January - December 1998
Night Creatures of the Kalahari
Go to the companion Web site
Beneath the grassland plains of the Kalahari lies a hidden
world of rare and exotic animals. By day, the Kalahari belongs
to familiar predators and grazing animals. At night, the earth
seems to release scores of seldom seen nocturnal
creatures—Bush Babies, Brown Hyenas, Aardvarks and
Fungal Termites—in search of food.
Original broadcast date: 01/06/98
Topic: animal biology/behavior
Mysterious Mummies of China
Go to the companion Web site
Perfectly preserved 3000-year-old mummies have been unearthed
in a remote Chinese desert. They have long, blonde hair and
blue eyes, and don't appear to be the ancestors of the
modern-day Chinese people. Who are these people and how did
they end up in China's Takla Makan desert? NOVA takes a
glimpse through a crack in the door of history, to a past that
has never before been seen outside of China.
Original broadcast date: 01/20/98
Topic: archaeology
Supersonic Spies
Go to the companion Web site
The race to build the world's first supersonic passenger
airliner led to a massive espionage effort during the Cold War
between the Soviet Union and the west. The Soviets started
years behind the Concorde team, but espionage enabled
Konkordski to beat Concorde into the air by three months. Now,
NOVA reveals the cause behind the fatal Konkordski disaster at
the 1973 Paris Air Show, which put the Soviet's work on the
plane in a deep freeze. In a twist of fate, Konkordski is
being resurrected in a NASA initiative to build the second
generation of supersonic jets.
Original broadcast date: 01/27/98
Topic: technology/aeronautics & flight, technology/weapons &
warfare
Animal Hospital
Go to the companion Web site
Tapping into the clearly demonstrated affection we all have
for our pets, this program will offer an offbeat, sometimes
humorous, sometimes sad portrait of pets, their owners, and
the veterinarians who treat our beloved animals' ailments.
From race horses under the knife for cancer treatment, to
Manhattan hounds on Prozac, to anorexic boa constrictors, we
will show how cutting edge veterinary medicine is saving
lives, and draw viewers into the mini-dramas that unfold each
day in homes, in zoos, and in veterinary hospitals across the
country.
Original broadcast date: 02/03/98
Topic: animal biology/behavior, medicine/heath care & surgery
The Brain Eater
Go to the companion Web site
In this scientific mystery, NOVA ventures to the front lines
of medical research where scientists are scrambling to
understand the strange new ailment popularly known as "mad cow
disease." Highly infectious and incurable, this disease has
claimed the lives of nearly a million cattle in Britain, and a
variant is responsible for a handful of deaths in humans.
Millions more people may have been exposed, and now the race
is on to determine if we are on the brink of another deadly
epidemic like AIDS or Ebola. What scientists are finding is
making them rethink many fundamental assumptions about
epidemiology and may hold startling implications for public
health in the future.
Original broadcast date: 02/10/98
Topic: animal biology/behavior, medicine/disease & research
Everest - The Death Zone
Go to the companion Web site
NOVA treks with a group of Himalayan climbers in their quest
to reach the summit of Everest, along the way exploring in
never-before-conducted tests how extremes of weather and
altitude affect the human mind and body. Why do some people
succumb so quickly to the ills caused by high altitude while
others do not? Does exposure to extreme hypoxia—or lack
of oxygen—take a lasting toll on the mind and body?
Images of the brain scanned before and after the expedition
may reveal truths about the physical traumas suffered in an
oxygen-depleted environment, and give us new insight into why
the tallest mountain in the world has claimed so many
victims.
Original broadcast date: 02/24/98
Topic: human biology/behavior
Search for the Lost Cave People
Go to the companion Web site
NOVA follows an international team of archaeologists and
spelunkers into the Rio la Venta Gorge deep in the Chiapas
jungle of Central America. In a rugged canyon they find caves
filled with startling remains of a people called the Zoque who
lived hundreds of years before the Maya. The extreme
inaccessibility and relative dryness of the caves has
preserved rare artifacts including bones, clothes, rope, and
jewelry. Moving downstream from the caves the team finds a
legendary city hidden in a tangle of jungle vines. Evidence of
the Zoque's sophisticated writing system and their practice of
ritualistic cannibalism and child sacrifice is shedding new
light on a little known civilization.
Original broadcast date: 03/31/98
Topic: archaeology
Warnings from the Ice
Go to the companion Web site
Could the world be facing the next deluge—a catastrophic
rise in sea levels—as a result of the rapid break-up of
the huge Antarctic ice sheets? The ice sheets hold 70% of the
world's fresh water in a deep freeze cold enough to shatter
steel, but now scientists are racing to understand whether the
recent calving of a Connecticut sized iceberg signals the
beginning of a giant meltdown.
Original broadcast date: 04/21/98
Topic: environment/weather, environment/ecology
Crocodiles! With David Attenborough
Go to the companion Web site
An unprecedented look at a dangerous predator, this is the
second of three natural history programs hosted by Sir David
Attenborough. Surviving virtually unchanged since the days of
the dinosaur and found throughout the world, these remarkable
creatures have the tools for survival. Long known as vicious
hunters, new photographic techniques now allow us to see them
cooperating with each other and protecting their families.
From tiny babies hatching from the shell we see them grow into
great beasts capable of standing up to the lion and bringing
down a zebra.
Original broadcast date: 04/28/98
Topic: animal biology/behavior
The Truth About Impotence
Go to the companion Web site
NOVA reports on new hope for victims of erectile dysfunction,
also known as impotence. Among the promising therapies covered
in the program are ones developed by Dr. Irwin Goldstein of
Boston University School of Medicine and Dr. Harin
Padma-Nathan, director of the Male Clinic in Santa Monica, CA.
Actual cases are profiled, featuring men talking candidly
about their problem—and going through treatment—on
camera. Erectile dysfunction affects an estimated 52% of men
between the ages of 40 and 70.
Original broadcast date: 05/12/98
Topic: human biology/behavior, medicine/health care & surgery
Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude
Go to the companion Web site
It was one of humankind's most epic quests - a technical
problem so complex that it challenged the best minds of its
time, a problem so important that the nation that solved it
would rule the economy of the world. The problem was
navigation by sea—how to know where you were when you
sailed beyond the sight of land - establishing your longitude.
While the gentry of the 18th Century looked to the stars for
the answer, an English clockmaker, John Harrison, toiled for
decades to solve the problem. His elegant solution made him an
unlikely hero and remains the basis for the most modern forms
of navigation in the world today. This film will be both a
celebration of Harrison's invention and an adventure story. An
expedition on a period sailing vessel as it sails the open sea
will demonstrate the life and death importance of finding your
longitude at sea.
Original broadcast date: 10/06/98
Topic: social sciences/misc, technology/engineering,
technology/weapons and warfare
Chasing El Niño
Go to the companion Web site
A massive planet-sized machine controls our weather
day-to-day, and our climate season-to-season. It takes an
event of staggering proportions to disrupt a machine this
large and powerful, a juggernaut with more energy than a
million nuclear bombs. Signs now indicate that such an event
is underway - El Niño. More than a series of storms
stunning the California coastline, El Niño is second only
to the seasons in its effect on global weather. In a P-3 off
the coast, a team plunges into a storm front to explore its
cause and effects. In a boat off the Galapagos, an array of
buoys are checked for temperature and current data. On a
mountan in Peru, signs of the devastation of past El
Niños are revealed. As scientists push to extremes to
explore this phenomenon, they understand for the first time
the extent to which all the world's weather is connected, and
just how delicate is the balance.
Original broadcast date: 10/13/98
Topic: environment/weather, environment/ecology
Terror In Space
Go to the companion Web site
Experience the harrowing and life-threatening problems aboard
the aging Mir space station through the eyes of the Russian
and American astronauts who lived through them. Feel the heat
from the fire that erupted on board. See the collision between
Mir and another space craft. Endure the power outages and the
computer failures that have jeopardized lives. Hear the debate
over whether NASA should continue to risk its astronauts by
sending them to Mir in preparation for the launch later this
year of the most ambitious space project yet—the
International Space Station.
Original broadcast date: 10/27/98
Topic: astronomy/space exploration
Special Effects Titanic and Beyond
Go to the companion Web site
NOVA goes behind the scenes of Hollywood's biggest blockbuster
ever, "Titanic," and lifts the curtain on how James Cameron
achieved his spectacular vision. The secrets behind the
explosions on the set of The X-Files movie and the painstaking
work that went into having a computer-animated Flubber are
revealed. Although the computer has made such effects both
easier to produce and more likely to fool the eye, there is
nothing new about them. In this star-studded NOVA the art of
illusion meets the science of perception.
Original broadcast date: 11/03/98
Topic: photography/film
Deadly Shadow of Vesuvius
Go to the companion Web site
At present there are over 1400 active volcanoes on this
planet. Many of these are either at sea or in remote places
where they present little risk to anyone. A small number are
situated in the middle of populated areas and, although
inactive, have troublesome histories. One is Mt. Rainier,
which overlooks Seattle, and the other is Mt. Vesuvius, which
dominates the Bay of Naples. One does not have to look far
beyond the shattered remnants of the Roman city of Pompeii to
understand the risk that Vesuvius presents today. The volcano
has remained dormant since 1944, but geological evidence
suggests that Vesuvius is on the move again. The city of
Pozzouli is being torn apart. Over two million people live
under the shadows of Vesuvius. This program will look at new
scientific measurements of this infamous volcano, at the
threat posed by a new eruption, and at the historical day of
August 24, 79AD, when Pompeii died.
Original broadcast date: 11/10/98
Topic: geology/earthquakes and volcanoes
Ice Mummies
A three-part series on the science of the frozen past.
Go to the series Web site
Frozen in Heaven
This is the bizarre and fascinating story of the remains of
Inca culture, frozen for posterity high in the mountains of
the Andes. Evidence has emerged of sacrifice to the mountain
gods, whose existence dominated the civilization over 500
years ago. The film traces the frozen bodies of children
uncovered by archaeologists in South America, and follows an
archaeological expedition to a high-altitude sacred site in
search of ritual remains and another body. How did they come
to be there? Why did they go to their deaths willingly? What
was the religious framework that dictated their sacrifice to
fierce gods?
Original broadcast date: 11/24/98
Topic: archaeology
Siberian Ice Maiden
The Siberian Ice Maiden, discovered in the Pastures of Heaven,
on the high Steppes, is believed to have been a shamaness of
the lost Pazyryk culture. She had been mummified and then
frozen by freak climatic conditions around 2400 years ago,
along with six decorated horses and a symbolic meal for her
last journey. Her body was covered with vivid blue tattoos of
mythical animal figures. Together with the newly discovered
body of a man, nicknamed "Conan," her body has now been
restored, and is providing new clues to the role and power of
women in the nomadic peoples of ancient Siberia.
Original broadcast date: 11/24/98
Topic: archaeology
Return of the Iceman
Cutting-edge science and archaeology are reconstructing the
life and culture of The Iceman—the 5000-year-old frozen
corpse found buried in the ice of the Alps. By analyzing every
inch of the Iceman's body and the tools and equipment found
with it, scientists are piecing together the most complete
picture yet of the late Stone Age in this part of Europe.
X-ray, CAT scan, and microscopic analysis of this spectacular
find is revealing where the iceman lived, what he ate, and how
he may have died; nuclear physics reveals that the Iceman's
hair was contaminated with arsenic and copper, suggesting he
was involved in copper production centuries before it was
known to exist in the region.
Original broadcast date: 11/24/98
Topic: archaeology
Leopards of the Night with David
Attenborough
Go to the companion Web site
Night stalkers by nature, leopards are observed both by night
and day, using state-of-the-art camera equipment, to reveal
never before seen hunting behavior. Filmed in the Luangua
Valley in Zambia, Leopard reveals the challenges and dangers
faced daily by these beautiful animals. Shadowed by hungry
hyenas in pursuit of leftovers, and stalked by lumbering
crocodiles hoping to tackle a lone leopard on a kill, how can
they hope to challenge such beasts?
Original broadcast date: 12/01/98
Topic: animal biology/behavior
The Perfect Pearl
Go to the companion Web site
Pearls are back in fashion. For thousands of years humans have
speculated about the mystery of the pearl, a unique gem
produced by a living animal that requires no mining,
extraction, cutting, or polishing to reveal its beauty. NOVA
travels around the world to exotic locations where rare pearls
are harvested by divers, and to farms where huge numbers of
pearls are grown. Will the cultured pearls ruin the value of
those grown in the wild? From the depths of the ocean to the
riches of Fifth Avenue NOVA revels in the luster of these
desirable gems.
Original broadcast date: 12/29/98
Topic: animal biology/behavior
