NOVA

What causes infertility, and how can assisted reproductive technologies help? Follow the journeys of people navigating fertility challenges from structural inequalities and racism to falling sperm counts, egg freezing, and IVF.

If oceans continue to warm at the current pace, coral reefs could be wiped out by the end of the century. But scientists from around the globe are rushing to help corals adapt to a changing climate through assisted evolution.

Women make up less than a quarter of STEM professionals in the United States, and numbers are even lower for women of color. But a growing group of researchers is exposing longstanding discrimination and making science more inclusive.

Get a guided tour of the first Mars rover landing captured on video from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer Ian Clark.

The spacecraft has to be extremely clean. The entire spacecraft—that includes the rover, the heat shield, the descent stage, and back shell—must contain less than 500,000 bacterial endospores, or spores. Just to give you an idea, a teaspoon of seawater has ten times more bacteria.

This NASA rover landed on Mars, more than 130 million miles from Earth. It’s task? To continue the search for past life on the red planet.

Follow along as NASA launches the Mars 2020 Mission, perhaps the most ambitious hunt yet for signs of ancient life on Mars. In February 2021, the spacecraft will blaze into the Martian atmosphere at some 12,000 miles per hour and attempt to lower the Perseverance Rover into the rocky Jezero Crater, home to a dried-up river delta scientists think could have harbored life.

Because of the Eurocentric bias of genetic reference databases, DNA ancestry test results for individuals of African and Asian descent are often less detailed than results for individuals of European descent.

Half-sisters share their unlikely story of finding one another through genetic testing, and what they learned about their family history along the way.

Some 30 million Americans have sent their DNA to be analyzed by companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA. But what happens once the sample is in the hands of testing companies, and how accurate are their results? NOVA explores the power of genetic data to reveal family connections, ancestry, and health risks—and even solve criminal cold cases.

In the days of proto-life, less-stable membranes built out of simple molecules, like those in soap, may have been an advantage.

RUBISCO, which helps make photosynthesis happen, is the most plentiful enzyme on the planet. But it's not the most efficient. Can a team of researchers give it a boost?

Without the chemistry of photosynthesis, ozone, and a molecule called Rubisco, none of us would be here. So how did we get so lucky? To find out, host David Pogue investigates the surprising molecules that allowed life on Earth to begin, and ultimately thrive. Along the way, he finds out what we’re all made of—literally.

Through a series of lab experiments, "Beyond the Elements" host David Pogue learns that there are tens of thousands of grades of plastics, each tailored for a specific purpose. What do we do with them when their job is finished?

Glass so strong you can jump on it, rubber so tough it protects a clay pot dropped from 50 feet, endless varieties of plastic. Scientists and engineers have created virtually indestructible versions of common materials by manipulating the chains of interlocking atoms that give them strength—but have they made them too tough? Host David Pogue explores the fantastic chemistry behind the everyday.

When you eat peppers, the chemical capsaicin fits into the heat pain receptors in your mouth, sending a false signal that’s identical to the one your brain would receive if you ate something literally burning hot.

Scientists explore how the powerful peptides found in marine cone snail venom can be used for medicinal and therapeutic purposes.

Just about every solid, liquid, or gas in the world as we know it begins with reactions between individual atoms and molecules. Host David Pogue dives into the transformative world of chemical reactions, from the complex formula that produces cement to the single reaction that’s allowed farmers to feed a global population by the billions—a reaction that when reversed, unleashes high explosives.

Using laser technology aboard the International Space Station, Lola Fatoyinbo can get a 3D measure of forest carbon—making it the first near-global dataset.

This visualization uses Washington D.C.'s National Mall to show the scale of human coal consumption—and how much CO2 it adds to our atmosphere.