New Series Of Horizon Returns To BBC Two

BBC Two has announced the return of Horizon, with a new series of films looking at culture, science and technology. The news follows the successful Horizon Tim Peake Special: How To Be An Astronaut in December 2015. The series will return to the channel this spring, and then again in the summer.

The first part of the series will air in March and April. The programmes include:

• The Immortalist
This looks at how one Russian internet multi-millionaire is turning to cutting-edge science to try to unlock the secret of living forever. Horizon delves into the world of Dmitry Itskov, who recently brought together some of the world's leading neuroscientists, robot builders and consciousness researchers to try to devise a system to upload the human mind to a computer.

In Japan, Horizon meets the maker of one of the most human-like robots in the world, while the episode also explores how a quadriplegic man in California is already controlling a robot arm with his thoughts. The work of the scientist behind the world's largest neuroscience project – the $6 billion US Brain Initiative – is also discussed.

• Project Greenglow: The Quest For Gravity Control
In the mid-1990s, BAE Systems began a ground-breaking project, codenamed Greenglow, while NASA was simultaneously running its own Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project. Here, Horizon studies recent breakthroughs in the search for loopholes in conventional physics and examines how the groundwork carried out by Project Greenglow has helped change our understanding of the universe. Gravity Control may sound like science fiction, but the research that began with Project Greenglow still continues today.

• The Mystery Of Dark Energy
Horizon meets the scientists on the hunt for Dark Energy, and asks if Einstein was right or wrong. When Einstein first conceived his theory of gravity the universe he predicted was constant, not expanding or contracting, but now that concept is a thing of the past, and it has been said that Dark Energy is causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate at an astonishing rate. That is, in the future, everything we can see in the sky at the moment will expand so far away from us that we will be unable to see it. The challenge for scientists now is to work out why.

• Oceans Of The Solar System
Horizon explores the icy wastes and the vast oceans of the Solar System to find some answers and reveals NASA's most ambitious project to date – to send a robot submarine to swim in the oceans of another world.

• The End Of The Solar System
This looks at how the solar system will be transformed by the ageing sun, before coming to an end in some eight billion years' time. Astronomers can explore the future to predict how it will happen by analysing distant galaxies, stars, and even planets in their final moments. Horizon will discuss the predictions to life in a Midwestern town that has a giant scale model of the solar system spread out all over the city. As it ages, the sun will bloat into a red giant star, swallowing planets, plus half of the town. As the fate of the Earth itself hangs in the balance, how will the solar system end?

• Should We Close Our Zoos?
Liz Bonnin investigates how new scientific research is raising questions about zoos. The film explores how and why zoos keep animals, and ultimately whether they need to change to keep up with modern science, or be consigned to history. Zoos have tried to rebrand themselves as centres of research, conservation and education, but to what extent do they achieve these aims? In the 21st century, can we really justify keeping animals in zoos?

The second part of Horizon's new series will air in June and July 2016 – with dates and the running order still to be confirmed – but the films include:

• How To Find Love Online
Internet dating is a cultural phenomenon and is now the second most common way that couples meet, but just what is the best way to make the online search for love successful? What are the 'matchmaking' algorithms that the big companies use, and do they really deliver on its promises? Is there any science involved, or is it just clever marketing and a con?

Dr Hannah Fry studies patterns in human behaviour and has been studying the underlying algorithms that power internet dating sites. Dr Xand Van Tulleken is single and looking for love and, with help from Hannah, he experiences the world of online dating, from creating the perfect profile to looking at the biological basis of love.

• Curing Alzheimer's
This programme delivers a scientific investigation into potential new treatments that could bring hope to millions of sufferers around the world. It follows the stories of five people, from Colombia to the USA and the UK, who are at the centre of this new wave of research. Horizon also talks to the scientists breaking new ground in treating the disease.

• Ice Station Antarctica (W/T)
BBC Weatherman Peter Gibbs returns to the Halley Research Station in Antarctica where, in his 20s, he worked as a meteorologist. To get there he boards the RRS Ernest Shackleton, the British Antarctic Survey's research vessel, for a two-week journey that will take him across some of the roughest seas in the world. He will explore the life and work of the BAS at the Halley VI research station and reveal how scientists carry out cutting-edge science in the often brutal, but beautiful, conditions. The work at Halley encompasses the impact of solar weather, climate change, weather forecasting, and space travel.

• Why Are We Getting So Fat?
Cambridge geneticist Dr Giles Yeo believes that for many obese people, simply eating less is a lot harder than some might think. In this Horizon film, he takes a journey around the UK and USA to discover why this is the case. He will meet those behind some shocking newspaper headlines, and through their stories, reveal surprising truths which dispel commonly held myths about obesity. He also speaks to scientists and doctors trialling cutting-edge techniques to tackle the crisis; from a 'miracle' hormone injection to a transfusion of faecal matter. He also discovers a thing or two about his own size and relationship with food.

• My Amazing Twin (W/T)
Adam and Neil Pearson are 31-year-old identical twins, and both have Neurofibromatosis – a rare and unpredictable genetic disease which is threatening to destroy their lives. Adam is on the cusp of a successful film and television career, but tumours on his face caused by the disease are growing out of control and he could lose his sight. For years, his brother Neil thought he had escaped symptoms, but today his life is governed by short-term memory loss, a problem that suddenly developed during his teens. Adam is now travelling the world to find out why they are affected so differently, and to see if there's anything he can do to stop the disease.

• E-Cigarettes – Miracle Or Menace (W/T)
While many have claimed e-cigarettes are the ultimate aid to quitting smoking, others say it is a new public health danger. Until now, the risks of smoking e-cigarettes are still widely unknown and, with regulations set to change next year, Horizon looks at the evidence and puts e-cigarettes to the test.

Presented by Michael Mosley, he puts volunteers through a vaping experiment to explore the unanswered questions. What are e-cigarettes really doing to your health? Are they really better for you than cigarettes? What is actually in them? Is passive vapour harmful? And can they really stop you from smoking? And, just to see what all the fuss is about, Michael – a lifelong 'non-smoker' – takes up the habit himself.

Commenting on the commission, Adam Barker, Channel Editor, BBC Two, said: "BBC Two is delighted to welcome back the UK's flagship blue chip science strand with an intriguing collection of new films. Horizon has an unequalled track-record for bringing cutting edge science to a broad audience and the new series is more exciting than ever."

Steve Crabtree, Editor of Horizon, added: "Horizon is now over 50 years old, with over 50 series and nearly 1,200 editions. This forthcoming line up is a thought-provoking, provocative and groundbreaking series of films. The films continue Horizon's tradition of bringing science to a mainstream audience in an entertaining and informative way. Science has never been more exciting and inspiring on the BBC."

Horizon is edited by Steve Crabtree, with Zoe Heron and Rob Liddell as series producers.

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre

(JP)