Includes: 6 videos, downloadable support materials, program planner's manual, posters and publicity materials. $495

Proceeding at a rapid-fire pace, scientific discoveries and advances in technology are among the most exciting and extraordinary features of our age-and also the most ethically challenging.

Ushered in by the 20th century, lightning-paced advances in scientific research and technological development have altered every aspect of life as we know it today. This thought-provoking series studies the historical evolution and contemporary character of the Research Revolution, where science and industry intersect. Six highly acclaimed documentaries delve into the innovations and issues, as well as the controversies, that have originated with atomic weaponry, robotics, genetic engineering, forensics, and attempts to control global warming and protect biodiversity.

Program 1

I Am Become Death: They Made the Bomb

58 minutes; A film by Arthur Mac Caig

Reflecting on the awesome power of the atomic bomb that he helped develop as Manhattan Project director during World War II, Robert Oppenheimer recalled the words of Hinduism's sacred text, "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." About the history and aftermath of America's top-secret program to create the ultimate weapon, this widely acclaimed documentary combines footage of the war and the making of the bomb with profiles of key scientists involved in the Manhattan Project. Their recollections offer rare inside views of their personal and professional lives at the remote New Mexico site where they carried out their work, and reveal how each responded to the U.S. government's decision to drop A-bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Program 2

Into the Body

45 minutes; Directed and written by Brian Knappenberger; Produced by Joe Arnao; Platinum Award, Houston Film Festival

In our age of rapidly advancing technologies, we are developing the potential to change ourselves as a species in fundamental ways. Using computer animation, archival clips, and microscopic filming techniques, Into the Body travels along new frontiers that blur the borders between science fact and science fiction. In its inquiry, this absorbing documentary highlights medical innovations, such as artificial limbs, microscopic implants and gene therapies, along with robotics and artificial intelligence that are merging humans with machines. Experts from top universities, corporations, and medical and biotech research teams candidly discuss the ethical and moral issues surrounding these new breakthroughs and consider what it will mean in the future to be human.

Program 3

Our Genes, Our Choices: Who Gets to Know?

57 minutes; Directed by Mark Ganguzza; Written by Jay Ward Brown; Fred Friendly Seminars / Thirteen WNET-NY

Moderator Arthur Miller, professor at Harvard Law School, leads an intense, provocative, and often humorous discussion into the far-reaching implications of genetic testing. Made up of prominent scientists, journalists, religious and community leaders, healthcare specialists and legal professionals, a group of 13 distinguished panelists considers compelling questions about the right to privacy and the ethical dilemmas related to living with the wealth of genetic information now available to us. Speaking from their own experience and in the role-playing guises of family members and friends, the seminar participants address myriad issues in diverse arenas, from personal and family relationships to the workplace and beyond.

Program 4

The Gene Squad

43 minutes; Directed and written by Jerry Thompson; Produced by Terence McKeown and Bette Thompson; Canadian Broadcasting Company; Silver Chris Award, Columbus International Film & Video Festival

This timely documentary traces the development of forensic DNA sampling and profiling, starting with its first use in Birmingham, England in 1986 up to today's widespread application in the U.S and the use of computerized DNA databanks as crime-fighting tools. Showing how advances in forensic science helped solve the 1977 murder of a 12-year-old Canadian child two decades later, The Gene Squad assembles its evidence like a good detective story. As riveting as it is informative, the film also highlights the ethical, civil liberties and privacy issues that are surfacing as DNA profile-matching technologies evolve.

Program 5

What's Up with the Weather?

120 minutes (In two 52-minute sections); Produced and directed by Jon Palfreman; Series: Nova/Frontline, 2000

Although most scientists agree that the earth's temperature has risen during the past century, consensus breaks down about the phenomenon's specific causes and possible solutions. This coproduction of two award-winning PBS series, Nova and Frontline, investigates both sides of the fierce debate about global warming, its potential threats to our planet, and the challenge of finding and producing non-polluting sources of energy. What's Up with the Weather? can be effectively used in public programs as two separate hour-long viewing sessions or as a single session devoted to shorter segments of the film.

Program 6

Natural Connections

46 minutes; Directed by Sharon Howard and Michael Rosen; A Howard Rosen Production. 5 Emmy Awards

Ranging from a lush tropical rain forest in Costa Rica to the pristine Adams River in British Columbia, five sites that demonstrate the strong but fragile interweaving of plant and animal life come under close scrutiny in this visually stunning documentary. Natural Connections illustrates why and how planet Earth's astounding variety of species and habitats must be preserved to ensure our own survival. Thoughtful interviews with prominent scientists working in the field, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward O. Wilson, underline the importance of maintaining biodiversity and why protecting the biological wealth that sustains us is an imperative of our time.