Dan Riskin To Host Discovery Channel's CURIOSITY: THE QUESTIONS OF LIFE

Discovery Channel and Discovery Studios today announced that Dr. Daniel Riskin has been named host of CURIOSITY: THE QUESTIONS OF LIFE. The five-year programming event is part of the company's multi-platform initiative, the CURIOSITY project. Riskin will lead viewers on his personal journey to seek answers to each question through experience, experimentation, and his encounters with an array of the world's leading experts.

Dan Riskin is an award-winning evolutionary biologist who has appeared in Animal Planet's Monsters Inside Me and History Channel's Evolve. He holds a PhD in Zoology from Cornell University, and has done post doctorate work at both Brown University and Boston University. In the Fall, he will begin as an Assistant Professor in the department of Biology at the City College campus of the City University of New York. While much of his own research has been focused on the biomechanics of bat flight, Dan is broadly trained as a zoologist, and has expertise on a wide range of animals, from elephants to shrews, and from fruit flies to whales. His work has been published in prestigious science journals including The Journal of Experimental Biology and Nature.

"Dan has a gift for making science understandable and compelling to a broad audience," said Carole Tomko, President, Discovery Studios. "His innate curiosity and passion to explore topics that span science, civilization and the human experience make him a perfect fit for this very special television project."

Clark Bunting, President and General Manager, Discovery Channel and President of Science Channel stated, "CURIOSITY: THE QUESTIONS OF LIFE will unite Discovery Channel viewers worldwide around some of life's most enduring questions. Are we alone in the universe? Can we live forever, and do we want to? What is fear? With Dan as our tour guide, Discovery Channel will take viewers on a journey to explore topics that may seem daunting but are actually relatable, fun and exciting."

CURIOSITY: THE QUESTIONS OF LIFE production has commenced during the silver anniversary year of Discovery Channel. Twenty five years ago, John Hendricks founded Discovery with the mission of "satisfying curiosity" - and this series is the culmination of a vision and the next chapter of Discovery's brand promise. Hendricks is overseeing the five-year, sixty-episode project that will become the definitive television experience for anyone who has wondered about the world. In the same way that LIFE and PLANET EARTH reinvented the natural history genre; CURIOSITY: THE QUESTIONS OF LIFE will reinvigorate the inherent capacity of television to simultaneously entertain and inform.

CURIOSITY: THE QUESTIONS OF LIFE is the television component of the CURIOSITY project, first announced in September 2009. Premiering in 2011, Curiosity: The Questions of Life is a multi-year, multi-platform, multi-disciplinary project to answer the fundamental questions and enduring mysteries of our time. Sixty episodes will be produced by Discovery Studios over the course of five years. The program will premiere on Discovery Channel in January 2011 on Sundays at 8:00 PM. The series also will have a global presence airing across Discovery networks in over 180 countries around the world. Beyond television, The CURIOSITY Project will have an exclusive and extensive web component, specific content produced for Discovery Education and adult education opportunities through partnership with Experius Academy, and a global network of academic institutions around the globe.

Beth Hoppe is Executive Producer Discovery Studios. Alan Eyres is executive producer for Discovery Channel.

About Discovery Studios

Discovery Studios is the full-service production studio within Discovery Communications that develops and produces innovative, high-quality original programming for the Discovery networks. With offices in Silver Spring, Los Angeles and New York, Discovery Studios is the largest domestic producer of content across Discovery networks. Discovery Studios offers unique access to the talent, reach and unrivaled expertise of Discovery. Discovery Studios is also home to the growing Branded Entertainment division and the robust Footage & Music Services division offering an outstanding multimedia library for use in productions around the world.

About Discovery Channel

DISCOVERY CHANNEL (DSC) is dedicated to creating the highest quality non-fiction content that informs and entertains its consumers about the world in all its wonder, diversity and amazement. The network, which reaches 98.1 million viewers in the US, can be seen in over 170 countries, offering a signature mix of compelling, high-end production values and vivid cinematography across genres including, science and technology, exploration, adventure, history and in-depth, behind-the-scenes glimpses at the people, places and organizations that shape and share our world. For more information, please visit www.discovery.com.

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