January - December 2005
Welcome to Mars
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On January 3, 2004, a tiny rover named
Spirit crash-landed on the dusty surface of Mars and
sent its first message home. The elation of the assembled
scientists as well as the behind-the-scenes engineering story
leading up to the landing were captured by NOVA in its popular
documentary "MARS Dead or Alive." That elation is the starting
point for the sequel, "Welcome to Mars," which follows the
adventures of Spirit and Opportunity on the Red
Planet. Once again, NOVA's producers enjoyed unprecedented
access to the mission scientists at JPL as they wrestled with
the technical crises that soon beset the rovers.
All goes well until Spirit suddenly falls silent and
then, inexplicably, starts spewing gibberish. For three
agonizing days the engineers struggle to regain control of the
unhinged rover before they finally solve the problem. Then
Opportunity lands and sends back the image of an
outcrop of bedrock just a few yards away. The rock turns out
to be a crucial clue in the long quest to discover if there
was once water and life on Mars. But the race to collect
confirming data turns into an emotional rollercoaster for the
engineers as they struggle to keep their earthly lives in
synch with the longer day/night cycle of the Red Planet.
Eventually, the evidence adds up, and after 40 years of
speculation, NASA finally announces solid proof that Mars was
once awash in water. "Welcome to Mars" presents a compelling
inside story of triumph and technical ingenuity, full of
scientific and human drama, with stunning fresh images from an
alien world.
Original broadcast date: 1/4/2005
The Boldest Hoax
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In 1912, Charles Dawson, a British amateur fossil hunter, made
a shattering claim: he'd discovered the bones of a primitive
human in a gravel pit at Piltdown, Sussex. Here was the
long-sought evidence of the "missing link" between the apes
and mankind. British scientists were now suddenly at the
forefront of the worldwide quest for human origins. It took 40
years for the shocking truth to emerge: Piltdown man was not a
scientific treasure but a fiendishly elaborate hoax. Since
this unmasking, suspicion has fallen not only on Dawson but on
a host of possible conspirators, including Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. NOVA reviews the
gallery of suspects and the twists and turns of the bizarre,
unsolved story of science's greatest fraud, which still teases
and tantalizes investigators today.
Original broadcast date: 1/11/2005
Supersonic Dream
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NOVA looks back affectionately over the 30-year story of the
development of the world's first operational supersonic
airliner. How did Concorde's designers and engineers come up
with their revolutionary design? What happened to the dream
that supersonic passenger flight would become an everyday,
affordable way to travel, expanding Concorde's business beyond
its luxury niche? Revisiting the thrill of its maiden flight
of 1969 and the tragic Paris crash of 2000, "Supersonic Dream"
is a unique and colorful aviation saga, drawing on rare
behind-the-scenes footage and including interviews with
Concorde fans such as Henry Kissinger, David Frost, and many
more.
Original broadcast date: 1/18/2005
NOVA scienceNOW
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Science and technology are changing our lives at a dizzying
pace. Hidden clues in your genes will soon enable your doctor
to tell you whether you're likely to get a major disease
perhaps decades before it happens. Advanced "nanotech"
materials will lead to unimaginably tiny and powerful
computers. Recently the first private space probe reached
low-Earth orbit, opening up a whole new era in aerospace. And
increasingly sophisticated studies of climate change offer
unsettling evidence of the environment our children and
grandchildren will inherit from us. So how can you keep up
with the fast-moving frontiers of science and technology? The
answer is "NOVA scienceNOW", an innovative science news
and magazine show developed by the producers of NOVA.
Airing five times a year, the program brings to life the "how"
and "why" behind cutting-edge discoveries and show the
everyday impact and human side of science with accuracy,
clarity, and flair.
Well-known correspondent Robert Krulwich of
Nightline and ABC News hosted the 2005 episodes.
Features in Episode One include segments on MIT's James
McLurkin, the world's leading expert on "swarms" of robots;
mirror neurons, a newly discovered system in the brain that
may explain why we get so worked up watching other people; the
science of predicting hurricanes; why some sand dunes make
booming sounds; and kinetic sculptor Arthur Ganson.
Original broadcast date: 1/25/2005
The Viking Deception
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There are few more tantalizing or notorious historical
documents than the Vinland map. A faded, yellowing scrap of
parchment bearing a faint tracery of lines, the map apparently
shows the eastern seaboard of North America—yet it was
drawn at least half a century before Columbus reached the New
World. It seems to present unshakeable proof that the Vikings
were the real discoverers of the Americas. But for 40 years, a
bitter debate over its authenticity has raged among
cartographers, historians, and scientists. Despite chemical
analysis and radiocarbon tests, the case remained unresolved.
Now, in an exclusive investigation, NOVA presents fresh
evidence confirming that the map was probably one of the
cleverest forgeries of all time, and probes who might have
wanted to carry out the deception. In this enthralling
cartographic detective story, NOVA pursues a trail from
Scandinavia to Austria, Switzerland, London, and the U.S.
Original broadcast date: 2/8/2005
Saving the National Treasures
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Every year, more than a million people visit the Rotunda at
the National Archives in Washington to gaze at three documents
that define our nation's heritage: the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. But
these touchstones of democracy are in serious trouble. The ink
is flaking from parchments that are already badly faded, while
the glass casements built to exhibit them are disintegrating.
To head off the danger, the Archives embarked on a five-year
project to design state-of-the-art encasements and a new
Rotunda. NOVA was given exclusive behind-the-scenes access to
this unique project and commissioned Middlemarch Films,
producers of the Peabody Award-winning PBS series "Liberty:
The American Revolution," to follow the entire process from
start to finish. The result is a brilliant evocation of the
colorful history of these documents and an insider's look at
the extraordinary engineering efforts that are safeguarding
America's equivalent of the Crown Jewels.
Original broadcast date: 2/15/2005
A Daring Flight
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On the morning of July 25, 1909, Louis Bleriot set out on his
epic flight across the English Channel, marking the first
long-distance flight over water and the first air crossing of
a national boundary. Bleriot's triumph came after years of
experiments with primitive flying machines and innumerable
crashes—a story of perseverance and ingenuity as
memorable as that of his competitors, the Wright Brothers. "A
Daring Flight" dramatizes Louis Bleriot's colorful story
through the present-day quest of his grandson to relive his
family heritage and repeat the heroic cross-channel
flight—a quest that will prove both dangerous and
elusive.
Original broadcast date: 2/22/2005
Wave That Shook the World
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On December 26, 2004, a series of tidal waves killed hundreds
of thousands and devastated communities around the Indian
Ocean. With around 100 tsunamis striking the world's
coastlines each decade, NOVA investigates what made the recent
event so powerful and catastrophic. In a special report shot
within days of this shocking disaster, "Wave That Shook the
World" presents a clear explanation and analysis of the
tragedy, revealing exactly how these deadly waves were
triggered by one of the most powerful earthquakes recorded
this century.
Can an effective early warning system help avert another such
catastrophe? Ever since a tsunami killed 159 on Hawaii's Big
Island in 1946, awareness of the threat in the Pacific has
steadily grown, leading to an early warning system there that
has saved untold numbers. NOVA takes viewers back to the
morning of December 26, 2004, when scientists at the Pacific
Center registered the massive quake and tsunami risk in the
Indian Ocean but were mostly powerless to alert those in
peril. NOVA looks at the status of efforts to implement a
similar system in the Indian Ocean, with a special update to
be produced just before the program airs.
"Wave That Shook the World" presents a chilling,
minute-by-minute picture of what happened that fateful
morning. With the help of clear explanations and animation,
together with the human stories of individuals caught up in
the catastrophe, this program is both illuminating and
heartbreaking.
Original broadcast date: 3/29/2005
NOVA scienceNOW
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The second installment of NOVA's science magazine show
features segments on the recently discovered "Little People"
of Flores, an extinct race of human beings found on a remote
Indonesian island; how an apparent growth spurt during
adolescence accounts for the enormous size of
Tyrannosaurus rex; nanotechnologist Naomi Halas; the
controversial but hugely promising field of stem-cell
research; and frogs that freeze solid in winter, calling into
question exactly when life ends—or doesn't.
Original broadcast date: 4/19/2005
NOVA scienceNOW
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The third episode of NOVA's science magazine series features
segments on the promise of cars that run on hydrogen fuel
cells, whose "waste" is pure water; RNAi, recently discovered
molecules that may someday help treat a wide variety of
diseases; the world's fastest glacier and what it says about
the effects and peril of global warming; and the Chudnovsky
brothers, who used a homemade supercomputer to help digitize a
famous tapestry.
Original broadcast date: 7/26/2005
Mystery of the Megaflood
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It was the greatest flood of the past two million years, and
it posed a giant scientific riddle. A maverick geologist
became convinced that thousand-foot-deep floodwaters had
scoured out vast areas of the American northwest near the end
of the last ice age. Mainstream scientists scorned his theory
while he searched patiently for answers to what could have
triggered such an inconceivably violent event. Finally, an
ingenious solution silenced the skeptics: traces of an
enormous ice dam half a mile high, which had blocked a valley
in present-day Montana and created an enormous lake behind it.
With the help of stunningly realistic animation, NOVA takes
viewers back to the Ice Age to reveal what happened when the
dam broke, unleashing a titanic flood that swept herds of
woolly mammoth and everything else into oblivion.
Original broadcast date: 9/20/2005
Sinking the Supership
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In April 1945, the largest battleship ever built set out on
the ultimate suicide mission. With its crew of 3,000,
Battleship Yamato, the pride of Japan's fleet, sailed
to a solo confrontation with the 1,500-strong United States
Navy. Attacked by a swarm of U.S. dive bombers, the battleship
sank within minutes. A NOVA team discovers the wreck and
retells the Yamato's extraordinary saga through the
eyes of the few Japanese crew who survived the sinking and are
still living today. State-of-the-art CGI animation shows
viewers what the colossal battleship was like in all its glory
at the time of its launching. The program opens a dramatic
perspective on the great age of battleships and why it ended
so abruptly with the Yamato's disastrous sinking.
Original broadcast date: 10/4/2005
Einstein's Big Idea
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Everybody's heard of it, but what does the world's most famous
equation, E = mc2, really mean? NOVA dramatizes the stories of the men and
women whose innovative thinking across four centuries finally
led to Einstein's bold breakthrough. Based on David Bodanis'
bestseller, E = mc2, the program celebrates the ingenuity and chronicles the
human conflicts that ultimately unleashed the power of the
atom, helping viewers gain a better understanding of the
equation by tracking its history and the myriad numbers of
ways it has changed the world. The program is the story of
young, ambitious scientists caught up by the huge forces of
nature they seek to understand. The film stars Aidan McArdle
(Not Only But Also, Ella Enchanted) as Einstein,
Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter and
Bridget Jones franchises) as his wife Mileva, and Emily
Woof (Oliver Twist, The Woodlanders) as Lise
Meitner.
Original broadcast date: 10/11/2005
NOVA scienceNOW
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The fourth installment of NOVA's science magazine program
features segments on the race to create artificial life in the
laboratory; lightning and its potential trigger—cosmic
rays from outer space; neuroscientist Erich Jarvis; a new
generation of veterinarians who perform surgery on pets,
including goldfish; and a post-Katrina update on the January
25, 2005 NOVA scienceNOW segment on hurricanes.
Original broadcast date: 10/18/2005
Volcano Under the City
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The towering volcano of Nyiragongo looms over the city of Goma
in central Africa, threatening to obliterate a thriving city
of over 400,000 inhabitants. In 2002, rivers of lava poured
through the streets and destroyed 40 percent of the city,
forcing tens of thousands to flee. A year later, with ominous
gas clouds billowing over the crater rim, volcanologist
Jacques Durieux leads a team of specialists to try to figure
out the volcano's inner secrets—when and why it is
likely to erupt next. "Volcano Under the City" reaches a
suspenseful climax as Durieux and his team clamber down into
the crater to lower test instruments into the boiling lava
below. While the crater edge crumbles and the volcano belches
poisonous gas, the scientists' battle to retrieve their vital
data becomes a matter of life and death.
Original broadcast date: 11/1/2005
Hitler's Sunken Secret
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It was one of the most audacious exploits of the Norwegian
resistance in World War II. On February 19, 1944, three
saboteurs crept on board a ferryboat, the
Hydro, moored at Lake Tinn in southeast Norway. On
board were four dozen barrels bound for Germany and containing
deuterium or heavy water, which was vital to Hitler's atomic
bomb program. While the boat's crew was happily playing poker,
the saboteurs crept into the hold and concealed an improvised
time bomb. Next morning, the Hydro exploded as it
crossed the middle of the lake, tipping an avalanche of
barrels into the depths and killing 18 crew and passengers.
Was this daring operation a crucial defeat for Hitler's
nuclear ambitions? An exclusive NOVA salvage expedition sets
out to find the Hydro on the bottom of the lake and
haul one of the barrels up to the surface. The NOVA team opens
up the barrel and a test of its contents helps answer the
mysteries surrounding Nazi Germany's race to build the atom
bomb. The team also probes Norwegian archives and makes new
discoveries: a second secret consignment of barrels eluded the
saboteurs and made it all the way to Germany, but arrived too
late to make a Nazi bomb feasible. "Hitler's Sunken Secret"
features gripping first-person interviews with the sole living
Norwegian saboteur and survivors who were on board the
Hydro when it blew up.
Original broadcast date: 11/8/2005
Newton's Dark Secrets
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Besides Einstein, no single scientist ever transformed the
outlook and worldview of his age more profoundly than Isaac
Newton. Often hailed as both the first modern scientist and
the last of the ancient magicians, Newton reduced nature's
chaos to a single set of mathematical laws. This bold
intellectual leap gave scientists and thinkers of his era
vital new confidence that they could probe and predict
nature's secrets. Over three centuries later, Newton's laws
still govern the way we analyze and forecast the motions of
everything from roller coasters to comets.
But Newton's genius was intertwined with an extreme
personality—obsessive, secretive, reclusive, and
vindictive to his many enemies. Besides his fundamental
breakthroughs in physics, optics, and calculus, Newton poured
vast energy into fruitless explorations of alchemy and
religion. Like light shining through a prism, NOVA will show
how these intricate facets of Newton's turbulent personality
combined together in a single extraordinary life. With lively
period recreations of key moments in his career and
replications of his experiments in optics and alchemy,
"Newton's Dark Secrets" explores how Newton became the giant
on whose shoulders all later scientists found a place to
stand.
Original broadcast date: 11/15/2005
Storm That Drowned A City
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Hurricane Katrina precipitated the greatest natural disaster
in U.S. history, killing more than 1,000 people, leaving
800,000 homeless, and causing damage in the hundreds of
billions of dollars. In "Storm That Drowned a City," NOVA
offers a minute-by-minute reconstruction of the disaster told
through gripping eyewitness testimony. What made Katrina so
destructive? How accurately did scientists predict its impact?
Why did flood defenses and relief planning fail to match the
storm's fury? And why are powerful hurricanes like Katrina
likely to strike more often? In this one-hour documentary,
find the answers—at least as far as they're currently
known.
Original broadcast date: 11/22/2005
