Episode guide
NOVA: Season 17
20 episodes · premiered Jan 9, 1990
TMDB has no overview for this season.
- Episode 1: Poison in the Rockies Jan 9, 1990 · 55m NOVA reports on the 100-year-old legacy of pollution from mining that poisons the once-pristine waters of the Rocky Mountain states. Acid Rain and economic development also contribute to…
- Episode 2: Race for the Top Jan 23, 1990 · 55m Using some of the largest machines ever built on earth, American and European physicists race to discover one of the most fundamental and most elusive objects in nature—the top quark.
- Episode 3: Disguises of War Feb 6, 1990 · 55m Sixty-five years after attempts to ban them, chemical weapons pose more of a threat than ever. NOVA looks at the problem of controlling substances that are easily produced and cruelly…
- Episode 4: The Bomb's Lethal Legacy Feb 13, 1990 · 55m NOVA examines an alarming nuclear waste problem at the Hanfrod Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington state, where 45 years of mismanagement in the nuclear weapons industry will cost…
- Episode 5: The Big Spill Feb 27, 1990 · 55m Covering last year's Exxon Valdez oil spill from an unexplored angle, NOVA focuses on how technology failed in preventing, containing and cleaning up the Alaskan disaster.
- Episode 6: The Genius That Was China: Rise of the Dragon Mar 20, 1990 · 55m China in the 13th century was the richest, most powerful, most technologically advanced civilization on earth. NOVA looks at how China achieved what it did, and what in Chinese politics…
- Episode 7: The Genius That Was China: Empires in Collision Mar 27, 1990 · 55m NOVA examines the extraordinary transformation that propelled Europe outward into the world from the 15th to 18th centuries, while China remained the insular middle kingdom. Part two of a…
- Episode 8: The Genius that Was China: The Threat from Japan Apr 3, 1990 · 55m Ever wonder how junk mail finds you? NOVA investigates the hidden world of direct marketing, pointing out how advertisers know a lot more about us than we think.
- Episode 9: The Genius That Was China: Will the Dragon Rise Again? Apr 10, 1990 · 55m NOVA covers China's long road to economic and technological equality with the West, punctuated by frequent setbacks such as the 1989 massacre of pro-democractic demonstrations in Beijing…
- Episode 10: The KGB, The Computer and Me Oct 2, 1990 · 55m This documentary covers the surprising tale of an average systems administrator who stumbled upon a KGB spy operation. Clifford Stoll carried out one of the first successful digital…
- Episode 11: Neptune's Cold Fury Oct 9, 1990 · 55m NOVA visits Neptune, the planet that took Voyager 12 years to reach. Mysteries abound in and around this big, blue world at the outer limits of the solar system. Actor Patrick Stewart hosts.
- Episode 12: To Boldly Go... Oct 16, 1990 · 55m NOVA chronicles the Voyager space mission—from Earth to the ends of the solar system. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and dozens of moons star in this epic voyage of exploration. Actor Patrick…
- Episode 13: Poisoned Winds of War Oct 23, 1990 · 55m Sixty-five years after attempts to ban them, chemical weapons pose more of a threat than ever. NOVA looks at the problem of controlling substances that are easily produced and cruelly…
- Episode 14: The Blimp is Back! Oct 30, 1990 · 55m NOVA examines the troubled past and promising future of blimps, zeppelins, cyclocranes and other species of airships. There's life in the old gasbags yet.
- Episode 15: Earthquake! Nov 6, 1990 · 55m NOVA looks at the high-stakes quest to predict earthquakes. Despite past disappointments, geologists still hope to divine the clues that precede nature's ultimate upheavals.
- Episode 16: Killing Machines Nov 13, 1990 · 55m Robotic weapons that seek out and destroy ships, planes, and other targets are the wave of the future. NOVA questions whether their proliferation may spell an end to superpower…
- Episode 17: Can the Elephant Be Saved? Nov 20, 1990 · 55m Is the ivory ban in the elephant's best interest? NOVA looks at the controversial strategies to save the world's largest land animal from extinction.
- Episode 18: We Know Where You Live Nov 27, 1990 · 55m Ever wonder how junk mail finds you? NOVA investigates the hidden world of direct marketing, pointing out how advertisers know a lot more about us than we think.
- Episode 19: In the Land of the Llamas Dec 4, 1990 · 55m NOVA profiles the llama, alpaca, vicuna and guanaco of South America. At one time nearly extinct, these four members of the camel family are exceptionally well adapted to life in the…
- Episode 20: What's Killing the Children? Dec 18, 1990 · 55m NOVA tracks a mysterious disease that suddenly and fatally attacks the children of a small Brazilian town. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta are called in to…