Becoming Human: Last Human Standing (#3615) Duration: 56:11 CC Stereo DVI TVPG

The final program examines the roots of our own species, Homo sapiens, which new evidence pinpoints to southern Africa some 200,000 years ago. What led to the birth of fully modern humans and our unique capacities for culture and creativity? How and why did our species leave Africa and take over the world? New discoveries are upending old ideas and suggesting that our exodus was far earlier than previously thought. A nightmare period of intense cold climate may have played a key role, at one point reducing the entire human population to perhaps only a few thousand or hundred. Our survival was on the line even as we began to leave our African cradle. But the world into which modern humans slowly spread around 80,000 years ago was not empty. There were other ancient human species already there, and they were destined to become extinct. The best known of them are the Neanderthals, our European cousins who died out as modern humans spread from Africa into Europe during the Ice Age. Did modern humans interbreed with Neanderthals and/or exterminate them? The program explores crucial new evidence from the recent decoding of the Neanderthal genome, which until just a few years ago was thought to be an impossible technical feat.

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Pocahontas Revealed (#3406) Duration: 55:14 CC Stereo DVI TVPG

On May 13, 1607, three English sailing vessels drop anchor beside a small island fringed by swamps in the James River, Virginia. On board are 104 colonists who will establish the first successful English settlement in the New World at Jamestown. The exploits of the brash, swashbuckling John Smith, the wily, venerable chief Powhatan, and his infatuated daughter Pocahontas will be recited, retold, and embroidered until they gather the status of an epic founding myth of the new nation. Now, on the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, science is revealing the truth behind the myth - a saga of unparalleled adventure, greed, and savagery. Virginia archaeologists have just discovered the site of Chief Powhatan's capital, Werowocomoco, some 17 miles from Jamestown beside the York River. This is the very spot where the captive John Smith had his famous life-and-death encounter with the mighty chief, in which (so the story goes) the smitten Pocahontas begged her father to spare the Englishman's neck. Nova has covered the excavation of this unique site for four years and for the first time reveals the Native American side of the Jamestown story. The evidence from Werowocomoco will provide a fascinating new perspective on the colonists' inevitably one-sided accounts of their sometime allies and adversaries.

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What Are Dreams? (#3612) Duration: 56:21 CC Stereo DVI TVPG

What are dreams and why do we have them? Are they a window into a hidden realm within us? Science is only just beginning to understand. Nova joins the leading dream researchers and witnesses the extraordinary experiments they use to investigate the world of sleep. From human narcoleptics to sleepwalking cats, from recurrent nightmares to those who can't dream, each sequence contains a vital clue to the question these scientists are pursuing: why do we dream?

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Underwater Dream Machine (#3319) Duration: 56:37 CC Stereo DVI TVG

Nova follows Peter Robbins on his quest to build a submarine with off-the-shelf machine parts. Spanning the course of four years, the program chronicles Robbins as he stakes everything he owns to build his own submarine, the Alicia, in a bid to explore firsthand, the sunken wrecks of German U-boats.

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Nova scienceNOW (#3401) Duration: 55:47 CC Stereo DVI TVG

Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts this fast-paced and provocative science newsmagazine. This episode will bring viewers an array of intriguing reports from the frontlines of scientific research and discovery. Tyson's enthusiasm and scientific background complement the series' signature flair for bringing to life the "how" and "why" behind exciting new discoveries in science and technology.

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Nova scienceNOW (#3410) Duration: 56:46 CC Stereo DVI TVG

The program profiles Arlie Petters; examines the fast-growing field of epigenetics; and explores the new particle accelerator Large Hadron Collider.

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The Last Great Ape (#3404) Duration: 56:46 CC Stereo DVI TVPG-S

Nova travels to the Congo to study a little-known group of apes. Like chimpanzees, bonobos are among humans' closest relatives. But, unlike chimps, known for their violent behavior, bonobos are far more peaceful, even matriarchal. In 1997, just as research on these elusive apes was getting off the ground, civil war broke out in the Congo. Bonobo researchers were forced to evacuate immediately, leaving behind the astonishing apes they were studying. The program follows veteran bonobo researchers as they return to the Congo to see the effects of the war and the bush meat industry on the bonobo population.

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The Last Great Ape (#3404) Duration: 55:17 CC Stereo DVI TVPG-S

Nova travels to the Congo to study a little-known group of apes. Like chimpanzees, bonobos are among humans' closest relatives. But, unlike chimps, known for their violent behavior, bonobos are far more peaceful, even matriarchal. In 1997, just as research on these elusive apes was getting off the ground, civil war broke out in the Congo. Bonobo researchers were forced to evacuate immediately, leaving behind the astonishing apes they were studying. The program follows veteran bonobo researchers as they return to the Congo to see the effects of the war and the bush meat industry on the bonobo population.

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Nova scienceNOW (#3411) Duration: 56:46 CC Stereo DVI TVG

The program follows Julie Schablistky as she profiles some of the Chinese laborers who came out in the late 1800s; explores the relationship between sleep and memory; and examines the soft, spongy tissue from a 68-million-year- old Tyrannosaurus Rex.

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What Darwin Never Knew (#3617) Duration: 1:56:46 Stereo DVI TVPG

Earth teems with a staggering variety of animals, including 9000 kinds of birds, 28,000 types of fish and more than 350,000 species of beetles alone. What explains this explosion of living creatures - 1.4 million different species discovered so far, with perhaps another 50 million more to go? The source of life's endless forms was a profound mystery until Charles Darwin's revolutionary idea of natural selection, which he showed could help explain the gradual development of life on earth. But Darwin's radical insights raised as many questions as they answered. What actually drives evolution and turns one species into another? And how did we evolve?

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