Original Airdate: November 21, 2006. NOVA scienceNOW is a fast-paced science series that provides viewers with the inside track on the powerful intersection between the universe of scientific innovation and the everyday world, revealing the spirit of intellectual adventure that drives breakthrough research and the science behind the headlines. Hosted by noted astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson of the Hayden Planetarium, this NOVA scienceNOW program covers:

Permian Puzzler: 250 million years ago, long before dinosaurs or human civilization existed, something triggered Earth's most profound mass extinction and reset the nature of life on this planet. The clues suggest this was not the result of an asteroid impact, like the one that extinguished the dinosaurs much later on. Can scientists find the culprit, and does it pose a threat to our future?

Flu - The Coup: Can an avian flu pandemic be prevented by the resurrection of the 1918 flu, perhaps the deadliest pathogen in human history? Go to the front lines of scientific research to reconstruct a virus which killed up to 50 million people worldwide. Could this lethal virus from the past offer a new strategy to combat another in the future?

I, Robot - Appliance or Friend?: Plucky young roboticist Cynthia Breazeal is a pioneer in the development of “sociable robots”--machines that are not only have the ability to learn, but also can communicate and appeal to our emotions just as people do. Because if, as Breazeal hopes, robots are to become our partners, they need to develop the same social skills as people - including emotions.

Ancient Paper Chase: A half-million 2000-year-old papyri fragments now sit packed away in a vault, but many are charred, faded, or stained beyond legibility. Scholars have no idea what they may find: an early passage from the Bible, a page from Homer, or an ancient Egyptian dinner invitation. Could a pioneering multispectral imaging technology, originally developed by NASA, be the kind of “X-ray vision” archaeologists need to solve these puzzles?