2024 Eclipse Resources and Events:
Find everything you need for the April 8 total solar eclipse here, including eclipse glasses, event registration links, and educational resources.
The History of Earth in Five Epic Chapters:
The evolution of planet Earth over 4.5 billion years.
NOVA Science Studio launches new cohort with big data themes:
Why Is the Sky Blue?:
The familiar sky we see today wasn’t always blue.
How iron-air batteries could fill gaps in renewable energy:
Rust Belt cities could be the perfect place to develop this renewable energy solution.
NOVA Science Studio 2023-2024 Program Registration:
Engage your students with science journalism about issues in their communities with the NOVA Science Studio program!
Visit ancient civilizations in these 9 NOVA documentaries:
From Petra to the Amazon to ancient China, NOVA has you covered.
8 wild nature documentaries to watch now on NOVA:
Check out some of NOVA’s best nature documentaries available for streaming.
NOVA Science Studio Alumni (2022-2023):
Meet the 2022—2023 NOVA Science Studio student-producers who covered a wide variety of science stories including invasive species and sea level rise, as well as how farm to table restaurants may reduce carbon emissions.
NOVA Science Studio 2023 Student Videos:
Introducing the 2023 NOVA Science Studio student producers who reported on local climate change impacts and solutions
How to create local climate change projects with your students:
Three STEM educators share best practices for tackling climate change in the classroom through project-based learning.
4 major effects of climate change in America:
Warming temperatures are causing extreme weather patterns across the country. But communities are pushing back with solutions old and new.
Why cities are so hot (and how we can fix it):
Even the Romans noticed that cities are engineered to be heat islands. But that means we can do something about it.
How Native American traditions control wildfires:
As wildfires escalate in Western states, authorities are embracing once-outlawed burning practices.
Weathering the Future Outreach Toolkit:
Use this toolkit to organize community screenings which educate the public, provide a space to discuss local impacts, and brainstorm community solutions.
8 mind-blowing space documentaries to watch now on NOVA:
Check out some of NOVA’s best space documentaries available for streaming.
How do induction stoves work?:
Here’s how a magnetic field can heat up your pans.
How NASA makes those spectacular space images:
The James Webb Space Telescope only captures infrared light, but imaging developers can convert the invisible into something both beautiful and scientifically accurate.
Teaching Resources: Local climate change solutions:
Bolster learning for middle and high school students about the myriad ways our weather is changing, how communities are being impacted, and innovative solutions.
When wild dolphins help humans fish, both benefit:
A new study shows just what dolphins get out of cooperating with fishers in Brazil (besides lunch).
Why it's so hard to make salt water drinkable:
Seawater might seem like an obvious solution to water scarcity, but it comes at a cost.
Ice Age cave paintings decoded by amateur researcher:
Patterns of lines and dots associated with specific animal species in cave art may point to an early writing system.
Students tell local climate stories in NOVA filmmaking program:
Students across the country are participating in NOVA's film production program to make videos about climate change solutions in their local communities.
NOVA’s most popular science documentaries of 2022:
Explore the cosmos, delve into ancient history, and follow an extreme rescue with NOVA’s most-watched documentaries released in 2022.
The top science stories of 2022:
NASA nudges an asteroid, weird things emerge from water, and scientists tackle a new epidemic.
2-million-year-old DNA reveals surprising Arctic ecosystem:
The oldest DNA ever retrieved, preserved in sediments in northern Greenland, reveals that Arctic and temperate species once commingled in an ecosystem unlike anything that exists today.
Teaching resources: How ancient cultures shaped mathematics:
From the ancient origins of zero to the paradox of motion, NOVA’s teaching resources immerse students in the wonder of math.
4 mind-bending math experiments that explain infinity:
Can one infinity be bigger than another?
5 reasons why humans are going back to the Moon:
Earth’s natural satellite could be a jumping-off point for future space exploration.
NASA’s Artemis I moon rocket finally launches:
NASA’s massive SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft kick off a series of missions to put humans back on the Moon.
PHOTOS: Huge, ancient animals carved into Peru’s hills:
These are just a few of the geoglyphs in southern Peru, known as the Nazca lines, thought to be at least 2,000 years old.
What to do with an invasive fish? Make leather:
Venomous lionfish are taking over the Caribbean and the Mediterranean Sea, eating everything in their paths. One solution: handbags and belts.
How do psychedelics work? This brain region may explain their effects:
The claustrum seems to act as a switchboard, telling different parts of the brain when to turn on and off. But what happens when the switchboard operator steps away?
NOVA Science Studio Alumni (2020—2021):
We are proud to introduce the 2020—2021 NOVA Science Studio student-producers who covered a wide variety of science stories including fast fashion and sneaker sustainability, as well as the effects of food insecurity and its outsized impact on youth.
How a select few people have been cured of HIV:
Scientists have cured a handful of people of HIV by piggybacking on treatments they received for blood cancer. But does that bring a widespread cure any closer?
DART spacecraft slams into asteroid:
The mission is a test to see if NASA could knock an Earth-bound asteroid off its path, should we ever need to.
Koalas have fingerprints almost identical to ours:
Koalas are the only non-primates with fingerprints. How is that possible—and why?
Malaria is outsmarting blood tests. Can a breath test help?:
A parasite that causes the most common form of malaria is evolving to be undetectable by current tests. Some scientists want to zero in on compounds in patients’ breath instead.
The ice cream that changed physics:
Sixty years ago a teenager’s homemade ice cream raised a surprisingly complicated question: Can hot liquids freeze faster than cold ones?
How air fryers work, scientifically speaking:
Here’s how hot air can “fry” food.
What happens when you season a cast iron pan:
Here is how oil and heat can form a durable coating.
The world’s oldest tree has competition:
Will a Patagonian cypress in Chile prove older than California’s most elderly bristlecone pine?
Why you can’t really overcook mushrooms:
Mushrooms are remarkably forgiving. Here’s the science of why.
A new game teaches financial literacy and decision-making:
How can you identify and overcome biases that hurt you financially? NOVA teamed up with Duke University’s Center for Advanced Hindsight to design the NOVA Financial Lab, a game that breaks down the behavioral science behind financial decision-making.
Dazzling first images from James Webb Space Telescope:
Images of five targets include the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date.
The science of fireworks:
And why it’s so hard to make blue ones.
How exercise may help prevent Alzheimer's:
Exercise could be a powerful defense against Alzheimer’s disease. Three dementia researchers explain how it works.
6 stinking cool facts about dog noses:
Dogs can sniff out disease and analyze new odors even as they exhale. But how?
Human tracks may be earliest evidence of people in North America:
Footprints in New Mexico’s White Sands National Park challenge scientists’ timeline of when humans first came to North America.
Scientists capture first-ever image of our galaxy’s supermassive black hole:
The Event Horizon Telescope team has captured the first image of Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
Daily life on the International Space Station: A Q&A with a space archaeologist:
Archaeologists are working to understand how astronauts really use their space on the ISS—and help improve space habitats of the future.
Adapting national parks for wheelchair hiking:
The trails through our public lands weren’t designed for wheelchairs, but new wheelchairs are designed for those trails. National Park Service accessibility specialist Quinn Brett wants parks to catch up with wheelchair technology, increasing access to American wilderness.
Why light pollution is a solvable environmental crisis:
Excessive outdoor lighting is deadly to animals and takes a toll on human health and wellbeing, too. But when it comes to large-scale environmental problems, this one may be a relatively easy fix.
How African Indigenous knowledge helped shape modern medicine:
In the 1700s, an enslaved man named Onesimus shared a novel way to stave off smallpox during the Boston epidemic. Here’s his little-told story, and how the Atlantic slave trade and Indigenous medicine influenced early modern science.
A day at a Florida manatee hospital:
As Florida’s seagrass beds die off, manatees are starving. Can the seagrass–and the manatees–make a comeback?
Astronomers successfully predict an asteroid impact above Iceland:
Two hours before asteroid 2022 EB5 entered Earth’s atmosphere, scientists knew exactly when and where the space rock would strike.
How magpies outwitted researchers in Australia:
During a recent study, a group of magpies removed their GPS trackers, astounding their observers. But were the birds actually trying to help each other?
A major Atlantic current is at a critical transition point:
New evidence suggests that the larger system the Gulf Stream is part of is approaching a tipping point that could cause dramatic shifts in global weather patterns.
Why Tonga’s volcanic eruption was so destructive:
Explore these NOVA resources to better understand the volcanology behind Tonga’s massive undersea eruption in January.
Epstein-Barr infection found to increase risk of multiple sclerosis:
The underlying cause of multiple sclerosis is not yet known, but Epstein-Barr virus is a possible culprit, Harvard researchers say.
Western monarch populations grew over 100-fold in 2021. Why?:
The beloved butterflies had fallen to critical levels in recent years. Experts weigh in on what might be causing their remarkable return.
OSIRIS-REx is bringing back an asteroid sample. What now?:
The debris NASA’s asteroid-touching spacecraft collected could help us learn about the origins of our solar system. But for that to happen, scientists have to protect it from just about everything.
NOVA's top 5 science stories of 2021:
Scientific advancements helped humans push through both the pandemic and the atmosphere this year, and a long-awaited visit from some underground insects set the country abuzz.
NOVA's top science education stories of 2021:
High school scientists dazzled us with their innovations—while new studies revealed insights about math mastery and how we can prepare young people for real-world challenges.
The James Webb Space Telescope team prepares for launch:
Here’s what the largest—and most expensive—infrared space telescope will set its sights on.
You didn't get sucked into a black hole. Now what?:
Not everything that crosses a supermassive black hole’s accretion disc gets spaghettified, astrophysicists say.
Deep learning tool helps NASA discover 301 exoplanets:
NASA scientists used a neural network called ExoMiner to examine data from Kepler, increasing the total tally of confirmed exoplanets in the universe.
10 spectacular Hubble Space Telescope images:
With the upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, the Hubble era is gradually drawing to a close. Here are some highlights from the countless wonders Hubble has shown us during its 31 years in space.
NASA launches mission to redirect an asteroid—by striking it with a spacecraft:
As the first-ever “full-scale planetary defense test” to deflect a space rock, the DART mission aims to show that protecting Earth from a hazardous asteroid is possible.
Astronomers watch a star explode in real time:
An international research team used Hubble, TESS, and other instruments to witness the “Rosetta Stone” of supernovas. Its findings could help astronomers predict when other stars in the universe are about to explode.
Cannabis doesn’t enhance performance. So why is it banned in elite sports?:
Here’s how cannabis use became prohibited—and the science of its biological, psychological, and social effects.
NOVA Universe Revealed Outreach Toolkit:
The NOVA Universe Revealed Community Outreach Toolkit contains strategies for organizing events around the content of the five-part series as well as examples of hands-on activities and a wide range of multimedia educational resources aligned to the content of each episode.
In a first, astronomers find a potential planet outside the Milky Way:
The exoplanet candidate is about the size of Saturn and located in a Whirlpool galaxy system 28 million light-years from Earth.
The Cannabis Question Outreach Toolkit and Community Events:
Extreme ivory poaching led to tuskless elephants in Mozambique:
As the country’s civil war decimated elephant populations, the proportion of tuskless females rose dramatically. A new study explains why the tuskless trend continued in peacetime.
Join the cannabis conversation with NOVA:
Tune in for three cannabis events exploring the nexus of cannabis science and policy.
NASA’s Lucy will be the first-ever mission to study Trojan asteroids:
By visiting 4-billion-year-old “fossil” space rocks, the Lucy mission hopes to reveal how our solar system, and its outer planets, formed.
Journey into the vastness of space with NOVA Universe Revealed events:
Join NOVA for several new events which highlight some of the most surprising characters in the cosmos as seen in the new space series NOVA Universe Revealed.
Dogs sniff out cremation ashes amid wildfire destruction:
With cremation on the rise, more Americans are keeping cremains of loved ones in their homes. As larger and fiercer wildfires destroy communities in the West, archaeologists are teaming up with scent detection dogs to find ashes among the ashes.
How aluminum wrap protects sequoias from wildfire:
The material, developed from fire shelters used by wildland firefighters, is often wrapped around at-risk buildings in national parks. Now, it’s protecting some of the biggest trees on Earth.
Covid-19 leads to global rise in unplanned pregnancy:
Millions of people have experienced contraceptive service disruptions because of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.N. found.
Nikon Small World 2021 Photo Competition winners announced:
From neurons to tick heads to louse claws, here are the top 10 images from the competition.
Confront science misinformation in your classroom with NOVA:
Prepare students to make informed judgements about the science media they encounter, both online and at home.
A spacesuit designer on what to wear to the moon:
An engineer-artist duo wants to create sleeker spacesuits that meet the challenges of a low-pressure environment while offering more mobility—and looking cool.
The legendary Chinese seafarer the West overlooks:
In the 1400s, Zheng He sailed thousands of miles around Asia and Africa in ships the size of soccer fields, spreading Chinese innovations like compasses and gunpowder in the process.
Meet the women diversifying shark science:
Moving beyond Shark Week, these women-led groups teach thousands of students about the critical role sharks play in the marine ecosystem.
Oakland Zoo vaccinates its animals against Covid-19:
Lions and tigers and bears have been training for this moment (and it’s pretty cute).
Addressing vaccine hesitancy in Massachusetts’ hardest-hit community:
Healthcare providers, religious leaders, and public health officials are coming together in Chelsea, Mass., a predominantly Hispanic community, to inform and vaccinate residents against COVID-19.
The aerospace startup that's revolutionizing resource transport:
With a fleet of hybrid-powered autonomous aircraft, Elroy Air's Kofi Asante is working to democratize access to resources by changing how they are transported.
American Indians have the highest Covid vaccination rate in the US:
According to CDC data, Indigenous people are getting vaccinated quicker than any other group. Here are the successes—and challenges—of getting vaccines to urban Native American communities.
Asian American scientists in STEM classrooms: increasing inclusion and visibility:
Learn about Asian and Pacific Islander American scientists who have helped change the world, and the call for greater inclusion of their work in curriculum and textbooks.
The pandemic disrupted tens of thousands of IVF cycles:
In vitro fertilization is a costly, precisely timed process that takes two to three months per cycle. Covid-19 shut down fertility clinics and halted these cycles. What happens now?
Victory! Ingenuity conducts its first powered flight on Mars:
The 4-pound helicopter just became the first craft to achieve controlled, powered flight on a planet beyond Earth.
Meet the scientists building a prison-to-STEM pipeline:
New programs aim to help formerly incarcerated people enter careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
What to expect during NASA’s first-ever Mars helicopter flight:
Want to fly a rotorcraft on another planet? Here’s what it takes.
Could tiny sensors keep methane out of our atmosphere—and homes?:
Methane is a greenhouse gas 86 times as potent as carbon dioxide. What if we could see methane emissions in real time?
Why Texas was not prepared for Winter Storm Uri:
The February storm left dozens of Texans dead and millions without power—and exposed an aging energy grid unprepared for a changing climate. Can we build something better?
Joint statement against anti-AAPI racism:
This week’s tragic killings in Atlanta are a continuation of the anti-Asian racism the country has seen for the past year. The attached letter is a joint statement reflecting our collective stand against this racism and for a commitment to fostering inclusivity in our country.
Could plastic made from bacteria guts help solve our waste crisis?:
Bioplastics called PHAs grow like beer and biodegrade like wood. And they may be able to help with our plastic waste problem.
What’s the deal with mink Covid?:
In the past year, millions of the animals have been culled to stop the spread of COVID-19 on mink farms across Europe. But this is more than just a fur coat crisis.