How to Die Clever

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Tu mourras moins bête

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Per non morire ignoranti

Guitou the Microbe asks why he is always unfairly expulsed from the human body. Professor Moustache explains that this is due to the army of bouncers that protect it: the immune system.

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<p>Guitou the Microbe asks why he is always unfairly expulsed from the human body. Professor Moustache explains that this is due to the army of bouncers that protect it: the immune system.</p>

Immunology

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An animated series tackling scientific questions with rigour and a touch of anarchic humour. In this episode Professor Moustache gives us a chemistry class explaining how nuclear power stations work and how they can go terribly wrong.

How Does a Nuclear Power Station Work?

Professor Moustache gives us a chemistry class explaining how nuclear power stations work and how they can go terribly wrong.

Do we really swallow spiders and other insects in our sleep? Professor Moustache tells us the truth about the urban legend.

Swallowing Spiders in your Sleep

Who is scared of flying? Our very Professor Moustache is here to explain to you just how safe it is.

Fear of Flying

Do you think that by doing two push-ups a day you will lose weight? As Professor Mustache explains, it's way more complicated than that. 

Want to Slim Down? Fat Chance

Our bodies HATE giving up fat. It's a long, chemically convoluted process...

It’s cocktail time and time for a little drink. But why does consuming alcohol feel great after the first drink and not so great the morning after? Professor Moustache is here to explain why we get hangovers.

Alcohol's Great But Not for Your Health

Did you have a stupid and incoherent dream again last night? It's normal. Prof Mustache takes stock of the latest scientific hypotheses on the subject. Remember, you are not crazy. But your brain is working non-stop. 

The Point of Dreams

Would it theoretically be possible to shrink people, like in the 1989 film, Honey I Shrunk the Kids? Professor Moustache highlights a few problems with this scenario.

Honey, I Want to Shrink the Kids

Professor Moustache investigates whether we will see exciting lightsabre duels in the future, just like in the hit film Star Wars.

When Will Real Lightsabres Be Invented?

An animated series tackling scientific questions with rigour and a touch of humour. In this episode: Could you survive if you jumped off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge?

Jumping Off the Golden Gate Bridge

Grichka Bogdanov thinks his brother is better looking so wants to replace his head with his sibling’s. Could a head transplant actually work? Professor Moustache gives us the answer.

Could Head Transplants Work?

Could a head transplant actually work? Professor Moustache gives us the answer.

It would be really cool to become invisible like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Professor Moustache explains if it is theoretically possible.

A Lesson in Hobbitology

My Girlfriend Wants to Marry a Pony

Can you explain the Higgs-Boson particle? Professor Moustache gives it his best shot with refrerence to Lord of the Rings.

Higgs-Boson, What is it?

Being cryogenically frozen is a process of preserving a body after death in nitrogen in the hope of bringing it back to life later. Could this ever be a reality? Professor Moustache is on the case.

When Will Cryogenics Become a Reality?

We know that spiders see differently to us because we’ve all watched the Spider Man films. But what about other animals? Professor Moustache is here to explain animal vision to us.

How Animals See

Wendy from Texas wants to buy a firearm to protect her chickens. Is this a good idea? Operating guns looks easy in the movies but, as Professor Moustache explains, it’s not the same in real life.

Why Shooting Guns Isn't Easy

The history of science is not just comprised of great minds making amazing breakthroughs. There were also idiotic scientists doing crazy experiments. Professor Moustache gives us some examples.

Loony Scientists

Ryan dreams of a lift to take his wife to outer space for their honeymoon. Professor Moustache investigates whether a space lift would theoretically be possible.

Can We Build a Lift to Space?

In science fiction films astronauts always seem to hibernate for long journeys to far off galaxies. But how could this space hibernation work? Professor Moustache tries through the physics.

Space Travel Like in Alien

Stop believing that a gunshot wound is like in the movies! Professor Mustache and Nathanaël prove that a real gunshot wound is very different and far more dangerous, not least because bullets are basically filthy. 

Do Bullets Hurt?

Stop believing that a gunshot wound is like in the movies! 

Slumped on the sofa, speaking slowly... why are teenagers so pathetic, asks one frazzled mother. Professor Mustache has the answer: being a teenager is a physically as well as mentally taxing time in a person's life.

Are Teenagers Lame?

Slumped on the sofa, speaking slowly... why are teenagers so pathetic, asks one frazzled mother. Professor Mustache has the answer! 

When will robots overtake people? Professor Mustache visits robotics specialists to find out.

Mean Machines

Does it bother you to know that there are a myriad of dust mites in your bed? Professor Mustache talks us through all the bugs that live, eat, and die on your skin.

The Mighty Mite

Does it bother you to know that there are a myriad of dust mites in your bed?

Can your love life be more animalistic? But which animal exactly? Choose carefully... Welcome to another mad escapade with the irreverent Professor Mustache. 

Animal Love Lives

Can your love life be more animalistic? But which animal exactly? Choose carefully... 

Can humans confuse dog food with real food meant for people, such as rillettes? If you're a dog, then no chance. But if you're a human? Unfortunately, there's a chance...

Dog Food

Can humans confuse dog food with real food meant for people, such as rillettes? 

Researchers dedicate their lives to research. Professor Mustache highlights the scientific contributions of some overzealous researchers, some of whom have quite literally sacrificed their skin in the name of science.  

Overworked Researchers

Professor Mustache highlights the scientific contributions of some overzealous researchers

Dinosaurs weren't big naked lizards. Professor Mustache explains that they had feathers. You know, like a cute, huge, killer Easter chick. Cheep cheep!

Did Dinosaurs Have Feathers?

Dinosaurs weren't big naked lizards. They had feathers

Professor Mustache demystifies science through weird, funny ancedotes. Here, he takes a look at human sexuality. Why don't humans make love like bonobos?

The Evolution of Human Sexuality

Why do dying patients sometimes see light at the end of a long tunnel, and an overwhelming sense of peace? What are the medical reasons for it?

The Near Death Experience

Why do dying patients sometimes see light at the end of a long tunnel, and an overwhelming sense of peace?

How to Die Clever (19/30)

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The fact that we have a breathable atmosphere on Earth is largely down to algae. Could these aquatic plants be the secret of solving climate change and saving ourselves and the planet?

Could Algae Save the Planet?

The Answer to Almost Everything

The universe is big. So big, that surely 'Earthlings' can't possibly be the only form of intelligent life. What then is the probability that extraterrestrials exist? What could they look like? Finally, wouldn't their existence force us to rethink our place in the cosmos?

Are We Alone in the Universe?

The universe is big. So big, that surely 'Earthlings' can't possibly be the only form of intelligent life

42: The Answer to Almost Everything

As soon as weightlessness sets in in Earth orbit, everything floats, including bodily fluids. Most astronauts suffer from space sickness – similar to seasickness. You get sick, your eyes go crazy, your face swells up, your legs get longer and after a few sleepless nights (there is no day or night in space) many astronauts get severe back pain. Space researchers are trying to understand how the human body reacts without gravity. Could we need it to live?

Are We Ready for Mars?

What would happen to our bodies if we were all suddenly exposed to weightlessness in space?

Parasites get a bad rap: they can make us sick or even kill us. For centuries, we have been trying to protect ourselves against them, in particular through hygiene measures. Yet half of the living beings on Earth are parasites. If they are really everywhere, maybe they are not fundamentally useless?

The Purpose of Parasites

Parasites get a bad rap: they can make us sick or even kill us.

Drugs have a bad press. But scientists have long been convinced that the use of psychedelics can sometimes be beneficial. The use of ecstasy, LSD and other hallucinogens could soon be authorised for therapeutic purposes. Should we change our relationship to certain drugs?

Are We Doing More Drugs?

Scientists have long been convinced that the use of psychedelics can sometimes be beneficial.

Long considered clean and inexpensive, nuclear energy raises a major problem: radioactive waste. It must be buried underground for at least a million years, or forever. But our civilisation won't be around forever. How can we warn our distant descendants of the risk of nuclear waste sites? What pictograms could warn them against the toxic gift we leave them?

Nuclear Waste

How can we warn our distant descendants of the risk of nuclear waste sites?

Our most powerful weapon against the covid-19 pandemic has been the little known messenger RNA technology. But researchers have been developing it for the last 20 years with the initial goal of creating a cancer vaccine.

Can mRNA Vaccines Cure Cancer?

Over the last 20 years, researchers have been developing mRNA technology with the aim of vaccinating against cancer, not coronavirus.

What's the recipe for making a song a global hit? Musicologists, brain scientists and professionals in the music industry are actively researching the 'magic formula' for the mega hit.

Does the Perfect Song Exist?

What's the recipe for making a song a global hit?

42 - The Answer to Almost Everything

Why did Frédéric Lechenault, a specialist researcher in interface systems, start knitting? The answers links pullovers with seismic activity.

Reconnection

Jumpers and Earthquakes

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One hundred years ago, on February 2nd 1922, James Joyce’s Ulysses was published by Sylvia Beach in a small bookshop in Paris. The book, which consumed 7 years of Joyce’s life, years in which his family’s circumstances were very difficult, would have a profound and unprecedented impact on the literature and culture of the century to follow. 

Though Ulysses was banned initially in the US and UK, Joyce’s epic was soon celebrated as a masterpiece of modernism.

100 Years of Ulysses

Kitschy trash or misunderstood genius? Italo disco was the euro sound of the 1980s that many loved and many hated. This documentary looks at how big names of the genre like Sabrina Salerno and duo Righeira conquered the charts.

The Sparkling Sound of the 1980s

Kitschy trash or misunderstood genius? Italo disco was the euro sound of the 1980s that many loved and many hated

Italo Disco

Young Korean musicians have been taking the world of classical music by storm. A new generation are winning the big prizes and pursuing successful careers in Europe and around the world. What makes these Korean classical artists so good? A documentary following the rising stars of K-Classic

The Korean Musical Mystery

Generation K-Classics

Israeli choreographers Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar present their show Chapter 3: The Brutal Journey of the Heart at Nuits de Fourvière.

Nuits de Fourvière

The Brutal Journey of the Heart by Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar

Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong was the most densely populated area on Earth. 33,000 people settled on 2.5 hectares of land that was disputed between Chinese and British - meaning neither country asserted its authority there. This vertical slum was a hotbed of crime, but also full of factories, cheap shops and a strong community. This is a case for Crazy Borders. 

Kowloon: The Lawless Super City

This vertical slum was a hotbed of crime, but also full of factories, cheap shops and a strong community.

Crazy Borders

Martin Ritter is a German organic farmer, with land in both Germany and Ukraine. All of a sudden, his livelihood is located in a war zone. With the help of the municipality of Ostheim, he decides to send aid to Ukraine and to welcome refugees.

Martin Ritter is a German organic farmer, with land in both Germany and Ukraine. When war broke out, everything changed.

Re: Farming in a War Zone

How can you misplace 80km2 of territory? In Mexico, the island of Bermeja had been on maps for generations. But when it came to actually finding the island... it seemed as if it had disappeared into thin air. And with the loss of Bermeja, Mexico lost a huge windfall of oil revenue in the Gulf of Mexico. This is a case for Crazy Borders. 

The Lost Island of Bermeja

The sea absorbs our carbon emissions, gives us plentiful food, and regulates our climate. A healthy sea is a healthy planet. But we can't stop stripping the sea of resources. Whether through overfishing or deep sea mining, humanity is destroying an ecosystem it can't live without.

Whether through overfishing or deep sea mining, humanity is destroying an ecosystem it can't live without.

Overexploited Oceans

The prisoner of a promise made to Neptune, King Idomeneus is faced with a cruel dilemma... From the Théâtre de l’Archevêché, the most romantic of Mozart’s operas, directed by Satoshi Miyagi and conducted by Raphaël Pichon, with soprano Sabine Devieilhe, promises to be the operatic event of the 2022 Aix festival season.

Aix-en-Provence Festival 2022

The most romantic of Mozart’s operas, conducted by Raphaël Pichon, with soprano Sabine Devieilhe.

Mozart: Idomeneus, King of Crete

Did you know that the Middle Ages is only a few kilometers off the French coast? A lord and his vassals live peacefully on the island of Sark where cars are not allowed. This is a case for Crazy Borders! 

Sark: A Modern Day Feudal Island

A lord and his vassals live peacefully on the island of Sark where cars are not allowed.

Planting trees against climate change: Ireland is reforesting its territory by growing spruces. But it's not just about being green, it's about profit. Wood is a big business... much to the displeasure of local environmental activists who want Ireland's forestry policy changed. 

Growing trees to be harvested for wood is big business - but what are the environmental ramifications? 

Re: Money Grows on Trees

If a woman gave birth at the top of Mont Blanc, what nationality would the child be? For France, of course, the baby would be French. But not for Italy! The quarrel has been going on since 1860, when the divison of territory at the top of the mountain was unclearly defined... leaving each country to interpret the boundary more or less as they saw fit. This really is a case for Crazy Borders!

Mont Blanc: A High Altitude Dispute

If a woman gave birth at the top of Mont Blanc, what nationality would the child be?

According to the latest calculations by the OECD, South Korean women could live to be over 92 years old on average in 2070, and men over 89. That would be a world record. What's the secret?

South Korea: An Obsession With Health

South Koreans are on track to be the longest-lived people in the world

ARTE Reportage

Did you know that the last war between France and Spain took place in the 1970s? It was the war of the stop signs in Llívia, a Spanish town - but in France, in the Pyrenees. This bizarre quirk is due to a treaty signed centuries ago. This really is a case for Crazy Borders! 

Llivia, Between France and Spain

Did you know that the last war between France and Spain took place in the 1970s?

The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad sits between Lithuania and Poland. Once German East Prussia, it is now home to 1 million Russian citizens. What is life like in this small territory now practically cut off from its EU neighbours since the war in Ukraine began?

Kaliningrad: Putin's Enclave

The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad sits between Lithuania and Poland and is now practically cut off from its EU neighbours since the war in Ukraine began.

In the town of Baarle, a body of a woman was discovered in a house... but before police could intervene, first authorities had to call a surveyor. Baarle is crisscrossed over with a winding frontier between the Netherlands and Belgium, and police needed to know which country was responsible for investigating the killing. One half of the house was Dutch, the other half was Belgian. This is a case for Crazy Borders! 

Baarle, a Town of Two Nations

A city divided between Belgium and the Netherlands, and scene of a murder? Welcome to Baarle.

Can a state in the EU prohibit women from accessing its territory? In the Monastic Republic of Mount Athos women are not allowed in - even tourists - and any woman who enters could be arrested by police. It's a peninsula from another, bygone world and yet benefits from taxpayer funding (including female taxpayers, presumably...).

Mount Athos: Off Limits for Women

Can a state in the EU prohibit women from accessing its territory?

Bulgarian DJ and techno producer KiNK is adored for his dynamic and spontaneous sets. Both playful and experimental, his sets brilliantly alternate house, techno and acid, peppered with jazzy improvisations. Electro sounds that evoke the characteristic frenzy of a rave.

Stone Techno 2022

Bulgarian DJ and techno producer KiNK is adored for his dynamic and spontaneous sets.

KiNK live

The former military base Camp Zeist in the Netherlands was once lent to Scotland. It was where the two men accused of orchestrating the Lockerbie bombings were put on trial. Libyans saw them as unfair victims. Meanwhile bereaved families demanded justice.

A Scottish Court in the Netherlands

The former military base Camp Zeist in the Netherlands was once lent to Scotland for the Lockerbie bombing trial

The trio led by Matthew Bellamy is one of the most explosive and creative forces in rock music over the past two decades. There is no one else quite like Muse. Be impressed by their committed performance at Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds Festival.

Tempelhof Sounds 2022

 There is no one else quite like Muse. Be impressed by their committed performance at Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds Festival.

Immunology

How to Die Clever

How to Die Clever

How Does a Nuclear Power Station Work?

How to Die Clever

Swallowing Spiders in your Sleep

How to Die Clever

Fear of Flying

How to Die Clever

Want to Slim Down? Fat Chance

How to Die Clever

Immunology

How to Die Clever

Alcohol's Great But Not for Your Health

How to Die Clever

The Point of Dreams

How to Die Clever

Honey, I Want to Shrink the Kids

How to Die CleverImmunology

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