Discovery Communications Launches Curiosity.com: First Platform of CURIOSITY Initiative, Connecting Online Audience With Life's Biggest Questions & Brightest Minds

SILVER SPRING, Md., June 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery Communications, the world's number one nonfiction media company, announced today the launch of Curiosity.com, the first prong of the company's multi-year, multi-platform content initiative called CURIOSITY. The first-of-its-kind site brings together some of the greatest visionaries, scholars and trendsetters of our time on a proprietary social expert Q&A platform.

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Curiosity.com seeks to create a global conversation with individual and expert contributors around some of life's most profound questions. The platform allows for multiple answers to the same question, letting contributors challenge and inspire each other and features 32 topic sections ranging from biodiversity to nanotechnology, with 12,000 questions and answers and growing. The homepage "wonderwall" features daily questions such as "What is curiosity?"; "Are we too plugged into technology?" and "Why do people fall in love?".

At the core of the site are the "Curiosity Luminaries," thought leaders across various fields who serve as the founding experts and the cornerstone of Curiosity.com. The innovative Curiosity.com platform allows for each expert contributor to have his or her own profile page on the site, pulling together a wide variety of content around the topics that matter to them.

Seeking to build a diverse community of the most fascinating people of our time, this growing list of contributors includes Nobel prize winners, inventors, authors, CEOs and pioneers of their fields. Visitors can connect with the Luminaries through profile pages filled with rich content from the site. New Luminaries will be unveiled every week, so the community grows and the conversations get more interesting every day, each featured on the Curiosity.com homepage with in-depth original video interviews and reflections.

Examples include the following:

• Vinton Cerf, often cited as one of the fathers of the Internet and currently the Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, answers questions on what "friendship" means in the age of social media.
• Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Laureate, discusses human rights, forgiveness and the power of the media.
• Robert Gagosian, President and CEO of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, talks about climate change and saving our oceans.
• Wynton Marsalis, internationally acclaimed jazz musician, composer and educator, explains how jazz is a model of democratic action.
• Ted Leonsis, Internet pioneer, philanthropist and sports mogul, tells the five secrets of happiness.
• Charles Yang, the incredible young violinist -- and new rock star of classical music, will explain how music can literally uplift the human heart.
• Alexander Tsiaras, Founder and CEO of TheVisualMD, describes his goal of looking at the human body in a stunningly new way, using cutting-edge molecular modeling tools and ultra-powerful microscopes.

"Curiosity is at the very heart of what it means to be human and we never stop wondering and asking the biggest questions of life," said John Hendricks, Founder and Chairman of Discovery Communications and CURIOSITY creator. "At Discovery, we have been in the business of satisfying curiosity for more than 25 years, and this project is a natural extension of our mission. Through Curiosity.com we have created a first-of-its-kind platform where you can answer the question and question the answer...to endlessly explore and raise our collective IQ."

Over the next few months, Curiosity.com will debut social sharing functions across the site, allowing visitors to create their own profile pages, contribute to the discussion around CURIOSITY's topic areas and interact with many of the Curiosity Luminaries. Additionally, fans can keep up to date with CURIOSITY and engage with others at facebook.com/CuriosityTV and on Twitter by following @CuriosityTV.

The robust website offers a deep dive into topics beyond those covered in the television series, CURIOSITY, which makes its world premiere on Discovery Channel on Sunday, August 7 at 9 PM ET/PT. An unprecedented landmark event that brings the "I wonder?" moment to television with a unique blend of eclectic and provocative subjects, CURIOSITY fearlessly explores a world of questions from award-winning comedian/actor Robin Williams looking at the power and nature of drugs and horror master/director Eli Roth exploring the nature of fear, to Lost and Avatar star Michelle Rodriguez asking how we might survive an alien attack.

The Q&A platform powering Curiosity.com is the creation of Jeff Arnold, Chief Architect, who also recently launched Sharecare.com, a health and wellness Q&A website. Arnold's previous accomplishments include HowStuffWorks.com and WebMD. The Chief Curator of Curiosity.com is Richard Sergay, who brings to the project more than 25 years of experience with ABC News, much of that covering cutting-edge technologies.

Envisioned and created by Discovery's iconic founder, John Hendricks, CURIOSITY is the largest multi-platform initiative ever undertaken by Discovery. CURIOSITY extends beyond Curiosity.com and the television series to include multi-year education initiatives, social, mobile and marketing programs, retreats and seminars.

Presenting sponsors of CURIOSITY to date are © Nissan North America and University of Phoenix. Additional sponsors are expected to be announced next month.

About Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is the world's #1 nonfiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in 210 countries and territories. Discovery is dedicated to satisfying curiosity through 130-plus worldwide television networks, led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science and Investigation Discovery, as well as US joint venture networks OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, The Hub and 3net, the first 24-hour 3D network. Discovery also is a leading provider of educational products and services to schools and owns and operates a diversified portfolio of digital media services, including HowStuffWorks.com. For more information, please visit www.discoverycommunications.com.

SOURCE Discovery Communications