Electric Bacteria, DIY Telescopes, and Urban Physics: NOVA Next Week in Review

ByAllison EckFriday, July 25, 2014 NOVA NextNOVA Next

Receive emails about upcoming NOVA programs and related content, as well as featured reporting about current events through a science lens.
Email Address
Zip Code
This Week’s NOVA Next Feature Article

Mosquito-borne illness chikungunya has been lurking just outside the U.S. for months. Now it’s here. NOVA Next contributor Carrie Arnold updates her

original July 23, 2014 report with new information about the appearance of chikungunya in the United States.

In other news from NOVA and around the web:

Introducing Gross Science , a new YouTube series from NOVA on the grossest stories in science. Coming in August! Subscribe on YouTube .
How fatherhood changes your brain.
A curious form of bacteria that thrives on electricity alone could tell us about what might power life on other planets.
In 1997, a container filled with 4.8 million Lego pieces fell into the sea. Those pieces are still washing up on Cornish shores today, giving us insight into the tides.
In a fight between the LHC and the Crab Nebula supernova remnant, who would win ?
If buildings were molecules , then New York would be a crystal and Boston an amorphous liquid.
This week in 1925, John Scopes was found guilty for teaching evolution. Watch NOVA’s “Intelligent Design on Trial” streaming online to learn more about modern-day battles over the teaching of evolution in schools.
China is planning a supercollider that would be complete by 2028.
This tree is growing 40 different types of fruit at once.

Did you miss "Australia’s First 4 Billion Years: Monsters" this week? Watch it streaming online until August 20.

Bats use patterns of polarized light to navigate the night sky. They also echolocate, and understanding how that works could help the visually-impaired.
Build your own radio telescope .
There’s a World Cup for robots , and it’s taking place in Brazil right now. Learn about the soccer-playing robots that stand at the forefront of AI technology.
Friday was Rosalind Franklin’s birthday. Celebrate her legacy .
If industrial alien life exists, we should be examining exoplanets for evidence of CFCs .
Check out one Harvard team’s approach to the tree of life . It’s evolution gamification.
Near-sightness might be linked to education level.
Ever wonder what fire looks like in zero gravity? This video from the ISS is stunning.
Infections from a brain-eating amoeba are on the rise.

Photo Credit: James Gathany/CDC