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In the summer of 1977, NASA sent Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 on an epic journey into interstellar space. Each of the Voyager probes carries a golden record, a compilation of images and sounds meant to represent our planet to any distant civilisations that should encounter them. ‘The launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet,’ said Carl Sagan, the golden record’s co-creator. Sagan met and fell madly in love with his future wife Ann Druyan while working on the golden record. The project became their love letter to humankind and to each other.
Director: Penny Lane
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Human rights and justice
Surreal, dazzling visuals form an Iranian expat’s tribute to defiance back home
10 minutes
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Language and linguistics
Do button-pushing dogs have something new to say about language?
9 minutes
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History of science
Ideas ‘of pure genius’ – how astronomers have measured the Universe across history
29 minutes
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Values and beliefs
Why a single tree, uprooted in a typhoon, means so much to one man in Hanoi
7 minutes
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Consciousness and altered states
‘I want me back’ – after a head injury, Nick struggles with his altered reality
7 minutes
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Meaning and the good life
Why Orwell urged his readers to celebrate the spring, cynics be damned
11 minutes
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Making
On the Norwegian coast, a tree is transformed into a boat the old-fashioned way
6 minutes
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Animals and humans
One man’s quest to save an orphaned squirrel, as narrated by David Attenborough
14 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away
9 minutes