NOVA
Season 21

s21e01 / The NOVA Quiz

6th Oct '93 - 1:00am
The NOVA Quiz Summary

NOVA fans from around the country match wits in a fast-paced contest of general science knowledge celebrating NOVA's 20th anniversary. Famous guests pose questions for the viewers at home.

86 have watched this episode

s21e02 / Wanted: Butch and Sundance

13th Oct '93 - 1:00am
Wanted: Butch and Sundance Summary

Forensic sleuth Clyde Snow and a posse of experts travel to Bolivia in search of the remains of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They find Hollywood and legend got a few things wrong.

86 have watched this episode

s21e03 / Secrets of the Psychics

20th Oct '93 - 1:00am
Secrets of the Psychics Summary

Magician James "The Amazing" Randi tests the claims of mind readers, fortune tellers, faith healers and others with purported paranormal powers. As a magician, "I know how people are deceived," Randi says.

86 have watched this episode

s21e04 / Dying to Breathe

27th Oct '93 - 1:00am
Dying to Breathe Summary

NOVA covers the tense vigil of three people with terminal lung disease as they await the most complex of all organ transplants - a new lung. Months of waiting end in a few frenzied hours of intricate surgery.

86 have watched this episode

s21e05 / Shadow of the Condor

3rd Nov '93 - 2:00am
Shadow of the Condor Summary

NOVA soars with the condor, an extraordinary bird that lives a tenuous existence in the California mountains and the Andes of South America. Footage includes never-before-photographed nesting sites in the cliffs of Patagonia.

86 have watched this episode

s21e06 / The Real Jurassic Park

10th Nov '93 - 2:00am
The Real Jurassic Park Summary

With help from director Steven Spielberg, author Michael Crichton and a host of scientific experts , NOVA investigates what it would take to recreate the dinosaur theme park in Jurassic Park. It won't be as easy as it was for Hollywood.

86 have watched this episode

s21e07 / Roller Coaster!

17th Nov '93 - 2:00am
Roller Coaster! Summary

NOVA takes viewers on the ride of their lives as it explores the science of roller coasters, where physics and psychology meet. New rides of the future may take place entirely in the mind - with virtual reality.

86 have watched this episode

s21e08 / Mysterious Crash of Flight 201

1st Dec '93 - 2:00am
Mysterious Crash of Flight 201 Summary

US federal investigators are called in to determine the cause of a mysterious jetliner crash in Panama. Nothing about the accident makes sense, until a key clue emerges.

86 have watched this episode

s21e09 / Great Moments from NOVA

8th Dec '93 - 2:00am
Great Moments from NOVA Summary

Bill Cosby guides viewers through the most exciting footage from two decades of NOVA in a 20th anniversary salute. Real-life action, adventure, mystery, drama and non-stop discovery fill this 90-minute special.

86 have watched this episode

s21e10 / The Best Mind Since Einstein

22nd Dec '93 - 2:00am
The Best Mind Since Einstein Summary

A profile of the late Richard Feynman - atomic bomb pioneer, Nobel prize-winning physicist, acclaimed teacher and all-around eccentric, who helped solve the mystery of the space shuttle Challenger explosion.

86 have watched this episode

s21e11 / Stranger in the Mirror

29th Dec '93 - 2:00am
Stranger in the Mirror Summary

NOVA explores the nature of human perception through the puzzling condition called visual agnosia, the inability to recognize faces and familiar objects, made famous in Oliver Sacks' book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

86 have watched this episode

s21e12 / Codebreakers

19th Jan '94 - 2:00am
Codebreakers Summary

NOVA delves into the history of secret communications and the people who wrack their brains to decipher them. The program probes the most celebrated of all cryptographic coups: the breaking of the World War II codes used by Japan and Germany and how code-breaking helped shorten the war.

86 have watched this episode

s21e13 / Dinosaurs of the Gobi

26th Jan '94 - 2:00am
Dinosaurs of the Gobi Summary

Velociraptors and primitive birds are among the fabulous fossil finds as NOVA accompanies an American Museum of Natural History expedition to the Gobi Desert. The trip relives the exploits of the Museum's dashing explorer of the 1920s, Roy Chapman Andrews -said to be the real-life model for Indiana Jones.

86 have watched this episode

s21e14 / Daredevils of the Sky

2nd Feb '94 - 2:00am
Daredevils of the Sky Summary

NOVA follows members of the US Aerobatic Team as they prepare for and compete in the 1992 World Aerobatic Championship. The sport, as precisely choreographed as gymnastics-except that it takes place in airplanes at 200 miles per hour-has always been on the leading edge of developments in aviation.

86 have watched this episode

s21e15 / Journey to Kilimanjaro

9th Feb '94 - 2:00am
Journey to Kilimanjaro Summary

NOVA explores ice-capped mountains-on the equator. These African giants are magical islands of life towering above the scorched plains. Giant forest hogs, bearded vultures, the elusive bongo and other exotic creatures live in this harsh and isolated high country.

87 have watched this episode

s21e16 / Can Chimps Talk?

16th Feb '94 - 2:00am
Can Chimps Talk? Summary

NOVA covers exciting and controversial research with chimpanzees who have been trained to express themselves with human symbols. Are they speaking their minds? Or are they just aping their trainers?

86 have watched this episode

s21e17 / In Search of Human Origins, Part One

1st Mar '94 - 2:00am
In Search of Human Origins, Part One Summary

In the first of a three-part series, noted anthropologist Donald Johanson probes the earliest ancestors of the human species - reaching back more than three million years to a strange ape who walked upright. Johanson takes viewers to the site in Ethiopia where he discovered the fossil remains of this missing link nicknamed "Lucy".

86 have watched this episode

s21e18 / In Search of Human Origins, Part Two

2nd Mar '94 - 2:00am
In Search of Human Origins, Part Two Summary

Anthropologist Donald Johanson looks at how our human ancestors of two million years ago made their living. Contrary to popular myth, scavenging was a more lucrative living than hunting-and may have contributed to the development of human intelligence.

86 have watched this episode

s21e19 / In Search of Human Origins, Part Three

3rd Mar '94 - 2:00am
In Search of Human Origins, Part Three Summary

At what point did our distant ancestors become anatomically like us? And, more importantly, when did they begin to act like us? Anthropologist Donald Johanson looks at what it is that makes us human.

86 have watched this episode

s21e20 / Can China Kick the Habit?

13th Apr '94 - 1:00am
Can China Kick the Habit? Summary

NOVA visits the most cigarette-addicted nation in the world-China. Western advertising and trading practices have exacerbated the fatal romance with smoking in the world's most populous country, where lung cancer cases are beginning to strain the nation's health care system.

86 have watched this episode

s21e21 / Aircraft Carrier!

20th Apr '94 - 1:00am
Aircraft Carrier! Summary

NOVA experiences the relentless, round-the-clock life aboard the US Navy aircraft carrier, Independence-where every day is a constant drill of launching and landing aircraft atop a floating city of 5,000 people. The action includes Topballoon mock combat exercises and live-ammunition patrols over Iraq.

86 have watched this episode
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