January - December 2002
Death Star
Go to the companion Web site
In 1967, a United States satellite network intended to monitor
Soviet compliance with the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty detected
unusual signals coming from outer space. Defying astronomers'
expectations, these turned out to be unimaginably violent
bursts of gamma-ray radiation located at the far edges of the
known universe. The titanic explosions are so far back in time
that they conceal clues to the birth of the very first stars
and black holes, back when the cosmos had barely begun. "Death
Star" is an intimate detective story of the quest by leading
astronomers to solve the riddle of the gamma-ray
bursts—the most energetic events ever detected and
brighter than a billion billion suns.
Original broadcast date: 1/8/2002
Topics: astronomy/space exporation
Neanderthals on Trial
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In 1856, bones of an unrecognizable hominid turned up in
Germany's Neander Valley. This early human and others like
it—sturdy, large-headed individuals—came to be
known as Neanderthals. Despite a century and a half of study
and debate, Neanderthals remain an enigma. Were they our
ancestors, or an evolutionary dead-end? Were they assimilated
into early modern (Cro Magnon) populations, or were they wiped
out en masse in a Pleistocene genocide? "Neanderthals on
Trial" investigates this long-standing mystery.
Original broadcast date: 1/22/2002
Topics: anthropology/ancient
Fireworks!
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Fireworks are danger held, like a sparkler, at arm's length:
close enough to be beautiful, powerful, and alluring, yet far
enough away to be safe. This explosive NOVA presents the
colorful history of pyrotechnics and reveals the chemical
secrets that put the bang in the rocket and the fizz in the
Roman candle. The show introduces a gallery of firework
creators and pyromaniacs, and reveals how hi-tech firing
systems are transforming public displays into a dazzling,
split-second science.
Original broadcast date: 1/29/2002
Topics: technology/aeronautics and flight
Secrets, Lies, and Atomic Spies
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NOVA reveals startling new evidence that Soviet spies
penetrated America's deepest secrets, including the Manhattan
Project, in the 1940's. By cracking the code of Soviet
diplomatic cables, the FBI was able to hunt down "atom spies"
such as Klaus Fuchs and Julius Rosenberg. But the true "master
spy," a physicist named Ted Hall, got away—and his
gripping story is presented for the first time by NOVA.
Original broadcast date: 2/5/2002
Topics: biography, mathematics, technology/crime,
technology/weapons and warfare
The Missing Link
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According to the theory of evolution, all four-limbed animals
- everything from human beings to dinosaurs - are descended
from a single creature, the first to crawl from water on to
land. Yet finding that vital bridge between fish and four legs
has proven elusive. A paleontological tour-de-force and
suspenseful scientific detective story, "The Missing Link"
follows a trail of clues from Pennsylvania to Greenland,
including the crucial rediscovery of a tiny fossil jaw that
had lain unnoticed in a dusty museum drawer for decades.
Original broadcast date: 2/26/2002
Topics: dinosaurs/paleontology
Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance
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In 1914, Ernest Shackleton boarded the Endurance with a
team of seamen and scientists, determined to be the first to
cross the Antarctic continent. But when the pack ice closed in
and crushed their frail wooden ship, Shackleton and his men
found themselves stranded 1,200 miles from civilization with
little hope of rescue. For the next 14 months, they set out on
a harrowing journey across the ice, subsisting mainly on
penguins and seals. When the ice broke up, Shackleton saved
his men by embarking on a heroic 800-mile voyage in a tiny
rowboat across the treacherous South Atlantic. Amazingly, all
Shackleton's men survived their ordeal. Although many are now
familiar with this epic story, NOVA presents a definitive
two-hour documentary that includes spectacular footage of
Antarctic locations and moving interviews with descendants of
the original expedition team.
Original broadcast date: 3/26/2002
Topics: biography
Why the Towers Fell
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For most Americans, the image of the collapse of the World
Trade Center towers was not only a scene of unforgettable
horror, it was a moment of unimaginable consequence. Who could
have guessed that a steel behemoth of such size and
strength—a building so massive that it had its own zip
code—could actually be reduced to 150 feet of dust and
rubble? On "Why the Towers Fell," NOVA follows a blue-ribbon
team of forensic engineers and presents their conclusions in
the most definitive explanation yet seen by the American
public of how and why the towers collapsed.
Original broadcast date: 4/30/2002
Topics: technology/engineering
Fire Wars
Go to the companion Web site
Every year uncontrollable wildfires ravage the American West,
and every year armies of firefighters mobilize to save
threatened wilderness and communities. On Fire Wars, NOVA
accompanies the men and women of the Arrowhead Hotshots during
the summer of 2000, one of the most destructive wildfire
seasons ever, in which more than six million acres burned.
After a century of preventing forest fires at all costs, it
may be time to rethink Smokey bear's dictum.
Original broadcast date: 5/7/2002
Topics: environment/ecology, plants/agriculture
Killer Disease on Campus
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Every year in the U.S., 3,000 people are struck down by a
potentially lethal bacterial infection that predominantly
attacks children under five and teenagers. Known as
meningococcal disease, it's an illness that may be on the rise
on college campuses. The disease strikes quickly and
unexpectedly; from feeling slightly unwell, a victim can have
multi-system failure within hours. NOVA's special looks at the
warning signs that can signal the disease and how doctors
worldwide are trying to combat what has become, in some
countries, a scourge of epidemic proportions.
Original broadcast date: 9/3/2002
Mysterious Life of Caves
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While exploring world-famous Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico,
geologists Carol Hill and Dave Jagnow stumbled across a
startling find—giant blocks of a mineral that
conventional theories said shouldn't be there. This discovery
set them on the trail of a radically new explanation of how
certain caves form, involving extremophile microbes that live
off toxic hydrogen sulfide gas and literally eat away the rock
(since one of their byproducts is sulfuric acid). At the time
of Hill and Jagnow's first investigations, the idea that
microbes could flourish in total darkness and help etch out
huge underground caverns was revolutionary.
Original broadcast date: 10/1/2002
Lost Roman Treasure
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At the height of the Roman Empire an opulent city stood at the
eastern frontier on the most important crossing of the
Euphrates River. Called Zeugma ("junction") after the bridge
that linked its opposite banks, the city disappeared into
history after the empire fell. Now its remains are about to
disappear beneath a mammoth reservoir. NOVA records the
frantic scramble to recover the glory that was Zeugma. Buried
by centuries of silt and dirt, Zeugma was long neglected by
archaeologists, until the rising edifice of a nearby
hydroelectric dam forced them to act quickly before the site
was flooded. What they found were treasures beyond their
wildest dreams.
Original broadcast date: 10/8/2002
Galileo's Battle for the Heavens
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In a two-hour special, NOVA vividly reconstructs an epic
historical confrontation: the bitter clash between a fiery
scientific genius, Galileo Galilei, and the church authorities
who tried to suppress his astonishing discoveries. The
brilliant British actor Simon Callow (Four Weddings and a
Funeral, Shakespeare in Love) plays Galileo in dramatic
reenactments of key moments from his life: his pioneering
telescopic observations of the Moon and planets, his
revolutionary experiments with falling objects, and his
fateful trial before the Inquisition for heresy.
Original broadcast date: 10/29/2002
Volcano's Deadly Warning
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In January 1993, six scientists, confident that no eruption
was imminent, descended into the smoking mouth of Colombia's
Galeras volcano and perished when it suddenly exploded. Eight
years earlier, the eruption of another Colombian volcano,
Nevada del Ruiz unleashed mudflows that buried 23,000 people
in the town of Armero. In both cases, a revolutionary new
theory for predicting eruptions based on a mysterious seismic
signal might have saved lives—in Armero's case tens of
thousands of lives. "Volcano's Deadly Warning" focuses on the
controversial new prediction technique, developed by Bernard
Chouet of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Original broadcast date: 11/12/2002
Sinking City of Venice
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Today's tourists often need wading boots to explore the
architectural wonders of Venice. Will they one day need diving
suits? NOVA covers the battle to keep the world's most unusual
city from drowning beneath the rising tides of the Adriatic
Sea. For centuries Venetians have been fighting the forces of
nature that threaten to alter their city's precarious
relationship with the encircling lagoon that has long served
as protection from invading armies. Now they have to decide
how to keep that water out. NOVA looks at the choices that
they have to make—under water gates and dams, choices
which will eventually effect all coastal cities, even New York
City, Miami and New Orleans.
Original broadcast date: 11/19/2002
The Orchid Hunter
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For nine months in 2000, Tom Hart Dyke was a captive of
guerrillas who seized him while he was collecting wild orchids
in the Colombian rain forest. Now Hart Dyke is at it again in
the most orchid-rich and politically unstable part of Papua
New Guinea. NOVA investigates an all-consuming passion that
for some people is more precious than life itself. Ranging
from the scientific to the sociological, Orchid Hunter covers
research at the forefront of plant biology. Long of interest
to scientists because of their remarkable evolutionary
history, orchids are equally exciting to collectors, who have
made them a multibillion-dollar industry.
Original broadcast date: 11/26/2002
