Being with Jane Goodall

Barrington Irving: 30S on Flying Around the World Solo

Rudy Tanzi: A Scientist Gets Transcendent

the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers

Arizona State University

University of Southern California

Fermilab

Space Telescope Science Institute

Author, Is God a Mathematician?

MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering

Science Writer

Tufts University

Princeton University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Author, Our Mathematical Universe

Have you ever felt drawn toward choices without knowing why? Or, as seen in the movie “Inception,” have you ever felt like you’ve woken up with a decision that’s already been made for you?Neuroscience is beginning to demystify such feelings. Our agency and decisions, it turns out, can be measurably influenced by events that evade the conscious part of our brains. We’ll see three groundbreaking experiments that illustrate that influences we are unaware of in our waking life, during dreamless sleep, or even in our dreams can impact our memory and behavior.Published on February 18, 2021, in the journal Current Biology, an international team of scientists have found a bridge to the dream world by showing that it’s possible to have a direct dialogue with someone in their dream—and NOVA’s Greg Kestin (host of “What the Physics?!”) was given exclusive access.The scientific context and potential effect of this team’s work are built up in the film through two related groundbreaking experiments. These experiments also show how scientists can influence your decisions, desires, and habits without you being aware.

Watch the first-ever video documenting this live two-way dream communication.

Dream Hacking: Decisions, Addictions, and Sleep

Time Dilation and Intergalactic Travel

Could You Upload Your Brain?

FQXI

Fetzer Franklin Fund

What is The Nature of Reality? It’s a blog, and it’s pretty much the biggest question we could think of. We can’t promise that we’ll answer the question once and for all – in fact, we can pretty much guarantee that we won’t – but we promise a space that welcomes big ideas about space, time, and the universe; where we take questions as seriously as we take answers; where physics is about way more than inclined planes and levers and pulleys. Stick around; we just might expand your cosmic horizons.

What is The Nature of Reality? It’s a blog, and it’s pretty much the biggest question we could think of.

The Nature of Reality

What is The Nature of Reality? It’s a blog, and it’s pretty much the biggest question we could think of.

For something we use every day, energy is a pretty mysterious concept. This Lab investigates what energy is, how it can be converted into useful forms, and why some sources are running low.

Energy Lab

Fossils: Rocking the Earth

Take cybersecurity into your own hands. In this Lab, you’ll defend a company that is the target of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks.

Cybersecurity Lab

Koch Foundation

NOVA Science Trust Logo

NOVA Labs

The World's Most Expensive Fungus

4 Deadly Carnivorous Plants

Three Facts About Periods

Bizarre stories from the slimy, smelly, creepy world of science. GROSS SCIENCE from NOVA is produced by WGBH for PBS Digital Studios. See more on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHiZFOa_ZrLwYmxbTaUaKEA">Youtube</a>.

Bizarre stories from the slimy, smelly, creepy world of science.

Gross Science

Bizarre stories from the slimy, smelly, creepy world of science.

Animal and human forms of communication may be much closer than we previously thought.

The Law all Languages Obey

US & Territories

The search for extraterrestrial life is an age-old quest. But recent breakthroughs make today an era like no other in the history of astronomy. From the exhilarating probing of our own solar system and the Kepler mission’s astounding discovery of thousands of extrasolar planets, to the next-generation telescopes under development, the prospects for finding life beyond Earth have never been stronger. Still, daunting hurdles remain. How can we study anything light years away, let alone a little planet? In the vast universe, where should we even start to look? Is our failure to hear any other voices in the galaxy a sign that we are special? NOVA Wonders joins leading explorers now searching the galaxy for life and intelligence on other planets—and asks, if we do find other life in the universe…what would that mean?

Hunt for clues in the universe to answer one of humanity's biggest questions: Are we alone?

Are We Alone?

<div class="rich-text">Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that invades the brains of mice and organs of cats, resulting in a disease called toxoplasmosis. This parasite can also infect humans by way of cat feces. Although Toxoplasma research is still in its early stages, scientists estimate that one-third of the human population has been infected.
</div>

<div class="rich-text">Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that invades the brains of mice and organs of cats.</div>

Can Cat Poop Make You Crazy?

The National Science Foundation

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

The John Templeton Foundation

NOVA Wonders takes viewers on a journey to the frontiers of science, where researchers are tackling some of the biggest questions about life and the cosmos. From the mysteries of astrophysics to the secrets of the body to the challenges of inventing technologies that could rival—and even surpass—the abilities of the human mind, these six hours reveal how far we’ve come in our search for answers, how we managed to get here, and how scientists hope to push our understanding of the universe even further. Along the way, we meet the remarkable people who are transforming our world and our future.

A 6-part series exploring the biggest questions on the frontiers of science.

NOVA Wonders

A 6-part series exploring the biggest questions on the frontiers of science.

<div class="rich-text">
	The slime mold Physarum polycephalum is a single cell without a brain, yet it can make surprisingly complicated decisions. In this animated video short, watch as a slime mold navigates through a maze and solves a civil engineering problem.

	Learn more about slime molds at <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brainless-slime-molds">Scientific American</a>.
</div>

<div class="rich-text">Slime molds may be brainless, but they aren't stupid.</div>

Slime Mold Smarts

<div class="rich-text">
	Cosmic rays are inescapable in space. They can rip right through an astronaut, damaging DNA and possibly causing cancer and memory loss over the long-term. But recent research shows that antioxidants, found in certain berries and fruit, may decrease the effects of this type of radiation.
</div>

<div class="rich-text">Berries and other foods containing antioxidants may alleviate cellular damage caused by cosmic radiation.</div>

Cosmic Ray Danger

Unravelling Bolero

NOVA ScienceNOW

Former Digital Production Assistant at NOVA

Bright stars in a royal blue triangular opening in deep red and purple dust clouds.

The Tarantula Nebula’s chemical composition is remarkably like the conditions in the Milky Way billions of years ago, during peak star formation. This composite of X-ray and infrared observations uses chromatic ordering to show both supernova explosion remnants (royal blue and purple) and clouds of gas (red and orange). Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/JWST ERO Production Team

The James Webb Space Telescope only captures infrared light, but imaging developers can convert the invisible into something both beautiful and scientifically accurate.

How NASA makes those spectacular space images

Two tusked mastodons walk through a puddle in a lush green landscape with geese and a hare, as the sun sits on the horizon

An artist’s impression of the Kap København formation 2 million years ago, when the temperature was significantly warmer than northernmost Greenland today. Image Credit: Beth Zaiken

The oldest DNA ever retrieved, preserved in sediments in northern Greenland, reveals that Arctic and temperate species once commingled in an ecosystem unlike anything that exists today.

2-million-year-old DNA reveals surprising Arctic ecosystem

A man in a white shirt and black pants, standing knee-deep in water, seen from behind as he looks toward a dolphin with is upper body above the water, nose pointed up

A dolphin gives a cue to a fisher at Praia da Tesoura in Laguna, Brazil. Image Credit: Bianca Romeu, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

A new study shows just what dolphins get out of cooperating with fishers in Brazil (besides lunch).

When wild dolphins help humans fish, both benefit

NOVA Next is NOVA’s award-winning digital publication that provides answers from the cutting edge of science and technology. Launched in 2012, we feature in-depth articles and commentaries from some of the most respected journalists, scientists, and engineers. NOVA Next explores the ideas that are changing the future, from the frontiers of synthetic biology to the politics of personalized medicine.Let us know what you think. We’re listening on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/NOVAonline">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/novapbs">Twitter</a>, and email.If you’re a journalist and have an idea for a story, send it our way.

NOVA Next is NOVA’s award-winning digital publication that provides answers from the cutting edge of science and technology.

NOVA Next

NOVA Next is NOVA’s award-winning digital publication that provides answers from the cutting edge of science and technology.

Alex Clark is the Digital Video Producer for the NOVA Science Studio. He produces original videos for the program and leads video production training for site coordinators and students. Alex is a video journalist, cinematographer, and instructor of documentary filmmaking and he holds a degree in journalism from Columbia University. He has created TV and digital content for PBS, NBC, and NowThis. A lover of all things science, he produced and co-hosted Vox’s Emmy-nominated YouTube series, Glad You Asked.

Introducing the 2024 NOVA Science Studio student producers who reported on local data-related impacts and solutions

NOVA Science Studio 2024 Student Videos

Meet the 2023 – 2024 NOVA Science Studio student-producers who covered a wide variety of big data science stories

NOVA Science Studio Alumni (2023-2024)

NOVA Science Studio launches new cohort with big data themes

Three students with cameras and a teacher in a classroom

Students from O'Bryant High School during the NOVA Science Studio pilot in 2018 take photos of a flying squirrel for a video they are producing.

The NOVA Science Studio (NSS) offers high school students the opportunity to learn science reporting and short-form video production skills. Registration is now open to participate in the program this fall.

Engage your students with science journalism about issues in their communities with the NOVA Science Studio program!

NOVA Science Studio 2023-2024 Program Registration

Introducing the 2023 NOVA Science Studio student producers who reported on local climate change impacts and solutions

NOVA Science Studio 2023 Student Videos

Meet the NOVA Science Studio Team

The NOVA Science Studio is a program that aims to empower youth — especially those that are underrepresented in STEM — to tell engaging science communication stories about the issues that matter to them.

The NOVA Science Studio is a program that aims to empower youth — especially those that are underrepresented in STEM — to tell engaging science communication stories about the issues that matter to them.

NOVA Science Studio

In 2023, the Tolowa Dee-ni' people alongside partnering tribes asserted sovereignty over the 700 square miles of their ancestral fisheries. Now in 2024, we see how marine science and resource management can be guided by community and culture.

In Northern California, Marine science is guided by Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation’s community and culture.

Keepers of the Coastline

In an observational survey, this short documentary presents the realities of coastal erosion by witnessing the experience of Bristol Bay community members. Interviews, local archives, and ancestral knowledge put the circumstances in stark relief as we detail the communities' adjustments to the retreating coastline.

Using photo archives and ancestral knowledge, witness coastal erosion in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

Sands of Time

Communities like the Unangax̂ rely on traditional foodways in lieu of customary, expensive grocery suppliers. Following the journey of a local subsistence hunter, we learn the realities of food access in the changing Arctic and the values that inform their harvest.

Following a local Unangax̂ hunter, hear the realities of food access in the changing Arctic.

Tides of Tradition

In a journey of reconnection, filmmaker Steven Tallas explores the hogan - a small, unassuming traditional structure found across the Navajo Nation. Remaining cool in the summers and warm in the winters, this short film revisits the hogan amidst a warming American southwest.

Reintroducing the hogan, an earthen Navajo structure that stays cool in the summers without AC.

Standing the Heat

The Southwestern United States is experiencing a megadrought, but this isn't the first time people have survived one in the region. By highlighting ideas and practices from Navajo tradition, the story recenters our relationship to water.

The Southwest is in a megadrought, but Native Americans have survived them before.

Megadroughts and Indigenous Voices

Agriculture can thrive in the desert. The Tohono O’odham people have used Ak Chin farming, a form of dry farming, to grow crops for thousands of years, and in this short documentary, cultural experts demonstrate these traditional practices as well as implementations for future community planning.

Ak-chin farming makes desert agriculture possible, and now, those practices help communities today.

Harvesting the Future

The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation

GBH Climate and Environment Fund

The first of its kind, "Legacy of the Land" is a collection of 6 short documentaries covering climate change in Native American communities. Each story is produced by a separate indigenous filmmaker making the series as dynamic and distinct as Native American communities themselves. From Alaska to Arizona, audiences witness the knowledge, tradition, and innovation of people living on the front lines of our changing climate.

Legacy of the Land

If the universe as we know it started with the Big Bang, will it also have an end? And if it’s going to end someday - how? Discover the four main ideas about how the universe might end, and find out which one has the most evidence supporting it. With host Athena Brensberger, dive into our universe's very distant future in this episode of What the Physics?!

If the universe as we know it started with the Big Bang, will it also have an end? And if it’s going to end someday - how? Here are four leading ideas.

4 Ways the Universe Could End

It’s an age-old question: Do aliens exist? And what are the odds we’ll make contact? A famous mathematical equation, known as the Drake Equation, helps scientists estimate the odds of finding intelligent alien civilizations, but new discoveries and unknown factors could change everything.

The Drake Equation helps scientists estimate the odds of finding intelligent alien civilizations.

Do Aliens Exist? This Famous Equation Offers a Clue

Imagine taking an elevator to space. Or blasting off in a nuclear rocket. That might sound like science fiction, but scientists are racing to develop new, more efficient methods of space travel - and some pretty wild ideas are on the table. Discover the rocket-less future of space travel and the quest to make it happen.

Space elevators? Nuclear rockets? The future of space travel could look radically different.

The Rocket-Less Future of Space Travel

What the Physics?!, a YouTube series from NOVA, explores mind-blowing ideas and questions from the world of physics like space travel via elevator, the odds that aliens exist, and the ultimate fate of the universe!

What the Physics?!

Critical Condition Outreach and Events

In the foreground, there is an illustration of an ancient arctic ecosystem, in the background there is a man.

Learn how environmental DNA has led to new understandings of ancient ecosystems in NOVA: Hunt for the Oldest DNA.

Ancient DNA Helps Piece Together the History of Life on Earth

In classrooms across the country, teachers have been using NOVA to bring these compelling stories to their students. This year, we are excited to announce the launch of the updated NOVA PBS LearningMedia collection — with over 1,000 resources from NOVA films, digital series, apps, and more!

This year, we are excited to announce the launch of the updated NOVA PBS LearningMedia collection — with over 1,000 resources from NOVA films, digital series, apps, and more!

New NOVA Resource Collection for Teachers!

NOVA digital editor, Kara Norton, observing a great hammerhead shark in Bimini, The Bahamas. Image Credit: Michael Ryan Clark

Moving beyond Shark Week, these women-led groups teach thousands of students about the critical role sharks play in the marine ecosystem.

Meet the women diversifying shark science

The Plantae, Cala Mari, and Daysiders are just a few of the aliens you'll be helping to relocate.

You've been selected to be the lead scientist for the NOVA Space Center’s Galactic Resettlement team, with the job of finding suitable exoplanets for displaced aliens desperately seeking new homes. Are you up to the challenge?

Search for Exoplanets with the NOVA Exoplanet Lab

Discover how North America took its shape by visiting geological sites across the continent, searching for clues in the landscape, and viewing episodes from the broadcast series Making North America, in this interactive produced by NOVA.

Making North America Interactive Map

NOVA Education tailors NOVA's digital resources for educators in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Our free educator library is produced according to teaching standards and includes videos, audio segments, lesson plans, and interactives designed to facilitate effective classroom integration. Please let us know how we're doing and what you might like to see. NOVA Education is committed to creating digital learning resources that work for you.

NOVA Education supports STEM education and engagement nationwide through the creation of resources from NOVA's broadcast and digital productions.

NOVA Education

NOVA Education supports STEM education and engagement nationwide through the creation of resources from NOVA's broadcast and digital productions.

A new video podcast from the producers of NOVA, hosted by Hakeem Oluseyi.

Particles of Thought: A New Video Podcast

What do fossilized leaves, an asteroid, and Florida sinkholes have in common? Dr. Kirk Johnson is Sant Director at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, and has the answers. Kirk oversees one of the largest natural history collections on the planet – and he’s spent his career digging into the story of life on Earth across millions (and billions) of years. In this episode, Hakeem and Kirk explore the science of “deep time,” how fossils actually form, and the surprising origins of Earth’s oceans. Plus, Kirk shares some hot tips on fossil hunting and how to count the number of leaves on a tree…because you never know when you might need these skills.Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/particles-of-thought/id1832615266">Apple Podcasts</a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2H4ljWvZTjGQVwV7Zv0TlS">Spotify</a> <a href="https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4419429a-ad9f-471f-bb85-7416cf2412e2/episodes/650b6bff-9383-4262-9792-9526cdae501d/nova-presents-introducing-particles-of-thought">Amazon Music</a>

Dive into deep time to discover how fossils form, the ocean's surprising origins, and more.

Mind of a Fossil Hunter

In a world flooded with fake images, manipulated videos, and AI-generated voices, how do we know what’s real anymore? Hany Farid has made it his mission to find out. A leading voice in AI research and digital forensics, Farid is a professor at UC Berkeley and Chief Science Officer at GetReal Labs, where he works to authenticate digital media and expose the fakes. In this episode, Hakeem and Hany dive into how we got here. How does AI really work? How are deepfakes detected? And what does the future hold for truth in the digital age? Plus, Hakeem puts Hany to the test: can he tell the difference between real and AI-generated headlines? And can Hakeem tell a deepfake version of Hany from the real thing?Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/particles-of-thought/id1832615266">Apple Podcasts</a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2H4ljWvZTjGQVwV7Zv0TlS">Spotify</a> <a href="https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4419429a-ad9f-471f-bb85-7416cf2412e2/episodes/650b6bff-9383-4262-9792-9526cdae501d/nova-presents-introducing-particles-of-thought">Amazon Music</a>

Discover how deepfakes are detected and what the future holds for truth in the digital age.

The Deepfake Detective

Black holes get a bad rap. They’ve been cast as the monsters of the cosmos — gobbling up stars and stretching anything that gets too close into cosmic spaghetti. But Black Hole expert Janna Levin thinks they’re just misunderstood. A theoretical physicist, author, and founding scientific director of Pioneer Works, Janna has spent her career decoding these mysterious objects. In this episode, she dives into the strange physics of black holes: what they are, what they sound like, what happens if you fall into one, and how there’s a lighter side to every black hole. Janna shares why black holes might not be the end of everything — but the beginning of something even weirder.Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/particles-of-thought/id1832615266">Apple Podcasts</a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2H4ljWvZTjGQVwV7Zv0TlS">Spotify</a> <a href="https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4419429a-ad9f-471f-bb85-7416cf2412e2/episodes/650b6bff-9383-4262-9792-9526cdae501d/nova-presents-introducing-particles-of-thought">Amazon Music</a>

Black holes aren’t just cosmic monsters — they’re simply misunderstood.

Black Hole Badass

Carlisle Companies

Should we bring back extinct species? Are we missing a fundamental law of nature? What can ancient fossils tell us about our future? Join host Hakeem Oluseyi as he sits down with the world’s leading scientists for in-depth conversations about the cutting-edge work that’s shaping the future of science - and reimagining the world around us.

Particles of Thought

Mammals with pouches, like this red kangaroo, didn't originate in Australia, but they have prospered there like nowhere else on the planet. Why?

How did Australia come to be marsupial heaven?

Evolution Down Under

Viking

NOVA Official Site: Science Documentaries &amp; Articles | PBS

NOVA Official Site: Science Documentaries & Articles | PBS

NOVA

United States

Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

American Samoa

Guam

U.S. Virgin Islands

U.S. Minor Outlying Islands

General - US & Territories

Human: Origins

Trace the remarkable origin story of Homo sapiens and the crucial moments that shaped our species.

Canada

US, US Territories, Canada

Picture of the original construction of the Eiffel Tower

Building the Eiffel Tower

Explore the engineering behind Paris’s iconic landmark, the tallest structure of its time.

Human Skeleton in front of a dark blue background

Lost Tombs of Notre Dame

Mysterious bodies are found under one of the world’s most famous cathedrals.

Ancient Builders of the Amazon

Archaeological discoveries reveal long-forgotten ancient civilizations in the Amazon.

Should we bring back extinct species? Are we missing a fundamental law of nature? What can ancient fossils tell us about our future? Join host Hakeem Oluseyi as he sits down with the world’s leading scientists for in-depth conversations about the cutting-edge work that’s shaping the future of science - and reimagining the world around us. A new video podcast from the producers of NOVA, hosted by Hakeem Oluseyi, "Particles of Thought" is streaming on NOVA's YouTube Channel and available on your favorite podcast platforms.

Where do we come from? To find out, journey back to a time when multiple human species walked the earth. Discover how radical fossil finds in Morocco rewrote the history of our origins – suggesting we did not have a single birthplace, but that modern Homo sapiens emerged from a mosaic of prehistoric, early human communities. Explore the tools, language, and rituals that bound us together, and the setbacks that nearly destroyed us. (A 5-part series premiering September 17, 2025 at 9 pm on PBS)

Trace the remarkable origin story of Homo sapiens and the crucial moments that shaped our species.

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.

252 million years ago, the most devastating mass extinction of all time abruptly wiped out around 90% of all species on Earth. The culprits were the biggest volcanic eruptions the world has ever seen, emitting some 700 thousand cubic miles of magma and rock. Volcanic gasses permeated the atmosphere and acidified the oceans while toxic gasses destroyed the ozone layer, bathing the planet in destructive UV radiation. The event – now called “The Great Dying” – came close to wiping out all life on the planet. Follow scientists as they piece together geologic evidence from the deep past and clues from today’s ecosystems to discover how life made it through and evolved into the astonishing variety we see around us today. Premiering October 25 at 9 pm on PBS.

How did life bounce back after a cataclysmic extinction wiped out some 90% of all species?

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