January - December 1999
The Beast of Loch Ness
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Is it just a fairy tale, or could a primeval beast lurk in the
deep, dark waters of a Scottish lake? Since it was first
reported more than 60 years ago, hundreds claim to have
witnessed the Loch Ness Monster, while one scientist after
another has brought the latest technology to the loch to probe
the phenomenon. Twenty-five years after their first,
groundbreaking expedition to Loch Ness, NOVA joins two
American scientists as they return to Scotland for one last go
at Nessie. During a three-week expedition, they use
state-of-the-art sonar and sensitive underwater cameras in an
attempt to track down and identify the elusive beast.
Biologists study the ecosystem of the loch to determine if it
could support a large animal. Geologists study its history,
looking for clues about what kind of creature might have
colonized it, and when. NOVA examines the photographic
evidence in the case. And eyewitnesses vividly recount their
sightings. Could this legendary creature be real, perhaps a
relic from the time of dinosaurs? Or is it a shared
illusion—a product of myth, mirage and wishful
thinking?
Original broadcast date: 01/12/99
Topic: animal biology/behavior, unexplained phenomena
Submarines, Secrets, and Spies
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At the height of the Cold War, US subs gathered secrets that
neither spies nor satellites could expose. Until recently,
almost nobody knew the hidden history of their tragedies and
triumphs. As the US strove for supremacy in the Cold War, it
pushed submarine technology to its limits. Breakthroughs led
to unparalleled triumphs of espionage. And, missteps cost
hundreds their lives. With recently declassified film, NOVA
lifts the veil on tragic and mysterious submarine accidents
and their high-risk spy missions that helped win the Cold War.
Along with celebrated oceanographer and explorer, Robert
Ballard (discoverer of the
Titanic), NOVA goes in search of clues to two tragedies
of the Cold War, the wrecks of the nuclear submarines
Thresher and Scorpion. Recently declassified
footage gives a unique glimpse of the wrecks and a chance to
investigate the catastrophic accidents that overtook these
subs and their crew.
Original broadcast date: 01/19/99
Topic: technology/weapons & warfare
Surviving AIDS
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The past five years have seen remarkable progress in both
treatment and basic understanding of the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS. In laboratories
and clinics across the country and around the world,
scientists and doctors have pooled their expertise to keep
people infected with HIV alive and disease-free longer than
was imaginable at the start of the epidemic. And now, through
what may well be an unprecedented cross-fertilization process
among molecular biologists, immunologists, geneticists, and
practicing physicians, a series of discoveries about
HIV-infected patients who have successfully fought off AIDS
for as long as 20 years are being closely analyzed for clues
to the ultimate goal in this fierce scientific battle—a
vaccine. NOVA tells the story of this ongoing battle through
the experiences of patients like Robert Massie, a "long-term
non-progressor." Massie, a 43-year old environmental activist
and Episcopalian minister was infected by a blood transfusion
in 1978 and after an acute period of illness, somehow his
immune system has kept the HIV virus at bay without drugs.
Surviving AIDS reveals the scientific community engaged in an
enormous and ongoing struggle, with discoveries traveling from
labs to patients and back. And NOVA brings together the most
promising research with compelling human stories of the
patients and doctors who are devoting themselves to unraveling
one of the most complicated mysteries in scientific
history.
Original broadcast date: 02/02/99
Topic: medicine/disease & research, human biology/behavior
ESCAPE! Because Accidents Happen
A four part series on survival engineering.
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Tragic accidents occur all the time—and some make
sensational headlines. In
Escape, NOVA goes
behind the sensation to explore what good can come out of
these senseless tragedies. In this series of four programs,
NOVA discovers how engineers draw on the experience of
accidents and disasters to redesign or invent new safety
features so that when history repeats itself, it does so with
less tragic consequences.
Fire
When the Great Fire of London was raging in 1666, there were
no water pumps, no hoses, no hydrants, a limited supply of
available water, and, worst of all, no trained firefighters to
battle this ferocious enemy. Fire follows two thousand
years of human effort to be safe from fire. Some of the most
ingenious fire fighting inventions have come at a terrible
price. Others, like the remarkable story behind the creation
of the automatic sprinkler, were born of genius and the
unassailable knowledge that the best way to survive a fire is
to prevent it.
Original broadcast date: 02/16/99
Topic: technology/engineering
Car Crash
While today's cars are safer than they've ever been,
automobile safety has come slowly and at the expense of
millions of lives. Car Crash focuses on the unheralded
heroes of automobile safety: Dr. Claire Straith, a Detroit
plastic surgeon who fought in the 1920's to get padded
dashboards and recessed knobs installed in cars to protect his
patient's faces in an accident; Bela Berenyi, a Mercedes
engineer who completely changed the way cars were designed and
built with the invention of crumple zone and rigid cab
construction; Nils Bohlin, the Volvo engineer who holds the
patent for the single most effective safety device in any
car—the seat belt; and John Hetrick, the unsung inventor
of the airbag whose work was 20 years too early.
Original broadcast date: 02/16/99
Topic: technology/engineering
Plane Crash
From the invention of the parachute to the ejection seat and
escape systems created for NASA, to commercial airliners,
Plane Crash follows the history of aircraft safety.
There are many heroic tales of aviators and aero-engineers who
risked their own lives to save others.
Original broadcast date: 02/17/99
Topic: technology/engineering, technology/aeronautics & flight
Abandon Ship
When a ship founders in mid-ocean, time is the enemy. How can
the crew and passengers get off the ship before it sinks? How
can they survive perhaps for hours in cold and storm-tossed
waters? How can they be rescued? Abandon Ship follows
hundreds of years of maritime safety engineering including the
remarkable stories behind the invention of lifejackets, life
boats, breathing apparatus, and many other life-saving
technologies.
Original broadcast date: 02/17/99
Topic: technology/engineering
Battle Alert in the Gulf
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At the height of tensions in the Middle East, the United
States placed a huge armada at ground zero in the Persian
Gulf. This strategic move was without precedent during peace
time operations—a big stick waved at a defiant Saddam
Hussein. In an ironic twist of timing, at the center of this
massive military force was the Navy's oldest and most
celebrated aircraft carrier, the USS Independence, on
her final voyage, and the newest, the highly sophisticated
nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the USS
John C. Stennis, on her maiden voyage. Join NOVA as it
moves with exclusive access throughout the fleet, from
carriers and cruisers to submarines and jet fighters. Follow
the strategy makers, fighter pilots, Aegis cruiser captains
and fast attack submarine crews as they contend with a hostile
Iraq and a new battlefield. NOVA examines up-close a new and
powerful technology, tasked with a new assignment, a Blue
Water force designed for global confrontation in a post-Cold
War scenario. Has US war capability and technology kept pace
with a changing battlefield?
Original broadcast date: 02/23/99
Topic: technology/weapons & warfare
Volcanoes of the Deep
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The deep sea was long considered a barren place, devoid of
sunlight and inhospitable to life. Now, scientists are
witnessing how deep sea volcanoes can support oases of
astounding creatures. These oases hold clues to how life might
exist elsewhere in the universe, and to how life itself may
have begun on Earth. At the heart of these systems lie "black
smoker" chimneys, towering structures which spew acidic and
scalding water heated by volcanoes beneath the ocean floor.
These seemingly hostile environments are teeming with exotic
life. Join NOVA on an expedition which journeys to this remote
realm to first capture extraordinary imagery, and then, in an
exceptional feat of deep sea engineering, lifts from the
depths several of these giant chimneys and the life they
harbor. The massive structures now offer scientists an
unprecedented chance to reveal the secrets of deep sea
volcanoes—how life can thrive in eternal darkness, and
even how life itself originated.
Original broadcast date: 03/30/99
Topic: geography/oceanography, geology/earthquakes & volcanoes
To the Moon
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For two hours in July of 1969, the world stood still as man
landed and walked on the moon. Tens of millions watched it
happen, on blurry black and white television, beamed back a
quarter million miles across the heavens. For the first time
in human history, all mankind could observe a profound
discovery as it happened. A generation later, in July of 1999,
a two-hour NOVA special television event will mark the 30th
anniversary of the greatest science and engineering adventure
of all time—going behind the scenes to tell the stories
the astronauts and the unsung heroes of lunar
exploration—the scientists and engineers who made it
happen.
When President John F. Kennedy pledged to put a man on the
moon by the end of the 60s, not a single person in the nascent
US space agency had a clue as to how this would be
accomplished. After all, it was April, 1961, just two weeks
after an American flew into space for the first time.
Everything was unknown and in debate—how would they get
there? And how to return? The technologies—for
propulsion, navigation, and life support—had yet to be
invented and tested. At the time, no computers, batteries,
communication, let alone rockets or spacecraft capable of the
mission were on the drawing boards. The task seemed endless,
even impossible. Then, before the plans were barely outlined,
the President was dead, leaving the mission to continue. The
task was daunting.
NOVA's TO THE MOON is a celebration of that remarkable
achievement and an exploration of the future of space
technology.
Original broadcast date: 07/13/99
Topic: astronomy/space exploration
Fall of the Leaning Tower
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Even before it was finished 800 years ago, the Leaning Tower
of Pisa - a masterpiece of medieval architecture - began to
topple, shaken by earthquakes and sinking slowly into the
unstable soil. Today, the top hangs just 16 feet over the base
and collapse seems imminent. NOVA follows a decade-long search
for a solution to correct the lean and save the unique
building. State-of-the-art computer models, ingenious
experiments with models and a string of near-disasters
eventually push an international committee of prominent
engineers and architects into an 11th-hour decision. A
suspenseful tale of engineering hopes and frustrations, the
program is both high comedy and a hands-on engineering
adventure, guiding viewers into the minds of daring medieval
architects and their ingenious modern successors.
Original broadcast date: 10/05/99
Topic: technology/engineering
Time Travel
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Is time travel anything more than sci-fi fantasy? Many leading
physicists now believe that time travel is not only possible
in theory but are discussing how to build a time machine.
Physicist Kip Thorne tells NOVA how humankind's infinitely
advanced descendants might go about achieving it with "quantum
wormholes" and some "exotic matter." Demonstrating that
faster-than-light travel may be possible, German physicist
Guenter Nimtz claims to have transmitted Mozart's 40th
Symphony across his lab at 4.7 times the speed of light.
Impossible, yes, but recorded by NOVA's cameras and perhaps
another step on the road to reaching the future or the past.
The truth about time travel is wrapped up in the detail of how
our universe works and how it all began. Mind-boggling as
these perspectives are, NOVA dramatizes them in a playful and
visually dazzling style that will captivate viewers and sweep
them along on the ultimate thrill ride.
Original broadcast date: 10/12/99
Topic: mathematics, physics, unexplained phenomena
The Killer's Trail
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The death of Marilyn Sheppard in 1954 is one of the most
famous unsolved murders in America. The indictment of her
husband, Dr. Sam Sheppard, quickly became the "Trial of the
Century," then the "Re-Trial of the Century," making a
celebrity out of lawyer F. Lee Bailey. Although most of the
forensic evidence gathered in 1954 was ignored during
Sheppard's trial, it is being re-examined with today's
advanced technology. Like an intricate puzzle, the clues come
together to overturn previous assumptions about the killer and
point to an entirely new suspect. NOVA assembles a notable
team of experts—including Barry Scheck, a well-known
lawyer from the O.J. Simpson trial—and builds a precise
replica of the Sheppard house, complete with the original
furniture. With this unique revisiting of a vanished crime
scene, NOVA investigates a horrifying and sensational
milestone in forensic science.
Original broadcast date: 10/19/99
Topic: medicine/forensic, technology/crime
Island of the Spirits
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In the far north of Japan, thrust out into the north Pacific,
is the remote island of Hokkaido. It's a land of towering
volcanoes and steaming lakes, marshy valleys and fairy tale
forests. Among this magical scenery, where summers are brief
and winters are fierce, lives an extraordinary spectrum of
life, found nowhere else in Japan. Here among the coastal
lowlands, grizzly bears plunge into icy streams for salmon,
Japanese cranes perform balletic courtship dances to one
another, the rare and enormous Blakistons fish owl swoops on
flying squirrels, and white-tailed eagles scan the rugged
ocean cliffs for unsuspecting seabirds. HIgh on the mountains
Asiatic pikas, arctic hares and Siberian chipmunks gather
food, ever-watchful for the predatory sable. We think of Japan
as a highly-populated, ultra modern society, and yet it
remains a highly spiritual place where wildlife is treasured
and carefully protected. Weaving Ainu legend with fascinating
natural behavior, this film will follow the lives of
Hokkaido's special creatures through the seasons, to capture
the true essence and beauty of this other-worldly place.
Original broadcast date: 11/02/99
Topic: animal biology/behavior, geography/oceanography
Decoding Nazi Secrets
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Most historians agree that by enabling Allied commanders to
eavesdrop on German plans, Station X shortened the war by 2 or
3 years. Its decoded messages played a vital role in defeating
the U-boat menace, cutting off Rommel's supplies in North
Africa, and launching the D-Day landings. Now, for the first
time on television, a 2-hour NOVA Special tells the full story
of Station X, drawing on vivid interviews with many of the
colorful geniuses and eccentrics who attacked the Enigma.
Wartime survivors recall such vivid episodes as the British
capture of the German submarine U-110; one of its officers
describes how he saved a book of love poems inscribed to his
sweetheart but failed to destroy vital Enigma documents on
board. "Decoding Nazi Secrets" also features meticulous period
reenactments shot inside the original buildings at Station X,
including recreations of the world's first computing devices
that aided codebreakers with their breakthroughs. Station X
not only helped reverse the onslaught of the Third Reich, but
also laid the groundwork for the invention of the digital
computer that continues to transform all our lives.
Original broadcast date: 11/09/99
Topic: technology/weapons & warfare, mathematics,
technology/computers
Voyage of Doom
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Buried in mud beneath the shallow waters of Matagorda Bay in
Texas, lay a glorious remnant of one of the most ill-fated
voyages of the Age of Discovery. After years of searching the
area, nautical archaeologists doing a magnetometer survey
honed in on a promising site. And on the first day of diving,
they were astounded to feel the distinctive outlines of a
cannon, and sense the massive size of the wreck. When the
cannon was hauled from the water, their hunch was confirmed:
This ship, called La Belle, belonged to the 17th Century
French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle. NOVA follows the
building of a coffer dam and subsequent complete excavation of
this remarkable site. Preserved were not only armaments and
trade beads, but also a wealth of organic material—the
wooden hull, leather shoes, and even a skeleton—that
brings the voyage to life.
Original broadcast date: 11/23/99
Topic: archaeology
Electric Heart
Go to the companion Web site
Original broadcast date: 12/21/99
Topic: medicine/health care & surgery
