NOVA ambient background
CinebyCineby
NOVA backdrop

NOVA

NOVA
★ 7.1/10•1974•55m•TV-PG•Documentary
Similars

PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits.

StatusReturning Series
Runtime55m
LanguageEN
First Air DateMar 3, 1974

Episodes

Episode 1 - The Making Of A Natural History FilmE155m

The Making Of A Natural History Film

NOVA premieres on public television with a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a nature film. Oxford Scientific Films Unit shows how it tackles such problems as filming a wood-wasp laying its egg inside trees, the hatching of a chick and the courtship rituals of the stickleback.

Mar 3, 1974

E255m

Where Did the Colorado Go?

NOVA explores the mighty Colorado River which today has become the life-blood of the Southwest, providing water and electricity to the farms and cities of California, Nevada, and Arizona. The program examines the political expediency and technological over-optimism that has led to some major miscalculations of the river's capacity.

Mar 10, 1974

E355m

Whales, Dolphins, and Men

NOVA explores the impact of whaling and the goods it produces for the industry, verses the grace and beatury of this intelligent mammal of the sea.

Mar 17, 1974

E455m

The Search For Life

Does life exist outside this planet? The Viking lander will set down on Mars in July 1976 to try to find out just that. NOVA explores how life started on Earth and examines the Viking Lander being built in its germ-free room before starting its long journey.

Mar 24, 1974

E555m

Last of the Cuiva

How does a primitive nomadic tribe of the Amazon basin cope with the encroachment of Western settlers? NOVA looks at both sides of the story, revealing the misunderstandings between the two cultures.

Mar 31, 1974

E655m

Strange Sleep

Medicine was transformed in the 19th century by the discovery of anesthesia; surgery, until then hasty, bloody and completely unable to deal with internal disorders, subsequently took its place in the front rank of medical practice. This NOVA docudrama depicts the pioneers of medicine.

Apr 7, 1974

E755m

The Crab Nebula

In 1054 AD, the Chinese recorded the explosion of a star so bright that it lit the sky for three weeks, even during the day. It was the explosion of a dying star that was bigger than our sun. NOVA explores this mysterious explosion that led to the discovery of Crab Nebula.

Apr 14, 1974

E855m

Bird Brain: The Mystery of Bird Navigation

Birds migrate in search of perpetual summer, sometimes traveling as much as 20,000 miles every year. NOVA uses radar to track and identify migrating birds that travel at night, focusing on how they coose routes tat avoid bad weather and make the best of prevailing winds—information that can aid meteorologists.

Apr 21, 1974

E955m

Are You Doing This for Me, Doctor?

The advance of medicine depends inevitably on the testing of experimental procedures on human volunteers from either the healthy or the sick. Yet such procedures are often dangerous, and may not be of direct benefit to the subject. NOVA examines how individuals' interests are safeguarded, and asks, under what circumstances experiments should be conducted on children.

Apr 28, 1974

E1055m

The First Signs Of Washoe

Washoe is a chimp more like a person: she talks with her hands. NOVA visits with Washoe and her teachers—Professor Allen Gardner and Dr. Trixie Gardner—to learn more about this unusual animal.

May 5, 1974

E1155m

The Case of the Midwife Toad

When Paul Kammerer committed suicide in 1926, it was taken by most of his fellow biologists as a tacit admission of guilt that he had faked his experiments purporting to show the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Arthur Koestler joins NOVA in an in-depth examination of Kammerer's infamous experiment.

May 12, 1974

E1255m

Fusion: The Energy of Promise

Nuclear fusion offers the promises of an unlimited, clean source of energy. But achieving fusion has proved one of the most difficult and elusive goals of the physicist. NOVA tells the story of the twists and turns and the international competition along the road toward the achievement of fusion; and details the recent breakthroughs which seem at last to have brought it within reach.

May 19, 1974

E1355m

The Mystery Of The Anasazi

Who were the people that built the first cities -- complete with apartment blocks -- in North America? They were the Anasazi Indians, who lived in the Southwest for some eight or nine thousand years and who then, in about 1300 AD, abruptly abandoned their cities and apparently disappeared. NOVA traces the steps of this ancient sophisticated culture.

May 26, 1974

Recommendations

Natural World
Planet Earth
Nature
Planet Earth II
Our Planet
Welcome to Earth
Super/Natural
The Crocodile Hunter
Earth at Night in Colour
Night on Earth
Life
Animal
Secrets of the Penguins
Planet Earth III
The World According to Jeff Goldblum
Through the Wormhole
Horizon
Down to Earth with Zac Efron
Wild Isles
Great Migrations

Similars

Rooted
Africa 2013: Countdown to the Rains
Expedition with Steve Backshall
Life in Cold Blood
Wilderness with Simon Reeve
Nature Tech
Lost Land of the Volcano
Life Story
Alaska: Earth's Frozen Kingdom
Coast Australia
Countryfile
Life on the Reef
Wildcats: Cait ann an Cunnart
Earth: A New Wild
Expeditionen ins Tierreich
Tales from the Riverbank
Murder in the Skies: Who Downed Mh17?
Man vs. Wild
Saving Planet Earth UK
Shark