Mathieu Buscatto

Jellyfish blooms are making headlines around the world. This is due to the damage they cause to tourism, fishing and our health. How can these creatures, which are over 98% water and have no shell, skeleton or brain, expand so rapidly? Although this is a normal stage in the life cycle of these gelatinous animals, we have to admit that blooms have become much more frequent and massive in recent decades. We're even witnessing jellyfish populations appearing in more and more regions where fish have been replaced by them, such as off the coast of Namibia, in the Black Sea, in the Sea of Japan and in certain areas of the Baltic Sea. What causes this? Why has the role of jellyfish in the ocean been underestimated, even though they outlived the dinosaurs? Are jellyfish on their way to dominating the oceans as they once did? What if they were to be the only ones left?

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Objects of myth that inspire both fear and hope, clouds are as much cultural icons as they are subjects of scientific exploration. They shape ecosystems and ocean cycles, provide vital water, and have long been a source of human fascination and inspiration. Across four destinations and diverse ecosystems—from the Pacific coast of Chile to the cloud cap of Mount Fuji and the “tablecloth” of Africa’s Table Mountain—cloud hunters, meteorologists, scientists, enthusiasts, and indigenous communities help us decode these extraordinary giants. By supplying moisture to the environment, clouds sustain life and make it possible for unique animal and plant species to thrive, even in the driest regions, while creating some of the most spectacular natural scenes on Earth.

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Mercato takes us behind the scenes of today's soccer, a global industry with interests running into billions. Driss, a player agent, has seven days to save his skin before the end of the mercato...

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How, from the 1920s to the present day, financial power has gradually strengthened a hidden alliance with criminal organizations around the world.

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The life and work of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-73), the greatest French-language playwright, Molière, who revolutionized theater by bringing to the stage, with lucidity and dazzling modernity, the themes of his time and who had a special relationship with Louis XIV, the dazzling Sun King, that allowed him to develop as an artist while using his talent, like that of many other artists of his time, to enhance his personal glory.

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Well known for its exploration of seduction and revenge, the “Dangerous Liaisons” by Choderlos de Laclos caused a scandal from its first publication in 1782. Despite – or because of the scandal – the book was a top-seller. Since then, it stood the test of time. Combining eras, continents and people, the novel is adapted around the world. Marvelous tool for reflection on the female condition, social satire announcing the Revolution, remarkable work on the conflicting nature of love but also of the gender war, consecration of the power of the words, a libertine manual… “Dangerous Liaisons” is all of these at once.

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In "Gone with the Wind" she was an unforgettable Scarlett O'Hara. Beauty, two-time Oscar winner, celebrated Hollywood star and great Shakespearean interpreter - Vivien Leigh was all that. Behind the celebrity, however, was a fragile person. Her bipolar disorder clouded her success and her private happiness.

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Man has always sought to seek further afield. After the seafaring explorers of the 16th century, 21st century cosmologists today navigate more celestial oceans, with each mission providing an ever-broader and more impressive cartography of our surroundings. At the avant garde of modern technology, these strange travellers are actually immobile, and their vessels are powerful and spectacular telescopes, on the Earth or in space, constantly widening the limits of our knowledge and giving form to our dreams of infinity. From Hawaii to Australia, via South Africa and China, we set out on an incredible scientific and human adventure to visit the planet's greatest cosmic exploration centres to discover the new challenges involved in understanding the universe. A journey on Earth and in the heavens that will take your breath away!

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In 150 years, twice marked by total destruction —a terrible earthquake in 1923 and incendiary bombings in 1945— followed by a spectacular rebirth, Tokyo, the old city of Edo, has become the largest and most futuristic capital in the world in a transformation process fueled by the exceptional resilience of its inhabitants, and nourished by a unique phenomenon of cultural hybridization.

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No city in the world has sparked as many desires and fantasies as Venice. In the 18th century, its heady atmosphere of freedom produced an extraordinary cultural flowering. Famous artists like Vivaldi, Tiepolo father and son, Canaletto, Longhi, Guardi, Goldoni and Casanova hurled themselves into a giddy whirl of libertinage while leaving their stamp on the unique city. Then, in 1797, Venice surrendered to Napoleon Bonaparte. Carnival was over, and the masks came off. Venice: Flamboyant to the End transports us from canal to canal, palazzo to palazzo, bathing us in the magical atmosphere of this maze of a city and conjuring up the uniquely flamboyant Venice of the 18th century.

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In the 19th century, China held the monopoly on tea, which was dear and fashionable in the West, and the British Empire exchanged poppies, produced in its Indian colonies and transformed into opium, for Chinese tea. Inundated by the drugs, China was forced to open up its market, and the British consolidated their commercial dominance. In 1839, the Middle Empire introduced prohibition. The Opium War was declared… Great Britain emerged as the winner, but the warning was heeded: it could no longer depend on Chinese tea. The only alternative possible was to produce its own tea. The East India Company therefore entrusted one man with finding the secrets of the precious beverage. His mission was to develop the first plantations in Britain’s Indian colonies. This latter-day James Bond was called Robert Fortune – a botanist. After overcoming innumerable ordeals in the heart of imperial China, he brought back the plants and techniques that gave rise to Darjeeling tea.

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College friends whose lives are at a crossroads decide to spend a year in Europe, working in Thai restaurants, and trying not to get deported.

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Blake and Mortimer is an animated television series, based on the Blake and Mortimer comic book by Edgar Pierre Jacobs. The series was directed by Stéphane Bernasconi, and produced by Ellipse, and shown in 1997. The first nine stories were used in this series, as well as four brand new stories, devised by the creators: The Viking's Bequest, The Secret of Easter Island, The Alchemist's Will, and The Druid. New writers, mostly connected to the production company as writers, dialogists or translators, were asked to come up with original plotlines which used the characters of Jacobs' stories, respected the magical/scientific Universe, but rang interesting changes.

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