The BEST episodes of The Nature of Things season 20

#1 - Dust Storms / Oysters / Science Fairs

Season 20 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/26/1979

#2 - Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang

Season 20 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/6/1980

A documentary about Paul Jacobs, an American freelance investigative journalist who sets out to prove the relationship between low-level nuclear radiation or fallout and the increased incidences of cancer. Between 1957 and 1978, Jacobs interviewed persons who had been exposed to fall-out from bomb tests in Nevada.

#3 - The Chiricahuas / The Making of Violins / Seal Psychology

Season 20 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/5/1980

The Chiricahuas, the making of violins, and seal psychology are among the topics covered.

#4 - Parenthood / Puppets and Surgery

Season 20 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/14/1979

Scientists Dr. Patrick Steptoe and Dr. David Bevie are interviewed and the status of parenthood and a unique connection between puppets and surgery are examined.

#5 - Hypnosis / India's Sacred Cows / Ultra Sound Scanner

Season 20 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/31/1979

Dr. David Suzuki reports on the use of hypnosis as a medical application and the use of ultra-sound waves for X-rays, and presents the film "Sacred Cows," dealing with the importance of domestic cattle to the Indian economy.

#6 - Flying Circus of Physics

Season 20 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/24/1979

Dr. David Suzuki visits an unusual professor who conducts a Flying Circus Of Physics, examines soft contact lenses made for extended periods of use and reports on the latest immunological efforts to treat severely afflicted children. - Premiere with David Suzuki as Host.

#7 - Deep Diving Memory

Season 20 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/28/1979

The host David Suzuki show us the changes physiological caused by diving and examines the mystery memory.

#8 - Madagascar: Island of the Moon

Season 20 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/7/1979

"Madagascar: Island of the Moon" examines some of the rare animal species found on the world's fourth-largest island (now known as the Malagasy Republic). Most of the footage is devoted to the island's lemurs, early primates that have flourished on Madagascar and evolved into several species. Among the animals shown are the ring-tailed lemur, the mouse lemur.

#9 - High altitude Physiology / The Vision of Galileo / Dust Storms

Season 20 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/27/1980

Among the segments is "Galileo," a film that chronicles the life of the Italian astronomer, mathematician and physicist through visits to the cities where he lived and worked, and demonstrations of his experiments. Another segment focuses on how the human body adapts to life high above sea level, and includes a report on some of the equipment that enables mountain climbers and airplane pilots to survive at high altitudes. Also; how weather in one part of the world can affect regions thousands of miles away.

#10 - Roger Tory Peterson; Portrait of a Birdwatcher

Season 20 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/13/1980

The story of naturalist Peterson, his work and his love of nature, narrated by John Livingston, photography by Rudolf Kovanic.

#11 - The Lacandons

Season 20 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/23/1980

Title of tonight's program is "The Lacandons" - a North American Indian program.

#12 - Crocodile City

Season 20 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/9/1980

Tonight's topics include Crocodile City; High Altitude Physiology; and Magnetic Bacteria.

#13 - Memories From Eden

Season 20 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/2/1980

A one-hour film on modern zoos. Traditionally, zoos have been little more than prisons for their occupants; today, special environments are being created which provide much better for the welfare of animals and increase the enjoyment of visitors.

#14 - Left Brain, Right Brain

Season 20 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/19/1979

The brain's two halves or hemispheres differ both in anatomical structure and in the bodily functions they control. "Left Brain, Right Brain" is a report on recent studies into the functional differences between the two halves. Studies include administering verbal and motor tests to a subject after one hemisphere has been anesthetized, tracing blood-flow activity in the two halves as different tasks are performed and testing a patient who has had the nerve connections between the two halves severed.

#15 - Arctic Oil

Season 20 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/5/1979

This report on oil exploration in the Canadian Arctic examines the technological and environmental problems associated with drilling in the Far North. It also focuses on how and where decisions about northern development are made. Among those interviewed are Jake Epp, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development; Environment Minister John Fraser; and Mr. Justice Thomas Berger, author of a 1977 report on the Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

#16 - Contact

Season 20 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/21/1979

A one-hour film about a new method of treatment for autistic children, hitherto thought to be hopeless cases. Filmed in Toronto, it shows how techniques developed in the U.S. by Barry and Suzi Kaufman, themselves parents of an autistic Child, have been adopted for use in an experimental program headed by Fern Levitt, a 24-year-old psychology graduate of York University.

#17 - Clinical Trials

Season 20 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/12/1979

Topics include Clinical Trials; Folk Medicine and Magnetic Bacteria.