Episode guide
NOVA: Season 16
20 episodes · premiered Jan 17, 1989
TMDB has no overview for this season.
- Episode 1: Hot Enough for You? Jan 17, 1989 · 55m Was the searing summer of 1988 a taste of things to come? NOVA looks at the greenhouse effect, which portends higher temperatures, rising sea levels and other environmental disasters.
- Episode 2: The Last Journey of a Genius Jan 24, 1989 · 55m NOVA looks at the bongo-playing scientist, adventurer, safecracker and yarn-spinner Richard Feynman, most recently famous for his role as gadfly of the Presidential Commission…
- Episode 3: The Strange New Science of Chaos Jan 31, 1989 · 55m NOVA explains "chaos," a new science that is making surprising sense out of chaotic phenomena in nature, from the weather to brain waves.
- Episode 4: Back to Chernobyl Feb 14, 1989 · 55m NOVA goes to the Soviet Union for an inside investigation of the world's most catastrophic nuclear power accident with correspondent Bill Kurtis.
- Episode 5: God, Darwin and the Dinosaurs Feb 21, 1989 · 55m In an Idaho classroom, teacher Phil Gerrish puts an unorthodox interpretation on the day's biology lesson. As students take notes, he explains that creationism is a valid scientific…
- Episode 6: Adrift on the Gulf Stream Feb 28, 1989 · 55m NOVA explores the importance of the Gulf Stream to ocean life, climate and human history.
- Episode 7: Secrets of Easter Island (1) Mar 7, 1989 · 55m In this two-part series, NOVA investigates the mystery of Easter Island in the South Pacific. Who built its celebrated statues and why?
- Episode 8: Legends of Easter Island (2) Mar 7, 1989 · 55m In the second part of this two-part series, NOVA explores ancient legends hold the clues to the violent history of the South Pacific's Easter Island.
- Episode 9: The World Is Full of Oil! Mar 21, 1989 · 55m Scientific detectives test their ingenuity in the effort to find underground oil deposits.
- Episode 10: Confronting the Killer Gene Mar 28, 1989 · 55m Arlo, Nancy and Janice each have a 50/50 chance of developing a devastating nerve disorder. A laboratory test can tell them if in fact they will fall victim. In their shoes, would you take…
- Episode 11: The Hidden City Oct 3, 1989 · 55m Actor Judd Hirsch narrates this behind-the scenes look at what makes New York City tick. Water, power and waste are the critical systems that usually work, but sometimes break down with…
- Episode 12: The Controversial Dr. Koop Oct 10, 1989 · 55m In this profile of the former Surgeon General, NOVA follows events as they unfold in a unique behind-the-scenes account of a man who speaks his mind on AIDS, smoking and abortion.
- Episode 13: Design Wars! Oct 17, 1989 · 55m Five architects compete for the approval of architecture-obsessed Chicagoans in the contest to build the city's new public library. NOVA looks at the strengths and weakness of each of the…
- Episode 14: Echoes of War Oct 24, 1989 · 55m The atomic bomb might have ended World War II, but radar was the quiet miracle that won battles. NOVA tells the little-known wartime history of radar.
- Episode 15: Decoding the Book of Life Oct 31, 1989 · 55m Biologists around the world gear up to decode the three-billion-letter genetic message that describes how humans are made. Ethicists warn that it may not be such a good idea.
- Episode 16: Hurricane! Nov 7, 1989 · 55m NOVA studies hurricanes—the lurking giants waiting to destroy many coastal areas—by flying straight into one. Scientists hope that such close-up studies will supply the data to make better…
- Episode 17: Will Venice Survive Its Rescue? Nov 14, 1989 · 55m Increasingly awash in high water, the romantic city of Venice is counting on high-tech floodgates to save it from drowning. Environmentalists worry that the gates may destroy the fragile…
- Episode 18: What Is Music? Nov 21, 1989 · 55m East and West came into direct conflict over trade and power in the 19th century. The West won. NOVA explores how Japan was later able to master Western methods, while China was not. Part…
- Episode 19: Yellowstone's Burning Question Dec 5, 1989 · 55m The 1988 Yellowstone fire may have been one of the worst in human memory, but nature has had eons of experience with such events. NOVA accompanies scientists who are studying the…
- Episode 20: The Schoolboys Who Cracked the Soviet Secret Dec 12, 1989 · 55m NOVA re-enacts a classic case of classroom detection when English schoolboys track down a secret Soviet launch site. Docudrama.