NOVA Season 36 Episode 17 Synopsis

An exploration of the effect of music on the brain via four case studies from neurologist Oliver Sacks book "Musicopia" and the MRI visualizations from Sacks' own brain as classical music is played, including Bach's "Mass in B Minor". Study subjects include a man with Tourettes syndrome who has found relief while playing the drums; an autistic savant who is simply dazzling on the piano; a woman who suffers the inability to process music, known as amusia; and a surgeon whose life changed after being struck by lightning.

NOVA Season 36 Episodes...

• s36e01 - Arctic Dinosaurs
• s36e02 - Space Shuttle Disaster
• s36e03 - Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives
• s36e04 - Fractals: Hunting The Hidden Dimension
• s36e05 - Alien From Earth
• s36e06 - The Bible's Buried Secrets
• s36e07 - Ocean Animal Emergency
• s36e08 - Is There Life On Mars?
• s36e09 - The Big Energy Gamble
• s36e10 - The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies
• s36e11 - The Spy Factory
• s36e12 - Rat Attack
• s36e13 - Extreme Ice
• s36e14 - Last Extinction (Megabeasts' Sudden Death)
• s36e15 - Doctors' Diaries Pt.1
• s36e16 - Doctors' Diaries Pt.2
• s36e17 - Musical Minds

NOVA Show Summary

Seen in more than 100 countries, NOVA is the most watched science based television series in the world and the most watched documentary series on PBS. It is also one of television's most acclaimed series, having won many major television awards, most of them many times over.