Wednesday

Nature
“Cracking the Koala Code”
Follow individual koalas from a small social group on an Australian island to learn just how a koala manages to survive and thrive on a diet poisonous to almost all other herbivorous mammals. From the miracle of marsupial birth to tender moments of discovery between mother and newborn joey, encounters with threatening forest creatures, battles between rival males and the complex chorus of bellows and grunts that have become so important to science — join leading scientists as they unravel just what a forest needs to support a healthy population of koalas by listening to these marsupials themselves and cracking the koala code.
Wednesday, May 16 at 8 pm ET
Repeats 5/23 at Noon ET

NOVA
“The Great Inca Rebellion”
In an impoverished suburb of Lima, Peru, Peruvian archaeologist Guillermo Cock excavates an ancient cemetery crammed with mummies. In a truly startling find, he discovers corpses that differ from all the rest. They have been hastily buried and disfigured by multiple, appalling wounds and fractures. Forensic experts help to determine that these remains are victims of a battle that pitted club-wielding Inca warriors against Spanish cavalry. The forensic evidence may be a decisive clue that helps explain a long-standing mystery about the Spanish conquest of Peru. How, in 1532, did a tiny band of Spanish soldiers crush the mighty Inca Empire, then the most powerful civilization in the Americas?
Wednesday, May 16 at 9 pm ET
Repeats 5/17 at Noon ET

Bones of Turkana
Follow famed paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey and his wife, Meave, daughter Louise and their colleagues as they work in the arid northern regions of Kenya’s Turkana Basin to unravel the mysteries of human evolution. While one of he Leakeys’ goals is to demonstrate the complexity and truth of human evolution, they also seek to show how the qualities that we proudly call human were all born in Africa. The story that emerges in the film is exciting, emotional, contemplative, occasionally funny and, in the end, transforming. This is Africa at its most beautiful and harshest.
Wednesday, May 16 at 10 pm ET

Thursday

Burt Wolf: Travels & Traditions
host Burt Wolf visits some of the world's most interesting countries, including Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Bermuda, the United States, Switzerland and France. Wolf, an internationally syndicated television journalist and prolific public television host, uncovers each city or region's unique history, culture, customs, foods, festivals, art, architecture, tourist attractions and local character. His relaxed, personable and irreverent style makes the episodes both informative and entertaining. This week, crusiing Holland and Belgium.
Thursdays at 4:30 pm ET, begins May 17

Minds on the Edge: Facing Mental Illness
This special, produced by the Fred Friendly Seminars, connects the dots between personal dilemmas facing individuals and families who are living with mental illness, medical practices that can be obstacles to treatment, laws that may have unintended consequences and public policies that all too often fall short in responding with programs that could make a positive difference. The panel discusion, moderated by Frank Sesno, zeros in on wrenching and confounding situations that are playing out every day in homes and hospital ERs, on city streets and school campuses, in courtrooms and in jails, as Americans struggle with the challenges of severe mental illness. The distinguished panel includes U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and the Noble Prize-winning neurologist Dr. Eric Kandel, along with attorneys, doctors, legislators and other experts in the field.
Thursday, May 17 at 8 pm ET
Repeats 5/18 at Noon ET

This Old House Hour
“Bedford Project, Part 7”
General contractor Tom Silva tops off the existing cellulose insulation in the walls of the oldest part of the house. Meanwhile, landscape contractor Roger Cook takes homeowner Becky Titlow to see a display of “garden to table” raised beds at Elm Bank Reservation in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In the second half of the hour, Roger helps a homeowner repair a crack in an asphalt walkway.
Thursday, May 17 at 10 pm ET

May Program Highlights

Watch Media Meet Online:
March 17, 2012 Program:
Upstreaming Marquette General
Host Bill Hart and MGH representatives Gary Muller and Dr. John Bartlett discuss hospital merger plans.
Local and PBS programs are available in our video player at wnmuvideo.nmu.edu

Watch Media Meet Online:
April 7, 2012 Program:
Congressman Dan Benishek
Host Bill Hart and Rep. Dan Benishek discuss key issues of his freshman term, and future challenges with media guests John Pepin and Walt Lindala.
Local and PBS programs are available in our video player at wnmuvideo.nmu.edu

Watch Media Meet Online:
March 31, 2012 Program:
Senator Carl Levin
Host Bill Hart and U.S. Senator Carl Levin discuss current issues including the economy and banking reform with media guests John Pepin and Walt Lindala.
Local and PBS programs are available in our video player at wnmuvideo.nmu.edu

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