Née il y a 6 millions d'années au coeur des gorges de l'Ardèche, Chauvet est l'une des plus belles grottes ornées découverte à ce jour. Elle a été façonnée par les mouvements de la terre, envahie par les eaux, occupée par les animaux et les hommes qui ont recouvert ses parois de dessins d'une beauté exceptionnelle. Dès sa découverte en 1994, la grotte est interdite au public. Les rares scientifiques qui peuvent y rentrer pour l'étudier travaillent avec passion sur son histoire et sur les mystères qu'elle recèle encore. Mais aujourd'hui, la grotte Chauvet fait face aux menaces du réchauffement climatique. Sous haute surveillance, elle est équipée de capteurs qui permettent de contrôler sa température et son taux d'humidité, 24h sur 24.
Season 11 of Science grand format premieres in 12 days, on September 10, 2026, and the timing could not be better for viewers who like their prime-time television to feel both spectacular and genuinely informative. The long-running French documentary collection returns with a new run dedicated to major discoveries, scientific mysteries and historical investigations, opening with an ambitious space odyssey before turning to one of the most mythologized episodes in European history: Julius Caesar’s victory over the Gauls and Vercingetorix. If you follow factual series on BetaSeries, this is exactly the kind of premiere you will want to track early, because Season 11 already looks designed for viewers who enjoy documentaries that combine accessible storytelling with cutting-edge research.
For lapsed viewers, here is all you really need to remember before the new season begins. Science grand format is not a traditional serialized show with characters, cliffhangers or a single ongoing plot. Across its previous ten seasons and hundreds of episodes, the series has built its identity around standalone documentary events: French productions and international co-productions that explore archaeology, space, nature, ancient civilizations, technology and the big scientific questions shaping how we understand the world. It sits comfortably alongside programs such as Découverte, Le Monde de Jamy, Zeste de Science, The Complete Cosmos, Exploring Space or Ancient X-Files, but with a prime-time scale and a taste for immersive investigations.
That format is a real advantage heading into Season 11. You do not need to rewatch 349 episodes to be ready for the premiere. Instead, you can jump straight into the new season and let each episode function as its own expedition. What carries over from past seasons is the series’ core promise: experts, researchers, archaeologists, historians and scientists guide viewers through discoveries in progress, often challenging received ideas. The pleasure of Science grand format is not simply learning a fact; it is watching knowledge being tested, reconstructed and sometimes overturned.