Q.E.D Season 4, Episode 5: The Bat, the Blossom and the Biologist

Big Brother's Little Test

The ' polygraph' lie-detector has arrived in Britain. It measures tiny changes in your breathing, perspiration, and heartbeat, as they ask you questions. Someone's hurt - did you do it? Did you steal money from the till? Did you lie when applying for your job? Q.E.D. observes the polygraph in action in America, sees a British ex-policeman in training in Atlanta, and meets a man found guilty of murder after a polygraph test. In Britain, we may soon rely on it for our national security. But is that wise? How does the polygraph work? How effective is it? Can you beat it? And who's next for the little test - could it be you?

How to Be a Professional Mum and Dad

Both Tim and Jean Richardson - from East Grinstead - are ' professional parents', formally approved by the Better Baby Institute in Pennsylvania, USA. They have three children: Rufus, 5, has ' a rage to learn Beth, 3, ' would rather learn than eat'; and Harry, at 18 months, ' would much rather learn than play'and yet they are all perfectly ordinary, happy children. What's the trick? Well, Q.E.D. followed a group of learner parents through their one-week course in Pennsylvania. After all, says Glen Doman , the founder and force behind the institute, ' a child's brain is the only container that the more you put into it, the more it will hold '.

The Future Is Further Away Than You Think

In this programme, HEINZ WOLFF steps aboard a London bus and finds himself immediately transported to a bizarre and unfamiliar world. The past. The year 1948. As he wanders round that strange era of de-mob suits, Clement Attlee , Victor Silvester and Snoek, he asks: ' What has technology actually done for our lives? How different are our homes, our clothes, our food?' What has really changed since 1948, the year when George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty Four? His journey takes him past East End hop-pickers and to the waiting BEA Dakota sitting on the tarmac at Northolt, its engines revving for the flight to Paris - a weekend treat for the well-to-do!

The People's Medicine

Eyewitness Evidence... Fact or Fiction?

Would you make a good eye-witness? Here's your chance to find out with some experiments that could change your mind. The evidence shows we can recall events that never happened. And recognise people that we have never seen. So Q.E.D. asks how far can we trust the evidence of eyewitnesses in the practical business of crime?