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Greetings, TV viewers!

Here are this week's home viewing suggestions selected from online advanced program listings and aligned with state and national K-12 academic standards available online.


Sunday, Mar. 30
7-8 p.m. E/P

CBS

Subjects: Science and US History

Middle and High School

"60 Minutes"

The reports in this newsmagazine program are "The Gore Campaign" - The former vice president and former presidential candidate Al Gore talks to Lesley Stahl about his campaign to make the world aware of global warming. "Stat Man" - Bill James doesn't steal bases, hit or catch a baseball but his intense analysis of the game and its players through statistics have made him an essential asset to the World Champion Boston Red Sox. Morley Safer reports. "Murat Kurnaz" - An innocent man held as a terror detainee for years tells Scott Pelley in his first U.S. television interview how Americans tortured him in Afghanistan and then at Guantanamo Bay


Sunday, Mar. 30
8-9 p.m. E/P

PBS

Subjects: Science and Geography

Elementary, Middle and High School

"NATURE: Cuba - Wild Island of the Caribbean"

Protected by its isolation, the wildlife of Cuba has remained naturally preserved, untouched and unexplored. Through a special arrangement with the Cuban government, unprecedented access was granted to film this documentary about the diversity of life on the island, much of it virtually unknown until recently. For the first time, the rest of us will have the opportunity to see the iridescent Cuban jewel ant, the bee hummingbird that flies so fast it becomes invisible and the largest colony of Caribbean flamingos in the world. TV-G

Log on http://www.pbs.org/nature


Monday, Mar. 31
8-8:30 p.m. E/P

Discovery Science Channel

Subjects: Science and Geography

Elementary, Middle and High School

"Invention Nation: Desert Power"

Hosts of this science and technology series, Chris, Nobu and Micah, journey across New Mexico to check out off-the grid houses made of used tires and recycled scrap, turn gas-powered cars electric, and ride through the desert in solar powered dune-buggies.


Tuesday, Apr. 1
8=9-10 p.m. E/P

History Channel

Subjects: Science

Elementary, Middle and High School

"Universe: Nebulas"

This documentary provides a tour through the "Art Gallery of the Galaxy" to view what are considered the "crown jewels" of the heavens. Nebulas are mysterious clouds of gas that aren't classified as stars, planets, moons or asteroids. Astronomers use the most sophisticated techniques to view them since they are practically invisible to the naked eye. Nothing less than stunning, nebulas glow, reflect or obscure the galaxy's light with amazing swirls of color. Nebulas mark the regions where the nothingness of space first coalesces, where stars are born and where stars die. Cutting-edge computer graphics are used to bring the universe down to earth. TV-G

Further information at www.history.com/minisite.do?mini_id=54036


Wednesday, Apr. 2
8-9 p.m. E/P

PBS

Subjects: Science

Elementary, Middle and High School

"Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures - Return To The Amazon"

Holding one-fifth of the world's river water, the Amazon travels through nine countries, with an outflow nearly 12 times larger than that of the Mississippi. There are more species of fish in the Amazon than in the entire Atlantic Ocean. Once a year, the river rises as high as 40 feet, forcing an intersection of wildlife - including piranhas, spiders the size of birds, pink dolphins, river otters, flocks of parrots and monkeys. Rainforests, where trees are being cut down at a staggering rate, are disappearing. Human enterprise and development not only compromise the health and ecology of these waters, but inflict global consequences. Twenty-five years ago, Jean-Michel Cousteau traveled to the Amazon with his father to study this exotic ecosystem. In a time of accelerating environmental change, he returns to this rushing heartbeat of our planet, down the river whose waters circulate through all oceans. In this documentary the Cousteau family and the Ocean Adventures team make discoveries both inspiring and shocking in this region of urgency and conflict, as well as of hope for biodiversity and sustainability. Part 1 of 2. Second part airs in this timeslot April 9. TV-G

Log on http://www.pbs.org/kqed/oceanadventures


Thursday, Apr. 3
10-11 p.m. E/P

PBS

Subjects: Science and Geography

Middle and High School

"Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?"

This is an episode in a four-hour series about socio-economic and racial inequities in health and the searches for their causes. The programs look at what's making us sick in the first place, investigating startling new findings that suggest there is much more to poor health than bad habits, inadequate health care or unlucky genes. The series circles in on a slow killer in plain view: the social circumstances in which we are born, live and work that can affect our risk for disease as surely as germs and viruses. This episode reports that African-American infant mortality rates remain twice as high as white Americans'. In fact, African-American mothers with graduate degrees face a greater risk of having pre-term, low birth-weight babies than white mothers who haven't finished high school. Investigators are circling in on how the chronic stress of racism throughout a life can become a risk factor embedded in the body. Recent Mexican immigrants, on the other hand, though poorer, tend to be healthier than the average American. But the longer they're here, the worse their relative health becomes. This is known as the "Hispanic Paradox." Is there something about life in America that is harming their health? Conversely, what is protective about new immigrant communities that we can learn from? TV-PG

For viewer reaction to this film log on http://imdb.com/title/tt0089385/usercomments


Friday, Apr. 4
7-8 p.m. E/P

Animal Planet Channel

Subjects: Science and Geography

Middle and High School

"Natural World - Saved By Dolphins"

For 40 minutes a pod of dolphins protected 4 swimmers from a great white shark. Why did they do it? This documentary tells a true story, which re-lives the swimmers extraordinary ordeal and investigates dolphin's relationship with sharks. TV-PG


Saturday, Apr. 5
8-10 p.m. E/P

History Channel

Subjects: Science and Geography

Middle and High School

"A Global Warming"

This documentary follows teams of climate experts as they investigate the most dramatic climatic events in history. It is a story of unimaginable extremes, extinctions of entire species and remarkable survivals in the face of total devastation. Learn the secrets locked away inside 300 year-old corals. Is it possible that the Arctic was once a tropical haven with crocodiles and waters hot enough to swim in? Scientists are racing to understand the weather of our past in the hope of preventing climate catastrophe in the future. Packed with breathtaking locations, dynamic special effects and exciting accounts, watch as a vision of the earth's violent past and uncertain future is revealed. TV-PG

 

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