PREMIERING WEDNESDAY, NOV. 13 at 8:00PM

Engineering is all around us, and we humans have been doing it forever. But how does it actually work? Find out by watching some of the most creative folks in the game build stuff that helps extend our range, amplify our abilities, and alter our environment for the better in the new three-part series NOVA: BUILDING STUFF!  Experience the ups and downs with engineers as they design, build, and test their way through challenges, inspiring the inner “maker” in all of us.  Beginning this week, the three episodes are:

● “BUILDING STUFF: BOOST IT!” (premieres Wednesday, Nov. 13)
Around the world, engineers are finding ingenious ways to amplify our abilities and senses – allowing us to access and shape the world way beyond our natural abilities. From helping a blind man see without the use of his eyes to building a sling so powerful it can propel rockets into space, see why engineering just might be the closest thing to a superpower we humans have.

● “BUILDING STUFF: REACH IT!” (premieres Wednesday, Nov. 20)
From the time our species first evolved, we’ve been on the move. Not content to stay in one place, we’ve schemed and invented and built our way from one place to the next. From affordable deep sea subs to flying taxis to next-gen space habitats, see how today’s engineers are designing and building creative new ways for us to get all around — and even off — our planet.

● “BUILDING STUFF: CHANGE IT!” (premieres Wednesday, Nov. 27)
For as long as humans have been around, we’ve been altering the spaces around us to better suit our needs. From accessing ancient wisdom to build a better water filter to designing a robot that uses acoustics to monitor coral reef health, see how today’s engineers are applying their craft to reshape the natural world and create new human-made environments to enhance our lives in amazing ways.

“Making things to solve problems, what we call engineering, is a fundamental human activity. It’s something we all do – and as a species, have always done. But how does it work?” said NOVA Co-Executive Producer Chris Schmidt. “In BUILDING STUFF, we dive into an exciting mix of engineering stories that highlight the problem-solving process that underlies innovation, while revealing the deep historical roots that underpin every aspect of our modern world.”

NOVA Education will extend the reach and impact of BUILDING STUFF to stations and communities across the U.S. through the creation of a PBS LearningMedia collection featuring excerpts from the film series; an outreach toolkit with engineering activities inspired by the series for schools, libraries, museums, and youth engineering groups; two public screening events; virtual field trips for schools, and more.