Explore our natural world and the mysteries of the universe this month on NOVA and NATURE. Through these fascinating programs you can climb the highest mountains, journey to the bottom of the sea, see the world in numbers, decode human DNA (and Leonardo Da Vinci), get squirrelly and learn the achievements of an incredible scientist whose name you may not know.
Join some of the world's top squirrel scientists who are making ground-breaking discoveries — from the brainy fox squirrel who can remember the location of 9,000 nuts, to the acrobatic gray squirrel whose tree-top leaps are the basis of new designs in robotics.
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The squirrel family - from chipmunks to prairie dogs - is one of the most widespread.
Discover why some predictions succeed and others fail as experts forecast the future.
In a fascinating, fast-paced investigation, NOVA takes viewers from the glitz of casinos and TV game shows to the life-and-death stakes of storm forecasts and the flaws of opinion polls that can swing an election.
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Enjoy the Alps in spring and summertime as newborn animals grow up to face the coming brutal winter.
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Enjoy the Alps in spring and summertime as newborn animals grow up to face the winter.
Experience the hostile and bitter cold ecosystems of the Alps, shaped by snow blizzards.
Experience the hostile and bitter cold ecosystems of the Alps, shaped by snow blizzards and avalanches.
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Caught up by an explosion of popular interest in genealogy research, more than 12 million Americans have sent their DNA to be analyzed by companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA, hoping to obtain hidden clues to family origins and forecasts of their future health. But what actually happens once the sample is in the hands of testing companies? What are they looking at and how accurate are their results? NOVA explores the value of this information and the risks of entrusting our most private data to commercial enterprises and online databases
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Caught up by an explosion of popular interest in genealogy research.
Discover the science behind Leonardo da Vinci's masterpieces—and Mona Lisa's iconic smile.
How was Leonardo da Vinci able to think so far "outside the box" that he envisaged developments in engineering, astronomy and anatomy that were only realized centuries later? His inventions and insights have come down to us through his notebooks, each page packed with a profusion of ingenious ideas and breathtaking drawings but revealing little about his personal life or character. As a result, the man behind the Mona Lisa and a host of futuristic inventions remains a shadowy figure.
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Octopus intelligence is well documented. They are able to navigate complex mazes, use tools, learn from each other and solve all kinds of puzzles. NATURE follows this new science through the story of a pet octopus named Heidi and her evolving relationship with a passionate marine biologist and his teenage daughter. Professor David Scheel of the Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage links his discoveries to octopus findings from all over the world and explores how we and a creature so different from us could have so much in common.
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An Alaskan professor raises an octopus in his home.
Watch a short trailer of the new NOVA "Forgotten Genius", which chronicles the amazing life story of Percy Julian an African American Scientist who many believe would have won the Nobel Prize for his accomplishments if it weren't for racial inequality during his lifetime.
The remarkable life story of Percy Julian — not only one of the great African American scientists of the 20th century, but an industrialist, self-made millionaire, humanitarian and civil-rights pioneer. The grandson of Alabama slaves, Julian won worldwide acclaim for his research in chemistry and broke the color barrier in American science more than a decade before Jackie Robinson did so in baseball. He discovered a way to turn soybeans into synthetic steroids on an industrial scale, enabling drugs like cortisone to be widely available to millions. In a special two-hour presentation, NOVA traces the vivid and moving saga of Julian's dazzling scientific achievements and sometimes stormy personal life. His largely unknown story is brought to life with vivid period re-enactments based on newly accessible family archives and interviews with dozens of colleagues and relatives.
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