In the ever-expanding quest to understand Mars, a tiny 1,8kg helicopter named Ingenuity – the brainchild of a Namibian space scientist – has become the latest to break new ground. Ingenuity has hitched a ride to the Red Planet on board NASA’s latest rover mission. Carte Blanche asks the inventors what challenges Ingenuity will have to overcome to become the first human-made object to fly on another planet. --- Visit the Carte Blanche official site: https://mnet.dstv.com/show/carte-blanche Watch more series and movies on Showmax, start your 14-day free trial here: https://bit.ly/36PFSr0 Like Carte Blanche on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carteblanchetv/ Follow Carte Blanche on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carteblanchetv/ Be a fan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carteblanchetv/

Building on the age-old understanding that blood plasma from disease survivors is rich in antibodies, scientists in laboratories around the globe – and now also in South Africa through the SA National Blood Service – are collecting blood samples from coronavirus survivors. It’s relatively cheap, needs no pharmaceutical patents and can be made by laboratories everywhere. Could convalescent plasma therapy be the gamechanger doctors need to help the worst COVID-19 patients in hospitals? Carte Blanche probes the science to find out. --- Visit the Carte Blanche official site: https://mnet.dstv.com/show/carte-blanche Watch more series and movies on Showmax, start your 14-day free trial here: https://bit.ly/36PFSr0 Like Carte Blanche on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carteblanchetv/ Follow Carte Blanche on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carteblanchetv/ Be a fan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carteblanchetv/

SpaceX's Crew Dragon Capsule has docked with the International Space Station and this week started a series of spacewalks to swap out ageing nickel-hydrogen batteries for smaller, efficient lithium-ion batteries. As Earth’s resources take strain, Carte Blanche examines what lies behind the efforts of private corporations to develop rockets to get to the moon. With rich deposits of water ice that can be turned into fuel for space missions – is the moon now fit for human settlement and as a waystation for space-travel? --- Visit the Carte Blanche official site: https://mnet.dstv.com/show/carte-blanche Watch more series and movies on Showmax, start your 14-day free trial here: https://bit.ly/36PFSr0 Like Carte Blanche on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carteblanchetv/ Follow Carte Blanche on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carteblanchetv/ Be a fan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carteblanchetv/

Scientists say that with manmade disasters piling up, mankind’s hurtling down the path of self-destruction. They believe humanity is closer than ever before to doomsday and has set the metaphorical Doomsday Clock to only 100 seconds to midnight – an indication that the threat level is critical. However, they also say that every right choice from individuals to global leaders can make a difference to the fate of the world. --- Visit the Carte Blanche official site: https://mnet.dstv.com/show/carte-blanche Watch more series and movies on Showmax, start your 14-day free trial here: https://bit.ly/36PFSr0 Like Carte Blanche on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carteblanchetv/ Follow Carte Blanche on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carteblanchetv/ Be a fan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carteblanchetv/

Now declared a global pandemic, the coronavirus is having a major impact on international financial markets. Uncertainty and fear of a worldwide recession sent stock markets spiralling down to new record lows. In South Africa, a trillion Rands in value was effectively wiped off the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in a single day, while US stocks fell 7% on Tuesday this week, forcing the US government to announce new economic measures to shore up the economy and lessen the impact of the virus. In Europe, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank have both slashed interest rates in a desperate move to protect the UK and EU member states from the potentially catastrophic effect of COVID-19. --- Visit the Carte Blanche official site: https://mnet.dstv.com/show/carte-blanche Watch more series and movies on Showmax, start your 14-day free trial here: https://bit.ly/36PFSr0 Like Carte Blanche on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carteblanchetv/ Follow Carte Blanche on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carteblanchetv/ Be a fan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carteblanchetv/

The healing benefits of some lasers have long been valued – from high-power laser that cuts human tissue to cold laser that enhances cell metabolism and relieves pain. Now pioneering work by one neurologist from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, using advanced low-light laser therapy to penetrate the skull, is changing the future for patients with traumatic brain injury and degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Large scale clinical studies are awaited as transcranial photomodulation is in early stages. Published pre-clinical studies have yielded promising results, but more research is needed. --- Visit the Carte Blanche official site: https://mnet.dstv.com/show/carte-blanche Watch more series and movies on Showmax, start your 14-day free trial here: https://bit.ly/36PFSr0 Like Carte Blanche on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carteblanchetv/ Follow Carte Blanche on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carteblanchetv/