Australia Videos - The Documentary Network

How Testosterone Secretly Shapes Our Society

Documentary.net staff — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 09:34:23 +0000

Testosterone has long been considered what makes men masculine. But is this common perception selling the hormone short? Dr Phillips investigates just how this molecule affects our abilities, behaviour and health. "I've found I was less drawn by an attractive woman's body, but found that I could appreciate what people's expressions were more." Since being diagnosed with prostate cancer, Professor Wassersug has noticed both pros and cons to being testosterone-deprived. Evidence suggests that the hormone has a big influence on how our brain develops; it has the potential to affect behaviour, empathy-levels, language, and the way we build relationships. Because of this, regulating testosterone-levels may just hold the key to healthier and happier lives.

Tackling The Global Honey Bee Crisis

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 20 May 2015 13:04:36 +0000

The world is experiencing a global bee crisis, with Australia the only country not yet affected. With bees responsible for almost a third of the food on our plate, this is a crisis that could affect us all. In the winter of 2013, Europe saw its bee populations fall by 53%. This year the US has seen populations fall by 42%. Astonishingly, Australia is the only country in the world where the bee population continues to thrive. As commercial beekeepers are pushed out of business elsewhere, Australian bees are exported to pollinate foreign farmlands. However, the fate of Australian bees hangs in the balance. It seems that the bee crisis is intricately tied to the way we have changed our planet. Preventing the migration of the varroa mite from Asia remains the biggest challenge: "Once that arrives here, we'll have about three to five years before the massive collapse of potentially commercial beekeeping", explains breeder Tiffane Bates. In an attempt to save the bees, scientists are now trying to breed resistant bee populations, and understand the complex genetics of the hives. This insightful report reveals the fascinating and secret lives of bees, and explores the ground-breaking methods being used to preserve them.

Could You Kill What You Eat?

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 16:07:03 +0000

Murder Mouth: Could you kill what you had for dinner? Maddie, a 21 year-old meat eater, decides to take the question into her own hands. Maddie loves her Greek family's traditional lamb souvlaki but her vegetarian friends claim that meat is murder. So she's decided to reconnect the animal and the meal or never eat meat again. After talking to the people who slaughter animals for their livelihood she is encouraged to do it herself, but even if she can kill an animal, will she still want to eat it afterwards?

Aussie Outback Love Hunt

Documentary.net staff — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 18:00:07 +0000

B&S Ball refers to a dance held in rural Australia for single young adults who can sometimes live up to a day's drive from their nearest neighbor. The "B&S" stands for "bachelors and spinsters" and the balls are notoriously drunken and raucous. Most of us take contact with the opposite sex for granted, but for these people, it's not always so easy. We drove up to the B&S ball in Elmore, Victoria. Our guides were Ashlie, a shy young country girl hoping to win her second consecutive wet t-shirt competition without the aid of alcohol; and Glenn, an abattoir worker looking for love.

Wild Dog Hunting in Australia

Documentary.net staff — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 15:08:58 +0000

Tom Varney is a former psychotic criminal who later found God and devoted himself to serving his fellow man. In a strange twist of morality, this led to his life's work: shooting wild dogs. The Australian wild dog is a hybrid of the native dingo and larger domestic breeds. The resulting "super dog" is bigger, smarter, and much more vicious. Roaming in packs, they've been known to massacre entire flocks of sheep and bring down animals as large as horses, causing millions of dollars in damage each year. While animal control agencies favor trapping and baiting them, farmers argue that nothing is as effective as a bullet to the head. That's where Tom comes in. He's pretty much retired now, but his methods (including his ability to call dogs up to him by mimicking their howls) have formed the blueprint for a new generation of dog hunters.

Jaws: Danger or hype?

Documentary.net staff — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 08:12:41 +0000

Ben Linden was surfing the waves only 100 metres from shore in July when a shark attacked and killed him. It was the fifth known fatal shark attack in Western Australia on surfers and beach-goers in the past year. A month later, another surfer, Jon Hines, suffered another savage attack and barely survived a stomach bite wound. Surf skier Martin Kane was attacked by a four-metre-long Great White Shark just 150 metres off Perth’s metropolitan coast. He survived after a friend came to his rescue. The state government has responded to fears that the beaches are no longer safe by issuing kill orders on sharks that pose “imminent threats” on beach-goers. Western Australia premier Colin Barnett announced a $7.12m package to fund the killing, tagging and research into shark movements. The money will be used to fund aerial patrols, tag sharks to monitor movements and reduce the risk of attacks along the coastline. But conservationists are angry at the “knee-jerk reaction”. Tim Nicol of the Conservation Council of Western Australia also calls it a “guilty until proven innocent approach to sharks”. They argue that climate change has pushed sharks inland and that the territorial animals are just responding to their natural instinct. Many shark species are already threatened with extinction. It is estimated that humans kill about 70 million sharks each year. But Australians like Keith Halnan welcome the kill order. The veteran surfer says more needs to be done to protect surfers who venture further out to catch a wave. Others in Western Australia want shark nets erected around cordoned swimming areas like in South Australia, but the government says it is not feasible due to the layout of the natural coastline and that the nets will harm other marine animals. Western Australia is known as the world’s deadliest place for shark attacks but its beaches attract tens of thousands of tourists every year. Tour operators fear the attacks will hurt their business. The state government plans to propose that the federal government lift the protected species category off the Great White Shark to allow for commercial and recreational fishing. For more than a decade, the Great White Shark has been a protected species since the International Union for Conservation of Nature identified them as vulnerable. The film tackles the growing debate in Australia over how much of this fear of sharks is hyped up and asks if killing sharks is the solution.

Web of Hate – Cyber-bullying

Documentary.net staff — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:31:00 +0000

In February 2012, Melbourne schoolgirl Catherine Bernard took her life, after suffering depression and falling prey to cyber-bullying. Catherine is not the first victim. According to a recent global poll, Australia rates number one in the world for bullying on social networks like Facebook, with nine in 10 families reporting a child's brush with bullies online. The surge in cyber-bullying takes harassment from the playground directly into victims' bedrooms, becoming an incessant and ongoing form of public humiliation that for victims seems impossible to escape.

Lost at Sea

Documentary.net staff — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:59:07 +0000

Scuba diver Peter Trayhurn shares his life changing day when he and his buddy got lost at sea, 8 miles/8km off the Australian east coast. Pictures from his camera show the dramatic situation. Very good example for: The best stories are written by life itself. Find out what happened plus his challenge with bowel cancer. Be sure to watch till the very end. Film by Marcus O'Brien