Can TV really explain something this complex?

Last Wednesday, Vincent Liota, a NOVA ScienceNow series producer and NYU film school alum, spoke to NYU students about his career and the process of making mainstream television pieces about science.

Over the course of the two-hour Q&A session moderated by LA Times journalist Robert Lee Hotz, Mr. Liota played three of his favorite ScienceNow segments and discussed how the pieces progressed from nebulous ideas to polished pieces. (Read what my classmates had to say in backgrounder pieces about Mr. Hotz and Mr. Liota.)

My personal favorite was a segment on RNA interference, or RNAi, a biological defense mechanism that many believe holds the key to treating diseases as diverse as AIDS, Huntington's Disease, and cancer.

If you've got a few minutes to spare — and I bet you do, since you're reading this — check out this entertaining but highly educational 15-minute long piece on RNAi (click one of the options under "Watch the Segment" on the lower left side of the page) . ☼