Mike Downie
Director
The Nature of Things (1960)
Season 9
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.
Released Nov. 6, 1960
Episode 42 min
10+
Genres: Documentary
Keywords: tmdb.nature, tmdb.environment, mdblist.has-trailer, imdb.science-and-technology-documentary, imdb.science, imdb.natural-science, imdb.four-word-title
Watch Providers: fuboTV
Network: CBC Television
S9E1 - Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison wasn't merely a lone inventful genius. He invented modern research team makes possible technology shaping our world.
Sept. 26, 1968, midnight
S9E2 - Human Engineering
Oct. 3, 1968, midnight
S9E3 - Materials
A review of history of man's oldest materials: wood, stone, iron, bronze and glass.
Oct. 10, 1968, midnight
S9E4 - Structure
Defying force of gravity, man has strewn his structures across earth. This program looks at some of them.
Nov. 7, 1968, midnight
S9E5 - Communications
Much of this program deals with basic communications problem of getting a signal through noise.
Nov. 14, 1968, midnight
S9E6 - Canals And Tunnels
The great engineers of past - men like DE Lesseps of Suez fame and Panama infamy and Bradley - whose canals were arteries of industrial revolution, sacrificed health and fortune, and sometimes lives.
Nov. 21, 1968, midnight
S9E7 - Central Power
One test of civilization is ability to organize sources of energy. Central power was something new in 1876.
Nov. 28, 1968, midnight
S9E8 - Man And Machines
The Greek inventor, Alexander Hero, first defined five basic devices which make all machines possible: lever, wedge, wheel, pulley and screw.
Dec. 5, 1968, midnight
S9E9 - Land And Water
This program shows how man changes his environment by shaping land he lives on, reclaiming land from sea, making new lakes and rivers.
Dec. 12, 1968, midnight
S9E10 - Man Aloft
This film looks, sometimes whimsically, at examples of old and modern flying machines.
Dec. 19, 1968, midnight
S9E11 - Portable Power
Man's first "portable power" device was part of his own body, energy from contraction of long molecules in presence of sugar: muscle power.
Dec. 26, 1968, midnight
S9E12 - Machines And Man: Transportation
Are problems of urban transportation insurmountable? The traffic jams which are a regular feature of city life make it appear so.
Jan. 2, 1969, midnight
S9E13 - Machine And Man: Systems Engineering
A system, according to Oxford dictionary, is a whole composed of parts in orderly arrangement, according to some scheme or plan.
Jan. 9, 1969, midnight
S9E14 - Audubon
A study of life and work of Jean Jacques Audubon, great painter-naturalist who captured beauty of American wildlife on canvas.
March 18, 1969, midnight
Network: CBC Television
Episode Runtime: 42 min.
Season Runtime: 40 min.
Released: Nov. 6, 1960
Last Air Date: Nov. 18, 2025, midnight
Status: Returning Series
Certification: TV-PG / 10+
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