Where is airing: PBS
For what age: 8+
How many episodes in 36 season: 17 episodes
An investigative look in Alaska where the scientists delve 60 feet into the permafrost, to examine how dinosaurs handled the Arctic climate over 65 million years earlier. Included is a look at the dinosaur's diet, and reasons on why they may have become extinct.
An exploration in the 2003 space shuttle Columbia tragedy, with interviews from NASA engineer Rodney Rocha, flight director Leroy Cain, astronauts and the Columbia Accident Investigation Board members. Also, a detailed look at the history of the space shuttle program and the design changes made which may have played a role in both the Challenger and Columbia explosions and a look at what lays ahead for the program.
Mark Oliver Everett, lead singer of the Eels investigates the father he hardly knows: quantum physicist Hugh Everett III (1930-82), who formulated Many Worlds Theory (which postulated the existence of parallel worlds) back in 1957. Hardly noticed back in his time, the theory is now embraced by science fiction and scientists. His son discovers that this rejection caused Hugh Everett III to turn his back on quantum physics.
Fractals are more than just pretty pictures. These simple but sophisticated equations describe the world we live in, from forest growth patterns to the beating of a human heart, and they are inspiring new investigation in myriad fields of science and technology.
An investigation of the discovered remains of a hobbit-sized people on the Indonesian island of Flores, which is believed to be around 18,000 years old. Scientists will check to see if these remains are from an previously unknown branch of human species, or that of a malformed person.
A look at the early beginnings of Judaism and Old Testament which uses archeological evidence and literary research to learn of the monotheism and ancient Israelites, which includes where they came from and who they were. With the use of digital animation sequences and reenactments accenting this work along with interviews with biblical archeologists, as do the finds, which includes a carving of the Hebrew alphabet and evidence of the existence of the "House of David".
A trip to Sausalito, CA. and the Marine Mammal Center, to view the work of the veterinarians who treat injured ocean animals. Includes: how Dr. Frances Gulland, the clinic director of veterinary science, discovered a new neurological illness affecting the seas lions in California and harbor seal pups. Then, Gulland travels to Oahu, Hawaii, to work on Hawaiian monk seals, an endangered species. Also, a look how humans impacty the sea life.
NASA has been sending up Mars rovers on missions for years now, with earthbound scientists controlling their paths where they have found subsurface ice and discuss whether the evidence points to past or present life on the Red Planet. Includes theories which may explain why Mars has become such an inhospitable planet, and why the North and South hemispheres are so different.
An examination of California's alternative-energy efforts which eco-celebrities Ed Begley Jr. and Bill Nye helped bring forth. Includes Luscious Garage in San Francisco, which makes custom made hybrid cars; and the wind turbines of Tehachapi Valley. Also, whether their efforts can be sustained during the economic downturn.
Orange-and-black wings fill the sky as NOVA charts one of nature's most remarkable phenomena: the epic migration of monarch butterflies across North America. To capture a butterfly's point of view, NOVA's filmmakers used a helicopter, ultralight, and hot-air balloon for aerial views along the transcontinental route. This wondrous annual migration, which scientists are just beginning to fathom, is an endangered phenomenon that could dwindle to insignificance if the giant firs that the butterflies cling to during the winter disappear.
A look inside our National Security Agency, the security organization which intercepts our communications, including its supposed failures before 9/11 and its new eavesdropping system since. It also examines whether their practices are too broad and its load of unusable information just may drown out the critical information. Also featured are interviews with former FBI, CIA and NSA officials.
Once every 48 years, bamboo forests in parts of northeast India go into exuberant flower. Then, like clockwork, the flowering is invariably followed by a plague of black rats that appear to spring from nowhere to spread destruction and famine in their wake. For the first time on film, NOVA and National Geographic capture this rat population explosion in vivid detail and show how scientists are unraveling the connections between bamboo flowering and rat outbreaks. Ultimately, their research should help local people better cope with the next attack-due in 2056.
In collaboration with National Geographic, NOVA follows the exploits of acclaimed photojournalist James Balog and a scientific team as they deploy time-lapse cameras in risky, remote locations in the Alps and Arctic, including Alaska and Greenland. Grappling with blizzards, fickle technology, and climbs up craggy precipices, the team must anchor cameras capable of withstanding subzero temperatures and winds up to 170 miles per hour. In this high-action scientific adventure, NOVA and National Geographic investigate the mystery of the mighty ice sheets, whose still-unknown behavior will affect the fate of coastlines around the world.
What huged the mammoths? Near the end of the last ice age 13,000 years ago, these mighty beasts disappeared from North America together with some 35 other groups of mammals, including giant ground sloths, saber-tooth cats, and American lions. For four decades, debate has raged over the cause of their abrupt demise. In Last Extinction, NOVA presents an exclusive in-depth investigation of a bold and controversial new hypothesis, which suggests that a massive impact from space could be the culprit. According to the theory, an incoming comet broke up over North America in a devastating series of explosions, causing widespread forest fires and wiping out plants, animals, and prehistoric people. The evidence comes from a mysterious black mat layer discovered at more that fifty sites across the continent. The black mat contains exotic materials including rare microscopic nanodiamonds that are claimed to be the signature of an extraterrestrial impact. But other scholars question the evidence and argue that ancient hunters armed with a lethal stone weapon the Clovis spear point drove the giant beasts into oblivion. Still others believe the unstable climate at the end of the Ice Age was responsible. NOVA explores the dramatic new evidence of a cosmic explosion and the possibility that all three explanations may be correct.
In 1987, NOVA's cameras began rolling to chronicle the lives of seven young, bright medical students embarking on the longest and most rigorous endeavor in higher education: the years-long journey to become a doctor. From their first days at Harvard Medical School to the present day, none of them could have predicted what it would take, personally and professionally. In "Doctors' Diaries", a two-hour special, NOVA returns to find out what sorts of doctors-and people-the seven young students have become. The program is the latest installment in the longest-running U.S. documentary of its kind.
The story of seven Harvard Medical students which NOVA has been tracking since 1987. Only one has chosen another direction other than being a doctor, and she became the president of Echoing Green, a non-profit group which lends support to people and groups which work to improve society.
An exploration of the effect of music on the brain via four case studies from neurologist Oliver Sacks book "Musicopia" and the MRI visualizations from Sacks' own brain as classical music is played, including Bach's "Mass in B Minor". Study subjects include a man with Tourettes syndrome who has found relief while playing the drums; an autistic savant who is simply dazzling on the piano; a woman who suffers the inability to process music, known as amusia; and a surgeon whose life changed after being struck by lightning.
