Name: Hunt for the Oldest DNA
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For decades, scientists have tried to unlock the secrets of ancient DNA. Follow the dramatic quest to recover DNA millions of years old and reveal a lost world from before the last Ice Age.

Follow the quest to recover DNA millions of years old for the very first time.

Hunt for the Oldest DNA

Hunt for the Oldest DNA Preview

Some 2 million years ago, when the high Arctic was a much warmer, greener place, a unique collection of animals coexisted: Caribou, geese, hares, even camels.

The oldest DNA ever recovered revealed an ecosystem unlike anything that exists today.

When Camels Roamed the Arctic

In the 90s, there was a lot of information published about ancient DNA that we now know is nonsense.

Could Jurassic Park Actually Happen?

Heising-Simons

Novo Nordisk

Carlisle Companies

Viking

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For decades, scientists have tried to unlock the secrets of ancient DNA. But life’s genetic blueprint is incredibly fragile, and researchers have struggled to find DNA in fossils that could survive millions of years. Then, one maverick scientist had the controversial idea to look for DNA not in fossils or frozen ancient tissue – but in dirt. Join the hunt as scientists decipher the oldest DNA ever found, and reveal for the first time the genes of long-extinct creatures that once thrived in a warm, lush Arctic. (Premiered February 21, 2024 at 9 pm on PBS)

American Museum of Natural History

University of California, Santa Cruz

Anthropologist

Natural History Museum of Denmark

Follow the quest to recover DNA millions of years old for the very first time.

Evolution

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.

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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?

Hunt for the Oldest DNA

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Oldest DNA Ever Found Reveals Secrets of the Ancient Arctic

Arctic Sinkholes

When Camels Roamed the Arctic

Could Jurassic Park Actually Happen?

Hunt for the Oldest DNA

More Ways to Watch

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Explore More

Oldest DNA Ever Found Reveals Secrets of the Ancient Arctic

Arctic Sinkholes

When Camels Roamed the Arctic

Could Jurassic Park Actually Happen?

Hunt for the Oldest DNA