NOVA Presents

How to Build a Star

Dennis Whyte helped spark a multi-billion-dollar industry from a spool of tape. The nuclear scientist and entrepreneur explains the nitty gritty of nuclear fusion through

Fusion Energy is Coming

Dennis Whyte studies the physics that powers every star in the universe, and he says it can power your house, too. Now the CEO of the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority and nuc

Full Interview: Cracking Animal Language

Federico Rossano convinces Hakeem that animals have a lot more to say than we've given them credit for. The cognitive scientist shares the origin story behind his record-

Secret Language of Apes

Federico Rossano says the secret to speaking with apes is trust. For primates, the world is full of high-stakes friends and foes, and of course, there are always predator

What Are Dogs Saying?

Federico Rossano caught dogs doing something that looks a lot like telling jokes. The cognitive scientist shares what he learned from speaking with dogs. Dogs can smell,

How Dogs Talk

Federico Rossano didn't care about talking dogs until science made it impossible to ignore. The cognitive scientist joins Hakeem to reveal how a viral social media trend

Full Interview: How to Save The “Doomsday Glacier”

Brent Minchew could have a plan to stop Thwaites Glacier, AKA the “Doomsday Glacier”, cold in its tracks. That’s good news because if this one glacier slips into the sea,

From Marine One to Mission Antarctica

Brent Minchew responded to the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001. Before he was a glaciologist at Caltech, he was a marine aboard the Marine One presidential helicopter an

Glacier Rescue

Brent Minchew has a plan that could  stop the “Doomsday Glacier” in its tracks, and we don’t even need new technology to do it. The Caltech glaciologist returns to unveil

The Glacier That Could Change the World

Brent Minchew is an expert on the glacier that could devastate the world’s coastlines. As a glaciologist at Caltech, he's spent his career tracking Thwaites Glacier, AKA

Full Interview: The Hidden Math Behind Everything

Jordan Ellenberg tells Hakeem that math isn't just about numbers. It's about everything. The mathematician and bestselling author shares how AI models are trained through

Certainty Is Overrated

Jordan Ellenberg finds mathematical certainty overrated. Calming our fear of the unknown, the mathematician joins Hakeem to explore why math, contrary to popular belief,

Next Dimension Geometry

Jordan Ellenberg says geometry isn’t about shapes. It’s about distance. In a tour of geometry far stranger than anything from high school, the mathematician breaks down h

AI’s Hidden Math

Jordan Ellenberg has good news: artificial intelligence is just math you can actually understand. The mathematician joins Hakeem to pull back the curtain on how large lan

Full Interview: Hobbits, Neanderthals, and Dragon Man

Ella Al-Shamahi explores what it means to be human. She reveals the surprising truth that our ancestors shared the planet with at least seven other human species as recen

Creationist to Evolutionary Biologist

Ella Al-Shamahi set out to disprove the theory of evolution. Now she’s one of its greatest advocates. In this deeply personal conversation, Ella tells Hakeem her story. S

Rethinking Neanderthals

Ella Al-Shamahi thinks Neanderthals have a reputation problem, and the science backs her up. For decades, the word "Neanderthal" has been shorthand for something primitiv

Real Hobbits?

Ella Al-Shamahi says the iconic picture of human evolution is all wrong. She joins Hakeem to take apart the conventional image of the straight-line march of evolution fro

Full Interview: The Future of AI and Us

Daniela Rus brings robots and AI together, and as a computer scientist and roboticist at MIT, she's here to set the record straight. She's not just studying AI from the o

AI Origins

Daniela Rus is cutting through the AI hype and headlines to give us a real understanding of its future. As Director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence