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Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks has come across plenty of odd stories while studying the human brain, but none are quite as mysterious as that of his colleague, Tony Cicoria. In 1994, Cicoria was struck by lightning, and developed a sudden, inexplicable passion for playing and writing piano music. In this podcast, hear Sacks describe Cicoria's transformation. Podcast produced by David Levin. Original interview by Dempsey Rice/Daughter One productions. Music by The New You. 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 more, go to pbs.org/nova/musicminds

Learning to sing like the pros isn't something you can do overnight. Over the last decade, though, recording studios have been fudging things a bit with software called Auto-Tune. It lets engineers change the pitch of sour notes. But can it make even hopeless amateurs sound decent? In this podcast, we enlisted the help of a few brave souls on the NOVA staff to find out. Podcast produced by David Levin. Interviews by David Levin and Vin Liota. 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. Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

For a boy from Costa Rica, being an astronaut must have seemed like a pipe dream. But despite long odds, Franklin Chang-Diaz made the cut. In this podcast, he reflects on hurdles he's cleared on his path to space, and describes the sense of both danger and elation that comes with the job. Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Josh Seftel. 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. Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

Percy Julian was a groundbreaking African-American scientist in the 20th century. Long before the Civil Rights Movement, he pioneered a path in a field that was dominated by whites and plagued by racial prejudice. Yet few people today even know his name. In this podcast, Julian's late son, Percy Jr., describes his father's personality. Podcast produced by David Levin and Susan Lewis. 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. Major funding for "Forgotten Genius" is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/julian.

Percy Julian was a groundbreaking African-American scientist in the 20th century. Long before the Civil Rights Movement, he pioneered a path in a field that was dominated by whites and plagued by racial prejudice. Yet few people today even know his name. In this podcast, hear an excerpt of a speech this forgotten genius gave at Indiana University in 1965. Podcast produced by David Levin and Susan Lewis. 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. Major funding for "Forgotten Genius" is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. To learn more, go to pbs.org/nova/julian.

In this podcast, biologist Maydianne Andrade explains that sexual cannibalism-a gruesome mating behavior shown of Redback Spiders-is a prime example of how evolution works. Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Josh Seftel. 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. Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

NASA engineer Rodney Rocha, whose warnings and calls for action went unheeded, speaks out about the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster. This podcast was produced by David Levin. Interview by Arun Rath. 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. For more on E = mc2, visit www.pbs.org/nova/columbia

Anthropologist Barbara Macleod says that studying the ancient Maya language offers a unique window into the past. Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Rima Chaddha. 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. Major funding for "Cracking the Maya Code" is provided by the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, with additional funding provided by The Solow Art and Architecture Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0407101. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this video podcast do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more on translating ancient Maya, visit us online at pbs.org/nova/mayacode

In this podcast, glaciologist Lonnie Thompson describes why global warming and melting glaciers could impact everything from drinking water supplies to the spread of infectious disease-and even political issues like refugees and terrorism. Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview by Dana Rae Warren. 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. Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

In this podcast, computer scientist Luis Von Ahn describes how tapping into the countless hours people spend playing games can help solve complex problems that stump computers. Podcast produced by David Levin. Inteview by Josh Seftel. 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. Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

As producer Joe Seamans notes in this podcast, the hundreds of e-mails we've received from our audience for "Car of the Future" have been terrific, with great questions for the experts as well as ideas for alternative vehicles. There also have been a few, well, rather imaginative suggestions. Tom and Ray, naturally, couldn't help having a little fun with them. Listen in. This podcast was produced by Susan Lewis and edited by David Levin. Interview by Joe Seamans. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers. Funding for the Car of the Future Open Production Web site is provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. To learn more, visit http://www.pbs.org/nova/car

In this podcast, David Morrison, interim director of NASA's Lunar Science Institute, discusses why he thinks it's important for humans to return to the Moon. 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. Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow

James Balog has been working as a nature photographer for more than 30 years. His latest project, the Extreme Ice Survey, is helping scientists document the rapid melt of glaciers worldwide--something he says is visible evidence of human-caused climate change. In this interview, he discusses his work. Podcast produced by David Levin. Interview 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 more, go to pbs.org/nova/extremeice.

The Inca Empire of South America lasted just over 100 years. But in that short span, the Incas conquered an area almost as vast as the Roman Empire. In this podcast, Terence D'Altroy of Columbia University describes why the Incas were so successful. Podcast produced and edited by David Levin. Interview by Peter Tyson. 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 more, visit www.pbs.org/nova/inca

In this podcast, our series host, Neil deGrasse Tyson, describes where he'd point the Hubble Space Telescope if he had the chance. He also touches on past debates over whether or not to keep the Hubble program alive. 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. Major funding for NOVA scienceNOW is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additional funding is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0229297. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. For more fun science stories, visit our website at pbs.org/nova/sciencenow