Episode guide
NOVA: Season 13
21 episodes · premiered Jan 21, 1986
TMDB has no overview for this season.
- Episode 1: Halley's Comet: Once in a Lifetime Jan 21, 1986 · 55m NOVA observes worldwide preparations as amateur comet hunters, astronomers and scientists armed with specialized cameras, high powered telescopes and spacecraft look to the heavens in…
- Episode 2: Goddess of the Earth Jan 28, 1986 · 55m Gaia, the Greek word for Earth goddess, also is the name of the controversial hypothesis that life on Earth controls the environment. NOVA explores this provocative theory that challenges…
- Episode 3: Horsemen of China Feb 4, 1986 · 55m For centuries, the Chinese Kazakh horseman preserved their ancient traditions, refusing to be dominated by either the Chinese or nearby Russian cultures. Today, however, this nomadic tribe…
- Episode 4: Life's First Feelings Feb 11, 1986 · 55m NOVA explores the incredibly complex emotional development of infants and examines the current theory that early childhood psychological intervention can head off emotional problems later…
- Episode 5: The Case of the Frozen Addict Feb 18, 1986 · 55m In July 1982, a 42-year-old addict in a San Jose, California jail became paralyzed—unable to move or talk. His symptoms, caused by a bad batch of synthetic heroin, were indistinguishable…
- Episode 6: Toxic Trials Feb 25, 1986 · 55m When a high number of cancer cases struck the suburban community of Woburn, Massachusetts, the town mobilized to investigate why. The result was a landmark study of the effects of…
- Episode 7: Skydive to the Rain Forest Mar 4, 1986 · 55m NOVA journeys to a remote region of southern Venezuela where the land is alive with spectacular waterfalls, colored by exotic flowers and inhabited by rare species of birds and animals.
- Episode 8: Return of the Osprey Mar 11, 1986 · 55m NOVA follows a conservation success story as environmentalists, scientists and bird-lovers fight to save the majestic Osprey from extinction.
- Episode 9: The Rise of a Wonder Drug Mar 18, 1986 · 55m When Alexander Fleming discovered the penicillin mold in 1928, he never considered its possible therapeutic value. NOVA explores the "Fleming myth" and reveals the true story of the…
- Episode 10: When Wonder Drugs Don't Work Mar 25, 1986 · 55m NOVA examines the medical community's alarm as the spread of antibiotic-resistant infection increases, and studies how one hospital fights its own dramatic epidemic.
- Episode 11: Visions of Star Wars Apr 22, 1986 · 55m NOVA and Frontline combine resources to explore the Strategic Defense Initiative. The two-hour documentary contains the most comprehensive information on "Star Wars" ever produced. Bill…
- Episode 12: The Search for the Disappeared Oct 14, 1986 · 55m NOVA joins scientists in Argentina as they help locate kidnapped children and identify thousands of dead in the aftermath of a military reign of terror.
- Episode 13: The Planet that Got Knocked on its Side Oct 21, 1986 · 55m The adventures of the Voyager 2 spacecraft continue as it passes the rings of Uranus. Scientists suspect that violent events in the early history of the planet may have shaped Uranus and…
- Episode 14: High-Tech Babies Nov 4, 1986 · 55m Scientific breakthroughs now make it possible to reproduce ourselves in ways never before imagined. NOVA looks at the medical, legal and moral questions raised by this brave new technology.
- Episode 15: Can AIDS Be Stopped? Nov 11, 1986 · 55m What are the prospects for halting or curing the deadliest epidemic ever to challenge modern medicine? NOVA finds cause for both hope and alarm in the battle against AIDS.
- Episode 16: Is Anybody Out There? Nov 18, 1986 · 55m Could there be life beyond Earth? Only recently has it become possible to scan the skies in a systematic attempt to find out. NOVA joins the search with guest host Lily Tomlin.
- Episode 17: Mystery of the Animal Pathfinders Nov 25, 1986 · 55m Birds do it; bees do it, butterflies, bats and eels do it—all leave one habitat to migrate to another, often thousands of miles away. NOVA penetrates the mystery of where animals migrate…
- Episode 18: Are You Swimming in a Sewer? Dec 2, 1986 · 55m NOVA dips into the sad plight of our coastal waters, where toxic chemicals, raw sewage and disease-carrying microbes are routinely dumped.
- Episode 19: Sail Wars! Dec 9, 1986 · 55m Yankee ingenuity has designs on the America's Cup. NOVA goes behind-the-scenes to look at the engineering effort to design a technically advanced sailboat.
- Episode 20: Leprosy Can Be Cured! Dec 16, 1986 · 55m Leprosy, a misunderstood disease that has been curable for 40 years, still afflicts some 12 million people. NOVA looks at the tragedy of the disease that need not be.
- Episode 21: How Babies Get Made Jan 13, 1987 · 55m NOVA explores the ground-breaking experiments that led to the discovery of a tiny sequence of molecules—and more clues to the mystery of how a complete baby develops from a single cell.