brain”, training the brain. The attempt is to stop or reverse the path towards dementia of people who are still quite well, allowing them to live a more pleasant and stimulating life. It was our satellites that followed the evolution of the great flood in Burma in 2008, guiding the United Nations relief operations. Now, the Civil Protection has asked for a three-dimensional mapping of the entire national territory.

Tonight an unusual BBC documentary with spectacular footage of… sardines! With the arrival of winter, the waters along the east coast of South Africa cool, attracting billions of sardines that push north of the Cape attracted by the rich deposits of plankton. The “Sardine Run” is the greatest marine spectacle on the planet and attracts numerous ocean predators: dolphins, sharks and greedy whales throw themselves on the sardines, while gannets rush from the sky like rain. Numerous, as always, the reports and columns, including: “It is not for children with musical talent or for a certain social class. We do not just want to introduce children to music, but to life through music. Music helps us to understand the world” are the words of the great conductor Daniel Barenboim, who founded the first musical kindergarten in Europe, the Musikkindergarten, in Berlin.

The giant bison were at risk of disappearing forever. Now, in the Yellowstone caldera, the bison are back. But this symbol of America would not exist without its fearsome adversaries. And now, they are back too…the wolf and the grizzly, ready to kill. Here even the landscape can bring death. Then there is the war season, when the bison fight among themselves. For the first time in almost a century, the bison faces its ancient rivals in the “Serengeti of America”… Tonight on Superquark, in the fascinating National Geographic documentary. Numerous, as always, the reports and columns, including: Parkfield, a small town in California, is a center that is monitored carefully. And the studies that are carried out on site can be very interesting for us Italians, for radon and earthquakes. Alberto Angela takes us on a curious journey through the history of means of transport.

Dolphins and whales have evolved to have the largest brains on the planet. In terms of body size, they are second only to humans. Today, however, researchers are discovering that dolphins are not only intelligent, but also sensitive. In tonight's amazing BBC documentary, two stories of survivors of terrifying encounters with sharks suggest that dolphins may be able to recognize human emotions, understand when we are scared, when we feel pain. The rescues, which took place in the Red Sea and in New Zealand, are proof of the intelligence of dolphins and also of their willingness to help another species. In this episode, many interesting reports: Parker is a Canadian child suffering from a severe congenital immunodeficiency. To avoid the risk of getting sick, Parker cannot leave the house, play with other children or go to school, and is forced to live a prisoner in an aseptic environment, often even in hospital. This is why children like Parker are called "bubble children".

Tonight's documentary is dedicated to a very particular bird, which walks upright and does not fly in the air but under water: the penguin. Despite its funny and slightly awkward figure, it is a champion of natural selection. We see it adapt to an extreme environment, the Antarctic continent. As always, there are numerous reports and columns: until a few years ago, the media attention was monopolized by the problem of AIDS. Now, the problem seems to have almost disappeared. But is it really so? An update on the situation. In Priolo, Sicily, from an original idea by Nobel Prize winner Carlo Rubbia, developed by Enea engineers, a power plant for the production of electrical energy that uses thermodynamic solar energy is being built. Enormous towers of light to be able to imagine the archaic skyline, full of vertical elements and ancestor of the contemporary metropolis.

Tonight's documentary takes us to Africa, showing us that life in nature can be much more difficult than one might imagine. In this case, it is the lack of water that puts a natural environment in crisis, and the protagonists are hippos, who fight for life, searching, with exhausting marches, for the last puddles that allow them to survive. But this time, in addition to an exceptional drought, an even more insidious danger threatens their life: anthrax. Numerous and interesting reports: in the Roman Museum of Palazzo Massimo, the mummy of a girl from 200 AD is preserved, with the sarcophagus decorated and accompanied by many interesting objects that provide clues to her life, as Alberto Angela tells us. In Obama's America, a green new deal invests in energy saving, in the reduction of polluting emissions and in the production of renewable energy, to boost the economy and protect the environment.

For the last episode, SuperQuark presents the Pioneer Production documentary, “The Living Body”, which follows the development of the human body, in particular of a woman, from birth to old age. Computer graphics, special effects and cutting-edge medical images explain the biological differences between human beings, in the different stages of life, through the transformations of the body. Giovanni Carrada and Gian Marco Mori, in the service “Telemedicine for heart patients” followed, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, in the United States, the testing of a new electronic device for heart patients, which can be worn. In this small and light device, there are sensors to monitor cardiac function, a microprocessor and a transceiver. The patient can check his or her health status and send the data collected to the hospital, via a smartphone. It is a revolutionary technology that allows for early intervention on heart disease.