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In Chemical Somnia, the Canadian filmmaker Scott Portingale captures the beauty of chemical reactions in wondrous detail. Using time-lapse and macro photography, even a spot smaller than a square inch on a Petri dish springs to dazzling life, capturing processes of crystalisation, phase change and fluid dynamics at speeds and sizes that the human eye can relish. Portingale sets these visuals to a dramatic string score from the Turkish composer Gorkem Sen – performed on an instrument called a yaybahar, which Sen himself invented. Through their inspired collaboration, the pair craft an otherworldly experience at the intersection of human and hidden scales, and the worlds of art and science.
Director: Scott Portingale
Music: Gorkem Sen
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Religion
Hear from blasphemes, sceptics and free-thinkers in this ‘tour of medieval unbelief’
52 minutes
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Ecology and environmental sciences
The ancient Hawaiian myth that sparked a modern ecological breakthrough
10 minutes
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Music
‘Dun dun dun duuun!’ Why Beethoven’s Fifth sticks in the head and stirs the heart
5 minutes
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Art
The irreverent duo who thumbed their noses at the Soviet Union and the US art world
11 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
A scientist’s poor eyesight helped fuel a revolution in computer ‘vision’
9 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
Henri Bergson on why the existence of things precedes their possibility
3 minutes
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Ageing and death
Demystifying death – a palliative care specialist’s practical guide to life’s end
4 minutes
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Future of technology
Is this the future of space travel? Take a luxury ‘cruise’ across the solar system
6 minutes
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Metaphysics
Why mathematical truths exist with or without minds to consider them
8 minutes