Name: Building Stuff: Change It!
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NOVA

How are leading innovators supercharging our natural abilities? From slingshots that can throw rockets into space to the latest in artificial sight, see how engineers are amplifying the human body’s powers.

Is engineering humanity’s superpower? See how we can amplify our natural abilities in amazing ways.

Building Stuff: Boost It! Preview

Building Stuff: Boost It!

Double Dutch is a jump rope game that requires two people spinning ropes in opposite directions and at least one person to jump. Engineers Tahira Reid Smith and Sky Leilani are building a machine that would allow a single person to play whenever they wanted.

Blending innovation and culture, engineers bring a robotic Double Dutch machine to life.

Creating a Robotic Double Dutch Machine

The National Science Foundation

Carlisle Companies

Viking

NOVA Science Trust Logo

Around the world, engineers are finding ingenious ways to amplify our abilities and senses – allowing us to access and shape the world way beyond our natural gifts. From helping a blind man see without the use of his eyes to building a sling so powerful it can shoot rockets into space, see why engineering just might be the closest thing to a superpower we humans have. Premiered November 13, 2024 at 9 pm on PBS.

Is engineering humanity’s superpower? See how we can amplify our natural abilities in amazing ways.

Tech & Engineering

Born to explore, we’re constantly inventing new ways to go beyond our comfort zones. From deep sea subs to next-gen space habitats, see how engineers are building the tools humans need to go where we’ve never gone before.

Humans are born to roam. See how engineers are inventing new ways to explore and extend our range.

Building Stuff: Reach It!

Building Stuff: Reach It! Preview

From the time our species first evolved, we’ve been on the move. Not content to stay in one place, we’ve imagined and invented and built our way from one place to the next. From deep sea subs to wind-resistant skyscrapers to next-gen space habitats, see how today’s engineers are designing and building creative new ways for us to get all around – and even off – our planet. Premiering November 20, 2024 at 9 pm on PBS.

Submarine Pilot

Ocean Research & Conservation Association

Humans are born to roam. See how engineers are inventing new ways to explore and extend our range.

Humans have been altering Earth’s environment for thousands of years. And now, from electric planes to artificial noses, engineers are inventing new ways to preserve our planet.

From electric flight to artificial noses, engineers are finding new ways to preserve our planet.

Building Stuff: Change It!

Building Stuff: Change It! Preview

Thousands of years of human innovation have allowed us to shape the environment to improve lives. The consequences of our activities are not always benign – but there are solutions. From electrifying aviation, to building robots to protect threatened coral reefs, a new generation of engineers is finding creative solutions to some of our most critical environmental challenges. Premiering November 27, 2024 at 9 pm on PBS.

From electric flight to artificial noses, engineers are finding new ways to preserve our planet.

Engineering is all around us, and we humans have been doing it forever. But how does it actually work? Find out by watching some of the most creative and innovative folks in the game build stuff that helps extend our range, amplify our abilities, and alter our environment for the better. Experience the ups and downs with engineers as they design, build, and iterate their way through challenges, inspiring the inner “maker” in all of us. A three-part series premiering November 13, 2024 at 9 pm on PBS.

Humans are the most innovative species on Earth. See how engineers are supercharging our abilities, reaching beyond our horizons, and altering our environment.

Humans are the most innovative species on Earth. See how engineers are supercharging our abilities, reaching beyond our horizons, and altering our environment.

Building Stuff

US & Territories

United States

Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

American Samoa

Guam

U.S. Virgin Islands

U.S. Minor Outlying Islands

Colossal explosions shake a remote corner of the Siberian tundra, leaving behind massive craters. In Alaska, a huge lake erupts with bubbles of inflammable gas. Scientists are discovering that these mystifying phenomena add up to a ticking time bomb, as long-frozen permafrost melts and releases vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. What are the implications of these dramatic developments in the Arctic? Scientists and local communities alike are struggling to grasp the scale of the methane threat and what it means for our climate future. (Premiered February 2, 2022)

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

Arctic Sinkholes

The top half of Jupiter in blue and green against a night sky

A composite image of Jupiter using images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt.

Explore the cosmos, delve into ancient history, and follow an extreme rescue with NOVA’s most-watched documentaries released in 2022.

NOVA’s most popular science documentaries of 2022

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?

Building Stuff: Change It!

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