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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15x01 Top Gun and Beyond
20 January, 1988 5:00 am
Today's sophisticated fighter jets can almost fly themselves, but well-trained pilots are still needed to win air battles. NOVA looks at how planes and pilots are adapting to high technology.
15x02 How to Create a Junk Food
27 January, 1988 5:00 am
Julia Child introduces NOVA's behind-the-scenes look at how science aids in the creation of snack foods.
15x03 Buried in Ice
03 February, 1988 5:00 am
Scientists investigate the frozen remains of members of the 19th century Franklin Expedition to the Canadian Arctic and ask why all perished.
15x04 Why Planes Burn
10 February, 1988 5:00 am
Airplane fires are often deadly. NOVA looks at efforts to make fires aboard planes less likely and more survivable.
15x05 Battles in the War on Cancer: A Wonder Drug on Trial
24 February, 1988 5:00 am
In part one of a two-part special presentation, NOVA reports on the trials to determine whether the new drug Interleukin-2—the first to make use of the body's own disease-fighting strategy—will live up to its promise as a pivotal cancer breakthrough. Jane Pauley of NBC News hosts and narrates.
15x06 Battles in the War on Cancer: Breast Cancer - Turning the Tide
02 March, 1988 5:00 am
Breast cancer claims the lives of four American women every hour. Jane Pauley of NBC News hosts and narrates this NOVA report on stepped-up efforts to reduce the death rate from this all-too-common killer.
15x07 Mystery of the Master Builders
09 March, 1988 5:00 am
Princeton 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.
15x08 Whale Rescue
16 March, 1988 5:00 am
It was a blustery day in December 1986, and the New England Coast was in the midst of a winter storm, accompanied by strong on-shore gales and an unusually high tide—conditions perfect for stranding whales in the confined shallows of Cape Cod. NOVA recounts this tragic episode and the happy suprise ending for the young whales who survived after being nursed back to health by the New England Aquarium in Boston.
15x09 The Man Who Loved Numbers
23 March, 1988 5:00 am
NOVA explores the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a poor clerk from India who astounded mathematicians in the 1910s with his brilliant insight into the world of numbers.
15x10 Race for the Superconductor
30 March, 1988 6:00 am
NOVA charts an electronics revolution in the making as Japan and the United States race to develop a material that will conduct electricity at room temperature with zero resistance.
15x11 Can You Still Get Polio?
06 April, 1988 5:00 am
Most cases of polio in this country are caused by the vaccine designed to prevent it. NOVA examines the controvery surrounding the nation's vaccine policy.
15x12 Pioneers of Surgery: The Brutal Craft
07 September, 1988 5:00 am
Part one of a four-part series on the pioneers of modern surgery relives the early days, when surgery was practiced without the benefit of anaesthesia or antisceptics and patients usually died.
15x13 Pioneers of Surgery: Into the Heart
14 September, 1988 5:00 am
Once unthinkable, open-heart surgery is now an everyday miracle. NOVA looks at the brave doctors and patients who make it possible.
15x14 Pioneers of Surgery: New Organs for Old
21 September, 1988 5:00 am
From kidneys to hearts, NOVA examines the daring attempts to replace diseased organs with transplanted ones.
15x15 Pioneers of Surgery: Beyond the Knife
28 September, 1988 5:00 am
Surgeons have always been eager to help patients, even at the risk of killing them. NOVA looks at some of the excesses of surgery, and at how new drugs and technologies are rendering some operations obsolete.
15x16 Can the Vatican Save the Sistine Chapel?
05 October, 1988 5:00 am
Science meets art in the controversial effort to restore Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel frescoes.
15x17 Can the Next President Win the Space Race?
12 October, 1988 5:00 am
Thirty years after Sputnik, the United States space program is mired in uncertainty, while the Russians, Europeans, Japanese and others sprint onward and upward.
15x18 Do Scientists Cheat?
26 October, 1988 4:00 am
NOVA examines the troubling question of scientific fraud: How prevalent is it? Who commits it? And what happens when the perpetrators are caught?
15x19 Who Shot President Kennedy?
16 November, 1988 5:00 am
Using previously unavailable technology, NOVA probes the available evidence surrounding the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.
15x20 The Light Stuff
23 November, 1988 5:00 am
Reliving a Greek myth takes an effort of mythic proportions, as NOVA reveals in its behind-the-scenes report of a human powered-flight across the Aegean Sea, a journey that symbolically recreated the mythical flight of Daedalus. NOVA follows the epic journey of the human-powered plane Daedalus 88 from the early prototypes to its dramatic landing in the surf after a 74-mile flight from the island of Crete to Santorini.
15x21 The All-American Bear
07 December, 1988 5:00 am
The life of the shy, intelligent black bear in the wild—foraging, mating, playing and constantly preparing for its remarkable hibernation—is captured for the first time on film by NOVA.
15x22 Can We Make a Better Doctor?
14 December, 1988 5:00 am
NOVA embarks on a 10-year project to profile—in its entirety—the education of a doctor. In the premiere episode, we follow a handful of students as they start their freshman year at Harvard Medical School under a revolutionary program emphasizing early clinical contact with patients.
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