Where is airing: PBS
For what age: 8+
How many episodes in 34 season: 15 episodes
Detailing some of the structural reasons for the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings, employing computer animation and 9/11 footage to explain a National Institute for Standards and Technology report on the subject. Included: proposals to revise American building codes, such as increasing the width of stairways. Also: WTC lead engineer Leslie Robertson leads a tour of a complex on which he is working, the 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center.
Researchers unearth clues about the greatest Volcanic eruption of the past 100000 years.
An examination of the worst accident in civil aviation history, a March 1977 collision between two 747s on a foggy runway in Tenerife (one of the Canary Islands) that resulted in the passings of 583 people. Included: what led to the tragedy; and insights from survivors, including co-pilot Robert Bragg and flight attendant Joan Jackson. Also: a look at improvements in runway safety since, featuring comments from NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker.
Join NOVA on a mind-bending hunt for a monster lurking at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers are closing in on one of the most destructive objects in the universe ñ a supermassive black hole ñ and itís hiding right in the center of our own galaxy. Eventually, it will blast jets of radiation millions of miles its space, incinerating everything in its neighborhood, including planet Earth. For a long time, black holes were dismissed as pure science fiction. Even Albert Einstein could not bring himself to accept them, despite pioneering the theory of relativity that predicted their existence. But recently, scientists have found convincing evidence that black holes are not only real but are crucial to the life and passing of galaxies everywhere in the cosmos.From the explosive birth of a black hole to its cannibalistic passing throes, NOVA investigates one of the universeís darkest secrets. With striking special effects, Monster of the Milky Way takes viewers on a scientifically accurate voyage into the belly of a supermassive black hole. When will it erupt and destroy the Milky Way?
The flamboyant rise and tragic passing of pioneering aviator Alberto-Santos Dumont.
Experts explore the mysterious story of five siblings living in a remote Turkish village.
Follow one man's quest to engineer a submarine with panoramic views.
Against all odds, African-American chemist Percy Julian became one of the greatest scientists of the 20th-Century.
Scientists return to the jungles of Congo to further explore the peaceful lives of bonobos.
NOVA explores the lives of cuttlefish. Not actually fish, these cephalopods can change their shape and color, they can put on dazzling light shows, and they're surprisingly intelligent.
In the remote mountains of China, scientist come closer to understanding the origins of flowers.
NOVA explores solar energy and its contribution towards getting humanity off of fossil fuels.
The recent archeological discovery of the Native American Powhatan village of Werowocomoco, sheds new light on the Jamestown story of Pocahontas.
An expedition into a cavern located in the Australian outback finds complete skeletons of the Thylacoleo, a marsupial lion that died out some 30,000 to 50,000 years ago; and the remains of a giant kangaroo.
An examination of how human remains found at an ancient cemetery near Lima, Peru, coupled with forensic science and historical documents, may upend the accepted story that a small band of Spanish conquistadors brought down the Inca Empire by ambushing the Incan emperor and his army in 1532. Included: comments from Peruvian archaeologist Guillermo Cock and ethnohistorian Maria Rostworowski; the conquistadors' reliance on Native American mercenaries.
