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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!

Binge this in 20h 10m•Peaking at 8.8/10

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 15 Episode 12 - Pioneers of Surgery: The Brutal Craft
    8.8/10(9 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. NOVA Season 15 Episode 13 - Pioneers of Surgery: Into the Heart
    8.8/10(9 votes)

    S15:E13

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

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. NOVA Season 15 Episode 14 - Pioneers of Surgery: New Organs for Old
    8.8/10(9 votes)

    S15:E14

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

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. NOVA Season 15 Episode 15 - Pioneers of Surgery: Beyond the Knife
    8.8/10(9 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. NOVA Season 15 Episode 18 - Do Scientists Cheat?
    8.6/10(8 votes)

    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?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. NOVA Season 15 Episode 1 - Top Gun and Beyond
    8.2/10(13 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. NOVA Season 15 Episode 3 - Buried in Ice
    8.2/10(18 votes)

    S15:E3

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

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. NOVA Season 15 Episode 16 - Can the Vatican Save the Sistine Chapel?
    8.2/10(8 votes)

    S15:E16

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

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. NOVA Season 15 Episode 2 - How to Create a Junk Food
    7.9/10(13 votes)

    S15:E2

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

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. NOVA Season 15 Episode 9 - The Man Who Loved Numbers
    7.9/10(12 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. NOVA Season 15 Episode 7 - The Mystery of the Master Builders
    7.6/10(8 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. NOVA Season 15 Episode 20 - The Light Stuff
    7.6/10(8 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. NOVA Season 15 Episode 19 - Who Shot President Kennedy?
    7.1/10(17 votes)

    S15:E19

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

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. NOVA Season 15 Episode 10 - Race for the Superconductor
    6.2/10(8 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. NOVA Season 15 Episode 4 - Why Planes Burn
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S15:E4

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

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. NOVA Season 15 Episode 5 - Battles in the War on Cancer: A Wonder Drug on Trial
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. NOVA Season 15 Episode 6 - Battles in the War on Cancer: Turning the Tide
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. NOVA Season 15 Episode 8 - Whale Rescue
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. NOVA Season 15 Episode 11 - Can You Still Get Polio?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. NOVA Season 15 Episode 17 - Can the Next President Win the Space Race?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. NOVA Season 15 Episode 21 - The All-American Bear
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. NOVA Season 15 Episode 22 - Can We Make a Better Doctor?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 15 Ratings Summary

"Pioneers of Surgery: The Brutal Craft" is the best rated episode of "NOVA" season 15. It scored 8.8/10 based on 9 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/6/1988. This episode is rated 0.0 points higher than the second-best, "Pioneers of Surgery: Into the Heart".