Episode guide
NOVA: Season 40
20 episodes · premiered Oct 10, 2012
TMDB has no overview for this season.
- Episode 1: Secrets of the Viking Sword Oct 10, 2012 · 55m The Vikings were among the fiercest warriors of all time. Yet only a select few carried the ultimate weapon of their era: the feared Ulfberht sword. Fashioned using a process that would…
- Episode 2: Forensics on Trial Oct 17, 2012 · 55m There is a startling gap between the glamorous television world of “CSI” and the gritty reality of the forensic crime lab. With few established scientific standards, no central oversight…
- Episode 3: Mystery of Easter Island Nov 7, 2012 · 55m A remote, bleak speck of rock in the middle of the Pacific, Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, has mystified the world ever since the first Europeans arrived in 1722. How and why did the ancient…
- Episode 4: Ultimate Mars Challenge Nov 14, 2012 · 55m Why go back to Mars? Far from dead, Mars holds untold potential. Nearly half a century of Mars exploration has yielded tantalizing clues that Mars may once have harbored life—and may…
- Episode 5: Inside the Megastorm Nov 18, 2012 · 55m Was Hurricane Sandy a freak combination of weather systems? Or are hurricanes increasing in intensity due to a warming climate? How did this perfect storm make search and rescue so…
- Episode 6: Doomsday Volcanoes Jan 2, 2013 · 55m In April, 2010 the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano turned much of Europe into an ash-strewn no-fly zone, stranding millions of travelers. But was Eyjafjallajökull just the…
- Episode 7: Decoding Neanderthals Jan 9, 2013 · 55m Examining evidence about Neanderthals that sheds light on the hominids, which died off some 30,000 years ago. Included: geneticist Svante Pääbo's 2010 reconstruction of the Neanderthal…
- Episode 8: Rise of the Drones Jan 23, 2013 · 55m Drones. These unmanned flying robots–some as large as jumbo jets, others as small as birds–do things straight out of science fiction. Much of what it takes to get these robotic airplanes…
- Episode 9: Who Killed Lindbergh's Baby? Jan 30, 2013 · 55m In the aftermath of his 1927 solo transatlantic flight, Colonel Charles Augustus Lindbergh–the Lone Eagle–became the most famous human being on earth. And when he and his lovely wife Anne…
- Episode 10: Building Pharaoh's Chariot Feb 6, 2013 · 55m 3,600-year-old reliefs in Egyptian tombs and temples depict pharaohs and warriors proudly riding into battle on horse-drawn chariots. Some historians claim that the chariot launched a…
- Episode 11: Earth From Space Feb 13, 2013 · 55m "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. Produced in extensive consultation with NASA scientists, NOVA takes…
- Episode 12: Mind of a Rampage Killer Feb 20, 2013 · 55m What makes a person walk into a theater or a church or a classroom full of students and open fire? What combination of circumstances compels a human being to commit the most inhuman of…
- Episode 13: Meteor Strike Mar 27, 2013 · 55m On February 15, 2013, a 7,000-ton asteroid crashed into the Earth's atmosphere over Russia with the power of 30 Hiroshima bombs. Within days, NOVA crews joined impact scientists in Russia…
- Episode 14: Ancient Computer Apr 3, 2013 · 55m In 1900, Greek sponge divers discovered a 2,000 year-old shipwreck containing a geared bronze mechanism whose workings have puzzled scientists for decades. New hi-tech imaging has revealed…
- Episode 15: Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Awakening Apr 10, 2013 · 55m Hidden in the red hills of western Australia are clues to the mysteries of when the Earth was born, how life first arose, and how it transformed the planet.
- Episode 16: Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Life Explodes Apr 17, 2013 · 55m How did life storm the beaches and dominate planet Earth? Ancient Australian fossils offer clues in "Life Explodes." Half a billion years ago, Australia was still part of the…
- Episode 17: Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Monsters Apr 24, 2013 · 55m "Monsters" begins Down Under at the dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs. Host Richard Smith comes face-to-face with the previously unknown reptilian rulers of prehistoric Australia. NOVA…
- Episode 18: Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Strange Creatures May 1, 2013 · 55m In the wake of the catastrophic asteroid impact believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs, Australia was set adrift on a lonely voyage across southern seas. With host Richard Smith, NOVA…
- Episode 19: Manhunt - Boston Bombers May 29, 2013 · 55m NOVA follows the manhunt for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers examining the role modern technology played in the case.
- Episode 20: Oklahoma's Deadliest Tornadoes May 29, 2013 · 55m On May 20, 2013, a ferocious EF5 tornado over a mile wide tore through Moore, Oklahoma, inflicting 24 deaths and obliterating entire neighborhoods. It was the third time an exceptionally…