Breakthrough Season 1 Episodes

Episode

Saving Right Whale/Flight of the Dragon

Tue, Nov 8, 2022 45 mins

Episode 1

The Earliest Americans

Thu, Dec 5, 2019 45 mins

New evidence suggests humans arrived in North America far earlier than previously thought, and that they may have traveled along paths now buried deep beneath the sea.

Episode 1

Little Foot: Exploring Our Origins

Sat, Oct 19, 2019 45 mins

Featuring one of the oldest known hominins in southern Africa. An almost complete skeleton dates back more than three million years. Found in 1994 in the Sterkfontein Caves near Johannesburg in South Africa, which form part of the "Cradle of Humankind."

Episode 1

Hayabusa2: Asteroid Explosion

Mon, Oct 7, 2019 45 mins

Hayabusa2 just became the first spacecraft to take subsurface samples of an asteroid. The probe now has its final sample and will begin its journey back home in the coming months.

Episode 2

Drilling For Marsquakes: Mars InSight

Sat, Oct 19, 2019 45 mins

The Mars InSigh lander measures marsquakes and studies the interior of Mars.

Episode 2

Fixing Broken Heart

Tue, Mar 22, 2022 45 mins

Episode 3

Mars InSight: Seven Minutes to Touchdown

Sat, Oct 19, 2019 45 mins

The fate of the Mars InSight lander is featured.

Episode 3

The First Picture of a Black Hole

Fri, Jul 30, 2021 45 mins

For the first time scientists have captured a photograph...

Episode 4

Floodgates of Venice

45 mins

MOSE is one of the world's largest and highest-profile civil-engineering works. But will it be able to save Venice? Venice has grappled with inundation for centuries. But due to natural subsidence and higher tides caused by global warming the city is more vulnerable to flooding than ever before.

Episode 4

Recovering From Extinction

Fri, Nov 29, 2019 45 mins

Scientists in Svalbard dig through fossil clues for surprising revelations about our Earth's history.

Episode 5

Shark Family Tree

Wed, Oct 23, 2019 45 mins

Science reveals the mysteries of the great white sharks.

Episode 6

New Horizons: The Kuiper Belt Target

Sat, Oct 19, 2019 45 mins

The New Horizons spacecraft revolutionized our understanding of the solar system as it rocketed past Pluto. Now, four billion miles since its launch, the craft approaches its next target: Ultima Thule.

Episode 6

Gravitational Waves

45 mins

Einstein was correct about gravitational waves. Here is ...

Episode 7

What is CRISPR?

Sat, Oct 5, 2019 45 mins

A look at how gene editing works.

Episode 7

Modern Day Killer Asteroid

Mon, Oct 21, 2019 45 mins

Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid slammed into Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, causing a dinosaur mass extinction.

Episode 7

T Rex Timeline

Wed, Oct 23, 2019 45 mins

Featuring the 180lb ancestor to the Tyrannosaurus Rex and how the latest technology can connect it to the largest T-Rex discovered.

Episode 8

The Mystery Of The Longest Living Vertebrate

Sat, Oct 5, 2019 45 mins

New information from the eye of the Greenland shark confirms it is the longest living vertebrate on Earth. Find out what qualities the shark has, and how looking at Sea Squirts is also helping scientists understand more about the aging process.

Episode 8

Herculaneum Scrolls: Unraveling History

Fri, Oct 4, 2019 45 mins

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius is renowned for its decimation of Pompeii, but nearby, an equally impressive Roman settlement, known as Herculaneum, was lost to history. Today, the latest in technology is opening a wind to the past, as scientists digitally unravel the Herculaneum Scrolls.

Episode 9

Saber Tooth Brawl

Mon, Oct 7, 2019 45 mins

Lions may be known as the kings of the jungle, but it was sabertooth cats that ruled over the Americas. New fossil evidence is shinning a light on the violent lives of these mysterious species.

Episode 9

Reversing Alzheimers

Sat, Oct 19, 2019 45 mins

Researchers worldwide are racing to discover a cure for Alzheimer's Disease as the number of people affected continues to grow at an unprecedented pace.

Episode 10

Asteroid Belt Discovery

Fri, Oct 4, 2019 45 mins

New evidence from NASA's Dawn mission to Ceres, a dwarf planet the size of Texas, is changing our understanding of not only the Asteroid Belt but may also may hold the key to deciphering the early life of our solar system.

Episode 11

Gravitational Waves: Rewinding Time

Tue, Oct 20, 2020 45 mins

Episode 11

Climate Crisis

Tue, Oct 27, 2020 45 mins

The real impact of global warming is now being felt in co...

Episode 12

Escaping Rip Currents

Mon, Oct 7, 2019 45 mins

Highlighting a new research that could help potential rip current victims escape and save their lives.

Episode 12

Miami Beach Underwater

Fri, Oct 18, 2019 45 mins

As scientific studies confirm sea level changes throughout the globe, major coastal cities like Miami are now fighting back against these rising tides, before it's too late. Parts of Miami Beach are under serious threat.

Episode 13

Greenland is Melting

Sat, Oct 19, 2019 45 mins

Scientists and other experts are looking into the melting of the Greenland ice sheet that might bring a catastrophe worldwide.

Episode 13

Reversing Alzheimers

Tue, Mar 29, 2022 30 mins

Episode 14

The Eighth Continent: Zealandia

Sat, Oct 5, 2019 45 mins

Geologists in New Zealand created a stir earlier this year when they declared their discovery of the eighth continent of the world. Learn how was it formed and how something so massive could remain undetected until now.

Episode 14

Opportunity: A Life on Mars

Sun, Dec 22, 2019 45 mins

The Opportunity Rover is featured.

Episode 15

Homo Naledi

Thu, Oct 17, 2019 45 mins

Discovered in 2013, new and puzzling finding of small-skulled fossils of Homo Naledi have scientists trying to understand whether Homo Sapiens lived at the same time as Homo Naledi, and how Homo naledi communities may have lived.

Episode 15

Space Junk Dangers

Sat, Oct 19, 2019 45 mins

A ballistic missile test by India recently shot down one of its own communications satellites. With over 900,000 pieces of debris currently orbiting planet Earth, space trash has become a very real threat to ongoing missions.

Episode 16

Return of the Wolves

Tue, Dec 22, 2020 45 mins

Capture teams from the U.S. National Park Service track down and relocate wolves to Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior under an ambitious initiative to restore balance to a wilderness ecosystem.

Episode 17

MarsInsight: 7 Minutes to Touchdown

45 mins

Wildfires have greatly increased in size and intensity ov...

Episode 18

World's Best Dinosaur Fossil

Fri, Oct 18, 2019 45 mins

An extraordinary new discovery of a dinosaur fossil so pristine and complete, that it shows off the texture, patterns, and color of a prehistoric giant. Discover this brand new species that roamed during the late Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Episode 19

Breakthrough, Part 1

Wed, Oct 23, 2019 45 mins

Heart disease is the number one cause of deaths worldwide, but there are researchers frantically working to change that. People are featured who are inventing the future of cardiac health, from new ways of imaging the body, to the possibility of 3D printing a functioning heart.

Episode 20

Breakthrough, Part 2

Fri, Oct 18, 2019 45 mins

NASA may have just gotten one step closer to the answering the question: are we alone? The Spitzer Telescope has made a groundbreaking discovery of exoplanets that could be similar to our own.

Episode 24

Resurrecting Tasmanian Tigers

Thu, Oct 17, 2019 45 mins

Wiped off the face of the Earth by humans nearly a century ago, geneticists are now working on resurrecting the enigmatic Tasmanian tiger.

Episode 25

Making Babies/Dog's Nose

Mon, Jan 17, 2022 45 mins

Episode 27

Private Moonshot/Asteroid Hunter

Mon, Mar 28, 2022 45 mins

Episode 32

Space Junk Daggers

Mon, Jan 24, 2022 30 mins

Episode 37

Touching the Sun

Mon, Mar 14, 2022 30 mins

Episode 38

Wildfire Fighting Tools

45 mins

A deep dive into the innovations in firefighting technology developed on the heels of forest fires that ravaged the western United States in 2019.

Episode 40

Lucha Entre Dientes de Sable

45 mins

Episode 42

The Coronavirus Epidemic

45 mins

The coronavirus disease is spreading at frightening speed...

Episode 43

Search for Our Sun's Lost Planet

Fri, Dec 4, 2020 45 mins

Is it possible that there is a hidden planet within our o...

Episode 44

Coronavirus: Combating the Outbreak

45 mins

Officially designated as a pandemic it seems as if COVID...

Episode 45

Coronavirus: Race For a Vaccine

45 mins

According to current estimates a widely available COVID-...

Episode 46

Coronavirus: Treating The Disease

45 mins

Infectious disease specialists offer their expertise on potential treatment options for COVID-19 as death tolls and infection rates continue to rise across the globe.

Episode 47

Coronavirus: Psychology Of A Pandemic

45 mins

A thought-provoking discussion on the adverse mental health side effects caused by quarantine amidst a global pandemic.

Episode 48

World Without Water

Thu, Jul 29, 2021 45 mins

Hundreds of millions of people around the world could run out of water soon.

Episode 49

Flight of the Dragon (Mission Update)

Sat, Oct 31, 2020 45 mins

On August 2 2020 two NASA astronauts plunged back to Earth aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule. Witness their historic flight from the first manned launch from the US in nearly a decade to the first splashdown attempt since the Apollo era.

Episode 50

Coronavirus: Don't Blame Bats

45 mins

Bats are getting their share of the blame for the COVID-19 pandemic, but are they really at fault?

Episode 51

OSIRIS-REx: Asteroid Hunter

Mon, Jan 18, 2021 45 mins

Episode 52

Raising Dinos From The Dead

Mon, Jan 4, 2021 45 mins

Episode 53

Saturn: The Moon King

Mon, Feb 1, 2021 45 mins

Episode 54

Hunting For Martian Life: The Perseverance Rover

Wed, Nov 4, 2020 45 mins

Meet Perseverance, NASA's latest rover, as it heads to Mars to answer one question: did life exist on the red planet?

Episode 56

The Body vs. Coronavirus

Sun, Oct 25, 2020 45 mins

Episode 57

OSIRIS-REx: Asteroid Hunter

30 mins

Episode 58

The West is Burning

Sat, Feb 13, 2021 45 mins

How did the western United States become a hotspot for unwieldy and devastating forest fires? Learn how the history of forest management and loss of public trust coupled with climate change have led to the conditions driving mega-fire nearly year-round.

Episode 59

Mars Perseverance: The Hunt Begins

Mon, Jul 19, 2021 45 mins

Watch as the Mars Perseverance Rover makes its historic landing on the Red Planet. We take you inside the harrowing February 18 2021 landing the science mission and cutting-edge technology including the first-ever Martian helicopter.

Episode 60

Peru's Mysterious Cloud Warriors

Mon, Jul 12, 2021 45 mins

Episode 61

Noah's Ark for the Humans

Mon, Jul 5, 2021 45 mins

Scientists assess the benefits of microbes in the human body, as well as potential drawbacks to the disappearance of certain microbes over time.

Episode 62

Saving the Right Whale

Thu, Sep 23, 2021 45 mins

The North Atlantic Right Whale is on the verge of extinction. The leading cause of death and injury to the whales is from ship strikes or entanglement in fishing lines.

Episode 63

Decoding Megalodon

Mon, Jul 26, 2021 45 mins

Episode 64

Drones in Space: Mars to Titan

Mon, May 8, 2023 45 mins

Episode 65

First Human Link

Tue, Jan 25, 2022 45 mins

Archaeological experts assess evidence of a humanoid species that lived alongside the dinosaurs over sixty-five million years ago.

Episode 66

Super Spider Silk

Tue, Jan 18, 2022 45 mins

Arachnid experts weigh in on the unusual hunting techniques displayed by spiders, as well as the chemical makeup of their silks.

Episode 67

Egypt's Lost City

Tue, Feb 15, 2022 45 mins

Episode 68

Secrets of a Dog's Nose

Tue, Jan 11, 2022 45 mins

Episode 69

Ocean Twilight Zone

Mon, Feb 7, 2022 45 mins

Episode 70

ICARUS: Tracking Creatures From Space

Mon, Jan 31, 2022 45 mins

Episode 71

Voyage To Venus

45 mins

For the first time in decades, NASA is sending two new missions to Venus designed to study and explore the planet's atmosphere and earth-like composition. Together, DAVINCI and VERITAS will provide a new, 360º view of Venus -- its history, and perhaps a window into Earth's past as well

Episode 72

Building The James Webb Telescope

45 mins

This is the epic story of the James Webb Space Telescope, told first-hand by the scientists who developed it. Building the largest, most advanced, and most expensive telescope ever made does not come without its challenges. But seeing further into space than ever before will be worth the struggle.

Episode 73

Immortal Alligators

45 mins

Episode 74

Capturing A Black Hole In Our Milky Way

45 mins