Science and Nature

NOVA

NOVA brings you stories from the frontlines of science and engineering, answering the big questions of today and tomorrow, from how our ancestors lived, to whether parallel universes exist, to how technology will transform our lives. Visit the official website to watch full-length documentaries, or explore our world through short-form video, on our digital publication NOVA Next.

Solar System: Volcano Worlds

53m 34s

Around our solar system, violent eruptions are shaping distant worlds. Discover the explosive forces that helped create some of the most dynamic worlds in our cosmic neighborhood – and what makes the volcanoes right here on Earth so special.

Episodes

  • Solar System: Volcano Worlds: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Solar System: Volcano Worlds

    S51 E11 - 53m 34s

    Around our solar system, violent eruptions are shaping distant worlds. Discover the explosive forces that helped create some of the most dynamic worlds in our cosmic neighborhood – and what makes the volcanoes right here on Earth so special.

  • Solar System: Strange Worlds: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Solar System: Strange Worlds

    S51 E10 - 53m 34s

    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.

  • Solar System: Storm Worlds: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Solar System: Storm Worlds

    S51 E9 - 53m 34s

    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.

  • Decoding the Universe: Cosmos: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Decoding the Universe: Cosmos

    S51 E8 - 53m 38s

    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.

  • Secrets in Your Data: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Secrets in Your Data

    S51 E7 - 53m 40s

    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.

  • Great American Eclipse: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Great American Eclipse

    S51 E6 - 53m 34s

    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.

  • A.I. Revolution: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    A.I. Revolution

    S51 E5 - 53m 30s

    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.

  • Hunt for the Oldest DNA: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Hunt for the Oldest DNA

    S51 E4 - 53m 10s

    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.

  • Building the Eiffel Tower: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Building the Eiffel Tower

    S51 E3 - 53m 29s

    Explore the revolutionary engineering behind Paris’s iconic landmark. Completed in 1889, 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.

  • Easter Island Origins: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Easter Island Origins

    S51 E2 - 53m 17s

    The giant stone heads of Easter Island have inspired theories for centuries. Now, new research reveals intriguing evidence of the origins and inspirations of the ancient Rapanui people who created the iconic monoliths.

  • When Whales Could Walk: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    When Whales Could Walk

    S51 E1 - 53m 31s

    A spectacular fossil graveyard reveals a 43-million-year-old whale that had four legs and could walk. Follow scientists as they search for new clues to how mammals moved from land into the sea to become the largest animals on Earth.

Extras + Features

  • How Medieval Armorers Made Knights Bulletproof: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    How Medieval Armorers Made Knights Bulletproof

    S51 - 2m 15s

    A select few suits of armor were crafted with secret techniques that made them stronger than others, possibly even bulletproof. Historians and ballistics experts reconstructed the amor of an elite knight and tested its strength by shooting it with a musket.

  • How Do Hurricanes Form?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    How Do Hurricanes Form?

    S51 - 1m 2s

    Scientists predict that our increasingly warmer atmosphere and oceans will feed these hurricanes — we may not see more of them that we used to, but the ones we do see are likely to get more and more intense.

  • Solar System: Icy Worlds Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Solar System: Icy Worlds Preview

    S51 E12 - 30s

    Out in the solar system, ice can get bizarre. Visit strange, frozen worlds – from Uranus’s ultra-hot superionic ice, to glaciers of nitrogen ice on Pluto, to carbon dioxide snow on Mars – and discover why the ice here on Earth is so unique.

  • Solar System: Volcano Worlds Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Solar System: Volcano Worlds Preview

    S51 E11 - 30s

    Around our solar system, violent eruptions are shaping distant worlds. Discover the explosive forces that helped create some of the most dynamic worlds in our cosmic neighborhood – and what makes the volcanoes right here on Earth so special.

  • Solar System: Strange Worlds Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Solar System: Strange Worlds Preview

    S51 E10 - 30s

    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.

  • This Powerful Psychedelic May Help Treat Opioid Addiction: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    This Powerful Psychedelic May Help Treat Opioid Addiction

    S51 - 3m 28s

    There's growing evidence that ibogaine, a powerful psychedelic, may help treat opioid addiction, traumatic brain injuries, and even depression. But it can be dangerous too — including side effects like cardiac arrest and death.

  • Solar System: Storm Worlds Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Solar System: Storm Worlds Preview

    S51 E9 - 30s

    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.

  • What Happened to the Hole in the Ozone Layer?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    What Happened to the Hole in the Ozone Layer?

    S51 - 3m 13s

    The extreme thinning of the Ozone layer threatened to bring on a global crisis from destroying plants and ecosystems to sky-high skin cancer rates. So, what happened?

  • Ozempic's Surprising Real Power: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Ozempic's Surprising Real Power

    S51 - 3m 51s

    Scientists thought Ozempic, and other similar drugs, helped people lose weight by working primarily in the gut. But now it's looking like it's real power could be in the brain.

  • What Dating Apps Know About You: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    What Dating Apps Know About You

    S51 - 2m 51s

    You might sign up for a dating app to find the love of your life. But while you’re swiping, these apps are collecting all kinds of information about you. What do you they know about you? And what are they doing with your data?

Schedule

  • Image
    NOVA: Solar System: Wandering Worlds: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Solar System: Wandering Worlds

    Thursday
    Oct 31

    1 Hour

    Exploring wandering worlds that move around the solar system, from meteorites that impact Earth to a moon that orbits backwards.
  • Image
    NOVA: Solar System: Wandering Worlds: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Solar System: Wandering Worlds

    Thursday
    Oct 31

    1 Hour

    Exploring wandering worlds that move around the solar system, from meteorites that impact Earth to a moon that orbits backwards.
  • Image
    NOVA: Solar System: Wandering Worlds: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Solar System: Wandering Worlds

    Friday
    Nov 1

    1 Hour

    Exploring wandering worlds that move around the solar system, from meteorites that impact Earth to a moon that orbits backwards.
  • Image
    NOVA: Solar System: Wandering Worlds: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Solar System: Wandering Worlds

    Sunday
    Nov 3

    1 Hour

    Exploring wandering worlds that move around the solar system, from meteorites that impact Earth to a moon that orbits backwards.
  • Image
    NOVA: Solar System: Wandering Worlds: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Solar System: Wandering Worlds

    Sunday
    Nov 3

    1 Hour

    Exploring wandering worlds that move around the solar system, from meteorites that impact Earth to a moon that orbits backwards.
  • Image
    NOVA: Solar System: Wandering Worlds: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Solar System: Wandering Worlds

    Sunday
    Nov 3

    1 Hour

    Exploring wandering worlds that move around the solar system, from meteorites that impact Earth to a moon that orbits backwards.
  • Image
    NOVA: Solar System: Wandering Worlds: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Solar System: Wandering Worlds

    Tuesday
    Nov 5

    1 Hour

    Exploring wandering worlds that move around the solar system, from meteorites that impact Earth to a moon that orbits backwards.
  • Image
    NOVA: Solar System: Wandering Worlds: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Solar System: Wandering Worlds

    Wednesday
    Nov 6

    1 Hour

    Exploring wandering worlds that move around the solar system, from meteorites that impact Earth to a moon that orbits backwards.
  • Image
    NOVA: Solar System: Wandering Worlds: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Solar System: Wandering Worlds

    Wednesday
    Nov 6

    1 Hour

    Exploring wandering worlds that move around the solar system, from meteorites that impact Earth to a moon that orbits backwards.
  • Image
    NOVA: Decoding the Universe: Quantum: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Decoding the Universe: Quantum

    Wednesday
    Nov 6

    1 Hour

    Exploring the quantum universe.
  • Image
    NOVA: Decoding the Universe: Quantum: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Decoding the Universe: Quantum

    Wednesday
    Nov 6

    1 Hour

    Exploring the quantum universe.
  • Image
    NOVA: Decoding the Universe: Quantum: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Decoding the Universe: Quantum

    Thursday
    Nov 7

    1 Hour

    Exploring the quantum universe.
  • Image
    NOVA: Decoding the Universe: Quantum: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Decoding the Universe: Quantum

    Thursday
    Nov 7

    1 Hour

    Exploring the quantum universe.
  • Image
    NOVA: Decoding the Universe: Quantum: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Decoding the Universe: Quantum

    Thursday
    Nov 7

    1 Hour

    Exploring the quantum universe.
  • Image
    NOVA: Decoding the Universe: Quantum: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Decoding the Universe: Quantum

    Thursday
    Nov 7

    1 Hour

    Exploring the quantum universe.
  • Image
    NOVA: Decoding the Universe: Quantum: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Decoding the Universe: Quantum

    Sunday
    Nov 10

    1 Hour

    Exploring the quantum universe.
  • Image
    NOVA: Decoding the Universe: Quantum: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Decoding the Universe: Quantum

    Sunday
    Nov 10

    1 Hour

    Exploring the quantum universe.
  • Image
    NOVA: Decoding the Universe: Quantum: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Decoding the Universe: Quantum

    Sunday
    Nov 10

    1 Hour

    Exploring the quantum universe.
  • Image
    NOVA: Decoding the Universe: Quantum: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Decoding the Universe: Quantum

    Tuesday
    Nov 12

    1 Hour

    Exploring the quantum universe.
  • Image
    NOVA: Decoding the Universe: Quantum: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Decoding the Universe: Quantum

    Wednesday
    Nov 13

    1 Hour

    Exploring the quantum universe.

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