This Week’s NOVA Next Feature Article
Every single building on the planet has a unique and dynamic microbiome. Hospitals, too.
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In other news from NOVA and around the web:
- In the race to discover another Earth, scientists have just hit a major milestone. Kepler 186f isn’t too large, too hot, or too remote. In fact, it’s just about right .
- Molecules called “photoswitches” can generate solar power—even in the dark.
- You can drip water across graphene to create electricity.
- A stretch of highway in the Netherlands now has glow-in-the-dark roads .
- See Saturn’s newest moon being born .
- Still enjoying “Cosmos” on the National Geographic Channel/FOX? Catch up on some important new information about the universe.
-
Enjoy this
rare audio of Einstein
explaining “Why I Am an American” on the day he passed his citizenship test.
- Do you think you could pass a Harvard exam administered by cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker? Give this test a try .
- In a post-Sandy world, we ought to start thinking like the Dutch . Go inside an 18th century Dutch windmill with our video .
- The White House is being pressed to help rescue the monarch butterfly . Watch “Journey of the Butterflies” streaming online to learn more about their wondrous annual migration.
- Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday was Tuesday. Celebrate belatedly by watching “Mystery of a Masterpiece,” in which art expert investigate whether a portrait sold for about $20,000 in 1998 is actually a lost Leonardo worth millions. It’s free and streaming online .
- Why does your pooch have a wrinkly face? And why is your St. Bernard so big? Watch our video .
- Your average dog’s nose is tens of thousands of times as sensitive to odors as yours.
Did you miss "Inside Animal Minds: Dogs & Super Senses"? Stream it here—and remember, it will only be available for the next four weeks.
- Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings . The victims, though they still face challenges, benefit from significant strides in bionics .
- Prosthetics limbs are getting more and more advanced. But sometimes the most revolutionary device isn’t one that’s state-of-the-art.
- Humans understand the face holistically. Could facial recognition technology ever come close to that level of nuance?
- And finally, gear up for the 118th Boston Marathon by watching “Marathon Challenge,” streaming online .