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Video
- Format:
- Full Episode
- Running Time:
- 53:07
At 2:50 pm on April 15, 2013, two bomb blasts turned the Boston Marathon finish line from a scene of triumph to tragedy, leaving three dead, hundreds injured, and a city gripped by heartbreak and terror. Less than five days later, the key suspects were identified and apprehended with one dead, the other in custody. How did investigators transform the chaos of the bombing into a coherent trail of clues, pointing to the accused killers? NOVA follows the manhunt step by step, examining the role modern technology—combined with old-fashioned detective work—played in cracking the case. Given hundreds of hours of surveillance and bystander videos, how did agents spot the suspects in a sea of spectators? Why couldn't facial recognition software I.D. the criminals? How much could bomb chemistry analysis, cell phone GPS, infrared imagery, and crowdsourcing reveal about the secrets behind this horrific crime? With the help of top criminal investigators and anti-terrorism experts, NOVA explores which technological innovations worked—and which didn't—and how the world of crime fighting could be transformed tomorrow.
Published: April 29, 2015
Which technologies worked—and which didn't—in the race to track down the men behind the marathon attack?
Video
- Format:
- Video Short
- Running Time:
- 03:07
On August 4, 1991, the cruise ship Oceanos began to flood—with guitarist Moss Hills and his wife on board. Upon investigating the situation, Moss found himself in charge of the sinking ship, and helped lift passengers to safety.
Published: January 22, 2015
As the ship Oceanos began to sink, a guitarist aboard helped lift passengers to safety.
Video
- Format:
- Full Episode
- Running Time:
- 53:10
Follow the epic operation to secure, raise, and salvage the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which ran aground and tragically capsized off the coast of Italy on January 13, 2012, killing 32 people. The massive wreck—with a 160-foot-long hole in its hull—stretches the length of three football fields, weighs 45,000 tons, and was half submerged on the site of a protected reef. Moving it from its precarious perch on the edge of an underwater cliff turned into a technical and logistical challenge of staggering proportions. Join NOVA as we follow a team of more than 500 divers and engineers working around the clock as they attempt the biggest ship recovery project in history.
Published: January 21, 2015
A team of 500 engineers and divers struggle to raise the Costa Concordia cruise ship.
Video
- Format:
- Full Episode
- Running Time:
- 56:50
Cold is the new hot in this brave new world. For centuries we've fought it, shunned it, and huddled against it. Cold has always been the enemy of life, but now it may hold the key to a new generation of science and technology that will improve our lives. In "Making Stuff Colder," David Pogue explores the frontiers of cold science from saving the lives of severe trauma patients to ultracold physics, where bizarre new properties of matter are the norm and the basis of new technologies like levitating trains and quantum computers.
Published: December 17, 2014
Host David Pogue asks if cold holds the key to technology that can improve our lives.
Video
- Format:
- Full Episode
- Running Time:
- 53:22
What happens when scientists open up nature's toolbox? In "Making Stuff Wilder," David Pogue explores bold new innovations inspired by the Earth's greatest inventor, life itself. From robotic "mules" and "cheetahs" for the military, to fabrics born out of fish slime, host David Pogue travels the globe to find the world’s wildest new inventions and technologies. It is a journey that sees today's microbes turned into tomorrow’s metallurgists, viruses building batteries, and ideas that change not just the stuff we make, but the way we make our stuff. As we develop our own new technologies, what can we learn from billions of years of nature’s research?
Published: December 17, 2014
Host David Pogue travels the globe to explore new technologies inspired by nature.
Video
- Format:
- Episode Transcript
- Running Time:
- 00:30
(Program not available for streaming.) Our lives are going digital. We shop, bank, and even date online. Computers hold our treasured photographs, private emails, and all of our personal information. This data is precious—and cybercriminals want it. Now, NOVA goes behind the scenes of the fast-paced world of cryptography to meet the scientists battling to keep our data safe. They are experts in extreme physics, math, and a new field called "ultra-paranoid computing," all working to forge unbreakable codes and build ultra-fast computers. From the sleuths who decoded the world's most advanced cyber weapon to scientists who believe they can store a password in your unconscious brain, NOVA investigates how a new global geek squad is harnessing cutting-edge science—all to stay one step ahead of the hackers.
Published: September 24, 2014
A new global geek squad is harnessing cryptography to stay a step ahead of cybercriminals.
Video
- Format:
- Full Episode
- Running Time:
- 52:52
In October 2007, a striking portrait of a young woman in Renaissance dress made world news headlines. Originally sold nine years before for around $20,000, the portrait is now thought to be an undiscovered masterwork by Leonardo da Vinci worth more than $100 million. How did cutting-edge imaging analysis help tie the portrait to Leonardo? NOVA meets a new breed of experts who are approaching "cold case" art mysteries as if they were crime scenes, determined to discover "who committed the art." And it follows art sleuths as they deploy new techniques to combat the multibillion-dollar criminal market in stolen and fraudulent art.
Published: July 9, 2014
Art experts investigate whether a portrait sold for about $20,000 in 1998 is actually a lost Leonardo worth millions.
Video
- Format:
- Full Episode
- Running Time:
- 52:57
Fifty years later, what can science tell us about the Kennedy assassination—and the investigations that followed? The 1963 murder, in broad daylight in front of hundreds of witnesses, might seem to be a homicide investigator's best-case scenario. Yet somehow the JFK assassination became a forensic nightmare, plagued by a controversial autopsy and, incredibly, a prime suspect murdered on live television while in police custody, before he could be tried. As a result, today millions of Americans suspect a conspiracy. Now, NOVA launches a fresh investigation into the physical evidence, using state-of-the-art forensics, including laser scanning, new ballistics tests, and a 3D digital reconstruction of the president's skull, all to try to solve the murder of the century.
Published: March 26, 2014
Can modern forensic science uncover fresh clues about the assassination of JFK?
Video
- Format:
- Full Episode
- Running Time:
- 52:52
NOVA returns to Ground Zero to witness the final chapter in an epic story of engineering, innovation, and the perseverance of the human spirit. "Ground Zero Supertower" examines the new skyscraper, One World Trade Center, rising up 104 stories and 1,776 feet from the site where the Twin Towers once stood. NOVA also goes underground to see another engineering marvel taking shape here: the construction of the National September 11 Memorial Museum that will house almost a thousand artifacts from that devastating day. In this update of NOVA's Emmy-nominated special "Engineering Ground Zero," which featured extraordinary behind-the-scenes access to the struggles of the engineers and architects working at 1 WTC and the 9/11 Memorial, NOVA goes inside the construction of the tower's final floors and the installation of its soaring, 408-foot spire and beacon. The greatest test is still to come, though: Will One World Trade Center, a multi-billion dollar supertower, live up to its promise to be safe, beautiful and ahead of its time?
Published: February 26, 2014
Engineers race to complete 1 World Trade Center as they grapple with the final challenges.
Video
- Format:
- Video Short
- Running Time:
- 02:05
The iconic Dutch windmills were once state-of-the-art flood control technology. They pumped water from uninhabitable marshes and turned it into farmland, redefining the landscape of the Netherlands. Today, the Dutch have implemented other flood prevention methods, but working vintage windmills still exist. Watch as Peter Paul Klapwyk, a modern day miller, tours a windmill that was build in 1740.
Published: December 12, 2013
Explore an 18th century windmill with a modern day Dutch miller.
Video
- Format:
- Video Short
- Running Time:
- 02:18
Eco-engineers in the Netherlands are taking hints from nature to rein in flooding. One idea is to plant trees in front of dikes to lower the height of approaching waves. They compare this type of approach to judo—they are using the forces of nature, rather than fighting against them, to produce powerful results.
Published: December 5, 2013
Planting trees in front of dikes is one way to keep large waves from flooding the shore.
Video
- Format:
- Video Short
- Running Time:
- 03:38
Witnesses to JFK's assassination heard three shots, and police found three cartridges in Oswald's perch. Nevertheless, only two bullets were ever found. Could this missing bullet have hit a tree or the pavement? And if so, why was it never located? Forensics experts Luke and Mike Haag perform tests with a Carcano rifle to solve the mystery of the missing bullet.
Published: November 14, 2013
What happened to the mysterious "first bullet" from JFK's assassination?