Arizona State University

University of Southern California

Fermilab

Space Telescope Science Institute

Author, Is God a Mathematician?

MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering

Science Writer

Tufts University

Princeton University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Author, Our Mathematical Universe

Dream Hacking: Decisions, Addictions, and Sleep Hero

Have you ever felt drawn toward choices without knowing why? Or, as seen in the movie “Inception,” have you ever felt like you’ve woken up with a decision that’s already been made for you?Neuroscience is beginning to demystify such feelings. Our agency and decisions, it turns out, can be measurably influenced by events that evade the conscious part of our brains. We’ll see three groundbreaking experiments that illustrate that influences we are unaware of in our waking life, during dreamless sleep, or even in our dreams can impact our memory and behavior.Published on February 18, 2021, in the journal Current Biology, an international team of scientists have found a bridge to the dream world by showing that it’s possible to have a direct dialogue with someone in their dream—and NOVA’s Greg Kestin (host of “What the Physics?!”) was given exclusive access.The scientific context and potential effect of this team’s work are built up in the film through two related groundbreaking experiments. These experiments also show how scientists can influence your decisions, desires, and habits without you being aware.

Watch the first-ever video documenting this live two-way dream communication.

Dream Hacking: Decisions, Addictions, and Sleep

Time Dilation and Intergalactic Travel

Could You Upload Your Brain?

FQXI

Fetzer Franklin Fund

What is The Nature of Reality? It’s a blog, and it’s pretty much the biggest question we could think of. We can’t promise that we’ll answer the question once and for all – in fact, we can pretty much guarantee that we won’t – but we promise a space that welcomes big ideas about space, time, and the universe; where we take questions as seriously as we take answers; where physics is about way more than inclined planes and levers and pulleys. Stick around; we just might expand your cosmic horizons.

What is The Nature of Reality? It’s a blog, and it’s pretty much the biggest question we could think of.

The Nature of Reality

What is The Nature of Reality? It’s a blog, and it’s pretty much the biggest question we could think of.

Alex Clark is the Digital Video Producer for the NOVA Science Studio. He produces original videos for the program and leads video production training for site coordinators and students. Alex is a video journalist, cinematographer, and instructor of documentary filmmaking and he holds a degree in journalism from Columbia University. He has created TV and digital content for PBS, NBC, and NowThis. A lover of all things science, he produced and co-hosted Vox’s Emmy-nominated YouTube series, Glad You Asked.

Kara is the NOVA Education Digital Editor. Before NOVA, Kara worked as an independent wildlife and environment journalist. She has reported on a range of topics including environmental justice for nail salon workers in New York City, the link between the illegal wildlife trade and COVID-19, the next generation of female ocean explorers, as well as a series of in-depth interviews with the organizers of the viral online movement Black Birders Week. Kara holds degrees in journalism and environmental studies from New York University.

Learn the science behind misinformation–how it’s shared, why it&#x27;s believed, and what we can do to address it.

The spread of misinformation is influencing human behavior.

Why Misinformation Matters

Meet the Site Coordinators of NOVA Science Studio.png

The new national program will be led by five site coordinators and include 30 middle and high-school students grouped into regional cohorts from the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West Coast.

Meet the Site Coordinators of NOVA Science Studio

Origins of Misinformation and How it Spreads Hero

Watch as a piece of false information about llamas spreads across social media and gets disproved, only to have the story continue to circulate.

We&#x27;re vulnerable to sharing misinformation because of the way that we communicate.

Origins of Misinformation and How it Spreads

How Mask-Wearing Misinformation Became a Reality Hero

NOVA Producer Alex Clark traces misinformation on mask-wearing from internet circles, to social media influencers, and back to the CDC in the NOVA Education video series.

There are various reasons why people believe in misinformation.

How Mask-Wearing Misinformation Became a Reality

Biomedical engineer, Khari Johnson, explains how underrepresentation in STEM fields is not due to lack of interest, aptitude or talent, but instead due to a number of systemic barriers.

Finding My Voice

Meet the NOVA Science Studio Team

The NOVA Science Studio is a program that aims to empower youth — especially those that are underrepresented in STEM — to tell engaging science communication stories about the issues that matter to them.

The NOVA Science Studio is a program that aims to empower youth — especially those that are underrepresented in STEM — to tell engaging science communication stories about the issues that matter to them.

NOVA Science Studio

<div class="rich-text">
	The slime mold Physarum polycephalum is a single cell without a brain, yet it can make surprisingly complicated decisions. In this animated video short, watch as a slime mold navigates through a maze and solves a civil engineering problem.

	Learn more about slime molds at <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brainless-slime-molds">Scientific American</a>.
</div>

<div class="rich-text">Slime molds may be brainless, but they aren't stupid.</div>

Slime Mold Smarts

<div class="rich-text">
	Cosmic rays are inescapable in space. They can rip right through an astronaut, damaging DNA and possibly causing cancer and memory loss over the long-term. But recent research shows that antioxidants, found in certain berries and fruit, may decrease the effects of this type of radiation.
</div>

<div class="rich-text">Berries and other foods containing antioxidants may alleviate cellular damage caused by cosmic radiation.</div>

Cosmic Ray Danger

Unravelling Bolero

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Koch Foundation

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the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

NOVA ScienceNOW

female scuba diver next to a great hammerhead shark

NOVA digital editor, Kara Norton, observing a great hammerhead shark in Bimini, The Bahamas. Image Credit: Michael Ryan Clark

Moving beyond Shark Week, these women-led groups teach thousands of students about the critical role sharks play in the marine ecosystem.

Moving beyond Shark Week, these women-led groups teach thousands of students about the critical role sharks play in the marine ecosystem.

Meet the women diversifying shark science

US & Territories

Water. Turn on the faucet and it’s always there. Without it we perish. But how safe is our tap water? In this special report narrated by Joe Morton, NOVA investigates what happened in Flint, Michigan, when local officials changed the city’s water source to save money, but overlooked a critical treatment process. As the water pipes corroded, lead leached into the system, exposing the community—including thousands of children—to dangerous levels of poison. NOVA uncovers the science behind this manmade disaster— from the intricacies of water chemistry to the biology of lead poisoning to the misuse of science itself. NOVA follows ordinary citizens and independent scientists who exposed the danger lurking in Flint’s water and confronted those who turned a blind eye. And discover the disturbing truth that reaches far beyond Flint—water systems across the country are similarly vulnerable. How can we protect ourselves from poisoned water? (Premiered May 31, 2017)

What exactly went wrong in Flint—and what does it mean for the rest of the country?

Poisoned Water

Over 2 billion people are living in areas of water scarcity, according to the United Nations, and that number could grow to 5 billion by 2050. Implementing AI could help. Image credit: iStock, brazzo

Around the world, aging and inadequate water systems are a huge public health problem. Now, researchers are using artificial intelligence to help conserve and monitor the quality of drinking water.

Thirsty for solutions, water managers are putting AI-powered tools to work

In the NOVA Exoplanet Lab, you'll meet a variety of alien creatures that need your help in finding a new planet to call home.

You&#x27;ve been selected to be the lead scientist for the NOVA Space Center’s Galactic Resettlement team, with the job of finding suitable exoplanets for displaced aliens desperately seeking new homes. Are you up to the challenge?

Search for Exoplanets with the NOVA Exoplanet Lab

In this collection, you’ll find series profiles of today&#x27;s leading scientists.

The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers Collection

A sculpture of James Marion Sims. Often “portrayed as a champion of women’s health,” this 19th-century “father of modern gynecology” developed many of his techniques by conducting unethical research and experiments on enslaved Black women. Image Credit: Matt Green/Flickr/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Join NOVA Education for three virtual events dedicated to the intersection of STEM education and social justice.

Where Science and Social Justice Meet

NOVA Education tailors NOVA&#x27;s digital resources for educators in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Our free educator library is produced according to teaching standards and includes videos, audio segments, lesson plans, and interactives designed to facilitate effective classroom integration. Please let us know how we&#x27;re doing and what you might like to see. NOVA Education is committed to creating digital learning resources that work for you.

NOVA Education supports STEM education and engagement nationwide through the creation of resources from NOVA's broadcast and digital productions.

NOVA Education

NOVA Education supports STEM education and engagement nationwide through the creation of resources from NOVA&#x27;s broadcast and digital productions.

Being with Jane Goodall

Barrington Irving: 30S on Flying Around the World Solo

Rudy Tanzi: A Scientist Gets Transcendent

The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers

Animal and human forms of communication may be much closer than we previously thought.

The Law all Languages Obey

The search for extraterrestrial life is an age-old quest. But recent breakthroughs make today an era like no other in the history of astronomy. From the exhilarating probing of our own solar system and the Kepler mission’s astounding discovery of thousands of extrasolar planets, to the next-generation telescopes under development, the prospects for finding life beyond Earth have never been stronger. Still, daunting hurdles remain. How can we study anything light years away, let alone a little planet? In the vast universe, where should we even start to look? Is our failure to hear any other voices in the galaxy a sign that we are special? NOVA Wonders joins leading explorers now searching the galaxy for life and intelligence on other planets—and asks, if we do find other life in the universe…what would that mean?

Hunt for clues in the universe to answer one of humanity&#x27;s biggest questions: Are we alone?

Are We Alone?

<div class="rich-text">Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that invades the brains of mice and organs of cats, resulting in a disease called toxoplasmosis. This parasite can also infect humans by way of cat feces. Although Toxoplasma research is still in its early stages, scientists estimate that one-third of the human population has been infected.
</div>

<div class="rich-text">Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that invades the brains of mice and organs of cats.</div>

Can Cat Poop Make You Crazy?

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

The John Templeton Foundation

NOVA Wonders takes viewers on a journey to the frontiers of science, where researchers are tackling some of the biggest questions about life and the cosmos. From the mysteries of astrophysics to the secrets of the body to the challenges of inventing technologies that could rival—and even surpass—the abilities of the human mind, these six hours reveal how far we’ve come in our search for answers, how we managed to get here, and how scientists hope to push our understanding of the universe even further. Along the way, we meet the remarkable people who are transforming our world and our future.

A 6-part series exploring the biggest questions on the frontiers of science.

NOVA Wonders

A 6-part series exploring the biggest questions on the frontiers of science.

One tablespoon of olive oil is dropped into a lake, and after ten minutes, a half-acre of waves are gone. How could the oil spread so far, and why does it calm the waves? Find out in this episode of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj1gfrsi8H8zTrmR0ft1Kjw">What The Physics?!</a>

One tablespoon of olive oil destroys half an acre of waves on this lake. What The Physics?!

Lake vs. Olive Oil

These three things have been said to go faster than light, but do they? Find out in this episode of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj1gfrsi8H8zTrmR0ft1Kjw">What The Physics?!</a>

These three things have been said to go faster than light, but do they?

3 Things "Faster Than Light"

What is &quot;What The Physics?!&quot;Each episode explores something surprising or really interesting related to physics. Like the science behind the movie “Interstellar”… Or exploring what real parallel universes might be like… basically, things that make you go, “What The Physics?!” Visit our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj1gfrsi8H8zTrmR0ft1Kjw/featured">YouTube channel</a> for more.

What the Physics?!

What is &quot;What The Physics?!&quot;

The World's Most Expensive Fungus

4 Deadly Carnivorous Plants

Three Facts About Periods

Bizarre stories from the slimy, smelly, creepy world of science. GROSS SCIENCE from NOVA is produced by WGBH for PBS Digital Studios. See more on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHiZFOa_ZrLwYmxbTaUaKEA">Youtube</a>.

Bizarre stories from the slimy, smelly, creepy world of science.

Gross Science

Bizarre stories from the slimy, smelly, creepy world of science.

Image Credit: Gallinago_media, Shutterstock

In the past year, millions of the animals have been culled to stop the spread of COVID-19 on mink farms across Europe. But this is more than just a fur coat crisis.

What’s the deal with mink Covid?

The study's first author, Karen Konkoly, watches a laboratory monitor. Image courtesy of Stephanie Kulke, Northwestern University

A study from four independent teams report that lucid dreaming during the REM sleep stage allows for two-way communication.

Communicating with a dreaming person is possible

The bluespotted ribbontail ray (Taeniura lymma) is one of more than 200 stingray species found around the world. Image Credit: Antagain, Getty Images

Animal venoms are useful for drugmakers because they’re potent, targeted, and fast-acting. Trust me, I would know.

I got stung by a stingray, and all I got was this deeper understanding of venom medicine

NOVA Next is NOVA’s award-winning digital publication that provides answers from the cutting edge of science and technology. Launched in 2012, we feature in-depth articles and commentaries from some of the most respected journalists, scientists, and engineers. NOVA Next explores the ideas that are changing the future, from the frontiers of synthetic biology to the politics of personalized medicine.Let us know what you think. We’re listening on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/NOVAonline">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/novapbs">Twitter</a>, and email.If you’re a journalist and have an idea for a story, send it our way.

NOVA Next is NOVA’s award-winning digital publication that provides answers from the cutting edge of science and technology.

NOVA Next

NOVA Next is NOVA’s award-winning digital publication that provides answers from the cutting edge of science and technology.

For something we use every day, energy is a pretty mysterious concept. This Lab investigates what energy is, how it can be converted into useful forms, and why some sources are running low.

Energy Lab

Fossils: Rocking the Earth

Cybersecurity Lab Lesson Plan - Hero Image

Take cybersecurity into your own hands. In this Lab, you’ll defend a company that is the target of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks.

Cybersecurity Lab

NOVA Labs

Australia, the smallest of the seven continents, is the world capital of two of the three types of mammal on Earth: the marsupials, like the kangaroo and koala, which nourish their young in pouches, and the monotremes, featuring the platypus and the echidnas, which nourish their young in eggs. (The third variety, placentals, include all the rest of us—from mice to whales to people—which nourish their young in an advanced placenta.)

How did Australia come to be marsupial heaven?

Evolution Down Under

Nova

Canada

United States

Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

American Samoa

Guam

U.S. Virgin Islands

U.S. Minor Outlying Islands

US, US Territories, Canada

Explore the buried clay warriors, chariots, and bronze weapons of China&#x27;s first emperor.

Emperor's Ghost Army

Deep in the ocean, animals that flash, sparkle, and glow use light to survive in the dark.

Creatures of Light

Will future asteroids trigger massive extinctions—or be mined for precious minerals?

Asteroid: Doomsday or Payday?

You’ve been there: An action as simple as giving your child the wrong snack is an injustice worthy of waging war (and in this case, “war” is a tantrum).
Fortunately, hosts Alok Patel and Bethany Van Delft are here to break down why children “break down” and have tantrums—and what you should do to help them through it.Children aren’t able to regulate their responses to “blocked goals,” whatever it is they may desire or the things they want to see happen. Just as you may get upset when a yellow light turns red or you don’t make it to the grocery store before it closes, children may get upset when something they want isn’t given to them or something doesn’t work out as planned.Children also want to have autonomy, Alok explains. When their desires are “blocked” by their most notorious goalie—their parents and caregivers telling them “NO”—children tend to unleash their frustration on them.When a tantrum begins to bubble inside your little one, “You can think about a train running into a tunnel,” Alok says. As the train is approaching the “tantrum tunnel,” as a parent or guardian, you may think about methods to prevent a meltdown. (Once the train gets into the tunnel, it’s meltdown time.) Of course, there’s no tried and true tantrum prevention method. “You just have to wait for [the train] to come out the other side,” Bethany says.When it comes to handling her child’s tantrums, Bethany employs a few different methods depending on what her three-year-old son is experiencing. “If he’s full-blown anger, we let it ride,” she says. Afterward, once he’s calmed down, Bethany talks to him about what happened to make him so upset. Learning what triggers a tantrum can help parents plan for tantrums instead of preventing them, says Bethany.For many young children (but not all), tantrums are “a regular part of [early] childhood,” Alok says. By around five or six years old—thanks to the growth of their prefrontal cortex—many children will have developed more self-regulation skills and will experience fewer tantrums. Fortunately, during this time, you should be able to talk your child through their emotional outbursts with more ease.If your child still has tantrums past six years old and seems irritable and disinterested in other activities, “you should get them evaluated because it could be signs of another medical condition or something else that should be looked at,” Alok says.At the end of the day, being a toddler is hard. Empathize with your little one—because “the struggle is real to them,” Bethany says.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/parentalogic">Subscribe to the YouTube channel</a> and receive alerts when new episodes launch!

Tantrums: Why They Happen and How to Soothe Your Kid Hero

You’ve been there: An action as simple as giving your child the wrong snack is an injustice worthy of waging war (and in this case, “war” is a tantrum).

Tantrums: Why They Happen and How to Soothe Your Kid

NOW Now is a biweekly podcast digging into the science behind the headlines. Alok Patel takes you behind the scenes with the people—scientists, engineers, technologists, mathematicians and more—working to understand our world. Now it&#x27;s more critical than ever to distinguish fact from fiction and find science-based answers to the most pressing questions of our time.

NOVA Now Podcast

Worshipped as a goddess, condemned as satanic, and spun into a stunning array of breeds, cats have long fascinated humans. But did we ever really domesticate them? And what can science tell us about our most mysterious companions? (Premiered February 19, 2020)

Goddess, demon, house pet? What does science say about the human relationship with cats?

Cat Tales

NOVA revolves around a simple premise: the world of science is exciting! For NOVA viewers, science means adventure and exploration--because from ants to aliens, this weekly documentary series probes the far reaches of earth, sea and stars.  NOVA proves that science is neither secret lore nor sacred ritual but rather, at its heart, a lifelong journey of discovery.

Babies might cry in the middle of the night to prevent their mothers from getting pregnant again.

Babies Might Cry At Night to Prevent Siblings

A crowd looks on while excavator operator Jamie Bollinger raised the skull from the pit.

The incredibly intact skull of a mammoth shows signs of human hunting or scavenging at what appears to be a surprisingly early date.

Mammoth Discovery Could Revise Earliest Date of Humans in the Americas

An aggregation of bombardier beetles. Though they look very similar, there are six species of Brachinus in this photo. Photo Credit: Chip Hedgcock, University of Arizona

These bugs, which are known for spraying their noxious beetle juice when attacked, huddle in clusters that seem to break the rules of biology.

These Butt-Blasting Beetles Love to Cuddle

A replica of the Kebara 2 skeleton, which boasts the most complete thorax of any Neanderthal remains discovered to date. Kebara 2 was about 30 years old when he died, approximately 60,000 years ago. Photo Credit: Nicolas Perrault III, Wikimedia Commons

Researchers used modern technology to virtually reconstruct a 60,000-year-old Neanderthal rib cage, potentially shedding light on how these hominids interacted with their environment.

Reconstructed Rib Cage Offers Clues to How Neanderthals Breathed and Moved

A swingset near Buffalo's abandoned grain silos

In Western New York, public health officials have organized a task force that’s giving people who suffer from opiate use disorder a new beginning.

Restoring Hope: Fighting the Opioid Crisis in Buffalo

<div class="rich-text">Crows can remember the face of their captors&mdash;even after generations.
</div>

<div class="rich-text">Crows can remember the face of their captors—even after generations.</div>

Do Birds Remember Faces?

Xenopus_laevis_TimVickers_WikimediaCommons.JPG

Adult African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) usually develop spike-like structures at sites of limb amputation. But researchers can now equip these frogs with bioreactors that help them partially regenerate their hind legs. Photo Credit: TimVickers, Wikimedia Commons

Twenty-four hours of the hormone progesterone can kickstart over nine months of limb regeneration in amphibian amputees.

A Progesterone-Pumping Device Helps Frogs Regenerate Lost Limbs

Why Addiction Stigma Stops Patients from Seeking Treatment Hero

Nearly 20 million Americans are struggling with addiction, yet over 90% of them will not receive treatment, in large part due to the stigma surrounding the disease. One way to destigmatize addiction is to change the language that we use to describe it, starting now.

Over 20 million Americans struggle with addiction—and social stigma is partially to blame.

Why Addiction Stigma Stops Patients from Seeking Treatment

In this two-hour special, renowned paleontologist Kirk Johnson takes us on an epic adventure through time at the polar extremes of our planet. Following a trail of strange fossils found in all the wrong places—beech trees in Antarctica, hippo-like mammals in the Arctic—Johnson uncovers the bizarre history of the poles, from miles-high ice sheets to warm polar forests teeming with life. What caused such dramatic changes at the ends of the Earth? And what can the past reveal about our planet’s climate today—and in the future? (Premiered February 5, 2020)

Paleontologist Kirk Johnson explores the dynamic history—and future—of ice at the poles.

Polar Extremes

Something big is happening to Earth’s climate, and the polar regions hold the key to understanding it. Join top scientists on the hunt for clues that tell a surprising story about our planet’s past...and preview where we might be headed.

The Polar Lab

Disastrous hurricanes. Widespread droughts and wildfires. Withering heat. Extreme rainfall. It is hard not to conclude that something’s up with the weather, and many scientists agree. It’s the result of the weather machine itself—our climate—changing, becoming hotter and more erratic. In this two-hour documentary, NOVA will cut through the confusion around climate change. Why do scientists overwhelmingly agree that our climate is changing, and that human activity is causing it? How and when will it affect us through the weather we experience? And what will it take to bend the trajectory of planetary warming toward more benign outcomes? Join scientists around the world on a quest to better understand the workings of the weather and climate machine we call Earth, and discover how we can be resilient—even thrive—in the face of enormous change.

Discover how Earth’s intricate climate system is changing.

Decoding the Weather Machine

Planet Earth

The 6 million-ton Great Pyramid of Giza is the last surviving wonder of the ancient world. How did the Egyptians engineer the mighty pharaoh Khufu’s tomb so precisely, with none of today’s surveying and power tools? And who were the thousands of laborers who raised the stones? Were they slaves or volunteers, and how were they housed, fed, and organized? &quot;Decoding the Great Pyramid&quot; presents the latest evidence from groundbreaking archaeological research that has transformed our understanding of the ancient world’s most ambitious engineering project, revealing a “lost city&quot; and intimate details of the lives of the laborers and officials who toiled on the vast construction. Amazingly, French archaeologists recently found the logbook of a labor team that delivered limestone blocks to build the Great Pyramid, yielding crucial insights into the planning and logistics behind the operation. Beyond these construction secrets, &quot;Decoding the Great Pyramid&quot; traces how mobilizing the colossal labor and resources invested in the monument transformed ancient Egypt, uniting a nation behind the common goal of ensuring eternity for the pharaoh and continuing prosperity for everyone in this life and the next. (Premiered February 6, 2019)

New archeological evidence sheds light on the stunning engineering of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

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Cat Tales

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Emperor's Ghost Army

Creatures of Light

Asteroid: Doomsday or Payday?

Tantrums: Why They Happen and How to Soothe Your Kid

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