Back to Show
Watch Preview
NOVA
The Fabric of the Cosmos: The Illusion of Time
Season 38
Episode 17
Time. We waste it, save it, kill it, make it. The world runs on it. Yet ask physicists what time actually is, and the answer might shock you: They have no idea. Even more surprising, the deep sense we have of time passing from present to past may be nothing more than an illusion. How can our understanding of something so familiar be so wrong?
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
Support Provided By

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:21
Follow engineers and woodworkers as they rebuild an iconic American covered bridge.

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:34
Follow the harrowing operation to rescue 12 boys stranded in a flooded cave in Thailand.

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:37
Explore Africa’s sleeping giant—Nyamuragira, one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes.

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:37
Climb into the crater of Nyiragongo, a seething and active African volcano.

1:53:20
Discover how Earth’s intricate climate system is changing.

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:15
How courage and ingenuity saved Allied troops during the epic Dunkirk operation in 1940.

53:26
Take a mind-blowing voyage to the most powerful and mysterious objects in the universe.

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:32
Watch as birds solve puzzles and challenge our basic notions of intelligence.

Unlock with PBS Passport
54:10
Scientists uncover geologic evidence of epic floods that tore through ancient landscapes.

Unlock with PBS Passport
53:11
Experts reconstruct the Great Hurricane of 1780 to help predict the risk of future storms.

Unlock with PBS Passport
54:10
Scientists hunt for a mega-eruption that plunged medieval Earth into a deep freeze.