NOVA scienceNOW

Marine biologist Colleen Reichmuth says that few mammals can match the vocal talents of the walrus.

Produced by David Levin. Original interview by Doug Hamilton.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova

NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Lockheed Martin Corporation, and PBS viewers.

In this episode, biochemist Erika Ebbel describes how a mentor helped her transform into a scientist when she was 11 years old.

Produced by David Levin and Rob Chapman. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Lockheed Martin Corporation, and PBS viewers.

NOVA scienceNOW's Dean Irwin discusses what he learned about this new computer technology while producing his story on digital art authentication.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Music by Jeff Allen. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston.

Funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and PBS Viewers. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Lockheed Martin Corporation, and PBS viewers.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

For more fun science stories, visit our Web site at http://www.pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

In order to develop from an embryo, animals as different as fruit flies and humans call on a nearly identical set of genes. But how does this one common genetic toolkit create so many different species? It turns out that it's not the genes you have-- it's how you use them.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interviews by John Rubin.
NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/evolution

After Pluto was discovered in 1930, it enjoyed the title of planet for more than 75 years. But in 2006, that all changed. At a meeting in Prague, the International Astronomical Union adopted a new definition for planethood, leaving the solar system with only eight planets. But not everyone agrees with its decision. In this podcast, planetary scientist Alan Stern talks to us about Pluto’s demotion, and why he thinks it should be back on list of planets.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Lockheed Martin Corporation, and PBS viewers.

For more information, visit: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/pluto-files.html

In this podcast, biologist Maydianne Andrade explains that sexual cannibalism-a gruesome mating behavior shown of Redback Spiders-is a prime example of how evolution works.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Josh Seftel. Funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and PBS viewers.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers.

For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

In the months after 9/11, New York City faced a difficult decision. What should it do with the site where the twin towers once stood? For architecture critic Paul Goldberger, there was only one choice: rebuild.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

For more science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova

Could permafrost under Martian soil be the key to finding life on the red planet? Chris McKay, a planetary scientist for NASA, thinks there's a good chance we'll see evidence of ancient microbes if we just follow the ice.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Anna Lee Strachan. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/mars

For thousands of years, people around the world have modified their bodies with tattoos and piercings. But some cultures, like the ancient Inca in Peru, took that practice beyond skin deep. They sometimes used ropes and boards to slowly change the shape of human skulls. It’s a process called "cranial modification" In this podcast, bioarcheologist Valerie Andrushko explains.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Melissa Salpietra. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/machupicchu.

In this podcast, marine biologist Roger Hanlon explains why octopuses are masters of camouflage.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Susan Lewis. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more about the remarkable camouflage of octopuses--and their cousins, cuttlefish--on pbs.org/nova/camo.

In this podcast, we spoke to former NASA Public Affairs Officer Steve Nesbitt. Nesbitt announced more than a dozen Space Shuttle missions, giving play-by-play radio commentary as the craft flew into orbit. Nesbitt spoke to us about his experience as the public voice of NASA the early days of the Shuttle program, and gave his thoughts on its retirement.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

You can learn more about the space shuttle, and the missions NASA is planning after its retirement at pbs.org/nova.

In this podcast, learn why studying the emotions of our close primate relatives--chimpanzees and bonobos--might shed light on the evolution of human culture.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

You can learn more about bonobos, chimps, and what makes us human on pbs.org/nova/sciencenow.

Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks has come across plenty of odd stories while studying the human brain, but none are quite as mysterious as that of his colleague, Tony Cicoria. In 1994, Cicoria was struck by lightning, and developed a sudden, inexplicable passion for playing and writing piano music. In this podcast, hear Sacks describe Cicoria's transformation.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Dempsey Rice/Daughter One productions. Music by The New You. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, marine biologist Colleen Reichmuth describes the many ways a walrus can communicate using sound.

Produced by David Levin. Original interview by Doug Hamilton. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova.

In this podcast, art historian Jeff Hurwitt explains what made the Parthenon the greatest temple of Ancient Greece.

Produced by Susan Lewis. Original interview by Gary Glassman. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more about the history of the Parthenon at pbs.org/nova/parthenon

Egyptologist Mark Lehner thinks it took almost 20,000 people to build the Great Pyramids. But where did all those workers live? In this podcast, Lehner describes how he found evidence of a “lost city” on the Giza plateau.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Peter Tyson. Music courtesy Pharaoh's Daughter (freemusicarchive.org/music/Pharaohs_Daughter/), Selva de Mar (freemusicarchive.org/music/Selva_de_Mar/), and APMmusic. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/sphinx

WiTricity, a small startup based outside of Boston, is creating a system that can transmit electricity wirelessly. It’ll make charging electric cars easy, eliminating the need for bulky cables. What impact might this have on the electric vehicle market?

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Thirty years ago, a violent eruption ripped through the side of Mt. St. Helens in western Oregon. The blast killed 57 people and countless animals, and turned hundreds of miles of forest into barren wasteland. In this podcast, hear from ecologist Charlie Crisafulli on the slow recovery of the Mt. St. Helens ecosystem, and learn how the timing of the eruption actually spared some plant and animal life.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Kristine Allington. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about the Hubble, go to pbs.org/nova/sthelens

Steven Chu is the U.S. Secretary of Energy under President Obama. He’s a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, and a big proponent of renewable power, like wind and solar. He says that although they’re essential to fight climate change, that’s only one reason we should adopt them in the United States. Another reason is purely economic—there’s a lot of money to be made in the clean energy market.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Doug Hamilton. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for "Power Surge" is provided by the Kendeda Fund and NASA. Additional funding by Michael and Roxanne Zak, the Earth Science Program at NASA and by the Millicent and Eugene Bell Foundation.

For more on green technology, visit us online at pbs.org/nova

Archeologist Bill Dever says that in addition to the Hebrew god Yahweh, ancient Israelites may have worshipped a Canaanite female goddess called Asherah.

This podcast was produced by David Levin and Susan Lewis. Interview by Gary Glassman. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for "The Bible's Buried Secrets" is provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, and the Righteous Persons Foundation.

For more on what archeology is revealing about biblical times, visit www.pbs.org/nova/bible

In the year 2000, the United Nations set out to make basic maternal healthcare a universal right within 15 years. How far have we come worldwide? In this podcast, we talked to Adrienne Germain, president of the International Women's Health Coalition. They're a group that works closely with the U.N. to improve the health and rights of women worldwide.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more about the status of women's health around the world at pbs.org/nova

Are workers at U.S. nuclear power plants fully prepared to deal with emergencies triggered by natural disasters? To find out, we visited the training center for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. Pilgrim is on the Atlantic coast near Plymouth, Massachussets, about an hour's drive south of Boston. It's one of 23 nuclear plants in the U.S. that use the same nuclear reactor design as the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

You can take a virtual tour of the control room in a U.S. nuclear power plant at pbs.org/nova

Galileo has been called the "father of modern science". His observations of the night sky in the early 1600s confirmed a new model of the universe, where the Earth orbited the sun—not the other way around. But before he was studying the universe, Galileo was working on practical problems. And his early goals for the telescope weren't so scientific.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by David Axelrod. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Additional funding for "Hunting the Edge of Space" is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation and the Research Corporation for Science Advancement.

To learn more about the history of the telescope, go to pbs.org/nova/telescope.

Astronomer Seth Shostak thinks that if alien intelligence is out there, we'll know it when we see it.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Hear other experts describe what intelligence means to them. Visit us online at pbs.org/nova

Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker says that modern human intelligence is the result of thousands of years of accumulated knowledge.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Hear other experts describe what intelligence means to them. Visit us online at pbs.org/nova

Theoretical psychologist Nicholas Humphrey explains the concept of social intelligence.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Hear other experts describe what intelligence means to them. Visit us online at pbs.org/nova

In this podcast, roboticist Rodney Brooks describes what "intelligence" means in his field.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Hear other experts describe what intelligence means to them. Visit us online at pbs.org/nova

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, naturalist E.O. Wilson describes the challenges of understanding how ecosystems evolve.

Produced by David Levin. Original interview by Gail Willumsen. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/eowilson

On August 14, 2003, the biggest blackout in American history struck the Northeast U.S. and parts of Canada. 50 million people lost power, and the blackout showed how vulnerable and even outdated our electricity system is. To fix that problem, some energy experts think it's time to upgrade to a "smart grid," one that uses digital technology to regulate itself. Vijay Vaitheeswaran is energy correspondent for The Economist magazine. In this interview, he explains why we need to take the power grid into the 21st century.

Produced by David Levin. Interview by Terri Randall. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Additional funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

To read a full interview with Vijay Vaitheeswaran, go to pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

Most passenger jets today fly under computer control, at least to some extent. Usually, those computers make flying safer. But like any machine, they can sometimes break down, leading, in rare cases, to major accidents. In this interview, aviation expert Bill Voss explains why he thinks airlines should put more emphasis on solving computer automation problems during pilot training.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Hear more audio stories at pbs.org/nova

After the crash of Air France Flight 447 in 2009, widespread debate appeared on the Internet about whether a lightning strike could have brought the plane down. Just how dangerous is lightning to an aircraft in flight? In this podcast, aviation safety expert John Cox and veteran airline pilot Martin Alder weigh in.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interviews by Darlow Smithson productions. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Hear more audio stories at pbs.org/nova

Some parrots can talk-but can they really understand what they're saying?
In this podcast, researcher Irene Pepperberg describes her cognitive experiments with African grey parrots, and discusses why the line between human and animal intelligence is sometimes blurry.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and public television viewers.

Major funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

For more fun science stories, visit our Web site at http://www.pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

In the growing field of nanotechnology, engineers are creating countless new microscopic materials. They're used in thousands of consumer goods, from cell phones to cosmetics and sunscreen. But how safe are they? To find out, we talked to Andrew Maynard, physicist and director of the Risk Science Center at the University of Michigan. We talked to him about the potential dangers of nanotech.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for “Making Stuff” is provided by the National Science Foundation. Additional funding provided by the Department of Energy.

For more on nanotechnology, visit us online at pbs.org/nova/tech

Stopping signs of life and starting them again might seem like pure sci-fi—but cell biologist Mark Roth says it's very possible. In this podcast, he explains why.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn about other ways that science is extending human life. Go to pbs.org/nova/sciencenow.

The next generation of spacecraft will travel faster than ever before. But they might not be propelled by rockets. If Dean Alhorn has his way, they’ll be powered by light. Alhorn is an engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight center. He designs solar sails. They’re basically big silver kites in space that are pushed along by the sun’s rays. And Alhorn says they might change spaceflight in the very near future.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn about other new types of propulsion that NASA is testing, and how they might help us get to Mars. Go to pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, geologist Chris Goldfinger describes why earthquakes in one part of the globe might trigger others worldwide.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova

In this podcast, hear how a newly identified wreck found outside the harbor may rewrite the history of the Japanese attack.

Produced by David Levin. Original interviews by Kirk Wolfinger. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/killersubs

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains that despite all the doomsday claims on the Internet, the world will NOT end in 2012.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, African-American chemistry pioneer Percy Julian gives his take on scientific language.

Produced by David Levin and Susan Lewis NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/julian

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, Native American geologist Alexandrea Bowman describes her path to science, which led from baby seals to Long Island Sound.

Produced by David Levin and Rob Chapman. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

If you could take a drug that could erase your memories, would you do it? It’s not such a hypothetical question—neuroscientists have identified a drug that can wipe out memory in rats. It’s not something that could be used on humans, but its existence raises a lot of big ethical issues. To sort those out, we talked to Art Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn where the science stands on memory-erasing drugs, go to pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, biochemist Erika Ebbel describes how a mentor helped her transform into a scientist when she was 11 years old.

Produced by David Levin and Rob Chapman. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

In this podcast, NASA psychologist Al Holland discusses some of the the mental challenges astronauts might face during a mission to Mars.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Find out how we might make it to Mars, and learn about the dangers we'd face along the way. Visit us at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow.

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, geologist Adrienne Block explains how she investigates mountains that lie beneath the humongous ice sheets of Antarctica.

Produced by David Levin and Rob Chapman. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson describes how the universe called him when he was nine years old.

Produced by David Levin and Rob Chapman. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, climate scientist Gavin Schmidt explains why the Earth needs to see a doctor… today.

Produced by David Levin and Rob Chapman. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

In the 1960s, a new theory surfaced that claimed Stonehenge was the work of ancient astronomers, and that its giant stone pillars were used to predict eclipses of the moon and sun. But was there anything to the idea? To find out, we talked to NOVA's senior science editor, Evan Hadingham. He trained as an archeologist and has written two books on Stonehenge.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn what motivated the builders of Stonehenge on our website: pbs.org/nova/ancientworlds

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode hear from engineer Colin Angle, cofounder of iRobot, the company that makes the Roomba vacuum cleaner. In this podcast, he explains how small inventions can yield huge results.

Produced by David Levin and Rob Chapman. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

New DNA evidence shows that dogs were probably domesticated from wolves in the Middle East about eight thousand years ago. But wolves are generally fierce animals that travel in packs, and they’re usually afraid of humans. That's pretty far off from the behavior of today's family pets. So how could that poodle in your backyard have come from a wolf? To find out, we spoke to Clive Wynne, who studies animal behavior at the University of Florida.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Gaia Remerowski. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about undersea archeology, go to pbs.org/nova

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, experimental psychologist Laurie Santos explains how she studies monkeys in order to learn how humans think.

Produced by David Levin and Rob Chapman. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

In this podcast, radio producer Nick Van der Kolk describes how he ran into Al Gore on an elevator in Chicago.

Do you have an elevator story of your own? Have you ever been stuck in one? Did you overcome an elevator phobia? Tell us about your experience at pbs.org/nova/tech .

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Lawrence Lanahan and Bruce Wallace. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

In this podcast, Paul Goldberger, an architecture critic for The New Yorker, describes how the elevator changed the face of New York City.

Produced by David Levin. Interview by Joe Seaman. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Hear the story of one New Yorker who was stuck in an elevator for almost two days. Find it at pbs.org/nova/tech

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, ethnobotanist Ina Vandebroek explains why her job is like Star Trek. Listen in.

Produced by David Levin and Rob Chapman. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

When 33 Chilean miners were trapped in a cave-in this August, rescuers had to dig through more than 2000 feet of solid rock to free them. It was the deepest rescue ever attempted, and it would have to be done fast. but how? To find out, we talked to Greg Hall, owner of Drillers Supply International, a small Texas company that helped drill the rescue shaft in a record 33 days.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about the Chilean mine rescue, go to pbs.org/nova/tech

In light of the amazing mine rescue in Chile last week, our partners at PRI's "The World" asked whether technology could be used to prevent mining accidents in the first place. In this podcast, The World's Lisa Mullins interviews Mark Yim, a mechanical engineer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Interview produced by PRI's The World. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about the Chilean mine rescue, go to pbs.org/nova/tech

When designing Gothic cathedrals, some medieval builders drew on sacred measurements laid out in the pages of the Bible. In this podcast, we talked to art historian Stephen Murray from Columbia University to find out why.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about Gothic architecture, visit pbs.org/nova/ancient

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, game developer Eran Egozy from Harmonix--the video game company that created Rock Band and Guitar Hero--explains how he uses ones and zeros to bring music-making to everyone.

Produced by David Levin. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, hear mechanical engineer Nate Ball explain why a spectacular failure helped him learn how to build a life-saving device.

Produced by David Levin. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

In this podcast, art historian Jeff Hurwitt explains what made the Parthenon the greatest temple of Ancient Greece.

Produced by Susan Lewis. Original interview by Gary Glassman. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more about the history of the Parthenon at pbs.org/nova/parthenon

In this podcast, NOVA's Peter Tyson interviews former astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Aldrin was the second man to set foot on the Moon, and thinks that a human presence on Mars is inevitable in the future. Listen in to find out why.

Produced by David Levin. Original interview by Peter Tyson. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more about the future of human spaceflight at pbs.org/nova/space

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, biologist Mark Siddall from the American Museum of Natural History tells us how he found a rare species of leech in the rectum of a hippo.

Produced by David Levin. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, nanoscientist Rich Robinson from Cornell University explains what inspired him to become a professor.

Produced by David Levin. Original interview by Josh Seftel. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, geneticist Cliff Tabin from Harvard Medical School explains how limbs form in an embryo.

Produced by David Levin. Original interview by John Rubin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/evolution

In order to develop from an embryo, animals as different as fruit flies and humans call on a nearly identical set of genes. But how does this one common genetic toolkit create so many different species? It turns out that it's not the genes you have-it's how you use them.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interviews by John Rubin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/evolution

We've come a long way toward understanding evolution since the "Origin of Species" was first published 150 years ago. So what would Darwin think if he could see his theory's impact today-both on a scientific and social level? In this podcast, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, historian Jim Moore, and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker offer their best guesses.

Podcast produced by David Levin and Susan K. Lewis. Original interviews by Susan K. Lewis and David Espar. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/evolution

In 1859, Charles Darwin published the "Origin of Species", a book that changed science forever. But why is it still important to understand his theories today? In this podcast, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, biologist Ken Miller, and the late paleontologist Steven Jay Gould offer their takes on the subject.

Podcast produced by David Levin and Susan K. Lewis. Original interviews by Susan K. Lewis and David Espar. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/evolution

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, hear zoologist Jonathan Losos explain why small lizards outlasted the dinosaurs.

Produced by David Levin. Original audio courtesy WCAI-FM, Woods Hole, MA. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/evolution

Evolving an ability to run long distances might have been key to survival for early humans. In this podcast, we talked to Dan Lieberman, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, to find out why.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Gaia Remerowski. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers.

Learn more about human evolution at pbs.org/nova/evolution

Today, humans are rapidly changing the world's climate-but some anthropologists think climate may have once changed us. In this podcast, Rick Potts, director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, explains why a rapidly shifting environment could have shaped early human behavior.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Graham Townsley. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

Slowly, inevitably, Alzehimer's disease robs a person of their memories. Not just everyday memories--like where to find keys or a wallet--but more profound ones, like the names and faces of loved ones. Right now, there's no cure. But one pair of researchers thinks music might help mitigate the effects of the disease.

Podcast produced by Rebecca Cheung. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about memory and the brain, go to pbs.org/nova/body

In this podcast, engineer Bruce Carmichael from the National Center for Atmospheric Research describes how new weather forecasting technology could make flights over oceans safer.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about aviation safety, go to pbs.org/nova/space

NOVA Minutes are regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, hear naturalist E.O. Wilson give his thoughts on the ways humans interact with the natural world.

Produced by David Levin. Original interview by Gail Willumsen. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/eowilson

Can man-made diamond pave the way for the electronics of the future? It depends who you talk to.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Julia Cort. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by Pfizer, the National Science Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

In this podcast, marine biologist Roger Hanlon explains why octopuses are masters of camouflage.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Susan Lewis. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more about the remarkable camouflage of octopuses--and their cousins, cuttlefish--on pbs.org/nova/camo.

This July is "flight month" at NOVA. In this podcast, hear pilot Neil Herman from Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome describe what it's like to fly antique aircraft.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova

In this podcast, biologist Christine Drea explains why social intelligence is the key to hyena's deadly hunting skills.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Susan K. Lewis. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

You can learn more about animal intelligence on pbs.org/nova/sciencenow.

This July is "flight month" at NOVA. In this podcast, hear pilot Chad Wille from Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome describe what it's like to fly antique aircraft.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova

In this "NOVA Minute", geologist Sam Bowring from MIT offers his thoughts on mass extinctions.

Produced by David Levin. Original interview by Julia Cort. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

In this podcast, glaciologist Lonnie Thompson describes why global warming and melting glaciers could impact everything from drinking water supplies to the spread of infectious disease—and even political issues like refugees and terrorism.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Dana Rae Warren. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

In this podcast, hear a taste of what we're airing on WGBH 89.7 FM in Boston. We call audio tidbits like these "NOVA Minutes", and air them three time per week during Morning Edition. Since they're not yet available online, we'll sprinkle them liberally into the podcast feed over the next few months. Stay tuned!

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Vanessa Woods is a science journalist and primate researcher who studies Bonobos, a close relative to chimpanzees. She says that when it comes to emotional intelligence, they put the human world to shame.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Susan K. Lewis. Music by Ja Prawn (freemusicarchive.org/music/Ja_Prawn). NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

You can learn more about bonobos, chimps, and what makes us human on pbs.org/nova/sciencenow.

Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks has come across plenty of odd stories while studying the human brain, but none are quite as mysterious as that of his colleague, Tony Cicoria. In 1994, Cicoria was struck by lightning, and developed a sudden, inexplicable passion for playing and writing piano music. In this podcast, hear Sacks describe Cicoria's transformation.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Dempsey Rice/Daughter One productions. Music by The New You. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/musicminds

In this podcast, learn why studying the emotions of our close primate relatives--chimpanzees and bonobos--might shed light on the evolution of human culture.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

You can learn more about bonobos, chimps, and what makes us human on pbs.org/nova/sciencenow.

In the mid 1960s, NASA launched the first of five lunar orbiters. Each one transmitted hundreds of images of the moon's surface back to Earth, which NASA recorded onto miles of analog tape. It was state of the art technology for the 1960s. But today, it's mostly forgotten. For the last 40 years, the tapes from the Lunar Orbiter missions have collected dust in a warehouse, and the computer drives that could read them have gone the way of the dinosaurs. In this podcast, we talked to Dennis Wingo, an engineer who's working to recover the images from the now-obsolete tapes.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Thirty years ago, a violent eruption ripped through the side of Mt. St. Helens in western Oregon. The blast killed 57 people and countless animals, and turned hundreds of miles of forest into barren wasteland. In this podcast, hear from ecologist Charlie Crisafulli on the slow recovery of the Mt. St. Helens ecosystem, and learn how the timing of the eruption actually spared some plant and animal life.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Kristine Allington. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about the Hubble, go to pbs.org/nova/sthelens

For more than 100 years, academic economists have treated the market almost like a force of nature--a vast invisible system that operates independently from human emotions. But on a day-to-day basis, emotion plays a big role in the choices we make. In this podcast, we talked to Jennifer Lerner, a social psychologist at Harvard University, about how our feelings affect our financial decisions.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Malcolm Clark. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobill, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers. Additional funding for "Mind Over Money" provided by T. Rowe Price.

On Saturday, April 24th, the Hubble Space Telescope will reach its 20th year in orbit. To mark the anniversary, we spoke to Ed Weiler, Chief Scientist for the Hubble mission from 1979 to 1998. He talked to us about the Hubble's early days--its conception, its first years in space, and its infamous optical problems, which blurred its view until a repair mission replaced faulty cameras in 1993.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about the Hubble, go to pbs.org/nova/hubble

On April 24th, NASA celebrates the Hubble Space Telescope's 20th year in orbit. Over the last two decades, it's sent back thousands of stunning images of deep space. For scientists, these pictures have allowed a deeper understanding of the universe. For the public, they've been a source of wonder and inspiration. With the Hubble's anniversary around the corner, we asked Neil deGrasse Tyson to give his take on the telescope's legacy. He's the director the Hayden Planetarium in New York, and is one of Hubble's biggest fans.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about the Hubble, go to pbs.org/nova/hubble

Galileo has been called the "father of modern science". His observations of the night sky in the early 1600s confirmed a new model of the universe, where the Earth orbited the sun--not the other way around. But before he was studying the universe, Galileo was working on practical problems. And his early goals for the telescope weren't so scientific.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Origial interview by David Axelrod. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Additional funding for "Hunting the Edge of Space" is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation and the Research Corporation for Science Advancement.

To learn more about the history of the telescope, go to pbs.org/nova/telescope.

The Large Hadron Collider, CERN's massive particle collider in Geneva, Switzerland, is finally online. It's the most powerful physics experiment in the world, capable of creating tiny black holes as it smashes sub atomic particles together. Not to worry, though: In this podcast, physicist Dave Wark explains that there's no way these can destroy the world.

This podcast was produced by David Levin. Interview with Dave Wark by Rima Chaddha. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers. Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

To learn more, visit www.pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

New DNA evidence shows that dogs were probably domesticated from wolves in the Middle East about eight thousand years ago. But wolves are generally fierce animals that travel in packs, and they're usually afraid of humans. That's pretty far off from the behavior of today's family pets. So how could that poodle in your backyard have come from a wolf? To find out, we spoke to Clive Wynne, who studies animal behavior at the University of Florida.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Gaia Remerowski. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about undersea archeology, go to pbs.org/nova

Brenden Foley hunts ancient shipwrecks for a living. But he's not after sunken treasure--he's after information. Foley is a marine archeologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He's taking a new approach to the field. Instead of just focusing on a handful of shipwrecks, he wants to take a broad look, finding and cataloging wrecks in the Mediterranean that date to a wide timeframe. In this podcast, he talks to us about his work.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about undersea archeology, go to pbs.org/nova

NASA's twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been exploring the surface of Mars for more than six years. It's an impressive fact, considering they were only designed to last for three months. But despite this longevity, recent mechanical failures have brought the Spirit rover to a standstill. In this podcast, we talked to Bruce Banerdt, the Project Scientist for the Mars rover missions, about the fate of this now-stationary rover.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Susan K. Lewis. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more about the Mars rovers, go to pbs.org/nova/mars

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union decided on new definition of a planet--and Pluto didn't make the grade. It was bumped down to "dwarf planet" status. But it's not alone. It's now one of five known dwarf planets in the solar system. One of them, called Ceres, may hold clues to how life formed on Earth. In this podcast, we talked to planetary scientist Mark Sykes about this tiny world.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Susan K. Lewis. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/pluto

After Pluto was discovered in 1930, it enjoyed the title of planet for more than 75 years. But in 2006, that all changed. At a meeting in Prague, the International Astronomical Union adopted a new definition for planethood, leaving the solar system with only eight planets. But not everyone agrees with its decision. In this podcast, planetary scientist Alan Stern talks to us about Pluto's demotion, and why he thinks it should be back on list of planets.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

James Balog has been working as a nature photographer for more than 30 years. His latest project, the Extreme Ice Survey, is helping scientists document the rapid melt of glaciers worldwide—something he says is visible evidence of human-caused climate change. In this interview, he discusses his work.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/extremeice

Scientists are excited about the Bahamas, and it's not just the tropical vacations that have their interest. It's what's underneath the surface of the islands—huge caves systems filled with water. They're called blue holes, and deep inside of them lie clues to past climate change, new species of invertebrates, even human remains from people who lived on the islands long before Columbus visited. In this podcast, hear from Kenny Broad, a researcher who led a diving expedition into blue holes last year.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by James Barrat. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Music courtesy APM music and Universildo (freemusicarchive.org/music/Universildo/). Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/cavedive

For thousands of years, people around the world have modified their bodies with tattoos and piercings. But some cultures, like the ancient Inca in Peru, took that practice beyond skin deep. They sometimes used ropes and boards to slowly change the shape of human skulls. It's a process called "cranial modification." In this podcast, bioarcheologist Valerie Andrushko explains.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Melissa Salpietra. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/machupicchu.

Egyptologist Mark Lehner thinks it took almost 20,000 people to build the Great Pyramids. But where did all those workers live? In this podcast, Lehner describes how he found evidence of a "lost city" on the Giza plateau.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Peter Tyson. Music courtesy Pharaoh's Daughter (freemusicarchive.org/music/Pharaohs_Daughter/), Selva de Mar (freemusicarchive.org/music/Selva_de_Mar/), and APMmusic. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/sphinx

While filming "The Pluto Files" Neil deGrasse Tyson and NOVA producer Terri Randall took a cross-country journey to trace the history of that distant cosmic body. Along the way, they met with the family of the late Clyde Tombaugh—the man who discovered Pluto in 1930. In this podcast, Neil talks to Terri about his experience on the trip.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Terri Randall. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/pluto

In order to develop from an embryo, animals as different as fruit flies and humans call on a nearly identical set of genes. But how does this one common genetic toolkit create so many different species? It turns out that it's not the genes you have-it's how you use them.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interviews by John Rubin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/evolution

We've come a long way toward understanding evolution since the "Origin of Species" was first published 150 years ago. So what would Darwin think if he could see his theory's impact today-both on a scientific and social level? In this podcast, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, historian Jim Moore, and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker offer their best guesses.

Podcast produced by David Levin and Susan K. Lewis. Original interviews by Susan K. Lewis and David Espar. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/evolution

150 years ago, Charles Darwin published the "Origin of Species", a book that changed science forever. But why is it still important to understand his theories today? In this podcast, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, biologist Ken Miller, and the late paleontologist Steven Jay Gould offer their takes on the subject.

Podcast produced by David Levin and Susan K. Lewis. Original interviews by Susan K. Lewis and David Espar. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/evolution

Even though Darwin's theory is the foundation of modern biology, it's still controversial in some religious circles. But was evolution considered a serious threat to religion in Darwin's day? And can devoutly religious people accept evolution today? In this podcast, historian Jim Moore, professor of philosophy Dan Dennett, and Biologist Ken Miller weigh in on the subject.

Podcast produced by David Levin and Susan K. Lewis. Original interviews by Susan K. Lewis and David Espar. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/evolution

Evolving an ability to run long distances might have been key to survival for early humans. In this podcast, we talked to Dan Lieberman, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, to find out why.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Gaia Remerowski. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

Today, humans are rapidly changing the world's climate-but some anthropologists think climate may have once changed us. In this podcast, Rick Potts, director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, explains why a rapidly shifting environment could have shaped early human behavior.

Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Graham Townsley. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

In this podcast, Neil deGrasse Tyson visits Portland, Oregon, to participate in a monthly event called the "Science Pub." Sponsored by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the "Pub" invites researchers to talk about their work, answer audience questions, and have a beer. It's a science conversation done Oregon style. The original event lasted over two hours, but we trimmed the Q&A down to about 30 minutes.

Podcast edited by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

As an astrophysicist, NOVA scienceNOW host Neil deGrasse Tyson has a unique view of the universe. Hear his "Cosmic Perspective" on looking up at the night sky.

Audio editing by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

As an astrophysicist, NOVA scienceNOW host Neil deGrasse Tyson has a unique view of the universe. Hear his "Cosmic Perspective" on bad news.

Audio editing by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow