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Here’s what you’re currently paying for on PBS Nova …

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NOVA scienceNOW: Where Did We Come From?
Airing Wednesday, February 16 at 8pm on PBS

In this episode of NOVA scienceNOW, journey back in time to the birth of our solar system to examine whether the key to our planet’s existence might have been the explosive shockwave of an ancient supernova. Meet a chemist who has yielded a new kind of “recipe” for natural processes to assemble and create the building blocks of life. And see how the head louse, a creepy critter that’s been sucking our blood for millions of years, is offering clues about our evolution. Finally, meet neuroscientist André Fenton, who is looking into erasing painful memories with an injection.

Thoughts?

7 Replies to “Here’s what you’re currently paying for on PBS Nova …”

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    SCheesman says:
    February 16, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    Here’s a slightly modified version from kornbelt888’s link:

    Where did the very first completed Scrabble game on Earth come from? Scientists have long argued that billions of years ago, the first completed Scrabble game emerged on its own—but no one knows exactly how. Now, in a landmark discovery, chemist Johanne Sutherfarm has created the conditions in which Scrabble letters, the building blocks of Scrabble words, and the probable precursor to completed Scrabble boards, assemble themselves naturally.

  3. 3
    kornbelt888 says:
    February 16, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    “but no one knows exactly how”

    Hehe. I find the “exactly” in there humorous.

  4. 4
    SCheesman says:
    February 16, 2011 at 4:03 pm

    Here is a far more level-headed look at “creating” life from Francis Collins, also from PBS:

    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/t.....enome.html

  5. 5
    Berceuse says:
    February 16, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    “Finally, meet neuroscientist André Fenton, who is looking into erasing painful memories with an injection”

    Heroin?

  6. 6
    O'Leary says:
    February 16, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    Berceuse at 5,

    Yes, that’s just what I was thinking. Alcohol’s a big one too, and it partially supports many governments.

    Actually, there are many constructive ways of erasing painful memories as well, but if that guy ever succeeded, he’d have manufactured the street’s hottest – maybe the emerg’s busiest too.

  7. 7
    bornagain77 says:
    February 16, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    SCheesman, I like this honest quote from Francis Collins;

    Francis Collins on Making Life
    Excerpt: ‘We are so woefully ignorant about how biology really works. We still don’t understand how a particular DNA sequence—when we just stare at it—codes for a protein that has a particular function. We can’t even figure out how that protein would fold—into what kind of three-dimensional shape. And I would defy anybody who is going to tell me that they could, from first principles, predict not only the shape of the protein but also what it does.’
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/t.....enome.html

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