About this season
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.
Episodes (21)
1. Countdown to the Invisible Universe
Aired 20 January 1987 • 55 min
NOVA scans the universe with the infrared eye of IRAS—the Infrared Astronomical Satellite—and discovers never-before-seen comets, stars, galaxies and other celestial wonders and enigmas.
2. Children of Eve
Aired 27 January 1987 • 55 min
NOVA examines a controversial theory that traces our ancestry to a small group of women living in Africa 300,000 years ago.
3. Why Planes Crash
Aired 3 February 1987 • 55 min
Between 60 and 80 percent of all commercial airplane accidents are attributable to pilot error. NOVA looks at some shocking instances of pilot negligence and what airlines are doing to solve the problem.
4. Orangutans of the Rain Forest
Aired 10 February 1987 • 55 min
NOVA cameras travel to Borneo, one of the last habitats of the wild orangutans, where scientists study the endangered ape. Who is observing whom? It is not always clear.
5. Freud Under Analysis
Aired 17 February 1987 • 55 min
Fifty years after his death, the creator of psychoanalysis is still the subject of intense debate. Was Freud right or wrong? NOVA profiles the enigmatic man and his controversial legacy.
6. The Hole in the Sky
Aired 24 February 1987 • 55 min
NOVA travels to Antarctica with an emergency scientific expedition to study a baffling "hole" in the Earth's protective ozone layer.
7. Confessions of a Weaponeer
Aired 3 March 1987 • 55 min
Harvard chemist George Kistiakowsky was an anti-Bolshevik soldier in 1919 Russia, an atomic bomb scientist at Los Alamos, a presidential advisor in the Eisenhower White House and an arms control activist. Shortly before Kistiakowsky death, he recounts his eventful career to interviewer Carl Sagan.
8. Great Moments from NOVA
Aired 10 March 1987 • 55 min
NOVA presents two hours of the best from its 14 seasons of exciting science coverage. A "talking" chimp, an exploding volcano and a sight-and-sound space video are but a few of the memorable segments. Richard Kiley hosts.
9. Will the World Starve?
Aired 24 March 1987 • 55 min
All over the world, farmers are taking more from the soil than they return. NOVA reports on the soil crisis in world agriculture—a plight that has already resulted in massive starvation.
10. The Desert Doesn't Bloom Here Anymore
Aired 31 March 1987 • 55 min
In rich and poor countries alike, once-productive farms are turning to desert because of mismanagement of water resources. NOVA examines the causes and cures of desertification.
11. Rocky Road to Jupiter
Aired 7 April 1987 • 55 min
In a case study of the strengths and weaknesses of the United States space program, NOVA chronicles the ambitious and long-delayed Galileo mission to Jupiter—still on the ground long after its planned May 1986 launch.
12. Death of a Star
Aired 6 October 1987 • 55 min
Why do stars explode and how is the energy generated? What is the effect of all those little “aftermath” particles floating through space? Nova: Death of a Star is a 60-minute science documentary that explores rare astronomical events in all their dimensions. The film features the 1987 explosion of a supernova - first observed by a Canadian astronomer in Chile - and discusses its impact on the universe. Witness the celestial phenomena that baffles the scientific community as you travel from South America to Japan to Cleveland. A discussion of supernova neutrinos is a special highlight of the tape.
13. Spy Machines
Aired 13 October 1987 • 55 min
On the 25th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis, NOVA investigates the spy planes and satellites that played a critical role in history and influence arms control today.
14. Hidden Power of Plants
Aired 20 October 1987 • 55 min
Plants produce some of the world's most potent chemicals in the fight against disease. NOVA follows the urgent efforts to track down new medicines in nature.
15. Japan's American Genius
Aired 27 October 1987 • 55 min
Is Detroit inventor Stanford Ovshinsky the new Thomas Edison? Japanese industries are betting that the genius behind amorphous materials-a simpler and less expensive alternative to silicon-is onto something big.
16. A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama
Aired 3 November 1987 • 55 min
The Panama Canal opened in 1914 after a 30-year effort that dwarfed the building of the pyramids. Historian David McCullough navigates through the canal and tells the story of the human drama behind the engineering feat.
17. Volcano!
Aired 10 November 1987 • 55 min
Millions live in the shadows of nature's ticking time-bombs—volcanos. NOVA accompanies scientists who are developing new techniques to predict when volcanos will erupt and how violently.
18. How Good is Soviet Science?
Aired 17 November 1987 • 55 min
Princeton professor and author Robert Mark tracks down the engineering secrets of some of the beautiful buildings in the world including Notre Dame in Paris, St. Paul in London and the Roman Pantheon.
19. Ancient Treasures from the Deep
Aired 1 December 1987 • 55 min
NOVA joins underwater archaeologists as they explore the oldest shipwreck ever excavated, a richly-laden merchant vessel dating from the time of King Tut.
20. Riddle of the Joints
Aired 8 December 1987 • 55 min
A trail of evidence leading from a medieval abbey to a small town in Connecticut sheds new light on rheumatoid arthritis, a crippling inflammation of the joints with no known cause or cure.
21. Secrets of the Lost Red Paint People
Aired 15 December 1987 • 55 min
NOVA follows archaeologists as they unearth clues, some 7,000 years old, about an unknown, mysterious and advanced sea-faring people who lived along the North Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada.