The Nature of Things

For the work by Lucretius, see De rerum natura. For other works, see De natura rerum.

The Nature of Things
Genre	Documentary
Narrated by	David Suzuki
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
No. of series	59
No. of episodes	960 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 minutes (1960-1979), one hour (1979-present)
Original release
Network	CBC Television
Release	6 November 1960 (1960-11-06)

The Nature of Things (also, The Nature of Things with David Suzuki) is a Canadian television series of documentary programs. It debuted on CBC Television on 6 November 1960. Many of the programs document nature and the effect that humans have on it, although the program's overall scope includes documentaries on any aspect of science. The program "was one of the first mainstream programs to present scientific evidence on a number of environmental issues, including nuclear power and genetic engineering".^{[attribution needed][1]}

The series is named after an epic poem by Roman philosopher Lucretius: "De rerum natura"—On the Nature of Things.

History

The first host was Donald Ivey, with Patterson Hume co-hosting many episodes.^[2] Following Ivey's departure, the second season continued with several guest hosts, including Lister Sinclair, Donald Crowdis, and John Livingston.^[3] Since 1979, it has been hosted and narrated by David Suzuki.^[3] Suzuki has announced his retirement from the series at the end of the 2022 season;^[4][5][6] the CBC has announced that he will be succeeded by co-hosts Sarika Cullis-Suzuki (David's daughter) and Anthony Morgan.^[7][8]

The series has won many awards and Suzuki has won three Gemini Awards and one ACTRA Award as best host. Documentarian William Whitehead has also been a frequent writer for the series.

In 1979 the show was merged with David Suzuki's Science Magazine series and expanded to an hour.^[3] Suzuki reluctantly left the radio show Quirks and Quarks. He enjoyed radio as a medium because it was less restricted compared to television, but saw benefits in switching to television. He stated that television had a greater impact as it reached more people, and this was important because he wanted to make science accessible to the general public. The goal of The Nature of Things with David Suzuki was to translate the confusing and complex scientific language into concepts that the general public could understand. This would give people the information that they need in order to make informed decisions about how science and technology should be managed.^[9] There is one new episode every week which all contribute to a scientific understanding of how the world works. They are created not only for entertainment, but also to encourage and popularize education.^[10]

An episode in January 2018 was widely criticized by scientists and Native Americans for its uncritical presentation of the Solutrean hypothesis.^[11][12]

Notable episodes

• Wild Africa, 1970 – a film shown in two parts which won the Canadian Film Award for Best Documentary^[13]
• "Reefer Madness 2", 15 October 1998 – on the effects of medical marijuana and people dealing with its legalization^[14]
• "The Investigation of Swissair 111", 2 September 2003^[15]
• Darwin's Brave New World, 1 November 2009 – a three-part miniseries on the life of Charles Darwin as he wrote The Origin of Species
• "The Downside of High", 2010 – on marijuana's negative effects towards mental illness^[16]
• "Untangling Alzheimer's", 17 July 2014 – a medical investigation from a very personal perspective^[17]
• Wild Canada, 2014 – a four-part miniseries focusing on high-definition video footage of Canadian nature and wildlife

Episodes

Main article: List of The Nature of Things episodes

References

1. MacDowell, Laurel Sefton. 2012. An environmental history of Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press. Page 248
2. "50 Years of the Nature of Things". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
3. "CBC-TV: The Nature of Things with David Suzuki: History". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 6 August 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
4. Bernstien, Jaela (23 October 2022). "David Suzuki announces retirement from The Nature of Things, says he's ready to focus more on environmentalism". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
5. "This will be David Suzuki's last season of The Nature of Things". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
6. Suzuki, David (25 October 2022). "David Suzuki prepares to bid farewell to The Nature of Things: a letter to viewers". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
7. Dragacevic, Nina (30 November 2022). "Meet the new hosts of The Nature of Things: Sarika Cullis-Suzuki and Anthony Morgan". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
8. Ransome, Noel (1 December 2022). "Sarika Cullis-Suzuki to co-host 'The Nature of Things' after her father retires". National Observer.
9. Suzuki, David T. 2006. David Suzuki the autobiography. Vancouver: Greystone Books
10. "About the Show". The Nature of Things.
11. "Director defends documentary that claims Europeans could have been lst humans in North America". CBC Radio. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
12. Brean, Joseph (12 January 2018). "CBC under fire for documentary that says first humans to colonize New World sailed from Europe". National Post.
13. Maria Topalovich, And the Genie Goes To ...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-7737-3238-1. pp. 89–91.
14. "Reefer Madness 2". The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. CBC-TV. Archived from the original on 13 January 2008.
15. Maze, Talia (1 June 2005). "Three for the Price of One". Ryerson Review of Journalism. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
16. "The Downside of High". The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. CBC-TV. Archived from the original on 6 February 2013.
17. "Untangling Alzheimer's". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 17 July 2014. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2019.

External links

• Official website
• The Nature of Things at IMDb