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NOVA

PBS Documentary 4.0/5 · 2 votes

What it is

Seen in more than 100 countries, NOVA is the most watched science television series in the world and the most watched documentary series on PBS. It is also one of television's most acclaimed series, having won every major television award, most of them many times over. (Source of summary and banner: TheTVDB.com)

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Making North America: Part 3

s43e09 · 2015-11-19

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Episode guide

22 this season · 801 total
s40e01 Secrets of the Viking Sword 2012-10-11 01:00

Secrets of the Viking Sword

s40e01 · 2012-10-11 · 01:00

The Vikings were among the fiercest warriors of all time. Yet only a select few carried the ultimate weapon of their era: the feared Ulfberht sword. Fashioned using a process that would remain unknown to the Vikings' rivals for centuries, the Ulfberht was a revolutionary high-tech tool as well as a work of art. Considered one of the greatest swords ever made, it remains a fearsome weapon more than a millennium after it last saw battle. But how did Viking sword makers design and build the Ulfberht, and what was its role in history? Now, NOVA uses cutting-edge science and old-fashioned detective work to reconstruct the Ulfberht and finally unravel the mystery of the Viking sword.

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s40e02 Forensics on Trial 2012-10-18 01:00

Forensics on Trial

s40e02 · 2012-10-18 · 01:00

There is a startling gap between the glamorous television world of "CSI" and the gritty reality of the forensic crime lab. With few established scientific standards, no central oversight and poor regulation of examiners, forensics in the U.S. is in a state of crisis. NOVA investigates how modern forensics, including the analysis of fingerprints, bite marks, ballistics, hair and tool marks, can send innocent men and women to prison — and sometimes even to death row. Of more than 250 inmates exonerated by DNA testing over the last decade, more than half of the wrongful convictions stemmed from invalid or improperly handled forensics. With the help of vivid recreations of actual trials and cases, NOVA investigates today's shaky state of crime science as well as cutting-edge solutions that could help investigators put the real criminals behind bars.

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s40e03 Mystery of Easter Island 2012-11-08 02:00

Mystery of Easter Island

s40e03 · 2012-11-08 · 02:00

A remote, bleak speck of rock in the middle of the Pacific, Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, has mystified the world ever since the first Europeans arrived in 1722. How and why did the ancient islanders build and move nearly 900 giant statues, or moai, weighing up to 86 tons? And how did they transform a presumed paradise into a treeless wasteland, bringing ruin upon their island and themselves? NOVA explores controversial recent claims that challenge decades of previous thinking about the islanders, who have been accused of everything from ecocide to cannibalism. Among the radical new theories is that the islanders used ropes to "walk" the statues upright, like moving a fridge. With the help of an accurate 15-ton replica statue, a NOVA team sets out to test this high-risk, seemingly unlikely theory -- serving up plenty of action and surprises in this fresh investigation of one of the ancient world's most intriguing enigmas.

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s40e04 Ultimate Mars Challenge 2012-11-15 02:00

Ultimate Mars Challenge

s40e04 · 2012-11-15 · 02:00

It could be NASA's last chance to set wheels down on Mars until the end of the decade: This August, a rover named Curiosity will touch down inside Mars. Gale Crater, carrying 10 new instruments that will advance the quest for signs that Mars might once have been suitable for life. But Curiosity's mission is risky. After parachuting through the Martian atmosphere at twice the speed of sound, Curiosity will be gently lowered to the planet's surface by a "sky crane". This first-of-its-kind system has been tested on Earth, but will it work on Mars? With inside access to the massive team of scientists and engineers responsible for Curiosity's on-the-ground experiments, NOVA will be there for the exhilarating moments after Curiosity's landing -- and for the spectacular discoveries to come.

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s40e05 Inside the Megastorm 2012-11-19 02:00

Inside the Megastorm

s40e05 · 2012-11-19 · 02:00

Was Hurricane Sandy a freak combination of weather systems? Or are hurricanes increasing in intensity due to a warming climate? How did this perfect storm make search and rescue so dangerous? "Inside the Megastorm" takes viewers moment-by-moment through Hurricane Sandy, its impact and the future of storm protection. Through first-person accounts from survivors and from experts and scientists, the program gives scientific context to a new breed of storm.

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s40e06 Doomsday Volcanoes 2013-01-03 02:00

Doomsday Volcanoes

s40e06 · 2013-01-03 · 02:00

The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010 turned much of the northern hemisphere into an ash-strewn no-fly zone. But Eyjafjallajökull was just the start. Katla, an Icelandic volcano 10 times bigger, has begun to swell and grumble. Two more giants, Hekla and Laki, could erupt without warning. Iceland is a ticking time bomb: When it blows, the consequences will be global. Meet scientists trying to understand those consequences -- for air travel and for the global food supply and Earth's climate. Could we be plunged into years of cold and famine? What can we do to prepare for the coming disaster?

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s40e07 Decoding Neanderthals 2013-01-10 02:00

Decoding Neanderthals

s40e07 · 2013-01-10 · 02:00

What happened when the first modern humans encountered Neanderthals 60,000 years ago? In 2010, a team led by geneticist Svante Paabo announced that they had reconstructed much of the Neanderthal genome and the analysis showed that modern humans and Neanderthals had interbred, leaving a small signature of Neanderthal genes in everyone outside Africa today. NOVA explores the implications of this exciting discovery. Were Neanderthals really mentally inferior, as inexpressive and clumsy as the cartoon caveman they inspired? NOVA examines a range of new evidence for Neanderthal self-expression and language, suggesting that we may have underestimated our long-vanished cousins.

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s40e08 Rise of the Drones 2013-01-24 02:00

Rise of the Drones

s40e08 · 2013-01-24 · 02:00

Drones. These unmanned flying robots -- some as large as jumbo jets, others as small as birds -- do things straight out of science fiction. Much of what it takes to get these robotic airplanes to fly, sense and kill has remained secret. But now, with unprecedented access to drone engineers (including a rare interview with the "Father of the Predator," Abe Karem) and those who operate drones for the U.S. military, NOVA reveals the amazing technologies that make them so powerful. Discover the cutting-edge technologies that are propelling us toward a new chapter in aviation history.

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s40e09 Who Killed Lindbergh's Baby? 2013-01-31 02:00

Who Killed Lindbergh's Baby?

s40e09 · 2013-01-31 · 02:00

In the aftermath of his 1927 solo transatlantic flight, Charles Lindbergh became the most famous human being on earth. When he and his wife, Anne, had a son, Charlie, the press dubbed him Little Lindy. On March 1, 1932, kidnappers snatched Little Lindy from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey. Negotiations stretched out for weeks, but Charlie never returned. His body was discovered not five miles from Hopewell. Now, NOVA is reopening one of the most confounding crime mysteries of all time as a team of expert investigators employs state-of-the-art forensic and behavioral science techniques in an effort to determine what really happened to Lindbergh's baby - and why.

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s40e10 Building Pharaoh's Chariot 2013-02-07 02:00

Building Pharaoh's Chariot

s40e10 · 2013-02-07 · 02:00

Some historians claim that the Egyptian chariot launched a technological and strategic revolution and was the secret weapon behind Egypt's greatest era of conquest known as the New Kingdom. But was the chariot really a revolutionary design? How decisive was its role in the bloody battles of the ancient world? A team of archaeologists, engineers, woodworkers and horse trainers builds and tests two accurate replicas of Egyptian royal chariots. Driving them to their limits in the desert outside Cairo, NOVA's experts test the claim that the chariot marks a crucial turning point in ancient military history.

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s40e11 Earth From Space 2013-02-14 02:00

Earth From Space

s40e11 · 2013-02-14 · 02:00

This groundbreaking special reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of Earth. Produced in consultation with NASA scientists, "Earth From Space" takes data from earth-observing satellites and transforms them into dazzling visual sequences, each one exposing the intricate web of forces that sustain life on earth. See the astonishing beauty and complexity of our dynamic planet: how dust blown from the Sahara fertilizes the Amazon; how a vast submarine "waterfall" off Antarctica helps drive ocean currents around the world; and how the sun's heating of the southern Atlantic gives birth to a colossally powerful hurricane.

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s40e12 Mind of a Rampage Killer 2013-02-21 02:00

Mind of a Rampage Killer

s40e12 · 2013-02-21 · 02:00

What makes a person walk into a theater or church or classroom and open fire? What combination of circumstances compels a human being to commit the most inhuman of crimes? As the nation tries to comprehend the tragic events in Newtown, NOVA correspondent Miles O'Brien investigates theories that rampage killers are driven most of all by the wish to die, not the urge to kill. Could suicide--and the desire to go out in a media-fueled blaze of glory--be their main motivation? How much can science tell us about a brain at risk for violence? Most important, can we recognize dangerous minds in time to stop the next Newtown?

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s40e13 Meteor Strike 2013-03-28 01:00

Meteor Strike

s40e13 · 2013-03-28 · 01:00

On the morning of February 15, 2013, a 7,000-ton asteroid crashed into the Earth's atmosphere, exploded and fell to earth across a wide swath near the Ural Mountains. The Siberian meteor was captured by digital dashboard cameras, a common fixture in Russian cars and trucks. Within days, armed with this crowd-sourced material, NOVA crews, along with impact scientists, hit the ground in Russia to hunt for debris from the explosion and clues to the meteor's origin and makeup. Is our solar system a deadly celestial shooting gallery -- with Earth in the cross-hairs? What are the chances that another, even more massive, asteroid is heading straight for us? Are we just years, months or days away from a total global reboot of civilization, or worse?

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s40e14 Ancient Computer 2013-04-04 01:00

Ancient Computer

s40e14 · 2013-04-04 · 01:00

An unpromising lump of metal found in a 2,000-year-old shipwreck turns out to be an extraordinary treasure: the world's first computer. NOVA follows the ingenious detective work that painstakingly discovered the truth about the ancient Greek device: it was an astonishingly sophisticated astronomical calculator and eclipse predictor, unrivaled until the era of modern science and believed to be from the workshop of Archimedes.

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s40e15 Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Awakening 2013-04-11 01:00

Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Awakening

s40e15 · 2013-04-11 · 01:00

Hidden in the red hills of Australia are clues to the mysteries of Earth's birth, how life arose and how it transformed the planet into the world we now live in. Experts unveil the earliest forms of life: an odd assortment of bacterial slime. Life like this would flood the atmosphere with oxygen and spark the biological revolution that conquered the planet. Travel with NOVA and host Dr. Richard Smith to meet the cast in the first scenes of the great drama of life on earth.

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s40e16 Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Life Explodes 2013-04-18 01:00

Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Life Explodes

s40e16 · 2013-04-18 · 01:00

How did life storm the beaches and dominate planet Earth? Ancient Australian fossils offer clues. While the oceans were teeming, the world above the waves remained an almost lifeless wasteland -- until the Silurian period, when the conquest of the land began. Host Richard Smith introduces Earth's forgotten pioneers: the scuttling arthropod armies that invaded the shores and the waves of green revolutionaries whose battle for the light pushed plant life across the face of a barren continent. Join NOVA's prehistoric adventure as four-legged animals walk onto dry land, with the planet poised for disaster.

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s40e17 Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Monsters 2013-04-25 01:00

Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Monsters

s40e17 · 2013-04-25 · 01:00

Host Richard Smith comes face-to-face with the previously unknown reptilian rulers of prehistoric Australia. NOVA resurrects the giants that stalked the land and discovers that some of them were among the largest ever to have walked the Earth. Others were some of the most dangerous. In the dry desert heart, scientists unearth an ancient inland ocean, full of sea monsters. But reptiles didn't have the world all to themselves. Mammals like the enigmatic platypus lived alongside them, ready for their day in the sun. And 65 million years ago, that day arrived.

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s40e18 Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Strange Creatures 2013-05-02 01:00

Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Strange Creatures

s40e18 · 2013-05-02 · 01:00

After the asteroid impact 65 million years ago -- believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs -- Australia was set adrift on a lonely voyage in southern seas. With host Richard Smith at the wheel, NOVA travels this walkabout continent to uncover how it became the strange island it is today. Australia's many unusual creatures, like the kangaroo and the cassowary, tell a tale of isolation, change and resilience. Australia's long history has seen mountains rise and fall, seas come and go, and whole kingdoms of life triumph and disappear. In this final episode, NOVA races down the last 65 million years to the present day.

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s40e19 Manhunt: Boston Bombers 2013-05-30 01:00

Manhunt: Boston Bombers

s40e19 · 2013-05-30 · 01:00

At 2:50 p.m. on April 15, two bomb blasts turned the Boston Marathon finish line from a scene of triumph to tragedy, leaving three dead, hundreds injured and a city gripped by heartbreak and terror. Less than five days later, the key suspects were identified and apprehended, with one dead, the other in custody. How did investigators transform the chaos of the bombing into a coherent trail of clues, pointing to the accused killers? NOVA follows the manhunt step-by-step, examining the role modern technology -- combined with old-fashioned detective work -- played in cracking the case. Given hundreds of hours of surveillance and bystander videos, how did agents spot the bad guys in a sea of spectators? Why couldn't facial recognition software I.D. the criminals? How much could bomb chemistry analysis, cell phone GPS, infrared imagery and crowd sourcing reveal about the secrets behind this horrific crime? With the help of top criminal investigators and anti-terrorism experts, NOVA explores which technological innovations worked -- and which didn't -- in the most notorious case of today, and how the world of crime fighting could be transformed tomorrow.

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s40e20 Oklahoma's Deadliest Tornadoes 2013-05-30 02:00

Oklahoma's Deadliest Tornadoes

s40e20 · 2013-05-30 · 02:00

On May 20, 2013, a ferocious F5 tornado more than a mile wide tore through Moore, Oklahoma, causing 24 deaths and obliterating entire neighborhoods. It was the third time an exceptionally violent tornado had struck the city in 14 years. Yet predicting when and where such killer storms will hit still poses a huge challenge. Why was 2011 -- the worst ever recorded tornado season that left 158 dead in Joplin, Missouri -- followed by the quietest ever year of activity prior to the Moore disaster? Can improved radar and warning technology explain why fewer died in Moore than in Joplin? And will tornadoes get worse as Earth's climate heats up? In this NOVA special, meet scientists in the front ranks of the quest to understand extreme weather events. Also meet storm survivors whose lives have been upended, and learn how we can protect ourselves and our communities for the uncertain future.

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s40e00 Predators in Your Backyard Date unavailable Time unavailable

Predators in Your Backyard

s40e00 · Date unavailable · Time unavailable

For most of our time on Earth, we humans have been the hunted, not the hunters. But today, we have conquered the predators at the top of the food chain; wild bears, wolves and big cats are in retreat. Removing predators from the wild has thrown ecosystems off-kilter, triggering domino effects that scientists are just beginning to understand. Follow scientists who are undertaking a simple, but frightening, solution: returning apex predators such as coyotes, bears and panthers to their natural environments. Will these predators restore the natural balance of their ecosystems -- or threaten the humans who live among them?

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s40e99 Predators in Your Backyard Date unavailable Time unavailable

Predators in Your Backyard

s40e99 · Date unavailable · Time unavailable

For most of our time on Earth, we humans have been the hunted, not the hunters. But today, we have conquered the predators at the top of the food chain; wild bears, wolves and big cats are in retreat. Removing predators from the wild has thrown ecosystems off-kilter, triggering domino effects that scientists are just beginning to understand. Follow scientists who are undertaking a simple, but frightening, solution: returning apex predators such as coyotes, bears and panthers to their natural environments. Will these predators restore the natural balance of their ecosystems -- or threaten the humans who live among them?

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