Stopping signs of life and starting them again might seem like pure sci-fi—but cell biologist Mark Roth says it's very possible. In this podcast, he explains why.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn about other ways that science is extending human life. Go to pbs.org/nova/sciencenow.

The next generation of spacecraft will travel faster than ever before. But they might not be propelled by rockets. If Dean Alhorn has his way, they’ll be powered by light. Alhorn is an engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight center. He designs solar sails. They’re basically big silver kites in space that are pushed along by the sun’s rays. And Alhorn says they might change spaceflight in the very near future.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn about other new types of propulsion that NASA is testing, and how they might help us get to Mars. Go to pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, geologist Chris Goldfinger describes why earthquakes in one part of the globe might trigger others worldwide.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova

In this podcast, hear how a newly identified wreck found outside the harbor may rewrite the history of the Japanese attack.

Produced by David Levin. Original interviews by Kirk Wolfinger. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/killersubs

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains that despite all the doomsday claims on the Internet, the world will NOT end in 2012.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, African-American chemistry pioneer Percy Julian gives his take on scientific language.

Produced by David Levin and Susan Lewis NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/julian

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, Native American geologist Alexandrea Bowman describes her path to science, which led from baby seals to Long Island Sound.

Produced by David Levin and Rob Chapman. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

If you could take a drug that could erase your memories, would you do it? It’s not such a hypothetical question—neuroscientists have identified a drug that can wipe out memory in rats. It’s not something that could be used on humans, but its existence raises a lot of big ethical issues. To sort those out, we talked to Art Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

To learn where the science stands on memory-erasing drugs, go to pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

NOVA Minutes are a regular radio features that air three times per week on 89.7 WGBH-FM in Boston. In this episode, biochemist Erika Ebbel describes how a mentor helped her transform into a scientist when she was 11 years old.

Produced by David Levin and Rob Chapman. Original interview by Josh Seftel and Tom Miller. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Exclusive funding for "The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers" provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Learn more at pbs.org/nova/secretlife

In this podcast, NASA psychologist Al Holland discusses some of the the mental challenges astronauts might face during a mission to Mars.

Podcast produced by David Levin. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

Find out how we might make it to Mars, and learn about the dangers we'd face along the way. Visit us at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow.