Episode guide
NOVA: Season 18
19 episodes · premiered Jan 8, 1991
TMDB has no overview for this season.
- Episode 1: Return to Mt. St. Helens Jan 8, 1991 · 55m NOVA returns to Mount St. Helens a decade after its cataclysmic eruption to learn how nature is recovering from the disaster.
- Episode 2: ConFusion in a Jar Apr 30, 1991 · 55m An experiment that could mean limitless supplies of energy sets the scientific world on its head. NOVA covers the cold fusion controversy.
- Episode 3: The Hunt for China's Dinosaurs (1) Feb 5, 1991 · 55m NOVA covers the most elaborate expedition ever undertaken in the search for dinosaurs—to China's Gobi desert. Paleontologists brave sandstorms, heat and worse to find their fossils.
- Episode 4: Case of the Flying Dinosaur Feb 12, 1991 · 55m Are dinosaurs still among us? NOVA looks at the contentious question of whether present-day birds are dinosaurs. Over the years, new fossil discoveries keep amending the answer.
- Episode 5: T. rex Exposed Feb 19, 1991 · 55m Tyrannosaurus rex, the terrifying kind of the dinos, recently turned up in a nearly complete skeleton in Montana. NOVA follows the dig to extract the bones and looks at the science and…
- Episode 6: The Russian Right Stuff: The Invisible Spaceman Feb 26, 1991 · 55m In the first program of a three-part miniseries on the Soviet space program, NOVA profiles the mysterious genius behind the world's first satellite, the first man to orbit the earth and…
- Episode 7: The Russian Right Stuff: The Dark Side of the Moon Feb 27, 1991 · 55m NOVA reveals the details of Moscow's secret plan to reach the moon ahead of the Americans. Was Neil Armstrong's "giant leap for mankind" almost upstaged?
- Episode 8: The Russian Right Stuff: The Mission Feb 28, 1991 · 55m In an unprecedented insider's look, NOVA covers the training, flight and recovery of a cosmonaut crew that visits the Soviet space station Mir. Unexpected emergencies show that space…
- Episode 9: Swimming With Whales Mar 5, 1991 · 55m Gregory Peck narrates a scientific voyage around Vancouver Island in search of whales. Humpbacks, Killers, Grays and other whale species make their appearance in spectacular…
- Episode 10: The Chip vs. the Chess Master Mar 26, 1991 · 55m Will machines be able to beat us at our own game? The computer chess champ matches wits with the human world titleholder.
- Episode 11: Sex, Lies and Toupee Tape Oct 1, 1991 · 55m NOVA covers the causes and attempted cures of baldness. Some men take pride in their bald heads; others will go to great lengths to cover up. Alan "Douglas Brackman" Rachins of NBC's LA…
- Episode 12: So You Want to Be a Doctor? Oct 9, 1991 · 55m In a two-hour special, NOVA follows seven aspiring doctors through four years of medical school. The first examination, the anatomy lab, the first death, the first baby-it's all part of…
- Episode 13: Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls Oct 15, 1991 · 55m Forty years after they were discovered, the Dead Sea Scrolls have yet to be published in their entirety. NOVA looks at the laborious-some say scandalous-process of compiling and releasing…
- Episode 14: Suicide Mission to Chernobyl Oct 22, 1991 · 55m NOVA accompanies Soviet scientists on a deadly mission inside the sarcophagus-the massive structure that entombs the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Will there be another deadly explosion?
- Episode 15: Taller Than Everest? Nov 5, 1991 · 55m The tallest mountain in the world? Think again—cartographers had to when satellite date revealed a peak called "K2" might be the real champ. Which is the world's tallest mountain?
- Episode 16: Fastest Planes in the Sky Nov 12, 1991 · 55m The fastest machines in the sky are going to be slow stuff when the latest speed demons on the drawing board take to the air. NOVA looks at the intoxicating lure to fly even faster.
- Episode 17: Avoiding the Surgeon's Knife Dec 3, 1991 · 55m NOVA follows the efforts of four participants in a celebrated California study to unblock arteries without using drugs or surgery before their heart disease becomes fatal. A studio segment…
- Episode 18: Skyscraper! A NOVA Special Dec 10, 1991 · 55m This 80-minute NOVA pledge special chronicles the building of the Worldwide Plaza, 47-story office tower in midtown Manhattan, from a hole in the ground to a 770-foot skyscraper.
- Episode 19: The Fine Art of Faking It Dec 17, 1991 · 55m The spectacular eclipse of 1991 passed over major observatories on the island of Hawaii. NOVA was there for 6 1/2 minutes of frenetic research that revealed new secrets about our sun.