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:

Emergence: A general commands an army, a conductor conducts an orchestra, chickens have their "pecking order"--by all appearances, order is imposed from the top down. But scientists have found that order can also spring from the bottom up in a phenomenon called emergence, which may eventually explain such baffling questions as the cause of consciousness and the origin of life itself.

Sleep & Memory: We spend about one-third of our lives sleeping. Scientists don't know why, but evidence is building that sleep may play a crucial role in strengthening memories and facilitating learning. Peer into the brains of dozing flies and rats to understand the connection between sleep and memory. And watch host Neil Tyson discover that it's not practice that makes perfect, but practice plus a good night's sleep.

CERN LHC: Get ready for the mother of all particle accelerators: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), nearing completion at CERN, the international particle physics lab headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. This 16-mile-long circular racetrack is designed to smash protons together at near-light speed. Physicists expect to see exciting new phenomena, and maybe even types of matter never imagined.

Profile: Julie Schablitsky: This University of Oregon archeologist is rewriting the history of the Old West. From the Donner Party to the Chinese laborers who built our railroads, she is uncovering new facts about life on the American frontier. In other innovative research, she is one of the first archeologists to recover historic-period human DNA from an artifact--in this case a medical syringe that reveals clues about its several users.