Warning: this film features sequences of flashing light that could be unsuitable for photosensitive viewers.
Since 1990, scientists have gone from merely speculating about the existence of exoplanets to having identified some 5,000 and counting. And beyond just discovering them, increasingly powerful telescopes and new detection techniques are helping astronomers determine the astoundingly diverse forms that planets can take. This sprawling work from the US filmmaker and musician John D Boswell (also known as Melodysheep) melds hard science with informed speculation to take viewers on an interstellar journey to some of the most fascinating exoplanets scientists have yet discovered. Via a futuristic interstellar spaceship, Boswell sends viewers on an operatic, 3D-animated tour of nearby solar systems, revealing Earth-like planets that could potentially harbour life, as well as far-out worlds of metal clouds, burning ice, double sunsets and breathtaking auroras.
Video by Melodysheep
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Physics
A song of ice, fire and jelly – exploring the physics and history of the trumpet
9 minutes
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Architecture
Tour the European architecture that dreamed of a wondrous, fictitious China
16 minutes
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Spirituality
Trek alongside spiritual pilgrims on a treacherous journey across Pakistan
6 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
Photographs offer a colonialist window to the past – one that must be challenged
14 minutes
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Animals and humans
An artist and ants collaborate on an exhibit of ‘tiny Abstract Expressionist paintings’
5 minutes
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Mathematics
How a curious question about colouring maps changed mathematics forever
9 minutes
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Cities
The rise and fall of Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong’s infamous urban monolith
18 minutes
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Physics
A dreamy tribute to the music of Brian Eno, rendered in paint, soap and water
2 minutes
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Gender
When aggression is viewed as brilliance, it hurts women in science, and science itself
5 minutes