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The Fabric of the Cosmos: The Illusion of Time

Season 38 Episode 17 | 53m 41s

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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?

Aired: 11/08/11 | Rating: NR

Funding for NOVA is provided by David H. Koch, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS viewers. Original funding provided by the David H. Koch Fund for Science, HHMI, the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science/Fermilab, George D. Smith, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS Stations.

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