January - December 1994
Codebreakers
NOVA delves into the history of secret communications and the
people who wrack their brains to decipher them. The program
probes the most celebrated of all cryptographic coups: the
breaking of the World War II codes used by Japan and Germany
and how codebreaking helped shorten the war.
Original broadcast date: 01/18/94
Topic: technology/weapons & warfare
Dinosaurs of the Gobi
Velociraptors and primitive birds are among the fabulous
fossil finds as NOVA accompanies an American Museum of Natural
History expedition to the Gobi Desert. The trip relives the
exploits of the Museum's dashing explorer of the 1920s, Roy
Chapman Andrews -said to be the real-life model for Indiana
Jones.
Original broadcast date: 01/25/94
Topic: dinosaurs/paleontology
Daredevils of the Sky
NOVA follows members of the US Aerobatic Team as they prepare
for and compete in the 1992 World Aerobatic Championship. The
sport, as precisely choreographed as gymnastics-except that it
takes place in airplanes at 200 miles per hour-has always been
on the leading edge of developments in aviation.
Original broadcast date: 02/01/94
Topic: technology/aeronautics & flight
Journey to Kilimanjaro
NOVA explores ice-capped mountains-on the equator. These
African giants are magical islands of life towering above the
scorched plains. Giant forest hogs, bearded vultures, the
elusive bongo and other exotic creatures live in this harsh
and isolated high country.
Original broadcast date: 02/08/94
Topic: animal biology/behavior
Can Chimps Talk?
NOVA covers exciting and controversial research with
chimpanzees who have been trained to express themselves with
human symbols. Are they speaking their minds? Or are they just
aping their trainers?
Original broadcast date: 02/15/94
Topic: animal biology/behavior
In Search of Human Origins, Part One
In the first of a three-part series, noted anthropologist
Donald Johanson probes the earliest ancestors of the human
species - reaching back more than three million years to a
strange ape who walked upright. Johanson takes viewers to the
site in Ethiopia where he discovered the fossil remains of
this missing link nicknamed "Lucy."
Original broadcast date: 02/28/94
Topic: anthropology/ancient
In Search of Human Origins, Part Two
Anthropologist Donald Johanson looks at how our human
ancestors of two million years ago made their living. Contrary
to popular myth, scavenging was a more lucrative living than
hunting-and may have contributed to the development of human
intelligence.
Original broadcast date: 03/01/94
Topic: anthropology/ancient
In Search of Human Origins, Part Three
At what point did our distant ancestors become anatomically
like us? And, more importantly, when did they begin to act
like us? Anthropologist Donald Johanson looks at what it is
that makes us human.
Original broadcast date: 03/02/94
Topic: anthropology/ancient
Can China Kick the Habit?
NOVA visits the most cigarette-addicted nation in the
world-China. Western advertising and trading practices have
exacerbated the fatal romance with smoking in the world's most
populous country, where lung cancer cases are beginning to
strain the nation's health care system.
Original broadcast date: 04/12/94
Topic: medicine/disease & research
Aircraft Carrier!
NOVA experiences the relentless, round-the-clock life aboard
the US Navy aircraft carrier, Independence-where every day is
a constant drill of launching and landing aircraft atop a
floating city of 5,000 people. The action includes Top Gun
mock combat exercises and live-ammunition patrols over
Iraq.
Original broadcast date: 04/19/94
Topic: technology/weapons & warfare
The Great Wildlife Heist
Polly wants a crackdown when it comes to the illegal trade in
the world's most beautiful and intelligent birds: parrots.
NOVA goes undercover with a US government sting that breaks an
international parrot smuggling ring, landing some surprising
suspects.
Original broadcast date: 10/11/94
Topic: environment/ecology
Secret of the Wild Child
NOVA profiles "Genie," a girl whose parents kept her
imprisoned in near total isolation from infancy. When social
workers discoverd her as a teenager, Genie had not learned to
walk or talk. This NOVA documentary includes never-before-seen
footage of Genie during her rehabilitation and probes how and
when we learn the skills that make us "human."
Original broadcast date: 10/18/94
Topic: human biology/behavior
Haunted Cry of a Long Gone Bird
NOVA explores the legacy of the great Auk, a magnificent
flightless bird that was hunted to extinction over a century
ago. In a journey retracing its migratory route, host Richard
Wheeler kayaks from Newfoundland to Cape Cod and discovers
that other marine species face the Auk's luckless fate.
Original broadcast date: 10/25/94
Topic: animal biology/behavior
What's New About Menopause
NOVA tackles the long-taboo subject of menopause, profiling
new research and examining the medical and ethical
controversies that arise when science enables women to
postpone menopause or even to bear children long after "the
change." Stockard Channing narrates.
Original broadcast date: 11/01/94
Topic: human biology/behavior
The Tribe that Time Forgot
NOVA travels deep into the Amazon wilderness in search of a
mysterious tribe- a tribe that dismembered and partially ate
three prospectors in 1976. Locating the group, NOVA lives with
them for three months, gaining insight into the customes and
beliefs of a people whose lifestyle has not changed for
centuries.
Original broadcast date: 11/08/94
Topic: anthropology/culture
Killer Quake!
NOVA probes the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake. Even as the city
struggles to repair itself from the tragedy, seismic pressure
continues to build. Scientists fear that newly discovered
faults could, at any moment, trigger California's most
devastating natural disaster.
Original broadcast date: 11/15/94
Topic: geology/earthquakes & volcanoes
Buried in Ash
Ten million years ago, an enormous volcanic eruption buried
much of what is now Nebraska in up to 10 feet of ash,
preserving countless skeletons of prehistoric big game
animals. NOVA joins the discoverer of this treasure trove to
learn what life was like when a lot more than buffalo roamed
the West.
Original broadcast date: 11/29/94
Topic: archeology
Rescue Mission in Space
Hobbled by defective eyesight because of its original, bungled
prescription, the Hubble Space Telescope was recently repaired
in a dramatic Space Shuttle mission. NOVA follows the exploits
of astronauts who saved the day, and the stunning work that
Hubble has performed in the months since its repair.
Original broadcast date: 12/06/94
Topic: astronomy/space exploration
Journey to the Sacred Sea
NOVA travels to Lake Baikal, the world's oldest and deepest
lake, containing one-fifth of all the fresh water on Earth.
Investigating Baikal from above, below and all around, NOVA
charts its dramatically changing environment over the course
of four seasons.
Original broadcast date: 12/20/94
Topic: environment/ecology
In Search of the First Language
NOVA explores the common threads that link the more than 5,000
languages of Earth, including a controversial theory that
claims to reconstruct words from a time when only a handful of
languages were spoken, recalling the biblical story of the
Tower of Babel.
Original broadcast date: 12/27/94
Topic: social sciences/miscellaneous
