Each of the following paragraphs summarizes a Closer To Truth television show and book chapter. The title links to its topic page, with streaming video (as broadcast), extended transcript (book chapter), HyperForum (some), participants, and resources.

What are the Grand Questions of Science? (show 101), first airs May 2000.
What are the key areas where science is focused? Science seems on the brink of several mega-revolutions, including biotechnology and genetic engineering, broadband communications and artificial intelligence, a search for a "Theory of Everything," cosmology of the early universe, and nanotechnology, the building of extremely small machines. Our diverse scientists enumerate and evaluate the Big Questions and rank them in order of importance. 
Participants: Ayala, Churchland, Ferris, Koonin, Tyson

What are the Next Breakthroughs in Science? (show 202), first airs September 2000.
How is the "current belief" challenged in science? Does change in physics differ from, say, change in psychology? Does the era of "Big Science," such as huge particle accelerators and the Human Genome Project, stifle creativity? And what is the role of independent individuals? How do "paradigms" work in science, and has the term been overused or misused? Is science ever relative, somehow conditioned by the prevailing culture? We look at specific challenges to the status quo, such as the accelerating universe and the regrowth of human brain cells. 
Participants: Ayala, Churchland, Ferris, Gelman, Tyson

Why is Quantum Physics So Beautiful? (show 207), first airs October 2000.
Beauty. Elegance. Charm. Color. Symmetry. Strangeness. These are the very words that physicists use to portray the most basic, scientific picture of our world. What they see is breath-taking. If you think "Quantum Physics" sounds too difficult, unfortunately, it’s even worse than that. Nobody in his right mind, my friends warn me, would dare do television like this. So here I am, doing it -- because Quantum Physics is real and relevant, and because every literate person should appreciate its profound beauty. This show is an impassioned word portrait of a new reality. Tilt your head, and it won’t be so hard. Stick with me; my bet is that you’ll get it and like it. 
Participants: Benford, Buchanan, Koonin, Lederman, Linde

How Did This Universe Begin? (show 105), first airs June 2000.
It’s called "The Big Bang," that inexplicable moment when an infinitesimally small point expanded majestically, and cooked up space, time, energy and matter in a colossal cosmic stew. How can we draw such a fine-grained portrait of the Ultimate Beginning? What methods reach across billions of years? The Creation Question is humanity’s ancient and perpetual fascination, and, you know something, we may finally have some real answers. We present recent, revolutionary discoveries in cosmology, and what they mean for human understanding. 
Participants: Freedman, Lederman, Linde, Murphy, Tipler

Will This Universe Ever End? (show 213), first airs December 2000.
How is this universe supposed to end? There are two basic theories, neither pleasant: "The Big Crunch," the inward-rushing, squashing together of all things; and "The Death of Heat," the flying apart and dissipation of all things. But recently, startling challenges put it all up for grabs. There’s a lot loaded into our question, "Will This Universe Ever End?" Cosmologists look to the total amount of matter in the universe. Is there enough for gravity to reverse the current expansion and ultimately cause The Big Crunch? And if this universe ends, would another take its place? Or are other universes already in existence, perhaps an infinite number of them? There aren’t too many people who get paid to ponder the end of the universe; this show has several. 
Participants: Freedman, Lederman, Linde, Murphy, Tipler

Will Intelligence Fill the Universe? (show 214), first airs December 2000.
Are we required to exist? What is our destiny? Are conscious beings an accident, or a necessity? Must our universe bring forth intelligent life? There are three questions that speak directly to human uniqueness and purpose. 1) Does intelligent non-human life exist anywhere in the universe? 2) Given the fullness of time, will human beings spread across the galaxies? 3) Is there Something Special about this universe that causes, even requires, self-aware creatures like us to appear? 
Participants: Ayala, Benford, Lederman, Murray, Tipler