Explore the coral reefs of planet Earth!聽聽聽 We learn how coral reefs form, how they鈥檙e endangered and how scientists are working to rejuvenate bleached coral.聽聽聽 One of the most beautiful programs we鈥檝e ever offered!聽聽聽Show length: 27 minutes
Living networks connect and support life forms large and small鈥攆rom colonies of tiny microbes and populations of massive whales to ever-expanding human societies. In the California Academy of Sciences鈥� latest original planetarium show, Habitat Earth, discover what it means to live in today鈥檚 connected world. Through stunning visualizations of the natural world, dive below the ocean鈥檚 surface to explore the dynamic relationships found in kelp forest ecosystems, travel beneath the forest floor to see how Earth鈥檚 tallest trees rely on tiny fungi to survive, and journey to new heights to witness the intricate intersection between human and ecological networks.聽Show length: 24 minutes
The deep sea is one of the most mysterious and little-explored regions of Earth. We know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about the wonders hidden beneath the waves of our planet鈥檚 seas. The deepest parts of our oceans teem with life forms so strange-looking they could be from the realm of science fiction. These fantastic creatures inhabit a realm of underwater volcanoes, engulfed mountain ranges, and vast trenches cut into the crust of the planet. Into the Deep is a breathtaking journey of sea exploration originally created by Ogrefish FilmProductions, adapted and re-narrated by Loch Ness Productions. It combines marine biology and underwater geology with a history of deep-sea exploration.聽Show length: 32 minutes
Wayfinders opens by telling the story of the spread of people out of Southeast Asia throughout the Pacific over thousands of years. They discovered thousands of islands and learned to move between them using only the signs of the natural world around them, including the stars. Eventually they reached the islands of Hawai鈥檌 and sailed vast distances back and forth from other islands. Around 600 years ago these long ocean crossing voyages to and from Hawai鈥檌 had all but stopped as the populations became self-sustaining. The knowledge and skill built over thousands of years faded from cultural memory into only legends and stories.
Fast forward to the 1970鈥檚, when the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance was building after nearly 200 years of suppression by colonial powers. It was at this time that the Polynesian Voyaging Society was founded by native Hawaiian artist Herb Kane, sailor Tommy Holmes, and anthropologist Ben Finney in 1973. They designed and built a replica double-hulled canoe in the spirit of those used hundreds of years before. Their intention was to sail it to Tahiti and back in the wake of their ancestors, without modern navigation instrumentation. They named their wa鈥檃 (canoe) H艒k奴le鈥檃 after the star of joy, also known as Arcturus. They asked Mau Piailug of the island of Satawal in Micronesia to be their navigator and he agreed, recognizing that the traditional art of wayfinding was in danger of disappearing entirely. In 1976, he successfully navigated H艒k奴le鈥檃 across 2,600 miles, from Hawai鈥檌 to Tahiti without using modern instruments. Show length: 24 minutes