The Search for Solutions

Episode Synopsis

An interview with a scientist who studies the songs of the humpback whale; an interview with an archaeologist who collected and painstakingly documented tiny button-like ancient clay objects -- regarded with disinterest by other scientists, who assumed they were toys or gambling pieces -- which ultimately revealed the origins of writing fifty centuries earlier than previously assumed; the work of German physicist W.C. Roentgen, whose experiments with cathode ray tubes led to the development of the X-Ray; an interview with a scientist whose work yielded an answer to the problem of why sound dies out faster in sea water than in fresh water; Dr. Ralph Nelson and colleague Nancy Bagley discuss their study of the metabolism of hibernating bears, leading Nelson to suggest that an overweight astronaut would be the most logical choice for a long space expedition; designers Ray Merry and Andrew Jones discuss their wind-inflated kite sculptures.