HHMI Tangled Bank Studios is a film studio founded in 2012 by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. [1]
The studio works with filmmakers to create films about science for broadcast, theatrical and digital distribution. The studio's films focus primarily on the life sciences, and are centered around four main themes: Pioneers of Science, [2] Frontiers in Medicine, [3] The Health of Our Planet [4] and Countering Denialism [5] (films that present scientific evidence on topics such as evolution and vaccination).
Title | Year released | Distributor(s) |
---|---|---|
Your Inner Fish [6] | 2014 | PBS |
Vaccines: Calling the Shots [7] | 2014 | PBS NOVA |
Mass Extinction: Life at the Brink [8] | 2014 | Smithsonian Channel |
Spillover -- Zika, Ebola & Beyond [9] | 2016 | PBS |
Can Alzheimer's Be Stopped? [10] | 2016 | PBS NOVA |
The Lucky Specials [11] | 2017 | Theatrical |
I Contain Multitudes [12] | 2017 | PBS Digital Studios |
The Farthest: Voyager in Space [13] | 2017 | PBS |
Second Genesis [14] | 2017 | PBS/Digital Streaming |
The Gene Doctors [15] | 2017 | PBS |
Amazon Adventure 3D [16] | 2017 | IMAX/Giant Screen |
The Farthest [17] [18] | 2017 | Abramorama |
Backyard Wilderness 3D [19] | 2018 | IMAX/Giant Screen |
Inventing Tomorrow [20] | 2018 | Theatrical/PBS POV |
Our Gorongosa [21] | 2019 | Theatrical |
The Serengeti Rules [22] | 2019 | PBS Nature |
The Serengeti ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa, spanning northern Tanzania. The protected area within the region includes approximately 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi) of land, including the Serengeti National Park and several game reserves. The Serengeti hosts the second largest terrestrial mammal migration in the world, which helps secure it as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, and as one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world.
The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It was founded in 1899. The Society publishes a variety of scientific journals, textbooks, and other educational materials related to microbiology and infectious diseases. ASM organizes annual meetings, as well as workshops and professional development opportunities for its members.
Tangled is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated musical adventure fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairy tale Rapunzel in the collection of folk tales published by the Brothers Grimm, it is the 50th Disney animated feature film. The film was directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, and produced by Roy Conli, with a screenplay written by Dan Fogelman. The film stars the voices of Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, and Donna Murphy. Tangled tells the story of Rapunzel, a lost young princess with magical long blonde hair who yearns to leave her secluded tower. She accepts the aid of an intruder to take her out into the world which she has never seen.
Sean B. Carroll is an American evolutionary developmental biologist, author, educator and executive producer. He is the Allan Wilson Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His studies focus on the evolution of cis-regulatory elements in the regulation of gene expression in the context of biological development, using Drosophila as a model system. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, of the American Philosophical Society (2007), of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for Advancement of Science. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
Passion Pictures is a British film production company established by Andrew Ruhemann in 1987. The company has studios in London, Melbourne, Paris, Toronto, and New York City.
Tyler R. Lyson is an American paleontologist. He is the discoverer of the dinosaur fossil Dakota, a fossilized mummified hadrosaur. He has done significant research on the evolution of turtles and on the rise of mammals after the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Robert Treat "Bob" Paine III was an American ecologist who spent most of his career at the University of Washington. Paine coined the keystone species concept to explain the relationship between Pisaster ochraceus, a species of starfish, and Mytilus californianus, a species of mussel.
Natural News is a far-right, anti-vaccination conspiracy theory and fake news website known for promoting alternative medicine, pseudoscience, disinformation, and far-right extremism. The website began publishing articles in 2008 and is based in the United States.
The Greater Good is an anti-vaccination propaganda film. It debuted at the Dallas International Film Festival on April 2, 2011, and began playing in Los Angeles, California on October 14, 2011. The film was endorsed by controversial doctor Joseph Mercola on his website, as part of "Vaccine Awareness Week", a joint venture with the anti-vaccine organization National Vaccine Information Center.
Edmund Soon-Weng Yong is a British science journalist. He is a staff member at The Atlantic, which he joined in 2015. In 2021 he received a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for a series on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anthony Ronald Entrican Sinclair is a professor emeritus of zoology at the University of British Columbia.
The Serengeti Rules is a 2018 American documentary film directed by Nicolas Brown, and based on the book by Sean B. Carroll. The film explores the discoveries of five pioneering scientists—Tony Sinclair, Mary E. Power, Bob Paine, John Terborgh, and Jim Estes—whose decades of research laid the groundwork for modern ecology and offer hope that environmentalists today may be able to “upgrade” damaged ecosystems by understanding the rules that govern them.
Plandemic: The Hidden Agenda Behind Covid-19 and Plandemic: Indoctornation are a 2020 conspiracy theory video and film, respectively. Both were produced by Mikki Willis and promote misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. They feature Judy Mikovits, a discredited American researcher who has been described as an anti-vaccine activist. The first video, in addition to promoting various conspiracy theories, also features Willis and Mikovits discussing viruses in general and Mikovits herself. Willis produced the first video with a low budget under the name of his production company Elevate Films. Three months after its Internet release, Indoctornation, which includes more interviewees, was released by conspiracy distributor London Real.
The Farthest is an Irish documentary film that chronicles the history of the Voyager program and its two space probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, launched in 1977. In 2013, Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to leave the Solar System, reaching the interstellar space. This makes the program one of the humankind's greatest achievements. The story is presented through the testimonies of the NASA team involved. The film premiered 26 February 2017 at the Dublin Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award, and 22 August 2017 on PBS.
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet is a 2020 British documentary film narrated by David Attenborough and produced and directed by Jonnie Hughes. The film acts as a "witness statement", through which Attenborough shares first-hand his concern for the current state of the planet due to humanity's impact on nature and his hopes for the future. It was released on Netflix on 4 October 2020, along with a companion book A Life on Our Planet.
A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future is a 2020 book by documentarian David Attenborough and director-producer Jonnie Hughes. It follows Attenborough's career as a presenter and natural historian, along with the decline in wildlife and rising carbon emissions during the period. Attenborough warns of the effects that climate change and biodiversity loss will have in the near future, and offers action which can be taken to prevent natural disaster. A companion book to the film David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, it was positively received by critics.
AWcorna, originally termed ARCoV and also known as the Walvax COVID-19 vaccine, is an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Walvax Biotechnology, Suzhou Abogen Biosciences, and the PLA Academy of Military Science. In contrast to other mRNA COVID vaccines, such as those by Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna, this vaccine primarily targets the Sars-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain of the spike protein, rather than the entire spike protein. It is approved for Phase III trials in China, Mexico, Indonesia, and Nepal.
The Lucky Specials is a 2017 South African musical romantic drama film directed by Reabetswe Rangaka and co-produced by Harriet Gavshon, Peter Gudo, Aric Noboa, and J.P. Potgieter for Discovery Learning Alliance and Quizzical Pictures in association with HHMI Tangled Bank Studios. The film stars Oros Mampofu and Sivenathi Mabuya with Blondia Makhene, Richard Lukunku, and Fulu Mugovhani in supporting roles. The film is about a cover band called "The Lucky Specials" in a dusty town in southern Africa where Mandla, a miner by profession plays lead guitar but later problems arise with Nkanyiso, a fellow band member.
Zymergen is an American biotechnology company based in Emeryville, California. The company applies genomics and machine learning to research and design chemical producing genetically modified organisms. Shortly after going public in 2021, it was reported that the company was facing difficulties in manufacturing products and struggling to make revenue. In July 2022, Ginkgo Bioworks agreed to acquire Zymergen for $300 million.
Prehistoric Planet is a British-American five-part nature documentary streaming television series about dinosaurs that premiered on Apple TV+ beginning May 23, 2022. It is produced by the BBC Studios Natural History Unit with Jon Favreau as showrunner, visual effects by MPC, and narration by natural historian David Attenborough. The documentary follows dinosaurs and pterosaurs recreated with computer-generated imagery living around the globe in the Late Cretaceous period, 66 million years ago (Maastrichtian), just before the dinosaurs’ extinction. It set out to depict prehistoric life using current palaeontological research by including accurately feathered dinosaurs, and probable speculative animal behavior.