It’s the converging of two trends: students questioning the value of college and Massachusetts' hunger for a biotech workforce. Industry experts say it's time to debunk the idea that science is something "only select people can do."

Our immense universe began at the unimaginably tiny quantum scale, and to understand the formation of matter, physicists collide subatomic particles. The Large Hadron Collider has produced many discoveries, but it has limitations in the range of data it can capture. Dr. Tulika Bose, who has been prominently involved in the work of the LHC, says “We really should be looking at new physics at a much higher scale. We need to go beyond the kind of energies we’ll have at the HL-LHC.” In this presentation, she explains the accomplishments of the LHC, its limitations, and the next exciting plans under consideration in this research.

Understanding the accelerating expansion of our universe is one of the most important goals of modern astronomy. And it is a huge technical challenge. Paul Martini, with an international team of almost 500 researchers, built the unique telescope, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), that captures (via spectrographs) light from galaxies and supermassive black holes (quasars) 11 billion light-years away. The first results are amazing, and provide the best explanation of dark energy and cosmic expansion that is currently possible. Dr. Martini describes the DESI project, its scientific significance, and the very exciting results so far.

A new study from Boston University found that, post-COVID, people were more likely to think that having a cosmetic procedure would boost their self-esteem.

"You do not want a system prone to bias going around with the capacity to kill people," says Nir Eisikovits of UMass Boston's Center for Applied Ethics.

Whether you’re on social media or surfing the web, you’re probably sharing more personal data than you realize. That can pose a risk to your privacy – even your safety. At the same time, big datasets could lead to huge advances in fields like medicine. In NOVA's Secrets in Your Data, host Alok Patel explores these issues on a quest to understand what happens to all the data we’re shedding and explores the latest efforts to maximize benefits – without compromising personal privacy.

Join NOVA at GBH for a screening of selected clips from Secrets in Your Data paired with a panel discussion featuring experts from the film. Following the program, we will host a catered reception in the Atrium.

NOVA's Secrets in Your Data premieres Wednesday, May 15, at 9/8c on PBS. Check local listings for details. It will also be available for streaming online and via the PBS video app.

Our panel for the evening will include:
Alok Patel — Moderator, Host of Secrets in Your Data, Physician, ABC News Medical Contributor
Matt Mitchell — Founder of Crypto Harlem, Hacker
Ramesh Raskar — Associate Professor at MIT Media Lab, Founder of the PathCheck Foundation
Hayley Tsukayama — Associate Director of Legislative Activism, Electronic Frontier Foundation

For total solar eclipses, everything that had to go just right for us here on Earth to enjoy the view.

"The cosmos is a constant reminder that nature is as magical as we once believed as kids," says astrophysicist Grant Tremblay.

In the town of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, everyone’s got their head in the clouds, as preparations for a tourism boom during the April 8 total solar eclipse have been underway.

The sixth mass extinction currently underway is due to a combination of climate change and destruction of natural habitats. Both crises are the result of our energy, industrial, and food production systems that have upended Nature. Biologist Michael Reed explains how the vitality of our planet depends on the health of ecosystems. Using migratory birds as an example, he describes the interdependence of different forms of life --- birds, animals, fish, insects, plants --and terrain. Dr. Reed also suggests why some species are better able to adapt to the climate and extinction crises than others. Worldwide action is urgently needed.