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

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.

Being with Jane Goodall

Barrington Irving: 30S on Flying Around the World Solo

Rudy Tanzi: A Scientist Gets Transcendent

the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers

What is "What The Physics?!"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?!

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

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

Koch Foundation

NOVA Science Trust Logo

NOVA Labs

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.

Mammals with pouches, like this red kangaroo, didn't originate in Australia, but they have prospered there like nowhere else on the planet. Why?

Photo credit: istockphoto.com/© Michelle Allen/WebStuff.biz Pty Ltd

How did Australia come to be marsupial heaven?

Evolution Down Under

Nova

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

The Law all Languages Obey

US & Territories

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'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 National Science Foundation

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.

Kara is a digital editor covering the nexus of science, social justice, and the natural world.

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.

a person practicing prescribed burning, the practice of intentionally setting small fires to clear away brush in order to prevent a larger, uncontrolled wildfire.

Use this toolkit to organize community screenings which educate the public, provide a space to discuss local impacts, and brainstorm community solutions.

Weathering the Future Outreach Toolkit

Dark black clouds from severe storm blanket wind turbines in the middle of a grain crop along side dirt road.

New climate change resources are coming to PBS LearningMedia this Spring!

New NOVA climate change resources are coming to PBS LearningMedia this Spring!

Teaching Resources: Local climate change solutions

Online, interactive resources for teaching climate science and climate change to middle and high school students

Bring Climate Science to the Digital Classroom with the Polar Lab

Using videos excerpted from NOVA: Decoding the Weather Machine, students explore ways that adaptation and mitigation strategies can work at various levels to minimize suffering and then develop an evidence-based action plan for their local community.

Choosing Earth's Climate Future

US, US Territories, Canada

General - US & Territories

It’s hard not to notice: our weather is changing. From longer, hotter heat waves, to more intense rainstorms, to megafires and multi-year droughts, the U.S. is experiencing the full range of impacts from a changing global climate. At the same time, many on the front lines are fighting back – innovating solutions, marshaling ancient wisdom, and developing visionary ideas. The lessons they're learning today can help all of us adapt in the years ahead, as the planet gets warmer and our weather gets more extreme. (Premiered April 12, 2023) Join producers and experts from "Weathering the Future" for clips, a panel discussion, and audience Q&amp;A on April 25th at 7PM ET. Register for the event here: <a href="https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Xuvr8x81Q7-Jzdx6HMBZxg">https://bit.ly/3Uufnl2</a>

Americans use ancient wisdom and new technology to fight extreme weather.

Weathering the Future

In NOVA's Financial Lab, students learn about built-in biases that often keep us from making smart decisions, and practice overcoming them by taking care of their pet through three fun and challenging mini-games.

NOVA Financial Lab PBS LearningMedia collection

NOVA Education tailors NOVA'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'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's broadcast and digital productions.

Four bright orange loops brand off of a dark blue blob

A transmission electron micrograph of HIV-1 virus particles (orange) replicating from the plasma membrane of an infected H9 T cell. Credit: NIAID, Flickr

Scientists have cured a handful of people of HIV by piggybacking on treatments they received for blood cancer. But does that bring a widespread cure any closer?

How a select few people have been cured of HIV

Perfectly round ball of brown ice cream on a spoon against white background

Sixty years ago a teenager’s homemade ice cream raised a surprisingly complicated question: Can hot liquids freeze faster than cold ones?

The ice cream that changed physics

A light blue brain scan against a black background with two purple C-shaped regions highlighted in purple

A brain scan from Fred Barrett's lab with the location of the claustrum indicated in purple. Image Credit: GBH/NOVA

The claustrum seems to act as a switchboard, telling different parts of the brain when to turn on and off. But what happens when the switchboard operator steps away?

How do psychedelics work? This brain region may explain their effects

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.

<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

NOVA ScienceNOW

A photo collage of students from the NOVA Science Studio

Students across the country are participating in NOVA's film production program to make videos about climate change solutions in their local communities.

Students tell local climate stories in NOVA filmmaking program

The words NOVA Science Studio set atop a deep blue background.

We are proud to introduce the 2020—2021 NOVA Science Studio student-producers who covered a wide variety of science stories including fast fashion and sneaker sustainability, as well as the effects of food insecurity and its outsized impact on youth.

Meet the student filmmakers showing how science affects their lives

A close up of potato wedges deep fried in oil

Since the pandemic began in 2020, the number of people without reliable access to food has increased in the United States, particularly in urban areas. The effects of food insecurity, from malnutrition to cognitive and behavioral issues, have an outsized impact on youth. In this student-produced video, NOVA Science Studio student producers Baiwen Zheng, Laila Oko, and Shreya Pandit examine how access to fresh food affects our health and wellbeing.

The Hidden Cost of Hunger in America | NOVA Science Studio

A black leather sneaker that has been discarded as trash in a deserted, dry, mountainous area.

Athletic sneakers are the most widely purchased shoes in the world. But along with big sales comes a huge carbon footprint from sneakers’ production and waste. In this student-produced video, NOVA Science Studio student producers Emma Wasserman, Kabir Ali Jeevraj, and Ife Renro discuss how our sneaker buying habits affect the environment.

How Your Sneakers Affect The Environment | NOVA Science Studio

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're vulnerable to sharing misinformation because of the way that we communicate.

Origins of Misinformation and How it Spreads

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

United States

Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

American Samoa

Guam

U.S. Virgin Islands

U.S. Minor Outlying Islands

Why Bridges Collapse

Can new engineering techniques help prevent deadly bridge collapses?

Canada

Americans use ancient wisdom and new technology to fight extreme weather.

Arctic Sinkholes

In the Arctic, enormous releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, threaten the climate.

Einstein's Quantum Riddle

Join scientists as they grab light from across the universe to prove quantum entanglement is real.

Hunga Volcano Eruption captured at 1155am 30th December 2021

In January 2022, one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history rocked the Pacific islands of Tonga, sending shockwaves around the world. Through first-person accounts of the disaster and eyewitness footage, experience the terrifying power of the eruption and the devastating tsunami that struck the shores of Tonga. Why was this eruption so big, how did it cause the tsunami, and could another disaster loom? (Premiering May 10 at 9 pm on PBS)

Investigate one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history.

Hidden Volcano Abyss

Investigate one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history.Premiering Wednesday, May 10 at 9 pm on PBS

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.

Departed pets can now live on through reproductive cloning. But many owners have been surprised to find that genetics aren’t everything—Fluffy the second turns out to be an animal all its own.

Cloning has come a long way since Dolly the sheep, but it still has limits.

The False Promise of Cloning Your Pet

cast iron skillet full of Brussels sprout halves and bits of bacon sits on a wooden surface

Here is how oil and heat can form a durable coating.

What happens when you season a cast iron pan

A dried, twisted old tree against a blue sky

"Methuselah," a bristlecone pine in California long considered to be the world's oldest tree. Image Credit: Yen Chao, Flickr

Will a Patagonian cypress in Chile prove older than California’s most elderly bristlecone pine?

The world’s oldest tree has competition

The James Webb Space Telescope, a project 30 years in the making, launched in December 2021 and arrived at its destination point in January. The telescope will be able to see further into the infrared part of the spectrum than Hubble, and further back in time.

The farther away a galaxy is, the redder it appears to our telescopes.

Why Distant Galaxies Look Red

Also known as "water bears" or "moss piglets," tardigrades are microscopic animals with extreme survival abilities. Image credit: iStock

Special proteins that help tardigrades survive extreme conditions might be the key to extending the shelf life of life-saving pharmaceuticals.

After Conquering Space, Water Bears Could Save the Global Vaccine and Blood Supply

Ancient human footprints in White Sands National Park reveal that humans first arrived in North America thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

Scattered seeds help reveal when ancient humans first left footprints in North America.

Humans May Have Lived in North America Earlier Than Thought

Quinn Brett hikes with her Bomber off-road handcycle on Walter's Wiggles, a steep trail named for its many switchbacks, in Zion National Park. Image Courtesy of Quinn Brett

The trails through our public lands weren’t designed for wheelchairs, but new wheelchairs are designed for those trails. National Park Service accessibility specialist Quinn Brett wants parks to catch up with wheelchair technology, increasing access to American wilderness.

Adapting national parks for wheelchair hiking

Black holes are the most enigmatic and exotic objects in the universe. They’re also the most powerful, with gravity so strong it can trap light. And they’re destructive, swallowing entire planets, even giant stars. Anything that falls into them vanishes…gone forever. Now, astrophysicists are realizing that black holes may be essential to how our universe evolved—their influence possibly leading to life on Earth and, ultimately, us. In this two-hour special, astrophysicist and author Janna Levin takes viewers on a journey to the frontiers of black hole science. Along the way, we meet leading astronomers and physicists on the verge of finding new answers to provocative questions about these shadowy monsters: Where do they come from? What’s inside? What happens if you fall into one? And what can they tell us about the nature of space, time, and gravity? (Premiered January 10, 2018)

Take a mind-blowing voyage to the most powerful and mysterious objects in the universe.

Black Hole Apocalypse

An Australian magpie. Image Credit: NAPARAZZI, Flickr

During a recent study, a group of magpies removed their GPS trackers, astounding their observers. But were the birds actually trying to help each other?

How magpies outwitted researchers in Australia

In the Badlands of North Dakota, a team of scientists think they might have found the fossilized remains of animals killed on the day an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago. The evidence points to a catastrophic event, with a jumble of rare fossils, including a pterosaur embryo still in its shell and a well-preserved patch of triceratops skin, mixed in with tiny spheres of clay and glass that could be the fallout from the massive asteroid impact. Sir David Attenborough guides us on a search for clues that could give an unprecedented snapshot of what happened in the dinosaurs’ final moments on Earth. (A two-hour special premiering at 9 pm on May 11 on PBS)

Striking new fossils paint a picture of life right before the asteroid impact.

Dinosaur Apocalypse: The New Evidence

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? "Decoding the Great Pyramid" 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" 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, "Decoding the Great Pyramid" 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.

Decoding the Great Pyramid

Explore the intimate connections between the landscape, the colonizing of the continent, and the emergence of our industrial world. Beginning with Native American ancestors who crafted hunting weapons from stone traded across hundreds of miles, the program shows how pre-Columbian civilizations developed an expert knowledge of the landscape and its resources. With the arrival of Europeans, North America’s hidden riches became to key to prosperity, from the gold rush to today’s oil and gas boom. As a result, human activity has transformed the continent on a scale that rivals the geological forces that gave birth to it billions of years before. Yet, scientists warn of sleeping giants like the Cascadia fault, and the earthquake/tsunami one-two punch it could unleash on the Pacific Northwest. Even as we re-mold the continent to suit our needs, geologic processes inexorably continue, and they raise potential risks of catastrophe to our human civilization.

How has the land shaped our lives, from the arrival of the first Americans to today?

Making North America: Human

(This program is no longer available for online streaming.) Our ancient human ancestors once lived only in Africa, in tiny bands of a few thousand hunter-gatherers. Then we moved out of our African cradle, spreading rapidly to every corner of the planet. How did we acquire the skills, technology and talent to thrive in every environment on earth? How did our prehistoric forebears cross the Sahara on foot, survive frigid ice ages, and sail to remote Pacific islands? “Great Human Odyssey” is a spectacular global journey following their footsteps out of Africa along a trail of fresh scientific clues. With unique glimpses of today’s Kalahari hunters, Siberian reindeer herders, and Polynesian navigators, we discover amazing skills that hint at how our ancestors survived and prospered long ago. (Premiered October 5, 2016)

Follow our ancient ancestors’ footsteps out of Africa and into every corner of our planet.

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