Season 27

Why is it so difficult to do without fossil fuels, and how can we accelerate the energy transition to cleaner sources? We've figured it out: viruses can spread with a simple sneeze and circle the planet in just a few weeks. But where do they come from? And how are they studied? Every year, more than 50 new drugs appear on the market. Paolo Magliocco and Rossella Li Vigni visited the Poison Control Center at the Maugeri Clinical Institutes in Pavia to learn about the arduous struggle to discover them, catalog them. And make them illegal.

Mammography is a powerful tool for detecting breast cancer. An Italian study has revealed how it can be made even more effective. In this feature, Paolo Magliocco and Rossella Li Vigni explain what 3D mammography is. Stromboli and its frequent eruptions attract tourists from around the world. For Superquark, Barbara Bernardini went to see how volcanologists work to predict eruptions and ensure the safety of residents and visitors. A curious feature from our correspondents shows us strange prehistoric creatures, or alien monsters, that are actually just common insects, such as flies or mosquitoes, seen under an electron microscope. A tool used by "microscopic entomology" to reveal the secrets of these complex, and unloved, living beings.

The world's population could drop to 8.8 billion in just over 40 years, and 23 countries, including Italy, will see their populations shrink by more than 50%. Piero Angela explains the complex consequences of the demographic study just published in The Lancet. From the Trapani and Paceco Salt Pans nature reserve, Alberto Angela will talk about salt, the white gold of antiquity, so much so that the Romans distributed it to soldiers as extra pay, giving rise to the word "salary." He will take us inside the ancient Chiusicella salt pans, where the traditional salt extraction and harvesting system is still in place. Giovanni Carrada and Gianpiero Orsingher will discuss innovation: the forgotten ingredient of the economic miracle that can revive Italy after the pandemic. Next, Rossaella Li Vigni will take us to Brescia, where the Digital University was founded, a unique educational experiment to prepare young people for digital challenges and integrate them into the workforce.

In the heart of Rome, a stone's throw from the Quirinale, stands one of the capital's most beautiful and art-rich buildings: Palazzo Barberini, home to part of the National Galleries of Ancient Art. Alberto Angela guides us through this treasure trove of Baroque architecture, a precious repository of absolute masterpieces of Italian painting. Barbara Gallavotti and Francesca Marcelli, meanwhile, travel to Switzerland to follow a group of researchers studying the factors that favor the transmission of influenza. Giovanni Carrada and Emanuela Gardenghi reveal the secrets of the extraordinary technological miracle of Israel, one of the smallest but most innovative countries in the world. After the report, Piero Angela will delve deeper into the topic with a studio experiment by Paco Lanciano.

A tour of Europe with the BBC nature documentary, from the series Seven Continents, One Planet. As we know, ours is a very crowded land, and over the years its habitat has been completely transformed by the massive presence of humans. This has made the survival of some species no longer a given. In addition to rare wolves and Iberian lynxes, the documentary features many wonderful images of a world that demands our full attention and must be protected to ensure the future of its wildlife, which unfortunately is at risk of extinction in these parts. Roman DNA: where did the ancient Romans come from? Paolo Magliocco and Gianpiero Orsingher explain, having visited the initial findings of a genetic study led by Sapienza University of Rome. The last ten years have been extraordinary for the exploration of our solar system.

The documentary from the series "Seven Continents, One Planet" explores how wild animals must adapt to extreme cold, while the American lynx uses its cunning to capture its favorite prey, the snow hare, which is more agile and swift. Then, the warm forests of Mississippi, where you can witness the mesmerizing spectacle of millions of fireflies glowing in the night. Traveling far and wide across North America, you discover just how vast the territories are still untouched by concrete. The episode continues with an investigation into a broad-spectrum antiviral being developed in Lausanne, narrated by Barbara Gallavotti and Francesca Marcelli. Next, Paolo Magliocco and Daniela Franco explore the challenge of the Polytechnic University of Milan's laboratory in a cement plant in northern Italy to eliminate the CO2 produced by the industry before it reaches the atmosphere. What are the possibilities and limitations of smart working today?

In the final episode of the Superquark season, the stunning images from the BBC documentary Discovering Africa. The episode continues with the story of an entire region that owes its name to the founding of a Roman city: Aosta. Alberto Angela travels the land at the foot of Europe's peaks, exploring a little-known heritage. Next, a report on viruses: invisible enemies that know how to infiltrate our cells, as the Covid-19 epidemic has taught us. But if we "reprogram" them in the lab, they can become extraordinary allies against genetic diseases, as Barbara Bernardini explains. Marco Visalberghi recounts how, after thirty years of observations, an international team of astrophysicists has published a new, astonishing confirmation of Einstein's theory of relativity. They freshen the air, purify it, stop the rain: trees in the city.