Season 51
Season 50Season 52

S51 Season 51

NOVA / Season 51

31 Jan, 2024 · 18 episodes

 
Season 50Season 52

S51 Season 51

NOVA / Season 51

31 Jan, 2024 · 18 episodes

 
When Whales Could Walk
S51 | E01

54m

In Egypt’s Sahara Desert, massive skeletons with strange skulls and gigantic teeth jut out from the sandy ground. This fossil graveyard, millions of years old, is known as the “Valley of the Whales.” Now, paleontologists have unearthed a whole new species of ancient whale dating to 43 million years ago, and this predator wasn’t just able to swim – it also had four legs and could walk. Follow scien... Read more

01/02/2024 | 02:00
Easter Island Origins
S51 | E02

53m

How were the giant stone heads of Rapa Nui–also known as Easter Island–carved and raised, and why? Since Europeans arrived on this remote Pacific island over 300 years ago, controversy has swirled around the iconic ancient statues and the history of the people who created them. Now, a new generation of researchers is overturning old theories, revealing the rich history, innovation, and resilience ... Read more

08/02/2024 | 02:00
Building the Eiffel Tower
S51 | E03

53m

Explore the revolutionary engineering behind Paris’s iconic landmark. Completed in just over two years for the 1889 World’s Fair, the iron tower smashed the record for the tallest structure on Earth, ushering in a new age of global construction that reached for the skies. How did the engineers do it? Follow the innovations, successes, and failures that made one of the most famous buildings on the ... Read more

15/02/2024 | 02:00
Hunt for the Oldest DNA
S51 | E04

54m

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

22/02/2024 | 02:00
A.I. Revolution
S51 | E05

54m

A.I. tools like ChatGPT seem to think, speak, and create like humans. But what are they really doing? From cancer cures to Terminator-style takeovers, leading experts explore what A.I. can – and can't – do today, and what lies ahead.

28/03/2024 | 01:00
Great American Eclipse
S51 | E06

54m

Explore the spectacular cosmic phenomenon of a total solar eclipse. In April 2024, the Moon's shadow is sweeping from Texas to Maine, as the U.S. witnesses its last total eclipse until 2044, and scientists scramble to unlock the secrets of our Sun.

04/04/2024 | 01:00
Secrets in Your Data
S51 | E07

54m

Whether you’re on social media or surfing the web, you’re probably sharing more personal data than you realize. Find out where your data is going, who’s selling it, and how you – and a new kind of web – could put control back in your hands.

16/05/2024 | 01:00
Decoding the Universe: Cosmos
S51 | E08

54m

How big is the universe? Will it ever end? Why is so much of it made of mysterious dark matter and energy? See how mind-bending discoveries over the past 50 years have revolutionized our understanding of the universe.

23/05/2024 | 01:00
Solar System: Storm Worlds
S51 | E09

54m

Out in the solar system, the weather gets wacky – with globe-spanning dust storms, monsoons of liquid methane, and lightning 10 times stronger than here on Earth. Discover the forces driving the dramatic weather on neighboring planets and moons.

03/10/2024 | 01:00
Solar System: Strange Worlds
S51 | E10

54m

From a dwarf planet that looks like a deflated football, to a tiny moon with cliffs taller than Mt. Everest, to the spectacular rings of Saturn, discover how the effects of gravity produce the amazing variety of weird worlds in our solar system.

10/10/2024 | 01:00
Solar System: Volcano Worlds
S51 | E11

54m

All around our solar system, volcanoes are powerful shapers of worlds. Next door on Mars is Olympus Mons, a giant volcanic mountain more than twice the size of Mt. Everest. And closer to the Sun, thousands of volcanoes produce the toxic atmosphere that keeps Venus boiling. Then there’s Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanically active world in the entire solar system, and Saturn’s moon Enceladus, wh... Read more

17/10/2024 | 01:00
Solar System: Icy Worlds
S51 | E12

54m

Ice might seem familiar to us on Earth, but out in the solar system, it can get quite exotic. From Uranus’s ultra hot superionic ice, to glaciers of nitrogen ice on Pluto, to carbon dioxide snow on Mars, ice is a fundamental building block throughout our cosmic neighborhood. Visit some of the strange, frozen worlds of our solar system to discover why the ice here on Earth so special – and why we w... Read more

24/10/2024 | 01:00
Solar System: Wandering Worlds
S51 | E13

54m

The classic view of our solar system contains eight orderly planets, some with moons in neat orbits – but when we look closer, we discover a bunch of stuff missing from this simple, clockwork model. Wandering worlds that seem out of place, found in the gaps between and beyond the planets, offer clues that our cosmic neighborhood is far more dynamic than we once thought. From the meteorites that im... Read more

31/10/2024 | 01:00
Decoding the Universe: Quantum
S51 | E14

54m

When we look at the world at the tiniest scales in the subatomic realm, things get weird – very weird. Welcome to the quantum universe, where particles can spin in two directions at once, observing something changes it, and something on one side of the galaxy can instantly affect something on the other, as if the space between them didn’t exist. Buckle up for a wild ride through the discoveries th... Read more

07/11/2024 | 02:00
Building Stuff: Boost It!
S51 | E15

54m

Around the world, engineers are finding ingenious ways to amplify our abilities and senses – allowing us to access and shape the world way beyond our natural gifts. From helping a blind man see without the use of his eyes to building a sling so powerful it can shoot rockets into space, see why engineering just might be the closest thing to a superpower we humans have.

14/11/2024 | 02:00
Building Stuff: Reach It!
S51 | E16

54m

From the time our species first evolved, we’ve been on the move. Not content to stay in one place, we’ve imagined and invented and built our way from one place to the next. From deep sea subs to wind-resistant skyscrapers to next-gen space habitats, see how today’s engineers are designing and building creative new ways for us to get all around – and even off – our planet.

21/11/2024 | 02:00
Building Stuff: Change It!
S51 | E17

54m

Thousands of years of human innovation have allowed us to shape the environment to improve lives. The consequences of our activities are not always benign – but there are solutions. From electrifying aviation, to building robots to protect threatened coral reefs, a new generation of engineers is finding creative solutions to some of our most critical environmental challenges.

28/11/2024 | 02:00
Lost Tombs of Notre Dame
S51 | E18
SEASON FINALE

54m

After the devastating 2019 fire at Notre Dame, two mysterious sarcophaguses were discovered under the cathedral’s stone floor. Who is buried in them, and what secrets will these coffins reveal? Follow a team of archaeologists and historians as they attempt to solve centuries-old mysteries using the latest scientific investigation techniques. What can forensic analysis of the remains reveal about o... Read more

19/12/2024 | 02:00
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