NOVA (1974)
PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits.
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Episode 1 - Countdown to the Invisible Universe
Release Date: 1987-01-20NOVA scans the universe with the infrared eye of IRAS—the Infrared Astronomical Satellite—and discovers never-before-seen comets, stars, galaxies and other celestial wonders and enigmas.
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Episode 2 - Children of Eve
Release Date: 1987-01-27NOVA examines a controversial theory that traces our ancestry to a small group of women living in Africa 300,000 years ago.
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Episode 3 - Why Planes Crash
Release Date: 1987-02-03Between 60 and 80 percent of all commercial airplane accidents are attributable to pilot error. NOVA looks at some shocking instances of pilot negligence and what airlines are doing to solve the problem.
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Episode 4 - Orangutans of the Rain Forest
Release Date: 1987-02-10NOVA cameras travel to Borneo, one of the last habitats of the wild orangutans, where scientists study the endangered ape. Who is observing whom? It is not always clear.
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Episode 5 - Freud Under Analysis
Release Date: 1987-02-17Fifty years after his death, the creator of psychoanalysis is still the subject of intense debate. Was Freud right or wrong? NOVA profiles the enigmatic man and his controversial legacy.
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Episode 6 - The Hole in the Sky
Release Date: 1987-02-24NOVA travels to Antarctica with an emergency scientific expedition to study a baffling "hole" in the Earth's protective ozone layer.
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Episode 7 - Confessions of a Weaponeer
Release Date: 1987-03-03Harvard chemist George Kistiakowsky was an anti-Bolshevik soldier in 1919 Russia, an atomic bomb scientist at Los Alamos, a presidential advisor in the Eisenhower White House and an arms control activist. Shortly before Kistiakowsky death, he recounts his eventful career to interviewer Carl Sagan.
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Episode 8 - Great Moments from NOVA
Release Date: 1987-03-10NOVA presents two hours of the best from its 14 seasons of exciting science coverage. A "talking" chimp, an exploding volcano and a sight-and-sound space video are but a few of the memorable segments. Richard Kiley hosts.
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Episode 9 - Will the World Starve?
Release Date: 1987-03-24All over the world, farmers are taking more from the soil than they return. NOVA reports on the soil crisis in world agriculture—a plight that has already resulted in massive starvation.
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Episode 10 - The Desert Doesn't Bloom Here Anymore
Release Date: 1987-03-31In rich and poor countries alike, once-productive farms are turning to desert because of mismanagement of water resources. NOVA examines the causes and cures of desertification.
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Episode 11 - Rocky Road to Jupiter
Release Date: 1987-04-07In a case study of the strengths and weaknesses of the United States space program, NOVA chronicles the ambitious and long-delayed Galileo mission to Jupiter—still on the ground long after its planned May 1986 launch.
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Episode 12 - Death of a Star
Release Date: 1987-10-06Why do stars explode and how is the energy generated? What is the effect of all those little “aftermath” particles floating through space? Nova: Death of a Star is a 60-minute science documentary that explores rare astronomical events in all their dimensions. The film features the 1987 explosion of a supernova - first observed by a Canadian astronomer in Chile - and discusses its impact on the universe. Witness the celestial phenomena that baffles the scientific community as you travel from South America to Japan to Cleveland. A discussion of supernova neutrinos is a special highlight of the tape.
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Episode 13 - Spy Machines
Release Date: 1987-10-13On the 25th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis, NOVA investigates the spy planes and satellites that played a critical role in history and influence arms control today.
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Episode 14 - Hidden Power of Plants
Release Date: 1987-10-20Plants produce some of the world's most potent chemicals in the fight against disease. NOVA follows the urgent efforts to track down new medicines in nature.
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Episode 15 - Japan's American Genius
Release Date: 1987-10-27Is Detroit inventor Stanford Ovshinsky the new Thomas Edison? Japanese industries are betting that the genius behind amorphous materials-a simpler and less expensive alternative to silicon-is onto something big.
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Episode 16 - A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama
Release Date: 1987-11-03The Panama Canal opened in 1914 after a 30-year effort that dwarfed the building of the pyramids. Historian David McCullough navigates through the canal and tells the story of the human drama behind the engineering feat.
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Episode 17 - Volcano!
Release Date: 1987-11-10Millions live in the shadows of nature's ticking time-bombs—volcanos. NOVA accompanies scientists who are developing new techniques to predict when volcanos will erupt and how violently.
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Episode 18 - How Good is Soviet Science?
Release Date: 1987-11-17Princeton professor and author Robert Mark tracks down the engineering secrets of some of the beautiful buildings in the world including Notre Dame in Paris, St. Paul in London and the Roman Pantheon.
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Episode 19 - Ancient Treasures from the Deep
Release Date: 1987-12-01NOVA joins underwater archaeologists as they explore the oldest shipwreck ever excavated, a richly-laden merchant vessel dating from the time of King Tut.
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Episode 20 - Riddle of the Joints
Release Date: 1987-12-08A trail of evidence leading from a medieval abbey to a small town in Connecticut sheds new light on rheumatoid arthritis, a crippling inflammation of the joints with no known cause or cure.
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Episode 21 - Secrets of the Lost Red Paint People
Release Date: 1987-12-15NOVA follows archaeologists as they unearth clues, some 7,000 years old, about an unknown, mysterious and advanced sea-faring people who lived along the North Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada.