Can new science help us understand how the brain allows us to think, act, feel, behave and process the world around us?

NOVA scienceNOW delves into some pretty heady stuff to examine magic and the brain, artificial intelligence, mind control and the nature of reality. Eccentric magicians Penn and Teller and Las Vegas trickster Apollo Robbins team up with neuroscientists to reveal how our brains process visual information. A riveting segment reveals the difficulties of replicating the human brain in machines like IBM’s “Watson.” Satirist and comedian Mo Rocca takes a turn as a NOVA scienceNOW correspondent in a sequence about the thrilling, terrifying prospect of controlling another’s thoughts and actions using invisible forces of mind control. Then, neuroscientist David Eagleman presents his unique brand of “guerilla science” when he drops people 150 feet into a net. Neil deGrasse Tyson, renowned astrophysicist, author and director of the Hayden Planetarium, hosts.