From crunchy cricket chips to nutty black soldier fly grubs, "Edible Insects" leaps across cultural and culinary boundaries to explore the insect food industry and how it could benefit our health and our warming planet. From Thailand to Texas, cricket farmers show how the tiny critters stack up as an environmentally friendly alternative to beef protein. In fact, as one of the show's many gastro-surprises reveals, insects make animal protein vastly more efficiently than cows and, pound for pound, deliver far better nutritional value than the finest steak. Unappealing as an insect milkshake might sound, it may promote the growth of healthy gut bacteria that could help prevent inflammation and cancer. But what about the "ick" factor? NOVA invites a panel of volunteers to sample an invitingly prepared tasting menu of roasted crickets, ants, mealworms, and chipotle-flavored grasshoppers prepared by a New York chef, and not surprisingly, some of the diners have trouble concealing their squeamishness. Yet all the evidence adds up to the idea that our aversion to insects is mostly a matter of attitude and cultural conditioning. So will your kitchen table soon host its very own savory insect feast?

Straddling the night sky, the Milky Way reminds us of our place in the galaxy we call home. But what shaped this giant spiral of stars, and what will be its destiny? NOVA travels back in time to unlock the turbulent story of our cosmic neighborhood, from its birth in a whirling disk of clouds and dust to colossal collisions with other galaxies. Finally, peer into the future to watch the Milky Way's ultimate fate as it collides with the Andromeda galaxy, over 4 billion years from now.