In bold documentary style, Retro Report looks back at the major stories that shaped the world using fresh interviews, analysis and compelling archival footage. Produced by Retro Report for The New York Times.
The moments we remember from political debates are embedded in our political folklore, from the knockout lines to the losing gaffes. But does media coverage often miss the real lessons they offer? ...
Carl Sagan and other Cold War scientists once feared that a nuclear war could plunge the world into a deadly ice age. Three decades later, does this theory still resonate?
Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform was supposed to move needy families off government handouts and onto a path out of poverty. Twenty years later, how has it turned out?
Dungeons & Dragons, introduced in 1974 attracted millions of players, along with accusations by some religious figures that the game fostered demon worship and a belief in witchcraft and magic.
What the legendary matches between supercomputer Deep Blue and chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov reveal about today’s artificial intelligence and machine learning fears.
The artificial heart became a media sensation in the 1980s as it both raised hopes and spread controversy. Today, its impact on medical science is still playing out in surprising ways.
The dramatic controversy surrounding the 2000 presidential election led to sweeping voting reforms, but opened the door to a new set of problems that continue to impact elections today.
For decades the United States has been on a quest to perfect stealth technology, but development of the F-35 fighter jet shows just how complicated dreams can become.
Once transported in on Jet Skis, hashish now travels to Europe on ships as long as a soccer field, through territory that officials fear is controlled by the Islamic State.
In this rare jailhouse interview, a former ISIS member from Germany tells his story and provides new insight into the militant group’s plot to attack Western countries.
Thousands of civilians have fled the Iraqi city of Falluja in the past two weeks, after government forces launched an offensive to retake the city from ISIS control.
In Germany, it’s Pegida. In Greece, Golden Dawn. And in France, it’s the National Front. Fueled by fear, Europe’s far-right political movements are gaining momentum. A New York Times documentary.
The conversations between a young woman in rural Washington State and a British man with ties to radical Islam may provide clues about how ISIS recruits new members around the world.
As his dreams crashed into Egypt’s social and political turmoil, Islam Yaken left his friends, family and a life of guilty pleasures for religious extremism, jihad and the Islamic State.
See how monkeys teach manners, elephants show empathy and ants imitate water in ScienceTake, combining cutting-edge research from the world of science with stunning footage of the natural world in action.
An underwater microscope that divers can use to view corals on the seafloor can show details down to one micron, or one-hundredth the width of a human hair.
The Murray Crayfish is so sensitive to changes in its environment that researchers in Australia can track it to asses the health of rivers and streams.
The Venus flytrap, a plant that eats insects, will clamp its leaves shut only after trigger hairs are tripped two times within about 20 seconds. Even without nerves, it counts electric impulses tha...
It’s not just Einstein’s universe. It’s your universe too. From the cosmic affairs desk, Dennis Overbye takes you on scenic tours through the Milky Way and beyond.
Op-Docs is the editorial department's section for short, opinionated documentaries, produced by independent filmmakers and artists with wide creative latitude, covering current affairs, contemporary life and historical subjects. Submissions are welcome http://nyti.ms/1tVbq78.
In this dramatization of transcripts from a legal deposition, lawyers grapple with a plaintiff’s bizarre testimony about the destruction of his chicken’s pasture.