NOVA (Season 28)

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.

  • Poster for Lincoln's Secret Weapon

    Lincoln's Secret Weapon (Episode 1)

    Writer: Jonathan Wickham

    Air date: 2000-10-24

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: The film chronicles an expedition to study and retrieve parts of the USS Monitor, the famous Civil War ironclad, which sank off North Carolina only months after its famous battle with the CSS Virginia.

  • Poster for Holocaust on Trial

    Holocaust on Trial (Episode 2)

    Writer: Leslie Woodhead

    Air date: 2000-10-31

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: The film uses a celebrated recent trial as a springboard to examine and successfully challenge the notion of Holocaust denial

  • Poster for Hitler's Lost Sub

    Hitler's Lost Sub (Episode 3)

    Writer: Rushmore DeNooyer

    Air date: 2000-11-14

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: The film follows a six-year odyssey by a group of divers to identify a mysterious U-boat they discovered in 1991 off the coast of New Jersey

  • Poster for Runaway Universe

    Runaway Universe (Episode 4)

    Writer: Julia Cort

    Air date: 2000-11-21

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: The program follows the efforts of two rival teams of astronomers as they search for exploding stars, map out gigantic cosmic patterns of galaxies, and grapple with the ultimate question: What is the fate of the universe?

  • Poster for Garden of Eden

    Garden of Eden (Episode 5)

    Air date: 2000-11-28

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: The film takes a look at the extraordinary natural history of the Seychelles, an ancient archipelago of about 100 islands scattered between India and Madagascar.

  • Poster for Dying to Be Thin

    Dying to Be Thin (Episode 6)

    Writer: Larkin McPhee

    Air date: 2000-12-12

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: The film examines a disturbing increase in the prevalence of debilitating and sometimes life-threatening eating disorders, particularly anorexia and bulimia.

  • Poster for Japan's Secret Garden

    Japan's Secret Garden (Episode 7)

    Writer: David Attenborough

    Air date: 2000-12-18

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: The program chronicles a year in the life of wildlife and people around Lake Biwa, Japan, a cycle that has continued unchanged for thousands of years.

  • Poster for Sultan's Lost Treasure

    Sultan's Lost Treasure (Episode 8)

    Writer: Stephen Sweigart

    Air date: 2001-01-16

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: The program follows a French-led expedition to recover thousands of porcelain and other artifacts from a centuries-old Chinese shipwreck off the coast of Brunei.

  • Poster for Vanished!

    Vanished! (Episode 9)

    Writer: Jonathan Renouf

    Air date: 2001-01-30

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: The program investigates the mysterious disappearance -- and, half a century later, reappearance -- of Stardust, a civilian aircraft that crashed in the Andes in 1947.

  • Poster for Nazi Prison Escape

    Nazi Prison Escape (Episode 10)

    Writer: Jeremy Llewellyn-Jones

    Air date: 2001-02-06

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: The program documents a series of spectacular escape attempts made at Colditz Castle, the Nazi's most impregnable prison.

  • Poster for Lost King of the Maya

    Lost King of the Maya (Episode 11)

    Writer: Gary Glassman

    Air date: 2001-02-13

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: The film follows the work of archeologists who are using new excavations and hieroglyphic translations to interpret the early history of Copán, a Classic Maya site in northern Honduras.

  • Poster for The Cancer Warrior

    The Cancer Warrior (Episode 12)

    Writer: Nancy Linde

    Air date: 2001-02-27

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: For decades Dr. Judah Folkman struggled against the grain of many in the cancer research community in his quest to pioneer a novel form of cancer treatment. In 1960, when he was a young surgical resident, Folkman discovered a startling secret about how cancer grows, which he called angiogenesis. It was a clue he would pursue for the next 40 years. "Cancer Warrior" tells the incredible saga of his personal dedication in a race to defeat one of humanity's most invincible foes.

  • Poster for Survivor M.D.: Tattooed Doctor (1)

    Survivor M.D.: Tattooed Doctor (1) (Episode 13)

    Writer: Michael Barnes

    Air date: 2001-03-27

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: In "Tattooed Doctor," the first hour of NOVA's "Survivor M.D." series, emergency-room physician Dr. Tom Tarter eloquently describes some of the challenges and rewards of emergency medicine.

  • Poster for Survivor M.D.: Second Opinions (2)

    Survivor M.D.: Second Opinions (2) (Episode 14)

    Writer: Michael Barnes

    Air date: 2001-04-03

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: In 1987 NOVA embarked with seven brilliant, natural-born survivors on the longest-running boot camp in higher education: the nearly decade-long process of training to be a fully qualified doctor. Now all but one of them (who switched careers) are out in the world in high-powered medical careers, trying to balance the demands of work, families, and personal lives, as NOVA reports on Survivor MD, which airs in three one-hour segments.

  • Poster for Survivor M.D.: Hearts & Minds (3)

    Survivor M.D.: Hearts & Minds (3) (Episode 15)

    Writer: Michael Barnes

    Air date: 2001-04-10

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: In 1987 NOVA embarked with seven brilliant, natural-born survivors on the longest-running boot camp in higher education: the nearly decade-long process of training to be a fully qualified doctor. Now all but one of them (who switched careers) are out in the world in high-powered medical careers, trying to balance the demands of work, families, and personal lives, as NOVA reports on Survivor MD, which airs in three one-hour segments.

  • Poster for Cracking the Code of Life

    Cracking the Code of Life (Episode 16)

    Writer: Julia Cort

    Air date: 2001-04-17

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: This two-hour special, hosted by ABC "Nightline" correspondent Robert Krulwich, chronicles the race to capture one of the biggest prizes in scientific history: the complete letter-by-letter sequence of genetic information that defines human life -- the human genome.

  • Poster for Harvest of Fear

    Harvest of Fear (Episode 17)

    Writer: Jon Palfreman

    Air date: 2001-04-24

    Runtime: 55 min

    Overview: A gene from a jellyfish is placed in a potato plant, making it light up whenever it needs watering. Rice plants are genetically transformed to produce vitamin A, preventing millions of African children from going blind. Other plants are modified to produce plastic or pharmaceuticals. While many see these as wondrous advancements, others fear they could spawn serious new threats to human health, a loss of genetic viability in our most important crop species, and other signficant and perhaps unforeseen problems. In "Harvest of Fear," NOVA and FRONTLINE join forces to explore the growing controversy over genetically modified agriculture.

NOVA - Movie poster from The Movie Database (TMDB)