Museum secrets American Museum of Natural History, New York
From dinosaurs to meteorites to the origins of the human species, the American Museum of Natural History boasts 32 million exhibits, and over 4 million annual visitors, along with a stellar research staff that mounts over 100 expeditions every year.In this episode, we meet an American farm boy whose love for Africa changed the image of African wildlife from scary to noble. We witness the mating rituals of a 400 million year old crab whose unique blood harbors secrets crucial to modern medicine, then crack open a dinosaur egg to uncover a clue that overturns a long held misconception about a supposedly murderous species. We run a relay race through Manhattan to investigate whether Incan knotted strings were capable of carrying encrypted messages, then blast off on a space mission to bring back comet dust that may hold the secret of how life began on Earth. And finally, we follow museum explorers as they capture animals to extract their DNA, to be preserved in the museum’s sub-zero storage facility – a blueprint of life for future generations.
Primary Title
- Museum secrets
Secondary Title
- American Museum of Natural History, New York
Date Broadcast
- Saturday 1 September 2012
Start Time
- 18 : 30
Finish Time
- 19 : 30
Duration
- 60:00
Series
- 2
Episode
- 8
Channel
- BBC Knowledge
Broadcaster
- Sky Network Television
Programme Description
- From dinosaurs to meteorites to the origins of the human species, the American Museum of Natural History boasts 32 million exhibits, and over 4 million annual visitors, along with a stellar research staff that mounts over 100 expeditions every year.In this episode, we meet an American farm boy whose love for Africa changed the image of African wildlife from scary to noble. We witness the mating rituals of a 400 million year old crab whose unique blood harbors secrets crucial to modern medicine, then crack open a dinosaur egg to uncover a clue that overturns a long held misconception about a supposedly murderous species. We run a relay race through Manhattan to investigate whether Incan knotted strings were capable of carrying encrypted messages, then blast off on a space mission to bring back comet dust that may hold the secret of how life began on Earth. And finally, we follow museum explorers as they capture animals to extract their DNA, to be preserved in the museum’s sub-zero storage facility – a blueprint of life for future generations.
Classification
- Unknown
Owning Collection
- Television Vault
Broadcast Platform
- Television
Languages
- English
Captions
Live Broadcast
- No
Rights Statement
- Made for the University of Auckland's educational use as permitted by the Screenrights Licensing Agreement.
Subjects
- American Museum of Natural History
- Natural history museums--New York (State)--New York.
Genres
- Art
- Documentary
- History
Hosts
- Colm Feore (Narrator)
Contributors
- Kensington Communications Inc. (Production Unit)
- Stephen Milton (Producer)
- Kenton Vaughan (Director)
Subjects
- American Museum of Natural History
- Natural history museums--New York (State)--New York.