Storyline

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.

First Aired

1974-03-03
Last Aired

2025-01-22
Creator
Genre

Documentary
Seasons

52
Episodes

996
Status

Returning Series
Language

English
Network

PBS

Keywords:

nature candid inspirational factual dramatic informative instructive

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Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Season 7

Season 8

Season 9

Season 10

Season 11

Season 12

Season 13

Season 14

Season 15

Season 16

Season 17

Season 18

Season 19

Season 20

Season 21

Season 22

Season 23

Season 24

Season 25

Season 26

Season 27

Season 28

Season 29

Season 30

Season 31

Season 32

Season 33

Season 34

Season 35

Season 36

Season 37

Season 38

Season 39

Season 40

Season 41

Season 42

Season 43

Season 44

Season 45

Season 46

Season 47

Season 48

Season 49

Season 50

Season 51

Season 52

1. The Making Of A Natural History Film

NOVA premieres on public television with a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a nature film. Oxfo...More

NOVA premieres on public television with a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a nature film. Oxford Scientific Films Unit shows how it tackles such problems as filming a wood-wasp laying its egg inside trees, the hatching of a chick and the courtship rituals of the stickleback.Less

55mins 1974-03-03

2. Where Did the Colorado Go?

NOVA explores the mighty Colorado River which today has become the life-blood of the Southwest, provid...More

NOVA explores the mighty Colorado River which today has become the life-blood of the Southwest, providing water and electricity to the farms and cities of California, Nevada, and Arizona. The program examines the political expediency and technological over-optimism that has led to some major miscalculations of the river's capacity.Less

55mins 1974-03-10

3. Whales, Dolphins, and Men

NOVA explores the impact of whaling and the goods it produces for the industry, verses the grace and b...More

NOVA explores the impact of whaling and the goods it produces for the industry, verses the grace and beatury of this intelligent mammal of the sea.Less

55mins 1974-03-17

4. The Search For Life

Does life exist outside this planet? The Viking lander will set down on Mars in July 1976 to try to fi...More

Does life exist outside this planet? The Viking lander will set down on Mars in July 1976 to try to find out just that. NOVA explores how life started on Earth and examines the Viking Lander being built in its germ-free room before starting its long journey.Less

55mins 1974-03-24

5. Last of the Cuiva

How does a primitive nomadic tribe of the Amazon basin cope with the encroachment of Western settlers?...More

How does a primitive nomadic tribe of the Amazon basin cope with the encroachment of Western settlers? NOVA looks at both sides of the story, revealing the misunderstandings between the two cultures.Less

55mins 1974-03-31

6. Strange Sleep

Medicine was transformed in the 19th century by the discovery of anesthesia; surgery, until then hasty...More

Medicine was transformed in the 19th century by the discovery of anesthesia; surgery, until then hasty, bloody and completely unable to deal with internal disorders, subsequently took its place in the front rank of medical practice. This NOVA docudrama depicts the pioneers of medicine.Less

55mins 1974-04-07

7. The Crab Nebula

In 1054 AD, the Chinese recorded the explosion of a star so bright that it lit the sky for three weeks...More

In 1054 AD, the Chinese recorded the explosion of a star so bright that it lit the sky for three weeks, even during the day. It was the explosion of a dying star that was bigger than our sun. NOVA explores this mysterious explosion that led to the discovery of Crab Nebula.Less

55mins 1974-04-14

8. Bird Brain: The Mystery of Bird Navigation

Birds migrate in search of perpetual summer, sometimes traveling as much as 20,000 miles every year. N...More

Birds migrate in search of perpetual summer, sometimes traveling as much as 20,000 miles every year. NOVA uses radar to track and identify migrating birds that travel at night, focusing on how they coose routes tat avoid bad weather and make the best of prevailing winds—information that can aid meteorologists.Less

55mins 1974-04-21

9. Are You Doing This for Me, Doctor?

The advance of medicine depends inevitably on the testing of experimental procedures on human voluntee...More

The advance of medicine depends inevitably on the testing of experimental procedures on human volunteers from either the healthy or the sick. Yet such procedures are often dangerous, and may not be of direct benefit to the subject. NOVA examines how individuals' interests are safeguarded, and asks, under what circumstances experiments should be conducted on children.Less

55mins 1974-04-28

10. The First Signs Of Washoe

Washoe is a chimp more like a person: she talks with her hands. NOVA visits with Washoe and her teache...More

Washoe is a chimp more like a person: she talks with her hands. NOVA visits with Washoe and her teachers—Professor Allen Gardner and Dr. Trixie Gardner—to learn more about this unusual animal.Less

55mins 1974-05-05

11. The Case of the Midwife Toad

When Paul Kammerer committed suicide in 1926, it was taken by most of his fellow biologists as a tacit...More

When Paul Kammerer committed suicide in 1926, it was taken by most of his fellow biologists as a tacit admission of guilt that he had faked his experiments purporting to show the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Arthur Koestler joins NOVA in an in-depth examination of Kammerer's infamous experiment.Less

55mins 1974-05-12

12. Fusion: The Energy of Promise

Nuclear fusion offers the promises of an unlimited, clean source of energy. But achieving fusion has p...More

Nuclear fusion offers the promises of an unlimited, clean source of energy. But achieving fusion has proved one of the most difficult and elusive goals of the physicist. NOVA tells the story of the twists and turns and the international competition along the road toward the achievement of fusion; and details the recent breakthroughs which seem at last to have brought it within reach.Less

55mins 1974-05-19

13. The Mystery Of The Anasazi

Who were the people that built the first cities -- complete with apartment blocks -- in North America?...More

Who were the people that built the first cities -- complete with apartment blocks -- in North America? They were the Anasazi Indians, who lived in the Southwest for some eight or nine thousand years and who then, in about 1300 AD, abruptly abandoned their cities and apparently disappeared. NOVA traces the steps of this ancient sophisticated culture.Less