How to Die Clever

Morirás menos idiota

Wer nicht fragt, stirbt dumm!

Tu mourras moins bête

Wiedza Cię ocali (ale nie przed śmiercią)

Per non morire ignoranti

<p>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.</p>

Can We Build a Lift to Space?

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.

According to Elon Musk, we could soon be living on Mars. But it's an unrealistic idea, given the planet's extreme cold, an atmosphere essentially composed of CO2 and dangerous cosmic rays... So why settle there? Where does this enthusiasm for the red planet come from?

Journey to Mars

According to Elon Musk, we could soon be living on Mars.

42: The Answer to (Almost) Everything

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Getting into space has never been easier and the resources of our solar system are highly coveted. But with the legal framework of space exploration and the exploitation of its resources still unclear, is space being stolen from us?

42: The Answer to Almost Everything

With the legal framework of space exploration and the exploitation of its resources still unclear, is space being stolen from us?

Is Space Being Stolen From Us?

Scientists from all over the world dedicate their lives to researching the mysteries of animal communication. In Corsica and Sardinia, Eric Parmentier and Lucia Di Iorio show how fish make noises underwater to communicate with each other, including clicks, grunts, burps, - and even farts!

Nature's Secret Languages (1/3)

Fish make noises underwater to communicate with each other, including clicks, grunts, burps, - and even farts!

The Mystery of the Invisible Fish

Hercules is known as an allegory of strength and virility. But his love life doesn't quite match up to that, with the exception of his relationship with Xena, the warrior.

Hercules and Omphale by Pierre Paul Rubens

Hercules is known as an allegory of strength and virility. But his love life doesn't quite match up to that

Look but Don't Touch

Energy from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas made modern life possible in the first place; but that modern way of life is now in danger from the climate crisis and temperature extremes. Can we find an energy source that provides just as much energy as fossil fuels, but is still clean and easily available - a kind of perfect energy?

The Perfect Energy Source

Can we find an energy source that provides just as much energy as fossil fuels, but is still clean and easily available - a kind of perfect energy?

Formulating the theory of everything, the one that would describe all the laws of the Universe from a single fundamental law, would be the pinnacle achievement of physics. We could finally understand everything and solve the mysteries that still escape us. Heisenberg, Einstein, Hawking… All the great scientists have tried. All have failed. So can we still hope to find the theory of everything one day?

The Search for a Universal Theory

All the great scientists have tried to come up with a theory of everything. All have failed.

42 – The Answer to Almost Everything

Since the dawn of time, mankind has dreamed of a Fountain of Youth. A dream that may be coming true. Laboratories all over the world are announcing that they have rejuvenated animal species like mice, nematodes and fruit flies. Anti-ageing research has achieved the impossible: these animals live longer and healthier lives. Next step: humans?

Could We Live Forever?

Since the dawn of time, mankind has dreamed of a Fountain of Youth. A dream that may be coming true today.

Paleogeneticist Alexander Hübner explains how the faecal samples of our ancestors gives us vital insights we wouldn't have found any other way. 
Environmental engineers like Susanne Lackner use our wastewater to track coronavirus infection rates. Our waste doesn't just have scientific value - it could also have economic potential. It turns out, you can polish a turd after all.

The Treasure in Our Sewers

It turns out, you can polish a turd after all.

The fear that the sky could one day fall on our heads dates back to the dawn of time. The impact of an asteroid or a comet could dramatically change life on Earth in a fraction of a second. The dinosaurs were wiped out by one, and we might well one day share their fate.

When the Heavens Rain Down

The impact of an asteroid or a comet could dramatically change life on Earth in a fraction of a second.

Bonuses and Extracts

Discover more

At once seductive and dangerous, historical myth and male fantasy, the femme fatale represents both erotic promise and a death trap to the male observer. Conceived at the end of the 19th century in the works of Gustave Moreau, Franz von Stuck and Lovis Corinth, the femme fatale was completely reinvented in the 20th century by many female artists.

Seductive and dangerous, the figure of the femme fatale in art was completely reinvented in the 20th century.

The Femme Fatale in Art

The decisive moment in 1618 that triggered the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants and changed the course of European history.

The decisive moment in 1618 that triggered the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants. 

The Defenestration of Prague

Tensions between Moldova and Russia are escalating over the breakaway region of Transnistria, an investigation on how prepared Europe is for another summer of wildfires, and a report from the Dissident Club in Paris.

Tensions in Moldova / WildFires in Europe

Tensions between Moldova and Russia are escalating with street protests and controversy over Russian secret documents.

ARTE Europe Weekly

Highly influential indie rockers from Boston, famous for such tracks as Debaser and Where is my mind perform in Paris as part of a European tour for their latest album Doggerel.

Legendary and highly influential indie rockers perform in Paris as part of their European tour.

Pixies - Live at the Paris Olympia

Behind his polite exterior lies a formidable leader with a ruthless character, ready to do anything to make China the world's leading power by the People’s Republic’s centenary in 2049. This well-documented portrait of the Chinese president gives an unprecedented insight into his politics and shows how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

A portrait of the Chinese president giving an unprecedented insight into his politics and showing how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

The New World of Xi Jinping

Eclectic American singer-songwriter Ben Harper performs from his latest album, 2022’s Bloodline Maintenance. Filmed at Ground Control in Paris.

Ground Control

Eclectic American singer-songwriter Ben Harper performs from his latest album, 2022’s Bloodline Maintenance.

Ben Harper

An exclusive investigation into the Russian paramilitary organisation Wagner, headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 2,500 documents were leaked from Prigozhin’s servers by anti-Putin hackers, shedding light on this secretive group of mercenaries, a key element in the war in Ukraine.

Data Sources

An exclusive investigation into the Russian paramilitary organisation Wagner, headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 

The Prigozhin Papers

Music director of the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cristian Măcelaru takes his musicians on a tour of his homeland, Romania. A tour stopping in Timişoara, his hometown. On the programme: The Piano Concerto No. 2 by Johannes Brahms with soloist Simon Trpčeski.

Concert from the European Capital of Culture 2023

Conductor Cristian Măcelaru and the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne perform Brahms and Klaus Lang in Romania.

Cristian Mācelaru in Timişoara

Lyubov, which means love in Russian, is 80 years old and lives alone on the shores of Lake Baikal. She bears witness to this wonder of nature and possesses and unbreakable bond with the world’s deepest lake in Siberia. Her life here is hard, especially in winter, but she would not live anywhere else.

On the shores of Lake Baikal, an old woman lives alone in a beautiful place that is dear to her heart.

The Old Woman and the Lake

Working her way out of poverty as a sex worker all while supporting her family in Romania. That’s Andrada’s goal. She speaks confidently and openly about her work in a red-light district in Germany’s Ruhr region.  
This programme by German channel ARD is part of The European Collection, a joint initiative of European public media (ARD, ARTE, France Télévisions, SRG SSR and ZDF), coordinated by ARTE.

Portrait of a sex worker in the Ruhr region, Germany.  

Hard Life – I sell sex for money

Far from the metropolitan centre of Tel Aviv, Sderot show another side of Israel. One with high-levels of social deprivation and strong support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s controversial judicial reforms.

Sderot - The Other Israel

Far from the metropolitan centre of Tel Aviv, Sderot is a different Israel with strong support for Netanjahu and high levels of social deprivation.

ARTE Reportage

In El Salvador, gangs have terrorised the country for decades. But when Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019, becoming the youngest head of state in Latin America, he vowed to take back control from the gangs by installing a state of emergency.

El Salvador: The coolest dictator in the world?

When Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019, he vowed to take back control from the gangs by installing a state of emergency.

In Peru, every year, the people who live in remote mountain villages gather to build the Inca bridge of Q'eswachaka, a traditional structure of woven grass, and the last of its kind. This ancestral know-how inherited from the Incas, and the enduring spirit of community, enables the villagers to pull off a stunning feat of engineering, time and again.

In Peru, every year, villagers build the Inca bridge of Q'eswachaka from woven grass, and the last of its kind.

The Inca Grass Bridge of Q'eswachaka

One aspect of the war in Ukraine is being played out in the shadows. Our reporter met partisans in the Kherson region, which was occupied by Russian forces until last November. These Ukrainian civilians have set up resistance networks in Russian-occupied territories.

Ukraine: Resistance in Occupied Territories

Our reporters met partisans in the Kherson region, which was occupied by Russian forces until last November. Ukrainian civilians there have set up resistance networks in Russian-occupied territories.

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli gaols have fathered around one hundred children over the last ten years. Their sperm is smuggled out of prison to be used in IVF with their partners.

Israel-Palestine: Secret Babies of the Intifada

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli gaols have fathered around one hundred children over the last ten years.

With all the religious wars, the 17th century was a tense time in Europe. And in art one theme caught everyone’s imagination: the Virgin Mary.

Assumption of the Virgin - Nicolas Poussin

Look But Don't Touch

The Greek government is under intense pressure to explain how February’s tragic train accident happened. The crash has sparked widespread anti-government protests. We take a broad view of the state of gender equality across Europe and find out about a pioneering law to help menopausal women in Spain.

Greece train crash / Gender equality / Photography

Massive protests engulf Greece after a deadly train crash, with the public pointing fingers at the government.

From an incredibly varied selection of 19th century postcards, the Paris of the Belle Epoque (1871 – 1914) comes to life. Street-photography captured Parisians from all walks of life and conveyed the optimism and elegance of the period.

From an incredibly varied selection of 19th century postcards, the Paris of the Belle Epoque (1871 – 1914) comes to life.

Paris in the Belle Epoque

A look at how we are getting better at managing and conserving water supplies in drier parts of our planet like southern Spain, Israel and the desert city of Las Vegas.

Water

 A look at how we are getting better at managing and conserving water supplies in drier parts of our planet like southern Spain, Israel and the desert city of Las Vegas.

Good News From Our Planet

The literary source for Richard Strauss’s opera immortalizing the degeneracy of Herodes Antipas, King of Judea, and his step-daughter Salome, was supplied by Oscar Wilde. It tells of Herodes, who is keeping the prophet Jochanaan captive inside a cistern. Salome tries to seduce him and on being rebuffed, forces her stepfather to serve her the prophet’s head on a silver platter.

Directed by Christof Loy in Helsinki

Rejected by the prophet Jochanaan, Salome forces her abusive stepfather to exact revenge.

How to Die CleverCan We Build a Lift to Space?

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