NOVA
Season 3

s03e01 / Predictable Disaster

5th Jan '76 - 2:00am
Predictable Disaster Summary

It is now possible to predict earthquakes. At least two successful predictions have already been made in the United States; and the NOVA crew was present and filming while a third prediction was being formulated. NOVA looks at why earthquakes occur, how predictions are made, the threat they pose to cities at risk, and examines the advantages and disadvantages of making an earthquake a predictable disaster.

88 have watched this episode

s03e02 / Joey

12th Jan '76 - 2:00am
Joey Summary

NOVA takes viewers into the world of Joey Deacon, 54 years old and a spastic since birth. Joey has lived most of his life in institutions, unable to communicate with anyone until he met Ernie Roberts. The docudrama recreates Joey's story, with remarkable performances by two spastic actors portraying him as a boy and as a young man. Joey and Ernie themselves appear in the final sequences.

88 have watched this episode

s03e03 / Meditation and the Mind

19th Jan '76 - 2:00am
Meditation and the Mind Summary

What do singer Peggy Lee, New York Jets Quarterback Joe Namath and Congressman Richard Nolas have in common? They all practice a ritual called TM-Transcendental Meditation. NOVA examines the recent phenomenal success of the TM movement in America.

88 have watched this episode

s03e04 / The Planets

26th Jan '76 - 2:00am
The Planets Summary

The last fourteen years have been a revolution in our understanding of our place in the stars, the Solar System. Beginning in 1961 with a Russian spacecraft flying to Venus, quickening with the Apollo manned missions to the Moon, it came of age in the Spring of 1974, when there were six spacecrafts traveling simultaneously from the Earth to the planets. NOVA looks at the era of manned and unmanned exploration of the Solar System.

88 have watched this episode

s03e05 / A Desert Place

2nd Feb '76 - 2:00am
A Desert Place Summary

NOVA explores the mysterious ecosystem of the desert: a snowstorm; a lashing summer monsoon; and the emergence-in a pool created only minutes before-of a pair of adult spadefoot toads. Toads who had been waiting beneath the sand for a year for this brief and fortuitous moment to procreate the next generation...

88 have watched this episode

s03e06 / A Small Imperfection

9th Feb '76 - 2:00am
A Small Imperfection Summary

Every year, some 5,000 babies are born in the US with spina bifida, a congenital abnormality of the central nervous system. NOVA explores the mystery of what causes spina bifida and raises the issues of whether heroic measures should be taken to preserve the life of severely malformed babies.

88 have watched this episode

s03e07 / Ninety Degrees Below

16th Feb '76 - 2:00am
Ninety Degrees Below Summary

There's one place on earth where no one will ever catch a cold. And the freezing waters are so bitter there that a fish has been discovered to have developed its own anti-freeze. NOVA explores Antarctica-the coldest desert in the world.

88 have watched this episode

s03e08 / The Race for the Double Helix

8th Mar '76 - 2:00am
The Race for the Double Helix Summary

Author Isaac Asimov joins NOVA in the retelling of the remarkable story of the discovery of the structure of DNA. James Watson and his ex-colleague Francis Crick exchange memories of the events which led to their winning the race for the structure of the gene.

88 have watched this episode

s03e09 / The Renewable Tree

8th Mar '76 - 2:00am
The Renewable Tree Summary

Each Sunday edition of the New York Times consumes 153 acres of trees. The paper packs, napkins, paper cups and packing used by McDonald's gobble up 315 square miles of trees every day. NOVA asks if, at this rate, trees can remain a renewable resource.

88 have watched this episode

s03e10 / The Williamsburgh File

15th Mar '76 - 2:00am
The Williamsburgh File Summary

NOVA joins chief archaeologist, Ivor Noel Hume, of Colonial Williamsburg, VA, for a fascinating glimpse of the lifestyles of the founders of this country, complete with detailed reconstructions of houses, stores, workshops, gardens, taverns and palaces.

88 have watched this episode

s03e11 / The Overworked Miracle

22nd Mar '76 - 2:00am
The Overworked Miracle Summary

Today we take antibiotics for granted, and by doing so are steadily eroding their medical value. NOVA examines the problem of resistance to antibiotics in the bacteria they are designed tohug.

88 have watched this episode

s03e12 / The Transplant Experiment

12th Apr '76 - 2:00am
The Transplant Experiment Summary

Dr. Norman Shumway of Stanford University has performed more heart transplants than any other heart surgeon. NOVA explores those extraordinary days in 1968-69 when it appeared that everyone with a scalpel was doing heart transplants, and survival of patients was measured in days.

88 have watched this episode

s03e13 / The Underground Movement

19th Apr '76 - 2:00am
The Underground Movement Summary

NOVA explores life underground, from foxes and badgers through moles and worms down to the myriad of micro-organisms that make soil the most complex substrate for life on earth. Included in the film is extraordinary footage of a mole burrowing and of roots growing.

88 have watched this episode

s03e14 / Hunters of the Seal

3rd May '76 - 1:00am
Hunters of the Seal Summary

NOVA shows the Netsilik eskimoes of Pelly Bay and their traditional way of life and what happens when Western civilization is imposed upon them.

88 have watched this episode

s03e15 / Benjamin

10th May '76 - 1:00am
Benjamin Summary

Benjamin is a healthy, normal baby, whom we meet at birth and whose first year of life provides the backbone of this revealing NOVA about early child development.

88 have watched this episode

s03e16 / The Women Rebel

24th May '76 - 1:00am
The Women Rebel Summary

Margaret Sanger was responsible almost single-handedly for changing the whole attitude of the male-dominated medical profession towards "women's issues" and, above all, for gaining social and political acceptance for the concept of birth control. This NOVA docudrama reconstructs her life, told as flashbacks interspersed throughout an interview. Piper Laurie stars as Margaret Sanger.

88 have watched this episode

s03e17 / Death of a Disease

7th Jun '76 - 1:00am
Death of a Disease Summary

As late as 1967, smallpox struck as many as 15 million people in 43 countries andhuged an estimated two or three million. Experts now believe that the disease is on the verge of extinction. NOVA looks at the recent success of the World Health Organization's program to eradicate this disease, considered a triumph of western-styled medicine.

88 have watched this episode

s03e18 / Inside the Shark

14th Jun '76 - 1:00am
Inside the Shark Summary

The "Jaws" phenomenon has given sharks a bad name. But is the shark really such a barbarian? NOVA looks at the lifestyle of this remarkable survivor from the days when dinosaurs ruled the earth.

88 have watched this episode

s03e19 / The Genetic Chance

21st Jun '76 - 1:00am
The Genetic Chance Summary

Recent scientific developments have made it possible to detect a wide variety of defects in unborn babies. NOVA focuses on the ethical question that must be considered: What defines a defect? Should defective babies be aborted, or should they be allowed to live?

88 have watched this episode

s03e20 / The Case of the Bermuda Triangle

28th Jun '76 - 1:00am
The Case of the Bermuda Triangle Summary

Since 1945, hundreds of ships and planes and thousands of people have mysteriously disappeared in an area of the Atlantic Ocean off of Florida, known as the Bermuda Triangle. NOVA penetrates the mystery of the terrifying Bermuda Triangle.

88 have watched this episode
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