It is the most extreme, the most complex place on earth - perhaps the universe. But is it a green heaven or green hell? Once, the jungle was impenetrable, alien, a source of unimaginable horror. Today we call it rainforest, and understand it to be the crucible of evolution, the heart and lungs of our planet. And yet we are still plagued by jungle myths.<BR>Fred Pearce begins his exploration of the jungle with the tentative steps of European pioneers in search of El Dorado. Millions died, no one found a city of gold, but the dream persisted into the twentieth century; meanwhile jungle bounty came in the form of medicinal plants, ivory and rubber. As the jungle proved its worth as a source of wealth, its beauty began to entrance explorers. And the more that was discovered, the less we found we knew.<BR>Fred Pearce follows the modern pioneers: scientists and filmmakers using specially devised cameras and innovative filming techniques. He goes aloft with the 'spider man' of Borneo and the pilots of balloons that fly through the canopy into a world with its own soil, a cornucopia of plants, and animals that never come to ground. He zooms in on new micro-research, he considers how rainforests create their own climate, and he investigates the notion that rainforests are our planetary regulators.