January - December 2001
Sultan's Lost Treasure
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In the middle of the South China Seas, a six-hour voyage from
the tiny, oil-rich Sultanate of Brunei, prospectors spot an
ancient wreck on the sea bed, half-swallowed up by the sand.
An international team of archaeologists dives far down and
begins retrieving a unique treasure—not gold or silver,
but more than 12,000 intact pieces of Chinese procelain dating
from the "golden age" of ceramic production in the 14th
Century A.D. The priceless cargo poses countless riddles as
the archaeologists seek the identity of the ship and its
destination, and the meaning of the strange symbols so
delicately figured on the dishes. And as the divers salvage
the wreck in the teeth of pirates, looters, and the "bends,"
they also gradually reconstruct the story of the world's first
international trading network - the ultimate ancestor of
today's global marketplace.
Original broadcast date: 01/16/2001
Topic: archaeology
Vanished!
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On August 2, 1947, a primitive airliner converted from a World
War II Lancaster bomber took off from Buenos Aires. The
airliner, named Stardust was due to cross the Andes en route
for Santiago, Chile. It never arrived. No wreckage was ever
found, and for 53 years no one knew what happened to the plane
and the 11 people on board. One rumor held that a bomb had
been planted on board to eliminae a British diplomatic courier
who was carrying sensitive official documents from Argentina
to Chile. The case of the vanished Stardust soon became one of
aviation's most celebrated unsolved mysteries. "Vanished!" is
a classic NOVA that presents a gripping blend of high
adventure and scientific detection.
Original broadcast date: 01/30/2001
Topics: technology/aeronautics and flight, archaeology
Nazi Prison Escape
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Colditz Castle - allegedly the most impregnable POW camp in
the whole of Germany and home to those prisoners considered
most dangerous by the Nazi high command. Yet from 1940 to
1945, over 300 men managed to escape. Belgians, Dutch, Poles,
Serbs and Brits, united by their hatred of the Germans, shared
secrets, tools and information, while competing to be the most
successful 'escaping' nation.
In NAZI PRISON ESCAPE, the tunnelers, forgers and escapees
reveal how they used the castle's passageways, nooks and
crannies to their advantage; how they forged passes, keys and
German uniforms; and how some of the finest military brains in
Europe pitched themselves against famed German organization
and won.
Original broadcast date: 02/06/2001
Topic: technology/weapons and warfare
Lost King of the Maya
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Sixteen hundred years ago, a mysterious left-handed warrior
seized control of the Mayan city of Copán, founding a
dynasty that would last for 400 years. Eventually the Maya
abandoned Copán and all other Mayan cities, which lay
undisturbed for over 1,000 years. Then, in the 19th century,
explorers John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood
stumbled on the vine-strangled remains of huge complexes of
temples and monuments covered with strange portraits and
hieroglyphs. In this program, NOVA takes viewers deep into the
Central American rain forest to the resurrected ruins of
Copán, a once majestic jewel of Mayan civilization
which was inexplicably abandoned over a thousand years ago.
Original broadcast date: 02/13/2001
Topic: archaeology
Cancer Warrior
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"Cancer Warrior" is the story of an impassioned surgeon, Dr.
Judah Folkman, and his struggle to pioneer a cancer treatment
that for years went against the grain of many in the cancer
research community. In 1960 when he was a surgical resident,
Folkman was drafted by the U.S. Navy to help find a substitute
for whole blood to meet the navy's needs for transfusable
blood on long voyages. What he discovered instead was a
startling secret about how cancer grows. It was a clue he
would pursue for the next forty years. Dr. Judah Folkman, who
has never been filmed for television before, has granted NOVA
exclusive access to his much sought-after story. It is an
incredible saga of personal dedication, of scientific blind
alleys and breakthroughs, in a race to defeat one of
humanity's most invincible foes.
Original broadcast date: 02/27/2001
Topics: medicine/disease and research, biography
Survivor M.D.
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In 1987 NOVA embarked with seven brilliant, natural-born
survivors on the longest-running boot camp in higher
education: the nearly decade-long process of training to be a
fully qualified doctor. Now all but one of them (who switched
careers) are out in the world in high-powered medical careers,
trying to balance the demands of work, families, and personal
lives, as NOVA reports on Survivor MD, which airs in three
one-hour segments.
Survivor M.D.: Tattooed Doctor
Original broadcast date: 03/27/2001
Survivor M.D.: Second Opinions
Original broadcast date: 04/03/2001
Survivor M.D.: Hearts & Minds
Original broadcast date: 04/10/2001
Cracking the Code of Life
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In June 2000 two fiercely competitive teams of scientists made
the joint announcement that their labs had secured one of the
greatest prizes in history: the decoding of the human genome.
NOVA tells the story of the genome triumph and its profound
implications for the future of medicine in the two-hour
special "Cracking the Code of Life." Hosted by Robert
Krulwich, ABC Nightline correspondent.
Original broadcast date: 04/17/2001
Topics: genetics, human biology/behavior
Harvest of Fear
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A gene from a jellyfish is placed in a potato plant, making it
light up whenever it needs watering. Rice plants are
genetically transformed to produce vitamin A, preventing
millions of African children from going blind. Other plants
are modified to produce plastic or pharmaceuticals. While many
see these as wondrous advancements, others fear they could
spawn serious new threats to human health, a loss of genetic
viability in our most important crop species, and other
signficant and perhaps unforeseen problems. In "Harvest of
Fear," NOVA and FRONTLINE join forces to explore the growing
controversy over genetically modified agriculture.
Original broadcast date: 04/24/2001
Topics: plants/agriculture, genetics
Search for a Safe Cigarette
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Despite major efforts to educate the public on the health
hazards of cigarettes, smoking is still a growth industry.
Many health advocates now agree that global prohibition is
unlikely. In "Search for a Safe Cigarette," NOVA gains
unprecedented access to tobacco research and manufacturing
facilities and asks the question: Can science help create a
safer cigarette?
Original broadcast date: 10/02/2001
Topics: medicine/disease & research
18 Ways to Make a Baby
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Ever since the birth in 1978 of Louise Brown, the first baby
conceived outside the womb, the science of assisted
reproduction has burgeoned beyond belief. Today, to give just
two examples, a woman in her sixties can give birth to a baby
using the donated egg of a younger woman (as reported in this
NOVA program), and a baby can have five parents: an egg donor,
a sperm donor, a surrogate mother who carries the baby to
term, and the parents who will raise the child. "18 Ways to
Make a Baby" investigates this brave new world and what's to
come.
Original broadcast date: 10/09/2001
Topics: medicine/disease & research,
medicine/health care & surgery, human biology/behavior
Secrets of the Mind
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Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran, an eloquent neuroscientist, is
fascinated by patients who have unusual abilities or defects
in the way they perceive the world. These include such
puzzling phenomena as the phantom pain experienced in a
missing, amputated limb, or the inability to recognize a
familiar face following a stroke. From these strange cases,
Ramachandran is building a novel vision of how the brain
works. In "Secrets of the Mind," NOVA dramatizes the intimate
stories of Ramachandran's encounters with his extraordinary
patients.
Original broadcast date: 10/23/2001
Topics: medicine/disease & research, human
biology/behavior
Sex: Unknown
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Many babies are born intersex with genitals that did not fully
develop in the womb. In such situations, most doctors declare
a state of medical emergency, and quickly move to operate in
an effort to "fix" the child and give it the appearance of
either a male or female. But this intervention is not always
welcome: Many intersex adults that were surgically changed in
infancy now insist they should have been given a choice in the
matter. In many cases the gender they were assigned at birth
does not match the gender they grew to believe they were. This
begs a larger question: How much of our gender identity is
formed by nature and how much by nurture? "Sex: Unknown"
delves into the complex world of gender identity.
Original broadcast date: 10/30/2001
Topics: medicine/health care & surgery, human
biology/behavior
Russia's Nuclear Warriors
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Russia has 6,000 nuclear warheads in readiness, many of them
perched atop ballistic missiles ready to launch in silos and
on mobile missile launchers across the Russian countryside.
The men in charge of these weapons are known as roketchiki, or
missileers. Highly trained and deeply loyal to the motherland,
these soldiers stand at the ready to push the nuclear button
at a special command from Moscow. To film the missileers in
action, NOVA gained unprecedented access to Russia's largest
missile base—"Russia's Nuclear Warriors" is the
result.
Original broadcast date: 11/6/2001
Topics: technology/weapons & warfare
Bioterror
Go to the companion Web site
See
"About the Program."
Original broadcast date: 11/13/2001
Topics: medicine/disease & research,
medicine/health care & surgery
Life's Greatest Miracle
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When it first aired in 1983, the NOVA program "Miracle of
Life" was hailed as revolutionary. Famed Swedish photographer
Lennart Nilsson's stunning endoscopic images of life inside
the womb opened up a hidden world that few had ever seen.
"Life's Greatest Miracle" showcases Nilsson's most recent
photography while at the same time touching on the latest
advances in our understanding of fertilization and embryonic
and fetal development.
Original broadcast date: 11/20/2001
Topics: human biology/behavior
Methuselah Tree
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Ten thousand feet up in California's White Mountains lives the
oldest living thing on Earth. It is a bristlecone pine that
was around when the Egyptian Pyramids were built. Ironically,
after weathering all the droughts, high winds, and lightning
strikes that must have struck over the millennia, the nearly
5,000-year-old Methuselah Tree now faces threats from the one
force of nature that seemingly can do it harm: people.
"Methuselah Tree" dramatizes the life cycle of this ancient
wonder using brilliant visuals and a quirky style in which the
narrator takes on the voice of the bristlecone pine.
Original broadcast date: 12/11/2001
Topics: plant/agriculture, environment/ecology
Flying Casanovas
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When a European naturalist first found small thatched huts in
the rain forest of New Guinea in the late 19th century, he
thought they were homes of an unknown tribe of pygmies. In
front of each entrance, there was a neat lawn of moss flanked
by decorative beds of pink blossom, orange fruits, and shining
beetle wings. In fact, the builders were not people but a
species of bowerbird. In "Flying Casanovas," host David
Attenborough leads viewers into this little-known world of
avian architecture.
Original broadcast date: 12/25/2001
Topics: animal biology/behavior
