- NOVA scienceNOW
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NOVA scienceNOW 
opening title screenFormat Science documentary Presented by Neil deGrasse Tyson Country of origin United States No. of seasons 5 No. of episodes 30 (List of episodes) Production Executive producer(s) Paula S. Apsell
Samuel FineRunning time 55 minutes Broadcast Original channel PBS Picture format HDTV Original run January 25, 2005 – Present External links Website NOVA scienceNOW is a newsmagazine version of the long running and venerable PBS science program Nova. Premiering on January 25, 2005, the series was originally hosted by Robert Krulwich, who described it as an experiment in coverage of "breaking science, science that's right out of the lab, science that sometimes bumps up against politics, art, culture".[1] At the beginning of season two, Neil deGrasse Tyson replaced Krulwich as the show's host.
Contents
Production
Unlike the parent program Nova, Nova scienceNOW has a whimsical production style. It is not unusual for the show to explain topics as arcane as RNA interference using cartoons, or a solution to a two-thousand-year-old math problem related in song. Whereas Nova covered a single seamless subject in each hour-long episode, NOVA scienceNOW covers several related, but distinct, story segments during the course of each program. The show also features 30-60 second short segments between each story segment, taking the place and pace of commercials in an otherwise uninterrupted program flow.
The show's humor turns on cultural references aimed at viewers from a broad spectrum of age groups. These references, for example, come from movies, TV, music, history, literature, and of course, science.
Following the whimsical format, the show's animators often place jokes or sight gags into the show's background via humorous or incongruous bits of text in signs, newspapers, etc. These gags are intentionally subtle and meant to be difficult to recognize, presumably as a challenge to the viewer's observational skills.
When Dr. Tyson took over the show, he added a final segment in which he would add his own observations on the topic. At the end of this editorial, he always states, 'And that… is the cosmic perspective.'.
The series has been nominated for four Emmy Awards and won a CINE Golden Eagle award.
The fifth season premiered January 19, 2011.[2] A sixth season has also been ordered.[3][4]
Cast
Host Robert Krulwich left the program at the end of the first season. He was replaced by astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium.[5] In addition to the host, several correspondents report on many of the individual stories including Peter Standring, Chad Cohen, Ziya Tong, Carla Wohl, Rebecca Skloot, and David Duncan.
Episode list
Season 1 (2005–2006)
# # Title Original airdate Production code 1 1 "Mirror Neurons, Hurricanes, Profile: James McLurkin, Booming Sands, Kinetic Sculptor and Conundrum" January 25, 2005 3204 2 2 "Little People of Flores, T. rex, Profile: Naomi Halas, Stem Cells and Frozen Frogs" April 19, 2005 3209 3 3 "Fuel cells, RNAi, Fastest Glacier and Profile: Brothers Chudnovsky" July 26, 2005 3210 4 4 "Artificial Life, Lightning, Profile: Erich Jarvis, Fish Surgery, Don't Ask the Expert: Neil deGrasse Tyson and Hurricane Katrina" October 18, 2005 3214 5 5 "10th Planet, Twin Prime Conjecture, Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, Pandemic Flu, Lab Meat?, Stem Cells Update,
Stronger Hurricanes and Profile: Tyler Curiel"January 10, 2006 3302 Season 2 (2006–2007)
# # Title Original airdate Production code 6 1 "Asteroid, Island of Stability, Obesity and Profile: Karl Iagnemma" October 3, 2006 3313 7 2 "1918 Flu, Mass Extinction, Papyrus and Profile: Cynthia Breazeal" November 21, 2006 3318 8 3 "Aging, Space Elevator, Maya and Profile: Bonnie Bassler" January 9, 2007 3401 9 4 "Sleep, CERN, Emergence and Profile: Julie Schablitsky" July 10, 2007 3410 10 5 "T. Rex Blood?, Epigenetics, Kryptos and Profile: Arlie Petters" July 24, 2007 3411 Season 3 (2008)
# # Title Original airdate Production code 11 1 "Dark Matter, Of Mice and Memory, Profile: Hany Farid and Wisdom of the Crowds" June 25, 2008 301 12 2 "Personal DNA Testing, Art Authentication, Capturing Carbon and Profile: Pardis Sabeti" July 2, 2008 302 13 3 "Saving Hubble, First Primates, Profile: Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa and Killer Microbe" July 9, 2008 303 14 4 "Bird Brains, Space Storms, Profile: Yoky Matsuoka and Smart Bridges" July 16, 2008 304 15 5 "Leeches, The Search for ET, Stem Cells Breakthrough and Profile: Edith Widder" July 23, 2008 305 16 6 "Phoenix Mars Lander, Brain Trauma, Mammoth Mystery and Profile: Judah Folkman" July 30, 2008 306 Season 4 (2009)
# # Title Original airdate Production code 17 1 "Diamond Factory, Anthrax Investigation, Auto-Tune and Profile: Luis von Ahn" June 30, 2009 401 18 2 "Hunt for Alien Earths, Art Authentication, Profile: Maydianne Andrade and Autism Genes" July 7, 2009 402 19 3 "Marathon Mouse, Dinosaur Plague, Profile: Franklin Chang-Diaz and Space Storms" July 14, 2009 403 20 4 "Picky Eaters, Capturing Carbon, Sea Lions and Walruses and Profile: Sangeeta Bhatia" July 21, 2009 404 21 5 "Moon Smasher, Secrets in the Salt, Bird Brains and Profile: Lonnie Thompson" July 28, 2009 405 22 6 "Public Genomes, Algae Fuel, Arctic Ocean Seafloor and Profile: Yoky Matsuoka" August 18, 2009 406 23 7 "Saving Hubble Update, Gangster Birds, Profile: Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa and How Memory Works" August 25, 2009 407 24 8 "Sleep, First Primates, Earthquakes in the Midwest and Profile: Sang-Mook Lee" September 1, 2009 408 Season 5 (2011)
# # Title Original airdate Production code 25 1 "Can We Make It to Mars?" January 19, 2011 501 26 2 "Can We Live Forever?" January 26, 2011 502 27 3 "How Does the Brain Work?" February 2, 2011 503 28 4 "How Smart Are Animals?" February 9, 2011 504 29 5 "Where Did We Come From?" February 16, 2011 505 30 6 "What's the Next Big Thing?" February 23, 2011 506 References
- ^ "Transcripts - NOVA scienceNOW: January 25, 2005". http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3204_sciencen.html. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
- ^ "Asking "The Big Questions"". PBS. January 6, 2011. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/cosmic/2011/01/asking-the-big-questions.html. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
- ^ "NOVA scienceNOW season 5 and 6". Informal Science. October 26, 2010. http://informalscience.org/project/show/1813. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
- ^ "'NOVA scienceNOW' takes a spin around the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory". BrandeisNOW. July 6, 2010. http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2010/july/novashoot.html. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
- ^ "About the Series Host". http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/about/host.html. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
External links
PBS Television Documentaries Drama Music & Fine Arts History News and Public Affairs How-To and Special Interest Antiques Roadshow · Everyday Food · Hometime · MotorWeek · This Old House · The Victory Garden · The Woodwright's ShopScience and Nature Networks See also PBS Kids shows · PBS network shows · PBS member networks · PBS member stations(list) · Public Broadcasting in the USA · State network1Defunct network, continues as a programming block · 2Defunct network Categories:- American documentary television series
- PBS network shows
- Programs produced by WGBH
- 2000s American television series
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