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.

Your Brain: Who's in Control?

53m 31s

Are you in control of your brain, or is your brain controlling you? Dive into the latest research on the subconscious with neuroscientist Heather Berlin to see what’s really driving the decisions you make.

Episodes

  • Your Brain: Who's in Control?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Your Brain: Who's in Control?

    S50 E10 - 53m 31s

    Are you in control of your brain, or is your brain controlling you? Dive into the latest research on the subconscious with neuroscientist Heather Berlin to see what’s really driving the decisions you make.

  • Your Brain: Perception Deception: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Your Brain: Perception Deception

    S50 E9 - 53m 30s

    Is what you see real? Join neuroscientist Heather Berlin on a quest to understand how your brain shapes your reality, and why you can’t always trust what you perceive. Learn the surprising tricks and shortcuts the brain takes to help us survive.

  • Hidden Volcano Abyss: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Hidden Volcano Abyss

    S50 E8 - 53m 20s

    In January 2022, one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history rocked the islands of Tonga. Join scientists as they investigate what caused the blast, how it spurred a devastating tsunami, and if another eruption could be imminent.

  • Saving the Right Whale: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Saving the Right Whale

    S50 E7 - 53m 31s

    The North Atlantic right whale is on the brink of extinction. But a handful of specialists are determined to help save it as they discover new secrets about the lives of these giants of the sea.

  • Chasing Carbon Zero: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Chasing Carbon Zero

    S50 E6 - 53m 31s

    Can the U.S. reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and avoid the biggest impacts of climate change? Experts say it can be done. Here’s the technology that could get us there.

  • Weathering the Future: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Weathering the Future

    S50 E5 - 53m 31s

    As extreme weather in the U.S. impacts more people – with longer heat waves, more intense rainstorms, megafires, and droughts – discover how Americans are fighting back by marshaling ancient wisdom and innovating new solutions.

  • New Eye on the Universe: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    New Eye on the Universe

    S50 E4 - 53m 31s

    Join scientists as they use NASA’s brand new James Webb Space Telescope to peer deep in time to hunt for the first stars and galaxies in our universe, and try to detect the fingerprints of life in the atmospheres of distant exoplanets

  • Ancient Builders of the Amazon: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Ancient Builders of the Amazon

    S50 E3 - 53m 22s

    Recent discoveries in archaeology are exploding the myth of the Amazon as a primeval wilderness, revealing traces of ancient civilizations that flourished for centuries, with populations numbering in the millions.

  • Star Chasers of Senegal: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Star Chasers of Senegal

    S50 E2 - 53m 20s

    A NASA spacecraft named Lucy blasts off from Cape Canaveral on a mission to the Trojans, a group of asteroids over 400 million miles from Earth thought to hold important clues about the origins of our solar system. Just hours before, in Senegal, West Africa, a team of scientists sets out to capture extraordinarily precise observations vital to the success of the Lucy mission.

  • London Super Tunnel: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    London Super Tunnel

    S50 E1 - 53m 20s

    Thousands of engineers, technicians and workers race to build Europe’s biggest construction project–London’s new railroad, the Elizabeth Line.

Extras + Features

  • Ancient Earth: Life Rising Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Ancient Earth: Life Rising Preview

    S50 E13 - 30s

    For billions of years, life teemed in Earth’s oceans while the land was desolate and inhospitable. See how life made the leap to land, transforming a barren, rocky landscape into the lush, green world we call home.

  • Ancient Earth: Frozen Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Ancient Earth: Frozen Preview

    S50 E12 - 30s

    700 million years ago, Earth was a giant snowball cloaked in ice from pole to pole. How did life manage to hold on through this deadly deep freeze, find creative ways to bounce back, and thrive in the dramatically different world that emerged?

  • Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky Preview

    S50 E11 - 30s

    Early Earth was a hellscape of molten lava and barren rock, bombarded by meteors, with no atmosphere at all. How did our familiar blue sky – the thin, life-giving band of gasses protecting our planet – come to be?

  • Ancient Earth Series Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Ancient Earth Series Preview

    S50 E11 - 1m

    Dive into the most dramatic events in Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history, from its birth to the emergence of humanity. How did a hellscape of molten lava transform into a lush, green, watery planet filled with life? With dazzlingly realistic animation based on the latest research, each of these five episodes brings to life long-lost worlds that ultimately led to the one we know today.

  • What Happens in the Brain When you Sleepwalk?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    What Happens in the Brain When you Sleepwalk?

    S50 E10 - 3m 55s

    Neuroscientist and clinical psychologist Heather Berlin visits a sleep center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to learn what’s going on in the brain when someone sleepwalks.

  • Your Brain: Who's in Control? Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Your Brain: Who's in Control? Preview

    S50 E10 - 29s

    Are you in control of your brain, or is your brain controlling you? Dive into the latest research on the subconscious with neuroscientist Heather Berlin to see what’s really driving the decisions you make.

  • What If Part of Your Brain Was Missing?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    What If Part of Your Brain Was Missing?

    S50 E10 - 2m 29s

    A region located inside the prefrontal cortex processes our emotions and helps regulate our behavior. What would happen if it were gone?

  • How Your Brain Interprets Color: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    How Your Brain Interprets Color

    S50 E9 - 2m 24s

    Remember the infamous debate about “the dress”? Whether you saw it as blue/black or white/gold, it all comes down to the way your brain perceives color. A vision scientist explains.

Schedule

  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Operation Lighthouse Rescue

    Thursday
    Sep 28

    1 Hour

    Engineers work to save historic Gay Head Lighthouse on Martha's Vineyard, which is falling victim to the ocean's erosion of the island's cliffs.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Operation Lighthouse Rescue

    Thursday
    Sep 28

    1 Hour

    Engineers work to save historic Gay Head Lighthouse on Martha's Vineyard, which is falling victim to the ocean's erosion of the island's cliffs.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Operation Lighthouse Rescue

    Sunday
    Oct 1

    1 Hour

    Engineers work to save historic Gay Head Lighthouse on Martha's Vineyard, which is falling victim to the ocean's erosion of the island's cliffs.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Operation Lighthouse Rescue

    Sunday
    Oct 1

    1 Hour

    Engineers work to save historic Gay Head Lighthouse on Martha's Vineyard, which is falling victim to the ocean's erosion of the island's cliffs.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    The Planets: Saturn

    Sunday
    Oct 1

    1 Hour

    NASA's Cassini probe explores Saturn's icy rings and moons, capturing ring-moon interactions and revealing ingredients for life on the moon Enceladus.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Operation Lighthouse Rescue

    Tuesday
    Oct 3

    1 Hour

    Engineers work to save historic Gay Head Lighthouse on Martha's Vineyard, which is falling victim to the ocean's erosion of the island's cliffs.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Operation Lighthouse Rescue

    Wednesday
    Oct 4

    1 Hour

    Engineers work to save historic Gay Head Lighthouse on Martha's Vineyard, which is falling victim to the ocean's erosion of the island's cliffs.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Iconic

    NOVA

    Operation Lighthouse Rescue

    Wednesday
    Oct 4

    1 Hour

    Engineers work to save historic Gay Head Lighthouse on Martha's Vineyard, which is falling victim to the ocean's erosion of the island's cliffs.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky

    Wednesday
    Oct 4

    1 Hour

    Animation and science experts reveal how the blue sky came to be.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky

    Wednesday
    Oct 4

    1 Hour

    Animation and science experts reveal how the blue sky came to be.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky

    Thursday
    Oct 5

    1 Hour

    Animation and science experts reveal how the blue sky came to be.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky

    Thursday
    Oct 5

    1 Hour

    Animation and science experts reveal how the blue sky came to be.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky

    Sunday
    Oct 8

    1 Hour

    Animation and science experts reveal how the blue sky came to be.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky

    Sunday
    Oct 8

    1 Hour

    Animation and science experts reveal how the blue sky came to be.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky

    Sunday
    Oct 8

    1 Hour

    Animation and science experts reveal how the blue sky came to be.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky

    Sunday
    Oct 8

    1 Hour

    Animation and science experts reveal how the blue sky came to be.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky

    Tuesday
    Oct 10

    1 Hour

    Animation and science experts reveal how the blue sky came to be.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Frozen

    Wednesday
    Oct 11

    1 Hour

    Scientists investigate how life evolved after a global freeze threatened its survival 700 million years ago.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Frozen

    Wednesday
    Oct 11

    1 Hour

    Scientists investigate how life evolved after a global freeze threatened its survival 700 million years ago.
  • Image
    NOVA: TVSS: Banner-L1

    NOVA

    Ancient Earth: Frozen

    Thursday
    Oct 12

    1 Hour

    Scientists investigate how life evolved after a global freeze threatened its survival 700 million years ago.

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