In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn about concussions—a common type of traumatic brain injury. Hear from Reed Snyderman, a young athlete who describes his personal experience with concussion. In addition, meet Dr. Jam Ghajar, a neurosurgeon and international expert in brain inj
This video excerpt from NOVA examines the dilemma some people face when they are deciding whether to undergo genetic testing. Journalist Catherine Elton describes her decision to refuse a test for BRCA1, a mutation that signals an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancers, despite the history of
This video excerpt from NOVA examines the promise and realities of developing drugs designed to treat genetic disorders. The video presents the story of one patient, Michael McCarrick, whose lungs were devastated from years of suffering from cystic fibrosis. After researchers identified the gene inv
This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW examines a developing theory that might explain a 250-million-year-old "murder mystery." While several possible causes have been considered for the mass extinction that occurred at the end of the Permian period, the scientists featured in the video thi
This video excerpt from NOVA examines a genetic screening technique called preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD. PGD enables researchers to identify mutations in an embryo’s DNA that can lead to birth defects and more than 300 diseases, including Huntington’s, cystic fibrosis, and some cancers.
This video excerpt from NOVA uncovers the genetic mystery that nearly killed Alexis, now 14, and introduces the debate surrounding genetic testing at birth. After diagnosing Alexis and her twin brother Noah with cerebral palsy at a young age, doctors later discovered that the twins shared a rare gen
The climatic phenomenon known as El Niño is a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific that impacts weather and climate around the globe. An El Niño occurs every four to twelve years, causes die-offs of plankton and fish, and affects Pacific jet-stream winds, altering storm
In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn how scientists are hoping to better understand the biology of dinosaurs by studying the insides of fossil bones. Hear about the accidental discovery of dinosaur soft tissue by paleontologist Dr. Mary Schweitzer, and how this tissue enables sc
This video segment adapted from NOVA describes the effect of exercise on the body and defines one measure used to gauge aerobic fitness. VO2 max (maximal volume of oxygen uptake) is a measurement of how well the body gets and consumes the oxygen that muscles need in order to sustain activity. Learn
In this video segment adapted from NOVA, evolutionary scientist Sean Carroll investigates why one species of fruit fly has wing spots while another genetically similar one does not. As the video explains, although two organisms may both possess the same gene linked to a particular trait, this trait
Warm water fuels the tropical storms that ultimately form hurricanes. In this video segment adapted from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, learn how El Niño events—climatic anomalies that occur periodically in the Pacific Ocean—alter the course of atmospheric circulation and lessen hurricane forma
Learn about the education of chemist Percy Julian. Julian's early educational years paralleled an educational movement that prepared African Americans for industrial jobs, the growing white supremacist movement, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Julian would eventually move north, and finally to Eur
