Over 60,000 years ago, the first modern humans – people physically identical to us today – left their African homeland and entered Europe, then a bleak and inhospitable continent in the grip of the Ice Age. But when they arrived, they were not alone: the stocky, powerfully built Neanderthals had already been living there for hundreds of thousands of years. So what happened when the first modern humans encountered the Neanderthals? Did they make love or war? That question has tantalized generations of scholars and seized the popular imagination. Then, in 2010, a team led by geneticist Svante Paabo announced stunning news. Not only had they reconstructed much of the Neanderthal genome – an extraordinary technical feat that would have seemed impossible only a decade ago – but their analysis showed that “we” modern humans had interbred with Neanderthals, leaving a small but consistent signature of Neanderthal genes behind in everyone outside Africa today. In “Decoding Neanderthals,” NOVA explores the implications of this exciting discovery. In the traditional view, Neanderthals differed from “us” in behavior and capabilities as well as anatomy. But were they really mentally inferior, as inexpressive and clumsy as the cartoon caveman they inspired? NOVA explores a range of intriguing new evidence for Neanderthal self-expression and language, all pointing to the fact that we may have seriously underestimated our mysterious, long-vanished human cousins.
Languages: English
-
NOVA: Rise of the Drones
NOVA reveals the amazing technologies that make drones so powerful. From cameras that can capture every detail of an entire city at a glance, to swarming robots that can make decisions on their own, to giant air frames that can stay aloft for days on end, drones are changing our relationship to war, surveillance and each other. Discover the cutting-edge technologies that are propelling us toward a new chapter in aviation history.
-
Telescope: Hunting the Edge of Space DVD – Public Performance
Hunting the Edge of Space, celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, and takes viewers on a global adventure of discovery, exploring the rich history of the telescope. Then NOVA turns its attention to a new generation of ever-larger telescopes, poised to reveal answers to longstanding questions about our universe, and, in turn, to raise new questions.
-
scienceNOW – Can We Make it to Mars? – Public Performance
This NOVA scienceNOW poses the question – Can We make it to Mars? – and host Neil deGrasse Tyson tackles one of science’s major challenges in each episode. He will guide us as he explores dramatic discoveries and the frontiers of research that connect each central, provocative mystery. Program episodes include Space Dangers – A trip to Mars and back could take two to three years. Can humans survive the journey, fraught with deadly meteoroids, bone and muscle wasting, and perilous levels of radiation? Scientists are developing new ways to keep astronauts alive, using novel meteoroid-proof materials, artificial gravity, and exercise. But will they be enough?
-
scienceNOW – Can We Make it to Mars? – Home Use
This NOVA scienceNOW poses the question – Can We make it to Mars? – and host Neil deGrasse Tyson tackles one of science’s major challenges in each episode. He will guide us as he explores dramatic discoveries and the frontiers of research that connect each central, provocative mystery. Program episodes include Space Dangers – A trip to Mars and back could take two to three years. Can humans survive the journey, fraught with deadly meteoroids, bone and muscle wasting, and perilous levels of radiation? Scientists are developing new ways to keep astronauts alive, using novel meteoroid-proof materials, artificial gravity, and exercise. But will they be enough?
-
The Perfect Corpse – Public Performance
Central Ireland’s waterlogged landscape is no ordinary ground. Here, the moist earth halts decomposition, perfectly preserving stunning evidence of brutal ritualistic killings, corpses from the prehistoric Iron Age, over 2,000 years ago. These are not skeletons or mummies, but the soft tissue and remains of people trapped in time. NOVA is granted exclusive access to the investigation of two recently unearthed and exceedingly rare bog bodies.
-
NOVA: Secrets of Stonehenge
Every year, a million visitors are drawn to the Salisbury Plain, in southern England, to gaze upon a mysterious circle of stones. Who built Stonehenge? What was its purpose? A new generation of researchers is tackling these questions, finding important clues in the landscape surrounding Stonehenge -one of the densest concentrations of prehistoric structures in the world. The story of Stonehenge is being rewritten.
-
Telescope: Hunting the Edge of Space DVD – Home Use
Hunting the Edge of Space, celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, and takes viewers on a global adventure of discovery, exploring the rich history of the telescope. Then NOVA turns its attention to a new generation of ever-larger telescopes, poised to reveal answers to longstanding questions about our universe, and, in turn, to raise new questions.
-
Odyssey of Life: The Ultimate Journey
From the maker of The Miracle of Life comes another astounding glimpse into the mysteries of life before birth. Once again, the micro-photography of Lennart Nilsson takes you into the hidden world of life in the womb, from the dance of the egg and sperm to the emergence of our first tiny features to the thrill of birth.
-
Doctors’ Diaries
Over the past 21 years, NOVA has followed a group of seven doctors from their first day at Harvard Medical School in 1987. All young, bright and accomplished, none of them could have predicted what it would take, personally and professionally, to become a member of the medical tribe. In this special two-part program, NOVA returns one last time to get an update on the kind of doctors, and people, they have become.