National Geographic's: Strange Days On Planet Earth (DVD, 2-Disc) Region 4

Around the globe, experts are racing to solve a series of mysteries: how could a one-degree rise in average temperature have profound effects around the globe? How could crumbling houses in New Orleans be linked to voracious creatures from southern China? Hosted by actor-writer-director Edward Norton, this award-winning series uses state-of-the-art graphics, cutting edge research and globe-spanning investigations to understand how our environment is changing and why. It's a high-tech detective story. revealing clue by clue how seemingly disparate events are connected and ultimately how they affect life on planet Earth.

EPISODE 1 - INVADERS: Alien species of plants and animals have invaded every continent. They have enormous powers, they spread disease: they devour our buildings. Some are destroying the very land under our feet. Think of them as the first wave of an assault that could drive the greatest mass extinction since the end of the dinosaurs. What is causing this invasion, and what can we do to stop the rising tide?

EPISODE 2 - THE ONE DEGREE FACTOR: Detectives usually break mysterious cases when they first see the connections among seemingly unrelated clues. Consider these: Dust clouds are building high over the Atlantic. An entire population of caribou is declining. their numbers dwindling, while other species are pushed to the limits of their physical survival in the oceans. A respiratory ilness, once uncommon among children in Trinidad, is now widespread. Amazingly, many scientists now believe that these disparate phenomena

may be linked to global climate change

EPISODE 3 - PREDATORS: Deep in the wilds of Venezuela, the natural order is being turned inside out. Miles of verdant forest and sar vannah have given way to small and scattered islands. Some of these islands are now overrun by bands of voracious howler monkeys, a glut of iguanas and hordes of ravenous ants. What is driving this bizarre transformation? A team of scientists believes that life here is. running amok; in large part because its top predators are gone. In Venezuela and around the world, experts are leaming that predators

seem to play a crucial role in the structure and function of entire ecosystems. When the predators disappear, the consequences can be dramatic. I predators are so vital, should they be brought back and can they be?

EPISODE 4 - TROUBLED WATERS: In the American heartland there have been strange disappearances. Frogs are vanishing without a trace. Further north, in the green waters of Canada's St Lawrence River, beluga whales are mysteriously dying- their white corpses found washing up on the stony shores. A world away on the Groat Barrier Reef, swarms of monstrous sea stars are overrunning this marine paradise. At first glance, these stories seem unrelated. But, in fact, scientists suspect they may be part of a woridwide

transformation brought on by toxins in the water. Havo Earth's vibrant waterways become massive delivery systems for invisible poisons? And are some of these poisons reaching our faucets? As scientists verily that our problem with toxins is mounting, cutting-edge research using plants and bacteria draw on the building blocks if life itself as a solution to problems voxing the planet

Br20.4.02.13726e