Solar System: Volcano Worlds
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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Could Jurassic Park Actually Happen?
S51 E4 - 1m 55s
In the 90s, there was a lot of information published about ancient DNA that we now know is nonsense.
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How parrots swing like monkeys
S51 - 1m 36s
Researchers call this movement “beakiation” which is a play on an existing term, “brachiation,” used to describe how Gibbons move by swinging from their arms.
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The Mysterious Illness That Befell Eiffel Tower Construction Workers
S51 E3 - 2m 50s
In 1887, the men working on the Eiffel Tower reported bleeding, difficulty breathing, and partial paralysis after being in pressurized air chambers. Today, we know this illness as the bends.
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Building the Eiffel Tower Preview
S51 E3 - 30s
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.
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5 things to know about the Eiffel Tower
S51 E3 - 1m 40s
The Eiffel Tower is an engineering icon that changed the face of the modern world.
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Inside the Construction of the Statue of Liberty
S51 E3 - 2m 59s
The iron and steel interior of Lady Liberty works together to hold her over 300 feet above New York harbor more than 100 years after construction.
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Why is the Eiffel Tower Shaped Like That?
S51 E3 - 1m 58s
At the time of its construction, the Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure ever built. That meant that the engineers had a key challenge: making sure the structure could survive the wind.
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How Ancient Easter Island statues “walked”
S51 E2 - 2m 17s
A new generation of researchers is revealing the rich history, innovation, and resilience of the Rapanui people.
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What really led to the collapse of Easter Island?
S51 E2 - 2m 58s
There are multiple theories about what happened to the people of Rapa Nui - also known as Easter Island - and the famous Moai statues. Some say the civilization fell into collapse and ruin. But a new theory tells a different story, one of resilience and ingenuity against all odds.
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Easter Island Origins Preview
S51 E2 - 30s
How were Easter Island’s giant stone heads made? New research challenges the idea that their construction led to environmental and social collapse – and uncovers surprising clues about the origins, innovations, and resilience of the Rapanui people.
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Ancient whale fossils found in the desert
S51 E1 - 2m 10s
This part of the Sahara Desert is the resting place of some of the earliest whales ever found. These fossils may hold the key to how whales evolved.
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When Whales Could Walk Preview
S51 E1 - 30s
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.
Schedule
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Image
NOVA
Solar System: Icy Worlds
Sunday
Oct 27
1 Hour
Exploring the strange, frozen worlds of the solar system, from ultra hot superionic ice on Uranus to glaciers of nitrogen ice on Pluto. -
Image
NOVA
Solar System: Icy Worlds
Sunday
Oct 27
1 Hour
Exploring the strange, frozen worlds of the solar system, from ultra hot superionic ice on Uranus to glaciers of nitrogen ice on Pluto. -
Image
NOVA
Solar System: Icy Worlds
Sunday
Oct 27
1 Hour
Exploring the strange, frozen worlds of the solar system, from ultra hot superionic ice on Uranus to glaciers of nitrogen ice on Pluto. -
Image
NOVA
Solar System: Icy Worlds
Tuesday
Oct 29
1 Hour
Exploring the strange, frozen worlds of the solar system, from ultra hot superionic ice on Uranus to glaciers of nitrogen ice on Pluto. -
Image
NOVA
Solar System: Icy Worlds
Wednesday
Oct 30
1 Hour
Exploring the strange, frozen worlds of the solar system, from ultra hot superionic ice on Uranus to glaciers of nitrogen ice on Pluto. -
Image
NOVA
Solar System: Icy Worlds
Wednesday
Oct 30
1 Hour
Exploring the strange, frozen worlds of the solar system, from ultra hot superionic ice on Uranus to glaciers of nitrogen ice on Pluto. -
Image
NOVA
Solar System: Wandering Worlds
Wednesday
Oct 30
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
Wednesday
Oct 30
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Wednesday
Nov 6
1 Hour
Exploring the quantum universe. -
Image
NOVA
Decoding the Universe: Quantum
Wednesday
Nov 6
1 Hour
Exploring the quantum universe. -
Image
NOVA
Decoding the Universe: Quantum
Thursday
Nov 7
1 Hour
Exploring the quantum universe. -
Image
NOVA
Decoding the Universe: Quantum
Thursday
Nov 7
1 Hour
Exploring the quantum universe.
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