Plot Synopsis

This program uses computer graphics and expert interviews to explain exactly how the universe works -- everything from the Big Bang Theory to black holes. In the first episode, this program investigates how the universe came into existence out of nothing, and how it grew from a miniscule point -- smaller than an atomic particle but with an extreme amount of energy -- to the vast cosmos we see today. Next, the program shows how black holes started as pure speculation but how modern astronomy now proves that they are frighteningly real, potentially shaping everything we see. After Discovery aired its series premiere, the program switched networks to Science Channel, which showed the program's Season 2 premiere.

HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS returned for its third season on Wednesday, July 9, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT on the Science Channel. The Season 3 opener, "Sun," takes a journey from the centre of the sun, following the path of light -- witnessing its fiery birth from inside the core, its 430,000 mile battle against gravity and magnetism, and its escape from the solar surface.

Science Channel premiered the fourth season of HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS on Tuesday, July 14, 2015 at 10pm ET/PT. The season opener, "How the Universe Built Your Car," reveals how everything beneath the hood of a car is part of the history of the Universe. The iron in the chassis, the gold in the stereo and the copper in the electronics all owe their existence to violent cosmic events that took place billions of years ago.

Season 5 of HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS premiered on Tuesday, November 22, 2016 at 10pm ET/PT on Science Channel. In the season opener, "Most Amazing Discoveries," from the furthest reaches of space to our own cosmic backyard, we count down the discoveries that changed everything we know about our universe.

The sixth season of HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS premiered on Tuesday, January 9, 2018 at 10pm ET/PT on Science Channel. From black holes and supernovas to neutron stars and dark energy, space contains matter and substances that can be studied to make sense of the vast, complex, and mysterious landscape. HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS will show the objects and occurrences that have shaped our universe and will propel it forward. The season six premiere episode seeks to comprehend enigmatic black holes - mysterious, unseen objects that break the laws of physics and create mind-bending paradoxes. Traveling to the edge of scientific understanding, the episode seeks the elusive answer to the question of whether black holes are real or not. Among other stories investigated this season are the dark and violent past of the early days of our Solar System; 'spacetime', the 4-D substance that controls the flow of time and matter in our universe; the often-forgotten planet of Mercury; the hundreds of tiny Dwarf Planets that thrive in our cosmic neighborhood; and quasars, the cosmic enigmas that kill either kill galaxies or maintain them.

Narrated by Mike Rowe, HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS returned for its ninth season on Wednesday, March 24, 2021 from 9-11pm ET/PT on Science Channel. The season opener, "Journey to a Black Hole," dives deep into Black Holes journeying to the Super Massive Black Hole at the heart of the M87 galaxy. This Black Hole, known as M87*, is the only Black Hole to ever be photographed. The captured image revealed that M87* is over six billion times more massive than the sun and a total of 23.6 billion miles across. In the special premiere episode, experts take a deeper look at this famed Black Hole and along the way witness blazing hot winds, death-ray jets and a place near the Event Horizon where time seemingly stands still. We finally enter the Black Hole and travel towards the Singularity, a place where the laws of physics fail. Also this season, scientists explore how galaxies fight and why our Universe is such a violent, dangerous place. Many galaxies tear each other apart using gravity - the bigger the galaxy, the more heavily armed it is, allowing it to smash and swallow up smaller galaxies nearby. Experts look to our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and what battles it has endured in the past and what kind of trouble is brewing on the horizon. The Sun also takes center stage this season, as experts from NASA seek to understand our home star better and its dangerous, unpredictable solar eruptions by assembling a fleet of spacecraft to study the Sun. Diving through the gases of the Sun's atmosphere, and tracking the Sun's influence at the edge of our solar system, scientists may be able to unlock the secrets of the engine that drives our entire Solar System.
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The six-episode tenth season of HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS premiered on Sunday, March 6, 2022 at 10pm ET/PT on Science Channel. How old is the Universe? Does dark matter really exist? Would there be life on Earth if not for a series of cataclysmic disasters? This season follows the latest probes and rovers exploring our neighboring planets of Saturn and Mars, revealing worlds more alive than we ever imagined. A fictional asteroid strikes the planet in 2029, and experts reveal new discoveries such as an invisible network of dark matter that connects over two trillion galaxies littering the cosmos.

In the season opener, "Secrets of the Cosmic Web," new astronomical research is beginning to reveal an invisible scaffold of dark matter known as the Cosmic Web, an intergalactic network that transformed the universe from a chaotic Big Bang into the structured beauty of the present day cosmos.