Science (TV network)

Science is an American digital cable and satellite television network that is owned by Discovery Communications. The channel features programming focusing on the fields of wilderness survival, ufology, manufacturing, construction, technology, space, prehistory and animal science.

As of February 2015, Science is available to approximately 75.5 million pay television households (64.8% of households with at least one television set) in the United States.

History

In November 1994, Discovery Networks announced plans to create four digital channels set to launch in 1996. Discovery originally named the network under the working title Quark!; this was changed before its launch to the Discovery Science Network. Discovery Science launched in October 1996 as part of the simultaneous rollout of the new channel suite (alongside Discovery Home & Leisure, Discovery Kids and Discovery Health Channel).

The channel underwent various rebrandings throughout its history. Its name was first modified to the Discovery Science Channel in 1998, and then was renamed The Science Channel in 2002, as the first network in the Discovery Networks digital suite to drop the "Discovery" brand from its name (however, international versions of the channel continue to use the "Discovery Science" name). The channel later shortened its name to just Science Channel in 2007 as part of a rebrand that included the introduction of a new logo based on the periodic table; in 2011, the network rebranded as simply Science, introducing a new logo and graphics package designed by Imaginary Forces.

Discovery science

Discovery science (also known as discovery-based science) is a scientific methodology which emphasizes analysis of large volumes of experimental data with the goal of finding new patterns or correlations, leading to hypothesis formation and other scientific methodologies.

Discovery-based methodologies are often viewed in contrast to traditional scientific practice, where hypotheses are formed before close examination of experimental data. However, from a philosophical perspective where all or most of the observable "low hanging fruit" has already been plucked, examining the phenomenological world more closely than the senses alone (even augmented senses, e.g. via microscopes, telescopes, bifocals etc.) opens a new source of knowledge for hypothesis formation.

Data mining is the most common tool used in discovery science, and is applied to data from diverse fields of study such as DNA analysis, climate modeling, nuclear reaction modeling, and others.

The use of data mining in discovery science follows a general trend of increasing use of computers and computational theory in all fields of science. Further following this trend, the cutting edge of data mining employs specialized machine learning algorithms for automated hypothesis forming and automated theorem proving.

Outline of space science

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to space science:

Space science – study of everything in outer space. This has sometimes been called astronomy, but recently astronomy has come to be regarded as a division of broader space science, which has grown to include other related fields, such as studying issues related to space travel and space exploration (including space medicine), space archaeology and science performed in outer space (see space research).

Branches of space science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that creates, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.

Contemporary science is typically subdivided into the natural sciences which study the material world, the social sciences which study people and societies, and the formal sciences like mathematics. The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations. Disciplines which use science like engineering and medicine may also be considered to be applied sciences.

During the middle ages in the Middle East, foundations for the scientific method were laid by Alhazen. From classical antiquity through the 19th century, science as a type of knowledge was more closely linked to philosophy than it is now and, in fact, in the West the term "natural philosophy" encompassed fields of study that are today associated with science, such as physics, astronomy and medicine.

In the 17th and 18th centuries scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of laws of nature. Over the course of the 19th century, the word "science" became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself, as a disciplined way to study the natural world. It was in the 19th century that scientific disciplines such as physics, chemistry, and biology reached their modern shapes. The same time period also included the origin of the terms "scientist" and "scientific community," the founding of scientific institutions, and increasing significance of the interactions with society and other aspects of culture.

Human brain

The human brain is the main organ of the human central nervous system. It is located in the head, protected by the skull. It has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but with a more developed cerebral cortex. Large animals such as whales and elephants have larger brains in absolute terms, but when measured using a measure of relative brain size, which compensates for body size, the quotient for the human brain is almost twice as large as that of a bottlenose dolphin, and three times as large as that of a chimpanzee, though the quotient for a treeshrew brain is larger than that of a human's. Much of the size of the human brain comes from the cerebral cortex, especially the frontal lobes, which are associated with executive functions such as self-control, planning, reasoning, and abstract thought. The area of the cerebral cortex devoted to vision, the visual cortex, is also greatly enlarged in humans compared to other animals.