MTV for Geeks

ScienceNOW is NOVA for the short attention span: bite-size chunks of award-winning science television, jazzed up with goofy graphics and a gung-ho host and delivered at high speed. In just the first episode you’ll travel half a mile underground to a physics lab full of state-of-the-art instruments (and the occasional bat carcass) to learn that the universe is held together by invisible matter, see how a trip to the rodent version of Disney World helps brain-damaged mice regain lost memories, meet a Harley-riding computer scientist who doctors photos for a living, and hear a math-heavy song about the wisdom of crowds. Begun as an occasional change of pace for NOVA on PBS, the series gets its own time slot starting this summer. Tune in for host Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2007—and by People as the Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive.