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The Best Episodes of NOVA

Every episode of NOVA ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of NOVA!

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PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    NOVA Season 1 Episode 12 - Fusion: The Energy of Promise
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - Fusion: The Energy of Promise

    S1:E12

    Nuclear fusion offers the promises of an unlimited, clean source of energy. But achieving fusion has proved one of the most difficult and elusive goals of the physicist. NOVA tells the story of the twists and turns and the international competition along the road toward the achievement of fusion; and details the recent breakthroughs which seem at last to have brought it within reach.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. NOVA Season 5 Episode 4 - One Small Step
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #2 - One Small Step

    S5:E4

    Part one of a two-part series on the subject of man in space, NOVA examines the history of NASA—from the origin of the space race through the triumph of the Apollo programs. By tracing the history of three key programs—Mercury, Gemini, Apollo—we show how the basic challenges surrounding space flight were answered: rendezvous and docking, life support, weightlessness, space sickness, equipment reliability and so on.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. NOVA Season 30 Episode 16 - Secret of Photo 51
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #3 - Secret of Photo 51

    S30:E16

    On April 25, 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published their groundbreaking discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, the molecule essential for passing on our genes and the ''secret of life.'' But their crucial breakthrough depended on the pioneering work of another biologistÐRosalind Franklin. She would never know that Watson and Crick had seen a crucial piece of her data without her permission. This was an X-ray image, ''Photo 51,'' that proved to be a vital clue in their decoding of the double helix. 50 years later, NOVA investigates the shocking truth behind one of the greatest scientific discoveries and presents a moving portrait of a brilliant woman in an era of male-dominated science. Sadly, Franklin never lived to see her vital role in the discovery vindicated. While Watson and Crick went on to win the Nobel Prize in 1962, Franklin died in 1958, at 37, from ovarian cancer; and the Nobel is not awarded posthumously. Hear the inside story from Maurice Wilkins, the colleague who showed her crucial x-ray to Watson; Raymond Gosling, FranklinÕs Ph.D. student with whom she made Photo 51; and Nobel Prize winner Sir Aaron Klug, FranklinÕs last collaborator, who shows new evidence of just how close Franklin came to making the vital double helix discovery herself.

    Director:Gary Glassman
    Writer:Gary Glassman

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  4. NOVA Season 36 Episode 11 - The Spy Factory
    10.0/10(2 votes)

    #4 - The Spy Factory

    S36:E11

    In this program, an eye-opening documentary on the National Security Agency by best-selling author James Bamford and Emmy Award-winning producer Scott Willis, NOVA exposes the ultra-secret intelligence agency's role in the failure to stop the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent eavesdropping program that listens in without warrant on millions of American citizens.

    Director:C. Scott Willis
    Writer:James Bamford

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  5. NOVA Season 45 Episode 1 - Black Hole Apocalypse
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #5 - Black Hole Apocalypse

    S45:E1

    Astrophysicist and novelist Janna Levin talks about black holes and their importance to the universe.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. NOVA Season 50 Episode 13 - Ancient Earth: Life Rising
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #6 - Ancient Earth: Life Rising

    S50:E13

    For billions of years, life teemed in the oceans of planet Earth while the land was desolate and inhospitable. So how did life make the leap to land? Scientists explore how some of the earliest life emerged and invaded a barren, rocky landscape, eventually transforming it into a verdant, green world. Gripping visual effects reveal an alien landscape dominated by towering fungi before the arrival of plants. Witness how the first plants made landfall and partnered with fungi to create soil that would sustain them. And discover how, once life emerged on land, it fundamentally altered the very ground it grew on.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of NOVA

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  7. NOVA Season 50 Episode 14 - Ancient Earth: Inferno
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #7 - Ancient Earth: Inferno

    S50:E14

    252 million years ago, the most devastating mass extinction of all time abruptly wiped out around 90% of all species on Earth. The culprits were the biggest volcanic eruptions the world has ever seen, emitting some 700 thousand cubic miles of magma and rock. Volcanic gasses permeated the atmosphere and acidified the oceans while toxic gasses destroyed the ozone layer, bathing the planet in destructive UV radiation. The event—now called "The Great Dying"—came close to wiping out all life on the planet. Follow scientists as they piece together geologic evidence from the deep past and clues from today’s ecosystems to discover how life made it through and evolved into the astonishing variety we see around us today.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. NOVA Season 52 Episode 3 - Dino Birds
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #8 - Dino Birds

    S52:E3

    Fossils reveal how birds survived the killer asteroid and became today’s only living dinosaurs.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. NOVA Season 52 Episode 6 - Baltimore Bridge Collapse
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #9 - Baltimore Bridge Collapse

    S52:E6

    Follow the investigation into the deadly container ship collision that closed the Port of Baltimore.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. NOVA Season 52 Episode 14 - Human: Neanderthal Encounters
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #10 - Human: Neanderthal Encounters

    S52:E14

    For 400,000 years, Neanderthals thrived across frigid, Ice Age Europe. What happened when Homo sapiens arrived, and how did these encounters change our species – including our DNA – in ways still with us today?

    Director:Naomi Austin
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. NOVA Season 52 Episode 18 - Superfloods
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #11 - Superfloods

    S52:E18

    In September 2024, Hurricane Helene dumped 14 inches of rain on North Carolina, triggering flash floods and killing more than 100 people. Why are these floods on the rise around the world-even in places thousands of feet above sea level?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. NOVA Season 52 Episode 20 - Operation Space Station: Science and Survival
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #12 - Operation Space Station: Science and Survival

    S52:E20

    Witness life-or-death decisions 250 miles above Earth, as astronauts and Mission Control work together to survive moments of high danger on board humanity's remarkable orbiting laboratory, the International Space Station.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. NOVA Season 53 Episode 1 - Asteroids: Spark of Life?
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #13 - Asteroids: Spark of Life?

    S53:E1

    Imagine a time when Earth was a molten, volcanic wasteland, heavily bombarded by colossal asteroids. We’ve long feared these cosmic impacts as destroyers of life, but what if they were the key to our very existence? Explore a revolutionary theory suggesting that these violent collisions provided the essential ingredients – water, minerals, and energy – needed for life to ignite on our planet. Discover how scientists are unearthing evidence from lunar rocks and ancient impact craters, revealing that the very objects known for extinguishing life might have actually sparked it.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. NOVA Season 36 Episode 12 - Rat Attack
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #14 - Rat Attack

    S36:E12

    Once every 48 years, bamboo forests in parts of northeast India go into exuberant flower. Then, like clockwork, the flowering is invariably followed by a plague of black rats that appear to spring from nowhere to spread destruction and famine in their wake. For the first time on film, NOVA and National Geographic capture this rat population explosion in vivid detail and show how scientists are unraveling the connections between bamboo flowering and rat outbreaks. Ultimately, their research should help local people better cope with the next attack—due in 2056.

    Director:Rick King
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. NOVA Season 37 Episode 5 - Becoming Human: Birth of Humanity
    9.0/10(2 votes)

    #15 - Becoming Human: Birth of Humanity

    S37:E5

    In gripping forensic detail, the second program in “Becoming Human” investigates the first skeleton that really looks like us — “Turkana Boy” — an astonishingly complete specimen of Homo erectus found by the famous Leakey team in Kenya.

    Director:Graham Townsley
    Writer:Graham Townsley

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  16. NOVA Season 39 Episode 13 - Ice Age Death Trap
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #16 - Ice Age Death Trap

    S39:E13

    In a race against developers in the Rocky Mountains, archeologists uncover a unique fossil site packed with astonishingly well-preserved bones of mammoths, mastodons, and other giant extinct beasts. The discovery opens a highly focused window on the vanished world of the Ice Age in North America.

    Director:Eleanor Grant
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. NOVA Season 40 Episode 10 - Building Pharaoh's Chariot
    9.0/10(2 votes)

    #17 - Building Pharaoh's Chariot

    S40:E10

    3,600-year-old reliefs in Egyptian tombs and temples depict pharaohs and warriors proudly riding into battle on horse-drawn chariots. Some historians claim that the chariot launched a technological and strategic revolution, and was the secret weapon behind Egypt's greatest era of conquest known as the New Kingdom. But was the Egyptian chariot really a revolutionary design? How decisive a role did it play in the bloody battles of the ancient world? In "Building Pharaoh's Chariot," a team of archaeologists, engineers, woodworkers, and horse trainers join forces to build and test two highly accurate replicas of Egyptian royal chariots. They discover astonishingly advanced features, including spoked wheels, springs, shock absorbers, anti-roll bars, and even a convex-shaped rear mirror, leading one of them to compare the level of design to the engineering standards of 1930's-era Buicks! By driving our pair of replicas to their limits in the desert outside Cairo, NOVA's experts test the claim that the chariot marks a crucial turning point in ancient military history.

    Director:Martin O'Collins
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. NOVA Season 40 Episode 15 - Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Awakening
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #18 - Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Awakening

    S40:E15

    Hidden in the red hills of western Australia are clues to the mysteries of when the Earth was born, how life first arose, and how it transformed the planet.

    Director:Richard Smith
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. NOVA Season 40 Episode 16 - Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Life Explodes
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #19 - Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Life Explodes

    S40:E16

    How did life storm the beaches and dominate planet Earth? Ancient Australian fossils offer clues in "Life Explodes." Half a billion years ago, Australia was still part of the super-continent Gondwana. The oceans were teeming with weird and wonderful animals, but the world above the waves remained an almost lifeless wasteland. All that was about to change, though. Host Richard Smith introduces Earth's forgotten pioneers: the scuttling arthropod armies that invaded the shores and the waves of green revolutionaries whose battle for the light pushed plant life across the face of a barren continent. Evolution continued underwater as well, with armor-plated fish experimenting with teeth, jaws, sex, and lungs. NOVA's prehistoric adventure continues with four-legged animals walking onto dry land—and the planet poised for disaster.

    Director:Richard Smith
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. NOVA Season 40 Episode 17 - Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Monsters
    9.0/10(2 votes)

    #20 - Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Monsters

    S40:E17

    "Monsters" begins Down Under at the dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs. Host Richard Smith comes face-to-face with the previously unknown reptilian rulers of prehistoric Australia. NOVA resurrects the giants that stalked the Great Southern Land and discovers that some of these animals were among the largest ever to have walked the Earth. Others were some of the most dangerous. In the dry desert heart, scientists unearth an ancient inland ocean full of sea monsters. Opal fossils of some of these beasts paint a colorful picture of the exotic seascape, where long-necked plesiosaurs snacked on shelled creatures that grew as large as truck tires. The most fearsome was Kronosaurus, with a skull twice as long as T. rex. But reptiles didn't have the world all to themselves. Mammals like the enigmatic platypus lived alongside them, ready for their moment in the sun.

    Director:Richard Smith
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. NOVA Season 42 Episode 11 - Big Bang Machine
    9.0/10(3 votes)

    #21 - Big Bang Machine

    S42:E11

    On July 4, 2012, scientists at the giant atom smashing facility at CERN announced the discovery of a subatomic particle that seems like a tantalizingly close match to the elusive Higgs Boson, thought to be responsible for giving all the stuff in the universe its mass. Since it was first proposed nearly fifty years ago, the Higgs has been the holy grail of particle physicists: in finding it they validate the "standard model" that underlies all of modern physics and open the door to new discoveries when CERN's giant collider switches on at higher power in 2015.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. NOVA Season 42 Episode 18 - Invisible Universe Revealed
    9.0/10(2 votes)

    #22 - Invisible Universe Revealed

    S42:E18

    Twenty-five years ago, NASA launched one of the most ambitious experiments in the history of astronomy: the Hubble Space Telescope. In honor of Hubble's landmark anniversary, NOVA tells the remarkable story of the telescope that forever changed our understanding of the cosmos. But Hubble's early days nearly doomed it to failure: a one-millimeter engineering blunder had turned the billion-dollar telescope into an object of ridicule. It fell to five heroic astronauts in a daring mission to return Hubble to the cutting edge of science. This single telescope has helped astronomers pinpoint the age of the universe, revealed the birthplace of stars and planets, advanced our understanding of dark energy and cosmic expansion, and uncovered black holes lurking at the heart of galaxies. Join NOVA for the story of this magnificent machine and its astonishing discoveries.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. NOVA Season 52 Episode 7 - Revolutionary War Weapons
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #23 - Revolutionary War Weapons

    S52:E7

    Explore key military technologies in the American colonies’ fight for freedom.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. NOVA Season 37 Episode 4 - Becoming Human: First Steps
    8.5/10(4 votes)

    #24 - Becoming Human: First Steps

    S37:E4

    The first hour examines the factors that caused the split from the apes. The film explores the fossil of “Selam,” also known as “Lucy’s Child” — an amazing, nearly complete child fossil that helps shed light on our ancestors’ early development and how we began to depart from that of chimps.

    Director:Graham Townsley
    Writer:Graham Townsley

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  25. NOVA Season 39 Episode 7 - The Fabric of the Cosmos: Quantum Leap
    8.5/10(4 votes)

    #25 - The Fabric of the Cosmos: Quantum Leap

    S39:E7

    Join Brian Greene on a wild ride into the weird realm of quantum physics, which governs the universe on the tiniest of scales. Brian brings quantum mechanics to life in a nightclub like no other, where objects pop in and out of existence, and things over here can affect others over there, instantaneously-without anything crossing the space between them.

    Directors:Josh Rosen, Julia Cort
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"Fusion: The Energy of Promise" is the best rated episode of "NOVA". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 5/19/1974. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "One Small Step".