n this two-hour special, NOVA examines how a simple instrument, the telescope, has fundamentally changed our understanding of our place in the universe. What began as a curiosity—two spectacle lenses held a foot apart—ultimately revolutionized human thought across science, philosophy, and religion. "Hunting the Edge of Space" takes viewers on a global adventure of discovery, dramatizing the innovations in technology and the achievements in science that have marked the rich history of the telescope.

NOVA explores the impact of whaling and the goods it produces for the industry, verses the grace and beatury of this intelligent mammal of the sea.

A 1986 report tracing a mysterious 1924 attempt to climb Mount Everest. Britons George Mallory and Andrew Irvine were spotted less than 1000 feet from the summit, but were never seen alive again (Irvine's body has never been found; Mallory's was, in 1999). The hour speculates on whether they got to the top before they died. Interviewees include two members of the expedition, Noel Odell and John Noel; and Sir Edmund Hillary, who managed to get to the summit in 1953.

'Pulse' opens on the rock and ice of Greenland, where geologist Stephen Mojzsis shares a new theory on how water first arrived on Planet Earth. See the world’s longest insect migration, and meet the Munoz family, who use cutting edge time-lapse rigs to show the rare spectacle of deserts around the world exploding from barren wastelands into rich carpets of flowers. But the pulse is under threat.

'Civilizations' turns our ‘water lens’ on human history. Starting in Ancient Egypt, it charts the critical role water plays in history, and around the world we see the birth of civilizations on the banks of the great rivers: Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, Indus and Yellow. We end by asking if we can guarantee water supplies of the future?

'Crisis' examines how the planet’s changing water cycle is forcing us to change our relationship with water. An increasingly, globalized agricultural industry is turning precious water reserves into profit, “mining” water faster than it can be replaced. As Chairman Emeritus of Nestle, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe says, “.... the water issue is more urgent than the climate issue."

Birds migrate in search of perpetual summer, sometimes traveling as much as 20,000 miles every year. NOVA uses radar to track and identify migrating birds that travel at night, focusing on how they coose routes tat avoid bad weather and make the best of prevailing winds—information that can aid meteorologists.

The advance of medicine depends inevitably on the testing of experimental procedures on human volunteers from either the healthy or the sick. Yet such procedures are often dangerous, and may not be of direct benefit to the subject. NOVA examines how individuals' interests are safeguarded, and asks, under what circumstances experiments should be conducted on children.

Parenting is full of obstacles that can be hard to navigate—even without a toddler yelling at your face. There’s no instruction manual, which means discerning fact from fiction and reasonable from ridiculous can be maddening.

When Paul Kammerer committed suicide in 1926, it was taken by most of his fellow biologists as a tacit admission of guilt that he had faked his experiments purporting to show the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Arthur Koestler joins NOVA in an in-depth examination of Kammerer's infamous experiment.

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CRISPR gene-editing technology is advancing quickly. What can it do now and in the future?

"Blood Sugar Rising" follows the diabetes epidemic in the U.S. Diabetes and pre-diabetes affect over 100 million people in the country, costing more than $325 billion each year. The documentary puts human faces to these statistics, exploring the history and science of the illness through portraits of Americans whose stories shape the film.

Why does a widely used internet search engine deliver results that can be blatantly racist and sexist? Two leading information researchers investigate their discoveries of hidden biases in the search technology we rely on every day.

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What we hear can create a mood, build communication, and guide our physical movement. In this episode, series host and naturalist Diane Ackerman investigates musical communication in the movies, in relationships with babies, and in Maori culture. She presents information about how our ears process and protect us from sounds, and explores new medical technology that mimics some of those functions to enable deaf people to hear. She also studies the hearing abilities of several types of animals and discovers how an owl uses its ears to locate prey in total darkness.

For centuries, many cultures have used scents and odors for a variety of purposes. From the earliest civilizitions, humans have created and used scents to mask unpleasant odors and to enhance other, more appealing ones. To find out what makes humans so responsive to natural and synthesized fragrances, series host and naturalist Diane Ackerman investigates the role of incense in Oman, visits a perfume factory in New Jersey, traces a smell from outside the body to the part of the brain that stores memories and emotions, and examines how different animals use their sense of smell.

Eating sustains life. However, our tongues also enable us to taste foods, so we eat the foods we like; and our cultures assign values to foods, so we often eat as part of a ritual. In this episode, series host and naturalist Diane Ackerman explores the biology and the rituals of taste around the world. In France, a master chef divulges his secrets; in Mexico, a family prepares a meal for the Day of the Dead; in a Japanese restaurant, Ackerman looks into why some people consider potentially poisonous fish to be a delicacy; and in Connecticut, a scientist maps our taste buds.

Touch contributes dramatically to our feeling of well-being. In this episode, Ackerman explores how touching and being touched promotes physical and psychological growth in young monkeys and humans. She also explores human responses to touch in massage, relationships, and art; and cultural perspectives on touch in social taboos, hugging, and kissing. To explain our biological responses, series host and naturalist Diane Ackerman introduces a scientist who has identified how the brain's sensory map operates. His research has led to the groundbreaking discovery that even if a person loses a limb, the brain will respond as if that limb is being touched.

Vision allows us to see color, motion, form, and shadow. Our brain interprets images so that we understand what we see. In this episode, series host and naturalist Diane Ackerman considers both the biology of vision and the mental processes and perceptions that govern vision. She seeks answers to how the brain makes sense of optical illusions, what the importance of eye placement is in predatory animals, how artists use light and color, and why the sky is blue.

Can humans survive a trip to Mars and back that could take two to three years? This episode of NOVA scienceNOW examines all of the perils of this journey, including deadly meteoroids, bone and muscle deterioration, and cosmic radiation. Host Neil deGrasse Tyson checks in with scientists who are developing new ways to keep astronauts alive on such a journey. Among the innovations covered are meteoroid-proof materials, new space foods and spacesuits, and novel modes of transport, such as plasma rockets. This episode also profiles young female scientist and daredevil Vandi Verma, part of the team that drives the Mars rovers on the Martian surface.

This provocative episode of NOVA scienceNOW examines whether we can slow down the aging process, looks at the latest on human hibernation, and checks in with bioengineers and a computer scientist inventing ways to keep us "going forever." Neil deGrasse Tyson also takes a lighthearted look at whether the tricks that have kept a 1966 Volvo running for 2.7 million miles can also help the human body go the extra mile.

This episode of NOVA scienceNOW delves into some pretty heady stuff, examining magic and the brain, artificial intelligence, magnetic mind control, and the work of neuroscientist and synesthesia researcher David Eagleman. Can we really believe our own eyes? Will machines one day think like us? Can magnetic wands effectively control brain functions and treat depression? Explore this and more.

Would you care to match wits with a dog, an octopus, a dolphin, or a parrot? You may think twice after watching the segments in this NOVA scienceNOW episode. While we may not be ready to send pets to Harvard, the remarkable footage and findings presented here demonstrate that many animal species are much smarter than we assume and in ways we had never imagined.

In this episode of NOVA scienceNOW, journey back in time to the birth of our solar system to examine whether the key to our planet's existence might have been the explosive shockwave of an ancient supernova. Meet a chemist who has yielded a new kind of "recipe" for natural processes to assemble and create the building blocks of life. And see how the head louse, a creepy critter that's been sucking our blood for millions of years, is offering clues about our evolution. Finally, meet neuroscientist André Fenton, who is looking into erasing painful memories with an injection.

In this episode of NOVA scienceNOW, come face to face with social robots that understand human feelings, carry on conversations, even make jokes. Then travel to Haiti, where geologists investigate the 2010 earthquake not long after it struck for clues to how to better forecast future quakes. Afterwards, join engineers at General Motors who are testing tiny, two-wheeled cars called EN-Vs, which one day might drive themselves through city streets. Learn about proposals for making our outdated electric grid "smart." And meet Nebraska native Jay Keasling, a pioneer in synthetic biology who shares his work on developing "designer" microbes that produce biofuels and medicines.

A filmmaker with a rare type of multiple sclerosis explores the mysterious causes of MS.

Just about every solid, liquid, or gas in the world as we know it begins with reactions between individual atoms and molecules. Host David Pogue dives into the transformative world of chemical reactions, from the complex formula that produces cement to the single reaction that’s allowed farmers to feed a global population by the billions—a reaction that when reversed, unleashes the powerful chemistry of high explosives.

Glass so strong you can jump on it, a rubber-like coating tough enough to absorb a bomb blast, endless varieties of plastic. Scientists and engineers have created virtually indestructible versions of common materials by manipulating the chains of interlocking atoms that give them strength—but have they made them too tough? Host David Pogue explores the fantastic chemistry behind the everyday materials we depend on, and how the quest for durability can be balanced with products’ environmental impact.

Without the chemistry of photosynthesis, ozone, and a molecule called Rubisco, none of us would be here. So how did we get so lucky? To find out, host David Pogue investigates the surprising molecules that allowed life on Earth to begin, and ultimately thrive. Along the way, he finds out what we’re all made of—literally.

Discover the Gulf of Maine and how its bounty was forever changed by a global appetite for fish. Now with the Gulf warming faster than 97 percent of the world’s oceans, witness how wildlife and people are adapting to rapid change.

Dive into Cashes Ledge with scientists as they race to discover if this remote and relatively pristine part of the Gulf of Maine is vulnerable to rapid warming. Can Cashes still offer hope for the Gulf’s more than 3,000 species?

Now at a crossroads for the future of the Gulf of Maine and our oceans, Indigenous peoples and scholars practice climate resilience and adaptation, scientists track developments, and entrepreneurs find new ways to make a living from the sea.