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The Best Episodes of NOVA Season 16

Every episode of NOVA Season 16 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of NOVA Season 16!

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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
    NOVA Season 16 Episode 1 - Hot Enough for You?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #1 - Hot Enough for You?

    S16:E1

    Was the searing summer of 1988 a taste of things to come? NOVA looks at the greenhouse effect, which portends higher temperatures, rising sea levels and other environmental disasters.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. NOVA Season 16 Episode 2 - The Last Journey of a Genius
    8.2/10(16 votes)

    #2 - The Last Journey of a Genius

    S16:E2

    NOVA looks at the bongo-playing scientist, adventurer, safecracker and yarn-spinner Richard Feynman, most recently famous for his role as gadfly of the Presidential Commission investigating the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. NOVA Season 16 Episode 3 - The Strange New Science of Chaos
    8.2/10(21 votes)

    #3 - The Strange New Science of Chaos

    S16:E3

    NOVA explains "chaos," a new science that is making surprising sense out of chaotic phenomena in nature, from the weather to brain waves.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. NOVA Season 16 Episode 4 - Back to Chernobyl
    7.6/10(19 votes)

    #4 - Back to Chernobyl

    S16:E4

    NOVA goes to the Soviet Union for an inside investigation of the world's most catastrophic nuclear power accident with correspondent Bill Kurtis.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. NOVA Season 16 Episode 5 - God, Darwin and the Dinosaurs
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #5 - God, Darwin and the Dinosaurs

    S16:E5

    In an Idaho classroom, teacher Phil Gerrish puts an unorthodox interpretation on the day's biology lesson. As students take notes, he explains that creationism is a valid scientific explanation for the origin on life. Once relying solely on the literal word of the Bible to make their case, creationists now argue that the scientific evidence is on their side. NOVA reports on this new twist in the long-running battle between creationism and evolution.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. NOVA Season 16 Episode 6 - Adrift on the Gulf Stream
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - Adrift on the Gulf Stream

    S16:E6

    NOVA explores the importance of the Gulf Stream to ocean life, climate and human history.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. NOVA Season 16 Episode 7 - Secrets of Easter Island (1)
    7.2/10(8 votes)

    #7 - Secrets of Easter Island (1)

    S16:E7

    In this two-part series, NOVA investigates the mystery of Easter Island in the South Pacific. Who built its celebrated statues and why?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. NOVA Season 16 Episode 8 - Legends of Easter Island (2)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Legends of Easter Island (2)

    S16:E8

    In the second part of this two-part series, NOVA explores ancient legends hold the clues to the violent history of the South Pacific's Easter Island.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. NOVA Season 16 Episode 9 - The World Is Full of Oil!
    7.2/10(9 votes)

    #9 - The World Is Full of Oil!

    S16:E9

    Scientific detectives test their ingenuity in the effort to find underground oil deposits.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. NOVA Season 16 Episode 10 - Confronting the Killer Gene
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Confronting the Killer Gene

    S16:E10

    Arlo, Nancy and Janice each have a 50/50 chance of developing a devastating nerve disorder. A laboratory test can tell them if in fact they will fall victim. In their shoes, would you take the test? Thousands of others face a similar choice: to know, or not know, if they will carry the genetic time bomb of Huntington's disease. NOVA looks at this incurable disease which affects 20,000 people in the US and threatens tens of thousands of others.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. NOVA Season 16 Episode 11 - The Hidden City
    7.4/10(12 votes)

    #11 - The Hidden City

    S16:E11

    Actor Judd Hirsch narrates this behind-the scenes look at what makes New York City tick. Water, power and waste are the critical systems that usually work, but sometimes break down with disastrous consequences.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. NOVA Season 16 Episode 12 - The Controversial Dr. Koop
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - The Controversial Dr. Koop

    S16:E12

    In this profile of the former Surgeon General, NOVA follows events as they unfold in a unique behind-the-scenes account of a man who speaks his mind on AIDS, smoking and abortion.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. NOVA Season 16 Episode 13 - Design Wars!
    7.8/10(8 votes)

    #13 - Design Wars!

    S16:E13

    Five architects compete for the approval of architecture-obsessed Chicagoans in the contest to build the city's new public library. NOVA looks at the strengths and weakness of each of the suprisingly varied entries.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. NOVA Season 16 Episode 14 - Echoes of War
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Echoes of War

    S16:E14

    The atomic bomb might have ended World War II, but radar was the quiet miracle that won battles. NOVA tells the little-known wartime history of radar.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. NOVA Season 16 Episode 15 - Decoding the Book of Life
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Decoding the Book of Life

    S16:E15

    Biologists around the world gear up to decode the three-billion-letter genetic message that describes how humans are made. Ethicists warn that it may not be such a good idea.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. NOVA Season 16 Episode 16 - Hurricane!
    6.8/10(14 votes)

    #16 - Hurricane!

    S16:E16

    NOVA studies hurricanes—the lurking giants waiting to destroy many coastal areas—by flying straight into one. Scientists hope that such close-up studies will supply the data to make better predictions.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. NOVA Season 16 Episode 17 - Will Venice Survive Its Rescue?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Will Venice Survive Its Rescue?

    S16:E17

    Increasingly awash in high water, the romantic city of Venice is counting on high-tech floodgates to save it from drowning. Environmentalists worry that the gates may destroy the fragile lagoon that surrounds the city.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. NOVA Season 16 Episode 18 - What Is Music?
    8.2/10(13 votes)

    #18 - What Is Music?

    S16:E18

    East and West came into direct conflict over trade and power in the 19th century. The West won. NOVA explores how Japan was later able to master Western methods, while China was not. Part three of a four part series.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. NOVA Season 16 Episode 19 - Yellowstone's Burning Question
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - Yellowstone's Burning Question

    S16:E19

    The 1988 Yellowstone fire may have been one of the worst in human memory, but nature has had eons of experience with such events. NOVA accompanies scientists who are studying the suprisingly rapid recovery from the blaze.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. NOVA Season 16 Episode 20 - The Schoolboys Who Cracked the Soviet Secret
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - The Schoolboys Who Cracked the Soviet Secret

    S16:E20

    NOVA re-enacts a classic case of classroom detection when English schoolboys track down a secret Soviet launch site. Docudrama.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 16 Ratings Summary

"Hot Enough for You?" is the best rated episode of "NOVA" season 16. It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/17/1989. This episode is rated 8.2 points higher than the second-best, "The Last Journey of a Genius".