A scene from The Most Unknown (Abramorama)

A physicist investigates the mysterious and ubiquitous substance known as dark matter. An astrobiologist attempts to see how far life can survive in the most inhabitable of conditions. A neuroscientist explores the subjective nature of time in the mind. These are some of the scientists we get to travel with in The Most Unknown, a documentary that follows nine scientists from across the globe and their adventures into the unknown. The mysteries of micro and macro biology, consciousness and the mind, quantum physics and relativity are all explored here.

Shot with mind-boggling beauty in the detailed geoscopic vein of TV series like Planet Earth, The Most Unknown takes us to places ranging from the dry hot springs of the Black Rock Desert in Montana and the mountaintops of the Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii to the mysterious underwater terrain of the Pacific Coast off Costa Rica and the dark narrow depths of the Frasassi Caves in Italy. But what really makes this film stand out is in the way it follows its featured scientists.

For instance, microbiologist Jennifer Macalady explores microbes in the Frasassi caves. She then moves on to an underground particle lab where she becomes the student to physicist David D’Angelo, who explores the enigma of dark matter. After this, D’Angelo becomes the student as he travels to Belgium to meet cognitive psychologist Axel Cleeremans, who’s in the midst of researching action and consciousness. Then it becomes Cleeremans’s turn  to sit the student chair. And on it goes.

Although this format may appear redundant, it never seems so. Every specialist focuses on a different grand mystery, thus keeping the film consistently fresh and filled with new wonders. The structure also produces a deeply humbling effect on the scientists. An expert in one domain remains, just like the rest of us, a curious observer in another. Confident erudite scientists appear as masters only to look like bewildered spectators when confronted with mysteries outside their specialties. All of them share a common sentiment of relentless curiosity and an everlasting yearning to explore, inquire, and pursue truth.

There’s always something to learn. This is perhaps the biggest takeaway from The Most Unknown. While providing a visual and intellectual tour of the world’s most curious scientific endeavors, this gorgeous and deeply inspiring documentary takes this theme a step further by showing that the more we learn about the universe, the more we learn about ourselves.