NOVA

NOVA biography of Albert Einstein, covering his early years, relativity research and personal life.

How were the giant stone heads of Rapa Nui – also known as Easter Island – carved and raised, and why? Since Europeans arrived on this remote Pacific island over 300 years ago, controversy has swirled around the iconic ancient statues and the history of the people who created them. Now, a new generation of researchers is overturning old theories, revealing the rich history, innovation, and resilience of the Rapanui people, and uncovering intriguing new evidence about where they – and their practice of monumental stone building – came from.

The long running, often bitter scientific debate over the origin of birds and the evolution of flight.

Dinosaurs are generally considered tropical animals. So what are their fossils doing north of the arctic circle? Paleontologists battle the fierce climate to find out if the arctic was warmer then than it is now, or the arctic was farther from the North Pole, or the dinosaurs were migratory animals, or if they were warm-blooded.

NOVA's groundbreaking investigation explores how new discoveries are transforming views of our earliest ancestors. Becoming Human explores the origins of us -where modern humans and our capacities for art, invention, and survival came from, and how our social history led to 3-5% of our genetic heritage being Neanderthal. Featuring interviews with world-renowned scientists, footage shot in the trenches as fossils were unearthed, and stunning computer-generated animation, Becoming Human brings early hominids to life, examining how they lived and how we became the creative and adaptable modern humans of today. In gripping forensic detail, we meet: Selam, the amazingly complete remains of a 3 million year-old child, packed with clues to why we split from the apes, came down from the trees, and started walking upright; Turkana Boy -a tantalizing fossil of Homo erectus, the first ancestor to leave Africa and colonize the globe. What led to this first great African exodus?

Could scientists recreate Hollywood's Jurassic Park using 100-million-year-old dinosaur DNA? Director Steven Spielberg, author Michael Crichton, actor Jeff Goldblum, and a host of scientific experts answer this compelling question in the award-winning Nova documentary, The Real Jurassic Park. Behind-the-scenes clips, interviews, and demonstrations with leading paleontologists investigate the viability of reviving the extinct species. All phases of logistics are addressed, including extracting prehistoric insect DNA, creating embryos for placement in host eggs, and more. The scientific analysis of the process leads to the examination of the ethics of recreating a vanished life form.

The Vikings were the most ferocious warriors of the Middle Ages. Especially fearsome were the select few who wielded a formidable weapon: a light, razor sharp, virtually indestructible sword with its maker's name, Ulfberht, inlaid along the blade.

Join "Nova" science detectives as they journey to Southeast Asia to reveal details of one of Earth's most destructive volcanic events. Known as the Toba eruption, this cataclysmic explosion that occurred 75,000 years ago is considered one of the most devastating natural occurrences in history. Watch scientists reconstruct this monstrous catastrophe as they ponder the fragile nature of Earth's crust and the power of the magma within its core.

David Attenborough brings to life, in unprecedented detail, the last days of the dinosaurs. Palaeontologist Robert DePalma has made an incredible discovery in a prehistoric graveyard: fossilised creatures, astonishingly well preserved, that could help change our understanding of the last days of the dinosaurs. Evidence from his site records the day when an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest devastated our planet and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Based on brand new evidence, witness the catastrophic events of that day play out minute by minute.

A post-modern theater adaptation of a classic Greek tragedy takes place in a central theater of Athens. Like every night, the audience take their seats and the play begins. Suddenly, the lights on stage go out. A group of young people, dressed in black and carrying guns, come up on stage. They apologize for the interruption and invite people from the audience to participate on stage. The play resumes with a main difference; life imitates art and not the opposite.

The events and coincidences that led to rapid advances in human intelligence 50,000 years ago.

In 2002, the discovery of a beautiful and bizarre fossil astonished scientists and reignited the debate over the origin of flight. With four wings and superbly preserved feathers, the 130 million-year-old creature was like nothing paleontologists had ever seen before.

Archaeologists believe that a massive grave in a vicarage garden in Derbyshire may be the last resting place of a vast army of thousands of warriors that invaded Britain in the ninth century.

Capturing CO2 to recycle it, brightening clouds to better intercept sunlight, massive reforestation: here's an overview of scientific solutions to combat global warming that offer a glimmer of hope.

On a summer's night, there's nothing more magic than watching the soft glow of fireflies switching on and off. Few other life forms on land can light up the night, but in the dark depths of the oceans, it's a different story: nearly 90% of all species shine from within. Whether it's to scare off predators, fish for prey, or lure a mate, the language of light is everywhere in the ocean depths, and scientists are finally starting to decode it.

NOVA goes behind the scenes at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to offer a look at the construction and launch of two Martian exploratory rovers: "Spirit" and "Opportunity".

In 1889, Gustave Eiffel decides to attempt the impossible for the Universal Exhibition in Paris: to build the tallest tower in the world. Before this project, this pioneer and visionary had created more than 300 metal structures around the world.

NOVA captures New Horizons' historic flyby of Pluto, the culmination of the spacecraft's nine-year, three-billion-mile journey to reveal the first ever detailed images of this strange, icy world at the very edge of our solar system.

Astrophysicists show how black holes might hold answers to how the universe evolved, leading to life on Earth and, ultimately, the human race.

Earth teems with a staggering variety of animals, including 9,000 kinds of birds, 28,000 types of fish, and more than 350,000 species of beetles. What explains this explosion of living creatures—1.4 million different species discovered so far, with perhaps another 50 million to go? The source of life's endless forms was a profound mystery until Charles Darwin brought forth his revolutionary idea of natural selection. But Darwin's radical insights raised as many questions as they answered. What actually drives evolution and turns one species into another? To what degree do different animals rely on the same genetic toolkit? And how did we evolve?