PRESS RELEASE:

Thrilling new innovations and discoveries are being made in science, and in the fields of medicine, technology and energy. These new inovations will change the way we live our daily lives. KUED Channel 7 continues the new landmark NOVA ScienceNow series with "What's the Next Step?" airing Wednesday, February 23 at 7:00 p.m.

Hosted by engaging astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, viewers will meet the engineers building social robots with the smarts to understand human feelings, learn from human teachers, carry on conversations, and even make jokes. Robots already build our cars and vacuum our floors. One day soon, they could also serve as teachers' assistants, companions for the elderly, and even babysitters.

"What's the Next Step" also asks if the car of the future will be able to drive itself. The NOVA team visits the General Motors Tech Center, where engineers are testing tiny, two-wheeled, battery-powered cars called EN-Vs, which one day might drive themselves through city streets. Then, Jay Keasling, a leading pioneer of synthetic biology, shares his work on developing "designer" microbes that generate biofuels and medicines, which could save millions of lives and dollars with low-cost malaria drugs and clean-burning fuels.

NOVA ScienceNOW also takes an intriguing look at the science used by geologists to forecast earthquakes such as the devastating quake in Haiti that claimed the lives of nearly a quarter million people. Scientists had forecast that tragedy with amazing accuracy two years earlier. The program shows exclusive coverage obtained while accompanying geologists as they first entered Haiti and then travels to where scientists are digging deep underground and uncovering weaknesses that could soon cause massive destruction in California.

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