Answers to questions
Ultra Eye, launched in 1978 and hosted by Yamakawa Shizuo, introduced the brand new programming concept of science for the whole family, seeking scientific answers to questions arising from daily life.
The program's success derived from its warm and friendly studio atmosphere and the unfailing enthusiasm of the host as he clarified a wide range of problems using experiments on his own body. The show's popularity was reflected in its audience share, which averaged over 20% and reached a maximum of 29.7%.
Subsequent programs exploring the world of science have included Try and Try, Science Variety: Let's Compare and So That's Why! Today, scientific information that people can use in daily life is presented on Try and Gotcha!, which has been on the air since 1995.

Science is fun!
Science for Everyone was launched on NHK Educational TV in 1963, with the goal of making science and technology more interesting and accessible. It was aired five days a week from Monday through Friday, with themes like Exploring Nature and Fun in the Science Lab.
Over on NHK General, The Four Eyes got its start in 1966. The premise of this program was the use of special photographic techniques and apparatus to capture phenomena normally unseen by the human eye. Techniques like high-speed and time-lapse photography, magnification and fluoroscopy opened windows on new worlds, and were especially successful among children. The program's concept was later taken over by Investigative Camera (1972-).
Science education programs are becoming more important than ever in view of the continuing drift of young Japanese away from scientific subjects. To help counter this trend, NHK launched Saturday Science Club in 2002.

Robocon goes global
In 1988, NHK invited students from national colleges of technology to participate in an unusual kind of competition in the studio. The students were to build and race machines of their own design, powered by nothing more than two dry-cell batteries. This went on to become a regular event called Robocon—short for robot contest.
The idea became so popular that student teams had to enter regional preliminary contests to qualify for the national finals, held every year at Tokyo's Kokugikan Hall. Word spread abroad, and in August 2002, students from 20 universities in the Asia-Pacific region gathered in Japan for the ABU Robot Contest. This event, hosted by NHK and sponsored for the first time by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, was shown in all the participating countries, and proved to be a big hit with viewers.