Episode
Horizon: In the Light of New Information
Overview
Report on the evolution of laser light technology for communication in the 21st century, with a dramatised account of the effect of the technology on our daily lives.
Details
- Series
- Horizon
- Season
- Season 24
- Episode
- Episode 22
- Air date
- 1987-06-22
- Runtime
- 60 min
Episode context
In the Light of New Information is Episode 22 in 1987 of Horizon. It aired on 1987-06-22. The runtime is 60 min.
Previous / Next
Episode 21: To Catch a Falling Star
Report on the future and commercial benefit of research into astronomy conducted by the Royal Greenwich Observatory and other scientific institutions in Great Britain.
Episode 23: Janice's Choice
Janice Blenkharn's mother died of Huntington's Chorea, which any child of a victim has a 50-50 chance of inheriting. Janice is faced with the choice of having a test, developed after research in South America, to see if she has this incurable genetic disease.
More episodes from this season
Episode 20: The Riddle of the Joints
Report on research into rheumatoid arthritis.
Episode 19: Aircrash: The Burning Issue
Report on the need for improved safety features on airplanes in particular the desirability of smoke hoods, plus an interview with a survivor of the 1985 Manchester aircrash.
Episode 17: The Anthropic Principle
Discussion of the Anthropic Principle, a scientific theory for man's place in th e Universe.
Episode 16: Making Sex Pay
James Gould, Professor of Biology at Princeton University, lectures on the mating habits of animals and humans.
Episode 15: After Chernobyl - Closer to Home
Report on the safety of UK nuclear power stations, following the accident at Chernobyl in the USSR in 1986. The programme focuses on the nuclear installation at Hartlepool on Teeside, which has the smallest evacuation zone in the western world.
Episode 14: Trial Babies
Report on the different tests done on pregnant women to detect abnormalities in the foetus, with investigation of why these tests are not available in all pregnancies.
Episode 13: Broken Images
Report on two sufferers of visual agnosia. The condition affects their ability to impose order on the visual world, even though they are not blind, but it does reveal a great deal about normal perception.
Episode 12: The Magma Chamber
Report on the research into volcanoes by British scientists Professor Geoff Brow n and Dr. Hazel Rymer, who have developed a technique of exploring the magma chambers of volcanoes and predicting when they will erupt.
Episode 11: To Engineer Is Human
Engineer Henry Petroski explains why engineering can never be an exact science and looks at examples of engineering failures.
Episode 10: Police Stress: The John Wayne Syndrome
Documentary on the increasing pressure put on the British police resulting in stress and psychological disorders, and also on the work of Dr. Douglas Duckworth, a psychologist at Leeds University who has worked with the police on these problems.