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The Best Episodes of NOVA Season 15

Every episode of NOVA Season 15 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of NOVA Season 15!

The Best Episodes of NOVA Season 15

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...
  1. Background image for Top Gun and Beyond
    8.3/10(11 votes)

    #1 - Top Gun and Beyond

    S15:E1

    Today's sophisticated fighter jets can almost fly themselves, but well-trained pilots are still needed to win air battles. NOVA looks at how planes and pilots are adapting to high technology.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for How to Create a Junk Food
    7.9/10(11 votes)

    #2 - How to Create a Junk Food

    S15:E2

    Julia Child introduces NOVA's behind-the-scenes look at how science aids in the creation of snack foods.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for Buried in Ice
    8.2/10(16 votes)

    #3 - Buried in Ice

    S15:E3

    Scientists investigate the frozen remains of members of the 19th century Franklin Expedition to the Canadian Arctic and ask why all perished.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for Why Planes Burn
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #4 - Why Planes Burn

    S15:E4

    Airplane fires are often deadly. NOVA looks at efforts to make fires aboard planes less likely and more survivable.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Battles in the War on Cancer: A Wonder Drug on Trial
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #5 - Battles in the War on Cancer: A Wonder Drug on Trial

    S15:E5

    In part one of a two-part special presentation, NOVA reports on the trials to determine whether the new drug Interleukin-2—the first to make use of the body's own disease-fighting strategy—will live up to its promise as a pivotal cancer breakthrough. Jane Pauley of NBC News hosts and narrates.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Battles in the War on Cancer: Turning the Tide
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #6 - Battles in the War on Cancer: Turning the Tide

    S15:E6

    Breast cancer claims the lives of four American women every hour. Jane Pauley of NBC News hosts and narrates this NOVA report on stepped-up efforts to reduce the death rate from this all-too-common killer.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
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  8. Background image for The Mystery of the Master Builders
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #7 - The Mystery of the Master Builders

    S15:E7

    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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for Whale Rescue
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Whale Rescue

    S15:E8

    It was a blustery day in December 1986, and the New England Coast was in the midst of a winter storm, accompanied by strong on-shore gales and an unusually high tide—conditions perfect for stranding whales in the confined shallows of Cape Cod. NOVA recounts this tragic episode and the happy suprise ending for the young whales who survived after being nursed back to health by the New England Aquarium in Boston.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for The Man Who Loved Numbers
    8.2/10(10 votes)

    #9 - The Man Who Loved Numbers

    S15:E9

    NOVA explores the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a poor clerk from India who astounded mathematicians in the 1910s with his brilliant insight into the world of numbers.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Race for the Superconductor
    6.2/10(7 votes)

    #10 - Race for the Superconductor

    S15:E10

    NOVA charts an electronics revolution in the making as Japan and the United States race to develop a material that will conduct electricity at room temperature with zero resistance.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for Can You Still Get Polio?
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Can You Still Get Polio?

    S15:E11

    Most cases of polio in this country are caused by the vaccine designed to prevent it. NOVA examines the controvery surrounding the nation's vaccine policy.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Pioneers of Surgery: The Brutal Craft
    8.6/10(7 votes)

    #12 - Pioneers of Surgery: The Brutal Craft

    S15:E12

    Part one of a four-part series on the pioneers of modern surgery relives the early days, when surgery was practiced without the benefit of anaesthesia or antisceptics and patients usually died.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for Pioneers of Surgery: Into the Heart
    8.6/10(7 votes)

    #13 - Pioneers of Surgery: Into the Heart

    S15:E13

    Once unthinkable, open-heart surgery is now an everyday miracle. NOVA looks at the brave doctors and patients who make it possible.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for Pioneers of Surgery: New Organs for Old
    8.6/10(7 votes)

    #14 - Pioneers of Surgery: New Organs for Old

    S15:E14

    From kidneys to hearts, NOVA examines the daring attempts to replace diseased organs with transplanted ones.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for Pioneers of Surgery: Beyond the Knife
    8.6/10(7 votes)

    #15 - Pioneers of Surgery: Beyond the Knife

    S15:E15

    Surgeons have always been eager to help patients, even at the risk of killing them. NOVA looks at some of the excesses of surgery, and at how new drugs and technologies are rendering some operations obsolete.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for Can the Vatican Save the Sistine Chapel?
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Can the Vatican Save the Sistine Chapel?

    S15:E16

    Science meets art in the controversial effort to restore Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel frescoes.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Can the Next President Win the Space Race?
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Can the Next President Win the Space Race?

    S15:E17

    Thirty years after Sputnik, the United States space program is mired in uncertainty, while the Russians, Europeans, Japanese and others sprint onward and upward.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for Do Scientists Cheat?
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Do Scientists Cheat?

    S15:E18

    NOVA examines the troubling question of scientific fraud: How prevalent is it? Who commits it? And what happens when the perpetrators are caught?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for Who Shot President Kennedy?
    7.0/10(16 votes)

    #19 - Who Shot President Kennedy?

    S15:E19

    Using previously unavailable technology, NOVA probes the available evidence surrounding the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for The Light Stuff
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #20 - The Light Stuff

    S15:E20

    Reliving a Greek myth takes an effort of mythic proportions, as NOVA reveals in its behind-the-scenes report of a human powered-flight across the Aegean Sea, a journey that symbolically recreated the mythical flight of Daedalus. NOVA follows the epic journey of the human-powered plane Daedalus 88 from the early prototypes to its dramatic landing in the surf after a 74-mile flight from the island of Crete to Santorini.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for The All-American Bear
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #21 - The All-American Bear

    S15:E21

    The life of the shy, intelligent black bear in the wild—foraging, mating, playing and constantly preparing for its remarkable hibernation—is captured for the first time on film by NOVA.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for Can We Make a Better Doctor?
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Can We Make a Better Doctor?

    S15:E22

    NOVA embarks on a 10-year project to profile—in its entirety—the education of a doctor. In the premiere episode, we follow a handful of students as they start their freshman year at Harvard Medical School under a revolutionary program emphasizing early clinical contact with patients.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

Season 15 Ratings Summary

"Top Gun and Beyond" is the best rated episode of "NOVA" season 15. It scored 8.3/10 based on 11 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/19/1988. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "How to Create a Junk Food".