A series of two-minute shorts answering life’s burning science-based questions – “why is the sky blue?” or “how can I avoid being hit by lightning?” – debuts on DiscoveryChannel.ca next week, as the site’s first original series commission.

Things You Need To Know, a coproduction with 360 Production in the U.K. and Toronto’s Yap Films, gets its online debut on DiscoveryChannel.ca on Aug. 18, with eps themed on the human body, the universe and weather.

A week following the web launch, a three-ep half-hour broadcast version hosted by Top Gear’s James May will hit the airwaves on the channel proper on Aug. 25 at 8 p.m.

The initial pitch in Cannes a few years ago won over the channel’s director of commissioning and production Ann Harbron. While 360 got BBC on board in the U.K., the Beeb wanted half-hours, but Harbron immediately saw the potential for the webisodes.

“There’s a lot of humour, the research is top-notch and it’s very playful,” Harbron tells Playback Daily, noting that in earlier phases, Things was tested in a private focus group that responded positively to the shorts.

“They’re these teeny tiny documentaries with a cheeky, uplifting and fun tone to them. I’m always looking ahead 18 to 20 months at how will people consume their media. To me, this one was a very straightforward idea to offer something like this to our viewers and it would still be very fresh.”

Meanwhile, the Beeb satisfied its desire for half-hours with the three eps hosted by May, but Discovery Channel Canada owns the international digital rights to the webisodes.

And Harbron says that since the show’s debut in June, U.K. fans have cut the webisode segments peppered throughout the half-hours and posted them on YouTube, “which is exactly what we’re doing on our site to begin with!” adds Harbron with a laugh.

But the web-to-broadcast strategy isn’t necessarily the beginning of how the channel will approach all shows going forward. “If we can bring [our viewers] a well-done short storyline in 1:45, we’ll do it again,” she explains. “This is not replacing a 10-hour Ken Burns series. That’s not the intent. We’re giving people different ways to get their information based on how they like to get it.”

To that end, Harbron says that mobile content for Things is also in the works.