8.3/1011 votes#1 - Top Gun and Beyond
Season 15 Episode 1 - Aired 1/19/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/1011 votes
#2 - How to Create a Junk Food
Season 15 Episode 2 - Aired 1/26/1988
Julia Child introduces NOVA's behind-the-scenes look at how science aids in the creation of snack foods.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/1015 votes
#3 - Buried in Ice
Season 15 Episode 3 - Aired 2/2/1988
Scientists investigate the frozen remains of members of the 19th century Franklin Expedition to the Canadian Arctic and ask why all perished.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#4 - Why Planes Burn
Season 15 Episode 4 - Aired 2/9/1988
Airplane fires are often deadly. NOVA looks at efforts to make fires aboard planes less likely and more survivable.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#5 - Battles in the War on Cancer: A Wonder Drug on Trial
Season 15 Episode 5 - Aired 2/23/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#6 - Battles in the War on Cancer: Turning the Tide
Season 15 Episode 6 - Aired 3/1/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#7 - The Mystery of the Master Builders
Season 15 Episode 7 - Aired 3/8/1988
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#8 - Whale Rescue
Season 15 Episode 8 - Aired 3/15/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/1010 votes
#9 - The Man Who Loved Numbers
Season 15 Episode 9 - Aired 3/22/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.2/107 votes
#10 - Race for the Superconductor
Season 15 Episode 10 - Aired 3/29/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#11 - Can You Still Get Polio?
Season 15 Episode 11 - Aired 4/5/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.6/107 votes
#12 - Pioneers of Surgery: The Brutal Craft
Season 15 Episode 12 - Aired 9/6/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.6/107 votes
#13 - Pioneers of Surgery: Into the Heart
Season 15 Episode 13 - Aired 9/13/1988
Once unthinkable, open-heart surgery is now an everyday miracle. NOVA looks at the brave doctors and patients who make it possible.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.6/107 votes
#14 - Pioneers of Surgery: New Organs for Old
Season 15 Episode 14 - Aired 9/20/1988
From kidneys to hearts, NOVA examines the daring attempts to replace diseased organs with transplanted ones.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.6/107 votes
#15 - Pioneers of Surgery: Beyond the Knife
Season 15 Episode 15 - Aired 9/27/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#16 - Can the Vatican Save the Sistine Chapel?
Season 15 Episode 16 - Aired 10/4/1988
Science meets art in the controversial effort to restore Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel frescoes.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#17 - Can the Next President Win the Space Race?
Season 15 Episode 17 - Aired 10/11/1988
Thirty years after Sputnik, the United States space program is mired in uncertainty, while the Russians, Europeans, Japanese and others sprint onward and upward.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#18 - Do Scientists Cheat?
Season 15 Episode 18 - Aired 10/18/1988
NOVA examines the troubling question of scientific fraud: How prevalent is it? Who commits it? And what happens when the perpetrators are caught?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.0/1015 votes
#19 - Who Shot President Kennedy?
Season 15 Episode 19 - Aired 11/15/1988
Using previously unavailable technology, NOVA probes the available evidence surrounding the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#20 - The Light Stuff
Season 15 Episode 20 - Aired 11/22/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#21 - The All-American Bear
Season 15 Episode 21 - Aired 12/6/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#22 - Can We Make a Better Doctor?
Season 15 Episode 22 - Aired 12/13/1988
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
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!
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...
Genre:Documentary
Network:PBS
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 N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 1/19/1988. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "How to Create a Junk Food".