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Superquark+, Piero Angela's scientific dissemination program, created by RaiPlay in collaboration with RaiUno.
2019
The eye is a perfect machine, the result of millions of years of evolution. But also a mechanism that can be deceived, as with optical illusions, or defective, as in color blindness. Increasingly refined visual machines are capable not only of seeing, but also of interpreting images and recognizing human faces and gestures.
What are the sleep phases and how do they work? What does it mean to sleepwalk? How does a sleeping pill work? How to improve the quality of our rest? Sleeping is a biological need. Sleep is not just a period of inactivity, it is a time when fundamental things happen in the brain. This is why when we sleep poorly we function less well.
Memory is the basis of learning, but it is also a still mysterious universe. How big is human memory? And what means do we have to increase our ability to remember? The ability that the brain has to simulate the future thanks to memory and how much we can trust what we seem to remember.
The physical structures of athletes. The forces that come into play during a pole vault. Digital technologies used in sport, where data is becoming increasingly important to improve athletes' performance. The scientific aspects of sport.
What is cold? How do frozen embryos survive months? And could the same be done for an entire human being? A journey through low temperatures and their effects. And the cases of children who remained in freezing water, without breathing for almost half an hour, and then returned to live normally, which made researchers discover many things about the mechanism of cold.
Nourishment is one of the central aspects of life: our body is constantly destroyed and rebuilt through food. But not all diets are the same, and some are even false. Controlling your body weight and calorie count may not be easy or sufficient. The topic is explored from multiple points of view to better understand the mechanisms that lead us to eat the right quantity and quality of food.
Are we alone in the universe? It is one of man's oldest questions and today the search for life on planets other than ours is an activity that engages scientists all over the world. What are the methods of this research? What might life forms on planets with characteristics different from Earth look like? How many planets could host life?
The educational function of the game, but also its negative aspects and gambling addiction. The mechanisms of gambling unmasked by statistics. The world of videogames: how they are born and how they are developed.
What can science tell us about love? From falling in love and the chemical storms of our brain, to love between young people in the age of social networks and falling in love in the animal world. The scientific aspects of a mechanism that underlies the continuation of each species.
What is happening to the oceans? And how much will they rise due to climate change? A journey into the fundamental element for life on Earth, which is also our main food. Everything that happens in our body needs this liquid. However, there isn't a lot of fresh water on Earth, and producing more isn't easy.
2021
What triggers that strange spark that makes a certain person strike us and not another? What makes us grow in the desire to know her better and be with her? A question of chemistry, but not only. Here's what studies and research say.
What happens in the brain when you fall in love? Does love at first sight really exist? What is a kiss for? All the answers from science on that "sweet trap of nature" that is falling in love.
It is one of the most important decisions we make in our lives. Genetically we are predisposed to choose the best opportunities to propagate and transmit our genes, but often the decision is the result of a compromise. What do the scientific studies say?
What does it mean to feel good from a sexual point of view? A question of hormones, but also of physical health which must be monitored through prevention and early diagnoses. Does genital size matter? Science's answers to the most common questions about sex and health.
What is foreplay for? How long is the ideal duration of sexual intercourse? How does the male orgasm work? And the female one? Major scientific research debunks many circulating myths.
In the human species it takes a year to learn to walk, three years to talk, and even longer to get food. It is precisely for this reason, many scholars believe, that in the human species parents collaborate in parental care for the first years of their children's lives.
A pinch of jealousy, it is said, spices up the relationship. But, as with alcohol, beyond a certain dose it leads to out-of-control behavior. How does this human mechanism work? What explanations does science give? Is jealousy in the genes?
We have evidence that there have been betrayals since prehistoric times. Betrayal, moreover, exists in most animals, even those who seem perpetually faithful. But why do we cheat? Here's what studies and research say.
Studies say that falling in love lasts on average 2 or 3 years. And then? The disturbances of attraction are replaced by deeper feelings and the couple's relationship is consolidated. But what does it consist of? What makes a union solid?
In our country, fewer and fewer children are being had, resulting in an increase in the elderly population and a reduction in the active population. Why does the birth rate affect Italy more than other countries? How have other parts of the world managed to correct this phenomenon?
2023
Eating pollutes: however we put it, this is an incontrovertible truth. Already today, food production alone is responsible for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. But then what should we do? In the meantime, be careful not to waste it, over 17% is thrown away. Then understand that there are foods that have more impact, others less. Eating less meat would be a good place to start. Finally, invest in technology, focus on sustainable agriculture which guarantees the same results but with less water, less fertilizers, fewer pesticides.
If eating pollutes, then let's try to be careful. But how? There are solutions, some have always existed, others looking to the future. If insects, mushrooms and algae have always been present, and with excellent results, in the diets of peoples far from ours, why don't we try to taste them? Or we could eat meat produced in the laboratory, or almond, rice, soy, oat milk, or even 3D printed vegetable steaks: science does not stop and the real challenge to convince us to eat all this will be that... of taste.
What do you eat on a space station when a small crumb of bread could cause irreparable damage? And when we are on top of a mountain? What is the best food for those going to war? And can a castaway survive in the middle of the ocean with makeshift means? Extreme situations that require extreme foods and ingenious solutions.
Eating too much is bad for you, undoubtedly. But not eating is certainly not good for you. Especially if decided alone to chase false myths, cover thinness! But how long can you live without eating and with what consequences? How do animals that hibernate fast? Today we know that eating less extends your life but rather than fasting it is correct to talk about caloric restriction.
Eating one's own kind, is there anything more scabrous, almost inconceivable? Yet, in human history it has always been done, partly for ritual purposes, sometimes out of necessity, sometimes out of criminal perversion. But then, we ask ourselves almost jokingly, how nutritious is human flesh? Finally, there is positive cannibalism: that of the cells of our body, which feed on themselves, on their own waste, producing positive effects on our health.
Maybe we don't realize it but everything we find on our plate every day is closely linked to the events that happen in the world. Everything we eat has traveled a more or less long journey, most of the time it has crossed borders, it has been bought and sold, it has enriched or impoverished someone. And what role does Italy, the home of good food, have in this global geopolitical confrontation?
Eating is such an important event in life that it is not just used... to feed yourself! The act of eating has always been loaded with historical, symbolic and religious meanings. What you eat, but also how you eat it, varies based on the place you are in and its traditions. But also to the times: new knowledge but also new sensitivities advise us to avoid what was even recommended to eat until a few years ago.
Every cuisine is mixed, most of the ingredients come from far away. Foreigners that we put on our plate. To get them, until not long ago, wars were fought and oceans were crossed. The meeting between the old and the new world was the occasion for one of the most extraordinary exchange operations in the history of human nutrition. Along with the tomato, corn, beans, peanuts, potatoes and then cocoa, vanilla and tobacco arrived in Europe. Rice, wheat, barley, vines and olive trees, coffee and sugar cane landed on the American continent. But then did the famous kilometer 0 ever exist?
Prevention, the magic word! To cure a disease there is only medicine but, it has now been proven, a healthy diet can help to prevent it. So lots of fibre, legumes, vegetables, fruit, little meat, especially red meat, good olive oil. What does all this remind us of? Our good old Mediterranean diet, which can protect us from the main chronic and inflammatory diseases. If, at the end of a meal, we also eat a piece of chocolate... even better!
It all depends on calories, you need a certain amount to live, but without exaggerating. The risk of obesity is increasingly frequent, at least in our rich societies. Then it also depends on what foods we eat to obtain the energy we need. So? Let's eat the right amount, avoid junk foods and maybe do some exercise. Easy to say! Otherwise, there are diets. But beware of those fake ones that make you lose weight more than your waistline... your wallet!
Piero Angela
Davide Coero Borga
Co-Conductor
Giuliana Galati
Co-Conductor
Luca Perri
Co-Conductor
Edwige Pezzulli
Co-Conductor
Ruggero Rollini
Co-Conductor
Barbara Bernardini
Co-Conductor
Barbara Gallavotti
Co-Conductor
Nicola Bertini
Paolo Magliocco
2020
How many do we have and why they have different colors. And then, what do we need them for, when did we start dyeing them and how can we make them reborn. In this episode the hair reveals its secrets and also explains what is true in the old and new remedies of popular tradition.
The lifespan of human beings has become much longer. But can we all live to be 120 years old? A short journey to discover the secrets of other species, of what we know about the importance of genetics and lifestyles. Also thinking about the consequences of a world of centenarians.
There is a force that acts everywhere in the universe: the force of gravity. It keeps us grounded, but it has also shaped the universe as we know it. If it wasn't there, everything would be turned upside down. But to find out what it feels like when it seems like gravity isn't there, we asked a famous astronaut.
The Universe is gigantic, but will we ever know if there is something beyond the boundaries of what we can see? And what is it really made of? Will we ever be able to understand where all the matter swallowed by black holes ends up? Cosmologists' answers to the most disturbing questions.
The world population is increasing and everyone needs to be fed. We need more and more food, but we also need healthy food produced with respect for the environment. Here are the ways in which science and technology are trying to overcome the most important challenge.
Plastic is an extraordinary material, capable of unthinkable performances. Yet it has become a public danger, which risks suffocating the world. But whose fault is it? Meanwhile, science and technology have already found solutions: even creating biodegradable plastic from vegetable waste.
We live immersed in an ocean of air, but we almost never notice its presence. Yet the air around us has a long story to tell us: the Earth's atmosphere has not always been like this. The air makes planes fly, it allows us to breathe, but it is only a very thin veil that envelops the planet.
We live immersed in an ocean of air, but we almost never notice its presence. Yet the air around us has a long story to tell us: the Earth's atmosphere has not always been like this. The air makes planes fly, it allows us to breathe, but it is only a very thin veil that envelops the planet.
A real space house built on site. Or orbiting the Moon. So after fifty years man will return to our satellite, to stay there. But what are we going to do there? And have we really solved all the problems of life so far from Earth?
The genetic code is a book that we have just learned to decipher. And we are already capable of reading a person's entire DNA in just a few hours. But now we are also learning to modify it, in an increasingly precise way. And even to create new forms of life.
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