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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

Making North America: Life Hero

How did life emerge on our primeval continent? Why was North America home to so many iconic dinosaurs like T. rex? And how did a huge sea filled with giant marine reptiles end up covering Kansas? We tell the surprising intertwined story of life and the landscape in North America.

How did massive volcanic eruptions, inland seas, and land bridges pave the way for life?

Making North America: Life

Making North America: Origins Hero

The epic 3 billion-year story of how our continent came to be. From the palm trees that once flourished in Alaska to titanic eruptions that nearly tore the Midwest in two, discover how forces of almost unimaginable power gave birth to North America.

Experience the colossal geologic forces that shaped our continent over billions of years.

Making North America: Origins

The Planets: Mars

The Red Planet was once a vibrant blue water-world, home to raging rivers, active volcanoes, and even an ocean. But as the young planet’s core cooled, its magnetic field and protective atmosphere faded, eventually exposing it to the wrath of the sun. With its volcanoes extinguished and its water lost to space, Mars became the frozen desert planet we know today. But if it once had many of the ingredients necessary to form life, how far along might that process have gotten? (Premiered July 24, 2019)

Before it was a dry planet, Mars was a wet world that may have hosted life.

School of the Future Hero

In a new age of information, rapid innovation, and globalization, how can we prepare our children to compete? Once the envy of the world, American schools are now in trouble. Test scores show our kids lag far behind their peers from other industrialized countries, and as the divide between rich and poor grows wider, the goal of getting all kids ready for college and the workforce gets harder by the day. How can the latest research help us fix education in America? Can the science of learning—including new insights from neuroscientists, psychologists, and educators—reveal how kids’ brains work and tell us which techniques are most likely to engage and inspire growing minds? What role should technology play in the classroom? Teachers, students, parents, and scientists take center stage as NOVA explores a new vision for the “School of the Future.”

How can the science of learning help us rethink the future of education for all children?

School of the Future

Vaccines—Calling the Shots Hero

Diseases that were largely eradicated in the United States a generation ago—whooping cough, measles, mumps—are returning, in part because nervous parents are skipping their children&#x27;s shots. NOVA&#x27;s &quot;Vaccines—Calling the Shots&quot; takes viewers around the world to track epidemics, explore the science behind vaccinations, hear from parents wrestling with vaccine-related questions, and shed light on the risks of opting out.

Examine the science behind vaccinations, the return of preventable diseases, and the risks of opting out.

Vaccines—Calling the Shots

Rise of the Mammals

Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs in a fiery global catastrophe. But we know little about how their successors, the mammals, recovered and took over the world. Now, hidden inside ordinary-looking rocks, an astonishing trove of fossils reveals a dramatic new picture of how rat-sized creatures ballooned in size and began to evolve into the vast array of species—from cheetahs to bats to whales to humans—that rule our planet today.

Amazing fossils reveal how mammals took over after an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.

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.

Cutting our Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Zero Hero

Most experts agree that the key to avoiding worsening effects from a changing climate is to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero. Explore how scientists approach the challenge, and discover the technologies that can help get us there.

Through “prevention,” humans can significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Cutting our Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Zero

Three Solutions That Can Slow or Stop Climate Change Hero

Tackling climate change might seem daunting, but there’s actually a wide set of climate solutions. NOVA breaks down the three “speed bumps” that can slow and possibly stop us from reaching the worst outcomes of climate change.

Preventing, “undoing,” and adapting are three ways to avoid the worst potential impacts of climate change.

Three Solutions That Can Slow or Stop Climate Change

Why Antibody Tests Don’t Yet Reveal Coronavirus Immunity Hero

Scientists are trying new, revolutionary techniques to make a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, but face challenges along the way.

The coronavirus has unleashed global havoc. Learn how scientists are hitting back.

Why Antibody Tests Don’t Yet Reveal Coronavirus Immunity

How Communities Can Adapt to Climate Change Hero

Climate change’s effects are already being felt today, so adapting will be necessary—and it doesn&#x27;t have to hurt. Explore how building resilience can have a silver lining.

For many, the concept of “adapting” to climate change feels like admitting defeat.

How Communities Can Adapt to Climate Change

Can Geoengineering “Undo” Climate Change? Hero

Discover how geoengineering solutions—from techniques as natural as planting trees, to vacuuming CO2 out of the air, to science-fiction alternatives like blocking sunlight—can help humanity turn the tide on climate change, and why these approaches are controversial.

There are ways to reverse some of the damage from our carbon dioxide emissions.

Can Geoengineering “Undo” Climate Change?

When You Lose a Loved One to Coronavirus Hero

A 73-year-old resident of Queens, New York fell ill with COVID-19 in February. It was far worse than his family expected.

Hear George’s family recount his tragic story.

When You Lose a Loved One to Coronavirus

Decoding the Great Pyramid

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? &quot;Decoding the Great Pyramid&quot; 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&quot; 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, &quot;Decoding the Great Pyramid&quot; 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.

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Rise of the Mammals

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Decoding the Great Pyramid

Episodes

Making North America: Human

Making North America: Life

Making North America: Origins

The Planets: Mars

School of the Future

Vaccines—Calling the Shots

Shorts

Cutting our Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Zero

Three Solutions That Can Slow or Stop Climate Change

Why Antibody Tests Don’t Yet Reveal Coronavirus Immunity

How Communities Can Adapt to Climate Change

Can Geoengineering “Undo” Climate Change?

When You Lose a Loved One to Coronavirus

Watch Page

Hero Area

Rise of the Mammals

Upcoming Schedule

Decoding the Great Pyramid

Episodes

Making North America: Human

Making North America: Life

Making North America: Origins

The Planets: Mars

School of the Future

Vaccines—Calling the Shots

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Shorts

Cutting our Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Zero

Three Solutions That Can Slow or Stop Climate Change

Why Antibody Tests Don’t Yet Reveal Coronavirus Immunity

How Communities Can Adapt to Climate Change

Can Geoengineering “Undo” Climate Change?

When You Lose a Loved One to Coronavirus