Here’s a sneak preview of some of ichannel’s documentary highlights for the week of January 10:

** ichannel Premiere **

SCIENCE OF EVIL – Saturday Jan. 15 at 9 pm ET/PT

What is evil? Is it the product of damaged and abnormal minds? Or does the latent capacity for evil exist within each of us? Can science help to illuminate the nature of evil, or is it a phenomenon only philosophers and religious thinkers can comprehend? This National Geographic documentary takes a probing look at evil through the eyes of men and women who are struggling to understand where it comes from and how – or whether – it can be overcome. Among them: psychologist Philip Zimbardo, whose notorious Stanford prison experiment in 1971 revealed how situational forces can make ordinary people capable of extraordinary cruelty – a finding that took on new relevance more than 30 years later when the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib came to light; Christian minister Roy Ratcliff, who scandalized many of his Wisconsin congregation when he befriended and eventually baptized imprisoned serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer; Ivy League neuroscientists Jonathan Cohen and Joshua Greene, who are studying the human brain in an effort to determine where our sense of right and wrong comes from; and United Nations aid worker Aya Schneerson, whose experiences in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have shown her just how easily our potential for evil can be unleashed in the face of poverty and war.

 

 

Upcoming ichannel Documentary Highlights: A Dog’s Life, Pictures of Mary, and Warren Buffett’s Guide to Untold Riches

THE PLASTIC FANTASTIC BRAIN – Tuesday, Dec. 21 at 9 pm ET/PT
Can a blind man learn to “see” with his tongue? Can a woman missing half her brain become a successful Paralympic swimmer? Until recently, medical science assumed the brain was incapable of changing or adapting to damage. Neuroscientists, however, have discovered that it has a remarkable ability to rewire, regenerate and heal itself. This Gemini-nominated documentary looks at the work of leading researchers from the U.S. and Canada, and introduces four ordinary people whose extraordinary brains are helping to unlock the mysteries hidden within our grey matter. [Encore Presentation]

WARREN BUFFET: THE WORLD’S GREATEST MONEY MAKER – Wednesday Dec. 22 at 9 pm ET/PT
Meet the anti-Scrooge. Warren Buffett is the greatest investor of all time: a man whose prescient stock market decisions have made him one of the world’s richest people, with an estimated personal worth of $37 billion. Yet he lives modestly – and has pledged to give away more than 99% of his vast fortune to charitable causes. This 2009 BBC documentary tells the story of a modern Midas. [Encore Presentation]

** ichannel Premiere **
THE SECRET LIFE OF THE DOG – Wednesday Dec. 22 at 10 pm ET/PT
,Dogs have been domesticated for longer than any other animal on the planet. They are close relatives of fearsome wild wolves – yet we treat them as members of our families. Why have canines forged such a close bond with human beings, and what can we learn from this unique relationship? This 2010 documentary from the BBC looks at new research that is helping us to understand, better than ever, how man’s best friend truly thinks and feels.

FACES OF A VANISHING WORLD – Thursday Dec. 23 at 9 pm ET/PT
Barely 21 years of age, Lindsay, Ontario native Joey Lawrence is already one of the world’s most sought-after professional photographers. His portfolio includes sessions with the likes of 50 Cent and the stars of Twilight. But as this hour-long documentary portrait reveals, one of his greatest passions is a wholly personal project: photographing indigenous tribes around the world in an effort to preserve their memories before they vanish from history. [Encore Presentation]

** Holiday Special **
PICTURING MARY – Friday Dec. 24 & Saturday Dec. 25 at 8 pm ET/PT
For centuries, depictions of the Virgin Mary, the humble young woman at the heart of the Christmas story, have numbered among the world’s most treasured works of art. This visually stunning documentary tells the story behind some of the most celebrated of these paintings and sculptures, revealing how great masters through the centuries, from Michelangelo to Rembrandt, have portrayed the mother of Jesus.

Is America’s scientific soul in peril? That’s the question ichannel explores in tonight’s documentary presentation A WAR ON SCIENCE at 10 pm ET/PT. In a Pennsylvania courtroom in the fall of 2005, a landmark legal case began — one that, in the eyes of many Americans, would pit God against science. At the heart of the proceeding, a simple question: does the controversial theory of “intelligent design” have a place in the science classroom alongside Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution? This BBC doc tells the story of the most recent battle in a war that began in 1859 with the publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species. Features interviews with David Attenborough and Richard Dawkins (pictured).

Where do our dreams come from? Find out tonight at 10 pm ET/PT, as ichannel presents the documentary WHY DO WE DREAM? As this intriguing BBC film reveals, scientists have finally begun to unravel the mysteries of the dream world. By measuring brainwave activity during sleep and analyzing the content of dreams, research…ers are gaining insight into the essential role that dreams play in our mental well-being.