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The Best Episodes of NOVA Season 14

Every episode of NOVA Season 14 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of NOVA Season 14!

Binge this in 19h 15m•Peaking at 9.0/10

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
    NOVA Season 14 Episode 1 - Countdown to the Invisible Universe
    7.2/10(9 votes)

    #1 - Countdown to the Invisible Universe

    S14:E1

    NOVA scans the universe with the infrared eye of IRAS—the Infrared Astronomical Satellite—and discovers never-before-seen comets, stars, galaxies and other celestial wonders and enigmas.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. NOVA Season 14 Episode 2 - Children of Eve
    9.0/10(11 votes)

    #2 - Children of Eve

    S14:E2

    NOVA examines a controversial theory that traces our ancestry to a small group of women living in Africa 300,000 years ago.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. NOVA Season 14 Episode 3 - Why Planes Crash
    8.3/10(23 votes)

    #3 - Why Planes Crash

    S14:E3

    Between 60 and 80 percent of all commercial airplane accidents are attributable to pilot error. NOVA looks at some shocking instances of pilot negligence and what airlines are doing to solve the problem.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. NOVA Season 14 Episode 4 - Orangutans of the Rain Forest
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - Orangutans of the Rain Forest

    S14:E4

    NOVA cameras travel to Borneo, one of the last habitats of the wild orangutans, where scientists study the endangered ape. Who is observing whom? It is not always clear.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. NOVA Season 14 Episode 5 - Freud Under Analysis
    7.3/10(10 votes)

    #5 - Freud Under Analysis

    S14:E5

    Fifty years after his death, the creator of psychoanalysis is still the subject of intense debate. Was Freud right or wrong? NOVA profiles the enigmatic man and his controversial legacy.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. NOVA Season 14 Episode 6 - The Hole in the Sky
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - The Hole in the Sky

    S14:E6

    NOVA travels to Antarctica with an emergency scientific expedition to study a baffling "hole" in the Earth's protective ozone layer.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. NOVA Season 14 Episode 7 - Confessions of a Weaponeer
    9.0/10(10 votes)

    #7 - Confessions of a Weaponeer

    S14:E7

    Harvard chemist George Kistiakowsky was an anti-Bolshevik soldier in 1919 Russia, an atomic bomb scientist at Los Alamos, a presidential advisor in the Eisenhower White House and an arms control activist. Shortly before Kistiakowsky death, he recounts his eventful career to interviewer Carl Sagan.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. NOVA Season 14 Episode 8 - Great Moments from NOVA
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Great Moments from NOVA

    S14:E8

    NOVA presents two hours of the best from its 14 seasons of exciting science coverage. A "talking" chimp, an exploding volcano and a sight-and-sound space video are but a few of the memorable segments. Richard Kiley hosts.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. NOVA Season 14 Episode 9 - Will the World Starve?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - Will the World Starve?

    S14:E9

    All over the world, farmers are taking more from the soil than they return. NOVA reports on the soil crisis in world agriculture—a plight that has already resulted in massive starvation.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. NOVA Season 14 Episode 10 - The Desert Doesn't Bloom Here Anymore
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - The Desert Doesn't Bloom Here Anymore

    S14:E10

    In rich and poor countries alike, once-productive farms are turning to desert because of mismanagement of water resources. NOVA examines the causes and cures of desertification.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. NOVA Season 14 Episode 11 - Rocky Road to Jupiter
    8.2/10(8 votes)

    #11 - Rocky Road to Jupiter

    S14:E11

    In a case study of the strengths and weaknesses of the United States space program, NOVA chronicles the ambitious and long-delayed Galileo mission to Jupiter—still on the ground long after its planned May 1986 launch.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. NOVA Season 14 Episode 12 - Death of a Star
    7.0/10(13 votes)

    #12 - Death of a Star

    S14:E12

    Why do stars explode and how is the energy generated? What is the effect of all those little “aftermath” particles floating through space? Nova: Death of a Star is a 60-minute science documentary that explores rare astronomical events in all their dimensions. The film features the 1987 explosion of a supernova - first observed by a Canadian astronomer in Chile - and discusses its impact on the universe. Witness the celestial phenomena that baffles the scientific community as you travel from South America to Japan to Cleveland. A discussion of supernova neutrinos is a special highlight of the tape.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. NOVA Season 14 Episode 13 - Spy Machines
    7.2/10(9 votes)

    #13 - Spy Machines

    S14:E13

    On the 25th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis, NOVA investigates the spy planes and satellites that played a critical role in history and influence arms control today.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. NOVA Season 14 Episode 14 - Hidden Power of Plants
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Hidden Power of Plants

    S14:E14

    Plants produce some of the world's most potent chemicals in the fight against disease. NOVA follows the urgent efforts to track down new medicines in nature.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. NOVA Season 14 Episode 15 - Japan's American Genius
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Japan's American Genius

    S14:E15

    Is Detroit inventor Stanford Ovshinsky the new Thomas Edison? Japanese industries are betting that the genius behind amorphous materials-a simpler and less expensive alternative to silicon-is onto something big.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. NOVA Season 14 Episode 16 - A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama
    8.3/10(27 votes)

    #16 - A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama

    S14:E16

    The Panama Canal opened in 1914 after a 30-year effort that dwarfed the building of the pyramids. Historian David McCullough navigates through the canal and tells the story of the human drama behind the engineering feat.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. NOVA Season 14 Episode 17 - Volcano!
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Volcano!

    S14:E17

    Millions live in the shadows of nature's ticking time-bombs—volcanos. NOVA accompanies scientists who are developing new techniques to predict when volcanos will erupt and how violently.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. NOVA Season 14 Episode 18 - How Good is Soviet Science?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - How Good is Soviet Science?

    S14:E18

    Princeton professor and author Robert Mark tracks down the engineering secrets of some of the beautiful buildings in the world including Notre Dame in Paris, St. Paul in London and the Roman Pantheon.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. NOVA Season 14 Episode 19 - Ancient Treasures from the Deep
    7.8/10(9 votes)

    #19 - Ancient Treasures from the Deep

    S14:E19

    NOVA joins underwater archaeologists as they explore the oldest shipwreck ever excavated, a richly-laden merchant vessel dating from the time of King Tut.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. NOVA Season 14 Episode 20 - Riddle of the Joints
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - Riddle of the Joints

    S14:E20

    A trail of evidence leading from a medieval abbey to a small town in Connecticut sheds new light on rheumatoid arthritis, a crippling inflammation of the joints with no known cause or cure.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. NOVA Season 14 Episode 21 - Secrets of the Lost Red Paint People
    8.2/10(9 votes)

    #21 - Secrets of the Lost Red Paint People

    S14:E21

    NOVA follows archaeologists as they unearth clues, some 7,000 years old, about an unknown, mysterious and advanced sea-faring people who lived along the North Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 14 Ratings Summary

"Countdown to the Invisible Universe" is the best rated episode of "NOVA" season 14. It scored 7.2/10 based on 9 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/20/1987. This episode is rated 1.8 points higher than the second-best, "Children of Eve".