Lissette Dennis
Professor Niles-Arango ENC1101
30 November 2012
TW #3 (TW #1 Revised)
The Best Show on TV
“Who are we?” “Can we eliminate evil?” “Is the universe alive?” These questions are some of the thought-provoking themes for episodes of the science documentary TV series Through the Wormhole. Through the Wormhole, a fascinating, fast paced TV show, narrated by actor Morgan Freeman, airs on the Science Channel at 10:00 PM every Wednesday night. I would recommend this show to viewers because of three major reasons: It is entertaining; it answers questions about the universe, and it explores human nature.
The first reason I recommend Through the Wormhole to viewers is that it is entertaining. Although Through the Wormhole is a science show, it has been produced in a way that average person can understand and enjoy. When watching the show, viewers can see real-life stories mixed with scientific experiments. The narrator himself uses his own stories to ask the questions about life most people have. For instance, on one episode, he talked about his fear of the darkness when he was a boy; then, he posed the question “What is fear?” After that, a team of experts on human behavior presented a hypothesis and conducted an experiment to look into why we have fear, and then the same team of experts, through simple words and examples presented the conclusion that fear is just part of our subconscious mind. Besides the way the questions are presented, viewers will also enjoy the special effects used to help them visualize each experiment or theory presented. Through the Wormhole is worth watching because it entertains at the same time that it educates. The show offers entertainment for everybody.
Another reason I recommend viewers to watch Through the Wormhole is that it answers questions about the universe through the exploration conducted by the top experts in their field. Through the Wormhole brings the most current findings to light through the use of cutting-edge technologies from powerful telescopes that assist scientists in mapping the universe as scientists try to define its limits. For example, one episode presented the discovery of a new kind of black hole that is called a supermassive black hole. According to the scientists that were featured in the show, supermassive black holes form when many black holes merge to form a large one. Those same scientists also said that in the heart of our own Milky Way galaxy, a supermassive black hole is eating away any source of light it finds on its way, but we should not worry for now, the black hole is millions of light years away from us. Furthermore, Through the Wormhole formulates out-of-the-box theories about the universe like the idea that universe is a living organism with a working brain and a beating heart that consciously decides its destiny. If people want to know more about our universe, then, Through the Wormhole is the right show to watch.
Finally, the main reason I would recommend viewers to watch Through the Wormhole is that it explores human nature by presenting thought-provoking ideas about sociopaths and the elimination of evil. For instance, on one of the episodes, a neuroscientist looks for the source of sociopaths’ cruelty and studies the brains of people with high ability for empathy by showing them videos of people who are experiencing pain and compares their brains to the brains of people with low empathy. Through his research, he finds that the brains of people who are highly empathetic show activity in the same parts of the brain as people who are experiencing pain. In contrast,