NOVA scienceNOW “Where Did We Come From?”

Where did the very first living thing on Earth come from? A landmark discovery by a chemist has yielded a new kind of “recipe” for natural processes to assemble and create the building blocks of life—something that could bring us much closer to understanding how the earliest life forms emerged billions of years ago. For the less squeamish, NOVA scienceNOW also examines how head lice, a creepy critter that's been sucking our blood for millions of years, is suddenly proving to be a treasure trove of clues about our evolution. And in yet another groundbreaking discovery, neuroscientist André Fenton proves whether a simple injection can erase a painful memory. But should humans harness the power to erase our past? Host Neil deGrasse Tyson also brings viewers on a journey back in time to the birth of our solar system to explore whether the key to our planet's existence could be the epic explosive shockwave of an ancient supernova. “Where Did We Come From?” airs Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011 at 8 p.m. on Eight, Arizona PBS.

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