The Nature of Things

The Nature of Things

1960
★★★★☆ 7.1/10
📺 64 Seasons
🎬 584 Episodes
📅 Returning Series
🌐 EN
Documentary
The Nature of Things is a Canadian television series of documentary programs. It debuted on CBC Television on November 6, 1960. Many of the programs document nature and the effect that humans have on it. The program was one of the first to explore environmental issues, such as clear-cut logging. The series is named after an epic poem by Roman philosopher Lucretius: "Dē Rērum Nātūrā" — On the Nature of Things.

Where to Watch (US)

Stream

fuboTV

Seasons

Season 1
1960 • 25 Episodes
Season 2
1962 • 24 Episodes
Season 3
1963 • 24 Episodes
Series consultant Lister Sinclair is host on season's opener on which he explains how scientists approach their work and how The Nature of Things will present scientific items.
Season 4
1964 • 11 Episodes
An examination of personality and achievement of Albert Einstein. Dr Jacob Bronowski of Salk Institute for Advanced Biological Studies at La Jolla, California.
Season 5
1965 • 11 Episodes
Season 6
1965 • 17 Episodes
A series studying animal kingdom, and man's place in it, through comparisons of anatomy, function, and behavior.
Season 7
1966 • 17 Episodes
An examination of sun from various points of view. Includes discussion with illustrative film footage of: archeological remains.
Season 8
1967 • 4 Episodes
"Retreat to the Rockies" with an especial look at bighorn sheep.
Season 9
1968 • 14 Episodes
Thomas Edison wasn't merely a lone inventful genius. He invented modern research team makes possible technology shaping our world.
Season 10
1969 • 28 Episodes
Part a six-part series on pollution. This program shows how comparatively new science of ecology has shown fate of life on earth lies in balance.
Season 11
1970 • 15 Episodes
The first in a four-part series entitled The Last Stand. The series looks at a variety of areas in the world set aside as specially protected areas of wilderness and natural wildlife. The first program is about western mountain parks and the work being done by biologists and scientists to save mountain wildlife.
Season 12
1971 • 10 Episodes
Season opener: The Nature of Things looks at discovery of insulin by Dr Frederick Banting and Dr Charles Best and deals with current Canadian research into diabetes.
Season 13
1972 • 10 Episodes
The Lacandons, last surviving descendants of Mayas, live in rain forest of southern Mexico.
Season 14
1973 • 10 Episodes
This, was filmed on Great Island, off east coast of Newfoundland, site of puffins' nesting grounds in North America.
Season 15
1974 • 8 Episodes
A documentary showing the behaviour of killer whales in the wild, in the waters off Vancouver Island.[194]
Season 16
1975 • 8 Episodes
Season Debut: A two-part film about the ease in which little children learn languages.
Season 39
1998 • 5 Episodes
The program is about the natural history of this invisible world: the things that float in the air around us, the microbes that live in the dish cloth on the kitchen counter, the fungi under our fingernails, and the visitors in the saucer under a house plant.
Season 40
1999 • 15 Episodes
Season 41
2000 • 19 Episodes
Season 42
2001 • 17 Episodes
Bob thinks but doesn't feel. Christina feels but has trouble thinking. Virginia can neither think or feel as she's pulled down into a spiral of darkness that zaps her very will to survive. Kent lives within a 20-minute time span, unable to remember his past or plan for his future. Each of these people has had an injury to a part of the brain called the frontal lobes and their stories, told in Me, My Brain And I, are helping neuroscientists unravel the mystery of what makes us distinctly human.
Season 43
2002 • 1 Episode
Season 44
2003 • 1 Episode
Season 45
2004 • 23 Episodes
Season 46
2005 • 29 Episodes
The hair-raising journey to discover the secret lives of these ancient crawlers. They have been roaming our planet for more than 350 million years and survived to become the giants of the spider kingdom. And they have a reputation to match – their name alone provokes fear and loathing.
Season 47
2007 • 24 Episodes
Canadian bear expert Charlie Russell rescues two orphaned cubs destined for death in a squalid Russian zoo and secrets them away to his home in the remote wilds of the South Kamchatka peninsula, in the former Soviet Union.
Season 48
2008 • 17 Episodes
One of the greatest controversies in science today: just what did scientists really find when they uncovered the tiny, human-like skeleton of a strange creature on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003? Since the discovery was made public a bitter dispute has split the world of anthropology.
Season 49
2009 • 18 Episodes
A rare and intimate glimpse into the inner life of one of the most intelligent, playful and mischievous species on the planet.
Season 50
2010 • 18 Episodes
The octopus is a close cousin of the oyster and snail. And yet, even by human standards the multi-limbed creature is considered highly intelligent. From Spain to Vancouver Island to Capri, Italy, scientists are testing the brain-power of the mysterious and mythic octopus.
Season 51
2011 • 18 Episodes
Season 52
2012 • 15 Episodes
Wolves and Buffalo follows the fortunes of one pack of wolves, the Delta Pack. Will the pups survive their first year? Will the packs alpha animals retain their pack position to breed again next year? As they try to bring down the buffalo to keep themselves and their new pups alive what will the future hold for these ancient warriors?
Season 53
2013 • 19 Episodes
North America is under attack by a sly and wily aquatic invader. Introduced in the ‘70s for the purpose of cleaning up algae in fish ponds, the aggressive Asian carp escaped into the Mississippi river system during floods. The 50-kilogram bottom feeders have advanced north at a surprising rate, becoming a familiar sight with their frenzied and often physically threatening mass leaps into the air. Despite their fascination with this newcomer, scientists on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border agree this invader is a threat we need to take seriously.
Season 54
2014 • 6 Episodes
The biggest archaeological survey ever conducted of the Stonehenge landscape finds new evidence of a lost civilization.
Season 55
2015 • 2 Episodes
Experience a calf’s first year of life as it grows up in Jasper National Park amid some of the most striking scenery on the planet.
Season 56
2016 • 2 Episodes
Despite intense archaeological scrutiny, much of the ancient city of Pompeii still remains a mystery. Now a team of archaeologists, scientists, and historians are taking to uncover Pompeii's secrets.
Season 57
2017 • 6 Episodes
The first days of spring sees Arctic fox pups take their first steps and black bear cubs learn to climb trees after the long cold days of winter.
Season 58
2018 • 11 Episodes
A journey around the world and back in time to discover why horses and humans make perfect partners.
Season 59
2019 • 17 Episodes
The epic story of three legendary women who fought to save the great apes — and inspired a generation.
Season 60
2020 • 14 Episodes
Global temperatures are rising and so are we: millions of young people rise up to demand their right to a livable planet.
Season 61
2021 • 14 Episodes
The inside story of the high-stakes race to defeat a killer virus and save millions of lives.
Season 62
2023 • 13 Episodes
North Atlantic right whales are on the brink of extinction. Follow the fight to save them.
Season 63
2024 • 14 Episodes
New hosts Sarika Cullis-Suzuki and Anthony Morgan take on The Nature of Things, the world's longest-running science documentary series.
Season 64
2025 • 14 Episodes
New hosts Sarika Cullis-Suzuki and Anthony Morgan take on The Nature of Things, the world's longest-running science documentary series.
Season 65
2025 • 4 Episodes
Deep in the jungle amidst the ruins of an ancient empire, bat scientists meet for an all out Bat-a-thon, a blitz of research to discover more about the furry little flyers.

Network

CBC Television

Keywords

natureenvironment