Why Ships Sink
Are you safe aboard a modern cruise ship?
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Why Ships Sink
Twenty million passengers embark on cruises each year, vacationing in deluxe "floating cities" that offer everything from swimming pools to shopping malls to ice skating rinks. And the ships just keep getting bigger: The average cruise ship has doubled in size in just the last ten years. Some engineers fear that these towering behemoths are dangerously unstable, and the recent tragedy of the Costa Concordia has raised new questions about their safety. Now, NOVA brings together marine engineering and safety experts to reconstruct the events that led up to famous cruise disasters, including the ill-fated Concordia, the Sea Diamond, and the Oceanos.
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Mystery of a Masterpiece
In October 2007, a striking portrait of a young woman in Renaissance dress made world news headlines. Originally sold nine years before for around $20,000, the portrait is now thought to be an undiscovered masterwork by Leonardo da Vinci worth more than $100 million. How did cutting-edge imaging analysis help tie the portrait to Leonardo? NOVA meets a new breed of experts who are approaching "cold case" art mysteries as if they were crime scenes, determined to discover "who committed the art." And it follows art sleuths as they deploy new techniques to combat the multibillion-dollar criminal market in stolen and fraudulent art.
Mystery of a Masterpiece
Art experts investigate whether a portrait sold for about $20,000 in 1998 is actually a lost Leonardo worth millions.
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Profile: Jay Keasling
Jay Keasling grew up isolated from the world of science on his family's farm in Nebraska. But perseverance, a love of the outdoors, and a passion for engineering all helped him become a pioneer in the cutting-edge field of synthetic biology. Now he's developing "designer" microbes -- synthesizing a key anti-malaria drug at a fraction of the current cost, and hoping to create new microbes that produce clean-burning fuels.
Profile: Jay Keasling
A synthetic biologist's Nebraska farm roots are serving him well in his search for new, clean-burning biofuels.
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Robotic Cars
Will the car of the future be able to drive itself? At the GM Tech Center, engineers are testing two-wheeled, battery-powered cars called EN-Vs. About five feet long and weighing under 1,100 pounds, the tiny cars don't use up much energy or space. And they're smart: With GPS, the EN-Vs can plan a route to their destination and even talk to each other.
Robotic Cars
Tiny, battery-powered cars called EN-Vs, now in R&D, can talk to each other, come when called, even drive themselves.
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Smart Grid
How does electricity get from its source to your light switch? Could a new "smart grid" do the job better? Smart grids support transient power sources like solar and wind, heading off devastating power outages and enabling consumers to make greener—and more economical—choices about how and when to power up.
Smart Grid
Our electric grid is a marvel of 20th-century engineering, but it's showing signs of strain. Can a "smart grid" help?
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- 11:37
Social Robots
Robots already build our cars and vacuum our floors. Will they one day be our companions, too? Engineers are designing robots with the social smarts to understand human feelings, learn from human teachers, carry on conversations, and even make jokes. But is a future full of robotic companions a delightful dream—or a lonely nightmare?
Social Robots
Would you want a robotic friend who could chitchat, do chores, even take care of you? Such bots may be here soon.
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What's the Next Big Thing?
In this episode of NOVA scienceNOW, come face to face with social robots that understand human feelings, carry on conversations, even make jokes. Then travel to Haiti, where geologists investigate the 2010 earthquake not long after it struck for clues to how to better forecast future quakes. Afterwards, join engineers at General Motors who are testing tiny, two-wheeled cars called EN-Vs, which one day might drive themselves through city streets. Learn about proposals for making our outdated electric grid "smart." And meet Nebraska native Jay Keasling, a pioneer in synthetic biology who shares his work on developing "designer" microbes that produce biofuels and medicines.
What's the Next Big Thing?
Greet the future: social robots, a "smart" electric grid, microbes that make diesel fuel, and more.
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- 53:08
Making Stuff: Smarter
"Making Stuff: Smarter" looks at materials that respond to their environments and even learn, such as an airplane wing that changes shape as it flies. Scientists are turning to nature in developing such "smart" stuff. Sharkskin, for instance, has inspired a substance that, when sprayed in hospitals, could eliminate antibiotic-resistant bacteria. David Pogue visits a scientist who has even created a material that can render objects invisible. "Smarter" concludes with a vision of the ultimate in "life-like" stuff: programmable matter that could create a duplicate of a human being.
Making Stuff: Smarter
Explore a new generation of ingenious materials, from clothes that monitor your mood to real-life invisibility cloaks.
Smartest Machine on Earth
Jeopardy! challenges even the best human minds. Can a computer win the game?
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Can Machines Think Like Us?
Can we make a robot that really thinks, learns, and acts like us? Replicating the human brain is a lot tougher than it looks; the promise of walking, talking "androids" is still just a fantasy. But scientists are edging closer with machines like Watson, an IBM computer which is gearing up for a first-of-its-kind challenge: taking on human contestants on the game show Jeopardy.
Can Machines Think Like Us?
A computer named Watson is the latest contestant in machine versus human battles of the "mind."
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Making Stuff: Cleaner
Can innovations in materials science help clean up our world? In "Making Stuff: Cleaner," David Pogue explores the rapidly developing science and business of clean energy and examines alternative ways to generate it, store it, and distribute it. Is hydrogen the way to go? What about lithium batteries? Does this solve an energy problem or create a new dependency? Pogue investigates the latest developments in bio-based fuels and in harnessing solar energy for our cars, homes, and industry in a program full of the stuff of a sustainable future.
Making Stuff: Cleaner
Can innovative materials help solve the energy crisis and lead to a sustainable future? David Pogue investigates.
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Can My Car Live Forever?
Irv Gordon, a retired science teacher from East Patchogue, New York, has managed to keep his 1966 Volvo P1800 going for four decades and over 2.7 million miles. How has he managed it, and can this recipe for longevity help the human body go the extra mile? Neil deGrasse Tyson visits Irv and takes a spin in his one-of-a-kind car.
Can My Car Live Forever?
Irv Gordon has driven his 1966 Volvo more than 2.7 million miles. But don't ask if you can drive it yourself.
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