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A powerful tornado is a terrifying phenomenon that continues to defy decades of scientific efforts to predict it. During one of the worst tornado seasons on record, a NOVA camera team chased across the Midwest, capturing hair-raising footage of highly destructive twisters in action. But HUNT FOR THE SUPERTWISTER is much more than just another "extreme weather" show. Our story focuses on the efforts of two scientists at the University of Oklahoma to...

Few novelists touch our hearts, quicken our souls, and enrich our lives like Luanne Rice. Now she brings full circle one of her most compelling explorations of the heart . . . all the ways it can be broken . . . and the magic that makes it whole again.

On the windswept coast of Nova Scotia, two friends and their young daughters have found refuge in the rugged community of Cape Hawk. Lily Malone and nine-year-old Rose are making...

This video weighs the risks against the benefits of getting a personal genetic profile; takes a closer look at algae, and asks if it may be our biofuel of the future; explores the undersea Gakkel Ridge, deep in the Arctic Ocean, for clues that one of Jupiter's moons may host life; and profiles Yoky Matsuoka, a leader in the emerging field of neurobotics-the fusion of neuroscience and robotics.

Part 1, "First Steps," examines the factors that caused us to split from the other great apes. The program explores the fossil of "Selam," also known as "Lucy's Child." Paleoanthropologist Zeray Alemseged spent five years carefully excavating the sandstone-embedded fossil. NOVA's cameras are there to capture the unveiling of the face, spine, and shoulder blades of this 3.3 million-year-old fossil child. And NOVA takes viewers "inside the skull" to...

Go on a scientific journey to the beginnings of modern religion, and dig into both the Bible and the history of the Israelites through the artifacts they left behind. The film focuses on the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) as the foundation for the great monotheistic religions-Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This powerful exploration of science, scripture, and scholarship examines the most pressing issues in biblical archaeology.

What killed the mammoths? Near the end of the last ice age 13,000 years ago, these mighty beasts disappeared from North America together with some 35 other groups of mammals. For four decades, debate has raged over the cause of their abrupt demise. NOVA presents an in-depth investigation of a controversial new hypothesis which suggests that a massive impact from space could be the culprit, and also explores alternate theories.

For 45 centuries, the Great Sphinx has cast its enigmatic gaze over Egypt's Giza plateau. The biggest and oldest statue in a land of colossal ancient monuments, its scale is staggering. How was it built, and who or what does it represent? NOVA's expert team of archaeologists carries out experiments that reveal the techniques and incredible labor that was invested in the carving of this gigantic sculpture.

From the discovery that the Milky Way is just one galaxy among billions to the stunning revelation that these galaxies are speeding away from each other faster every second, this episode investigates the universe's distant past - and its future. Now, modern telescopes have added a mysterious new twist to the plot: The vast majority of the stuff of the universe is invisible, tied up in dark matter and dark energy. But what are these mysterious dark...

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson will tackle one of science's major challenges in each video, framed as a simple question that ordinary people wonder and worry about. Neil will guide us as he explores dramatic discoveries and the frontiers of research that connect each central, provocative mystery. Episode includes: 1) Space Dangers - Can we protect Mars-bound astronauts from deadly meteroids and the ill effects of radiation and zero gravity? 2) Next-Generation...

Millions of people around the world live in the shadow of active volcanoes. Under constant threat of massive volcanic eruptions, their homes and their lives are daily at risk from these sleeping giants. From Japan's Mount Fuji to the "Sleeping Giant" submerged beneath Naples to the Yellowstone "Supervolcano" in the United States, NOVA travels with scientists from around the world who are at work on these sites, attempting to discover how likely these...