Next on NOVA: "The Ghost Particle"

http://www.pbs.org/nova/neutrino

Broadcast: February 21, 2006 at 8 p.m. ET/PT

(NOVA airs Tuesdays on PBS at 8 p.m. Check your local listings as
dates and times may vary.)

In this program, NOVA probes the secret ingredient of the cosmos:
swarms of invisible particles that fill every cubic inch of space
and just may explain how the universe was created. Trillions of
ghostly neutrinos move through our bodies every second without us
noticing a thing. Yet without them the sun wouldn't shine and the
elements that make up our world wouldn't exist. This program
explores the 70-year struggle so far to understand the most elusive
of all elementary particles, the neutrino. NOVA accompanies
scientists into the laboratory, revealing astonishing footage of
bizarre experiments.

Here's what you'll find on the companion Web site:

ARTICLE & INTERVIEW

The Producer's Story
Filmmaker David Sington shares seven rules for making good TV
out of complex topics.

Dancing With Neutrinos
In this intimate interview, the late astrophysicist John Bahcall
recalls what it felt like to be vindicated after four decades.

SLIDE SHOW & TIME LINE

Awesome Detectors
In this slide show, see how bigger is definitely better when it
comes to apprehending elusive neutrinos.

Case of the Missing Particles
Follow the history of daring proposals and meticulous
experiments that led to a surprising breakthrough in physics.

PODCASTS

Subscribe to the NOVA podcast to download three audio pieces about
neutrino science, and hear other stories on a wide range of
fascinating science topics.

Also, Links & Books, the Teacher's Guide, the program transcript,
and more.

http://www.pbs.org/nova/neutrino

That was nice. I really loved all the historical footage of the early experiments. That one sequence was particularly amusing where they show Davis in the 60's in the mine refilling some cryogenic device and he's just sloshing liquid nitrogen from a container all over the place seemingly without a care in the world! I half-expected but still did NOT like those dull sequences where there is just narration about the behavior of neutrinos while you just sit there staring at utterly purposeless glitzy CG and dancing squiggles (which looked to me to be completely identical to the MS windows media player vizualization thing!!) Dancing squiggles have thier place but after like the 4th sequence I just kept thinking enough's enough already! There was a lot of time like that which could've shown plenty of useful illustrations and diagrams of what was being discussed, but sadly, no. I didn't understand what discovery everyone was talking about at the end though. They just kept repeating the "everyone is borne of neutrinos" "everything is from neutrinos" "we owe the universe to heavy neutrinos" etc without really explaining where they got that from. What principle was actually being referred to there?

The term I use for that C__P is "Doo-Dah Graphics".

Nova and Science Channel programs have a lot of 'm. Anything better would cost 10 times as much or more and require getting real scientists and graphics engineers to collaborate on 'm.

They still stink.