This video is part of our Brilliant Breakthroughs series: our new 20-episode mini-series exploring the “Eureka!” moments and proud accomplishments of the greatest scientific minds of our time. Join us …

Stuff happens. The weather forecast says it’s sunny, but you just got drenched. You got a flu shot—but you’re sick in bed with the flu. Your best friend from Boston met your other best friend from San Francisco. Coincidentally. What are the odds?

Does your dog really think and feel like a human? Do our closest primate relatives have brains and emotions similar to ours? What about the storied intelligence of dolphins and singing humpback whales? And do other species hold surprises for us if we’re willing to look closely?

In this highly entertaining performance combining math with magic, Arthur Benjamin—aka, the the “Mathemagician”—displays amazing feats of mental mathematical gymnastics and explains the secrets behind his lightning-fast math skills. How does the Mathemagician best an electronic calculator?

We’ve assembled an all-star group of ecologists, naturalists, and creative thinkers for an urgent but hopeful conversation about the environmental pressures bearing down on Earth’s rich spectrum of species.

What are the special challenges, pitfalls, opportunities and rare triumphs of seeking and synthesizing the essence of someone whose passion—quantum physics, number theory, nucleic acids, atomic species, computational design, gravitational phenomena—is so thoroughly foreign to the concerns of everyday life?