The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is living up to its name, and asking the public to choose what they want to see about science. On Wednesday nights at 8 PM in January, the channel is broadcasting pilot episodes from three different TV series about science, and asking the public to decide which program deserves its own series on PBS. We have three options: "Wired Science" adopts content from Wired magazine, "Science Investigators" answers a series of scientific questions such as "What can DNA from a more than 30,000-year-old Neanderthal man tell us about ourselves?," and the pilot "22nd Century" explores how the world could work in the future.

This week, the channel broadcasted "Wired Science," which covered a range of topics stretching from space to the bottom of the ocean. With one hour at its disposal, the program adopts the slow, plodding pace typical of public television taking time to capture joking between reporters and scientists. Still, the show is inviting -- some of the reporters are considerably less-polished in look and tone than anything you see on network TV, but no less credible, which makes their material feel very accessible. Sometimes, the content is too accessible, and scientists will have to sit through some painful comparisons (such as embryonic stem cells acting like college freshmen who haven't picked a major -- ouch).

It's always refreshing to see democracy in action, even on a small scale. Anyone who doesn't have time to catch each episode during its normal timeslot of 8 PM on Wednesdays can view each pilot and vote for your favorite online.