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The Best Episodes of NOVA Season 20

Every episode of NOVA Season 20 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of NOVA Season 20!

Binge this in 18h 20m•Peaking at 8.6/10

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 20 Episode 15 - The Real Jurassic Park
    8.6/10(14 votes)

    S20:E15

    With help from director Steven Spielberg, author Michael Crichton and a host of scientific experts , NOVA investigates what it would take to recreate the dinosaur theme park in Jurassic Park. It won't be as easy as it was for Hollywood.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. NOVA Season 20 Episode 3 - The Deadly Deception
    8.2/10(17 votes)

    S20:E3

    For four decades, 400 African American men from Macon, Alabama were unwitting participants in a government study of untreated syphilis. NOVA tells the story of this notorious human experiment. George Strait, ABC News Medical Correspondent, hosts.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. NOVA Season 20 Episode 12 - Secrets of the Psychics
    8.2/10(86 votes)

    S20:E12

    Secrets of the Psychics was a PBS NOVA episode following James Randi's work. Also appearing in stock footage are Peter Popoff, Uri Geller, and many others. In the program, "Randi argues that successful psychics depend on the willingness of their audiences to believe that what they see is the result of psychic powers." This program is not to be confused with a later UK documentary Secrets of the Psychics, which was transmitted under this title as well as Secrets of the Super Psychics.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. NOVA Season 20 Episode 5 - In the Path of a Killer Volcano
    8.1/10(19 votes)

    S20:E5

    NOVA covers scientists on the brink of a sputtering, shaking, impatient volcano, trying to forecast when it will go off. When it does, Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines goes big time, producing the largest volcanic eruption in 80 years.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. NOVA Season 20 Episode 17 - Mysterious Crash of Flight 201
    8.1/10(14 votes)

    S20:E17

    US federal investigators are called in to determine the cause of a mysterious jetliner crash in Panama. Nothing about the accident makes sense, until a key clue emerges.

    Director:Marian Marzynski
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. NOVA Season 20 Episode 19 - The Best Mind Since Einstein
    7.9/10(18 votes)

    S20:E19

    A profile of the late Richard Feynman—atomic bomb pioneer, Nobel prize-winning physicist, acclaimed teacher and all-around eccentric, who helped solve the mystery of the space shuttle Challenger explosion.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. NOVA Season 20 Episode 4 - Nazis and the Russian Bomb
    7.2/10(8 votes)

    S20:E4

    NOVA tells the story of the German scientists abducted to the Soviet Union after World War II to help build an atomic bomb. The success of the crash program in 1949, with the explosion of the first Soviet nuclear weapon, shocked the world.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. NOVA Season 20 Episode 1 - The Hunt for Saddam's Secret Weapons
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E1

    In a 90-minute special presentation, NOVA reveals the ancient secrets of how the pyramids were built by actually building one. A noted Egyptologist, Mark Lehner, and a professional stonemason, Roger Hopkins (This Old House), join forces in the shadow of the Great Pyramid of Giza to put clever and sometimes bizarre pyramid construction theories to the test.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. NOVA Season 20 Episode 2 - Can Bombing Win a War?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E2

    The Gulf War was fought in 38 days of non-stop bombing and four days of swift ground action. Did bombing win it? NOVA looks at the history of strategic bombing and asks whether bombing has now achieved preeminence in warfare.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. NOVA Season 20 Episode 6 - Can Science Build a Champion Athlete?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E6

    Athletes are training smarter, running faster, jumping higher and generally outperforming their predecessors—thanks to high technology. NOVA covers the record-setting trend for improving sports performance with science.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. NOVA Season 20 Episode 7 - Diving for Pirate Gold
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E7

    These days, piracy on the high seas often involves sonar, magnometers, metal detectors and other high-tech equipment for finding and plundering sunken ships. NOVA explores the swashbuckling seafaring pirates of old and their present-day successors.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. NOVA Season 20 Episode 8 - Murder, Rape and DNA
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E8

    Wherever we shed our body cells, we leave an indisputable identity card: our DNA. NOVA investigates the new science of DNA typing which is putting increasing numbers of murderers and rapists behind bars.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. NOVA Season 20 Episode 9 - The Lost Tribe
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E9

    NOVA covers both sides of the stormy controversy over the Tasaday tribe. When these isolated cave dwellers were discovered in the Philippines in 1971, they were hailed as a Stone Age relic. Now, many anthropologists denounce them as fakes.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. NOVA Season 20 Episode 10 - The NOVA Quiz
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E10

    NOVA fans from around the country match wits in a fast-paced contest of general science knowledge celebrating NOVA's 20th anniversary. Famous guests pose questions for the viewers at home. Marc Summers hosts.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. NOVA Season 20 Episode 11 - Wanted: Butch and Sundance
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E11

    Forensic sleuth Clyde Snow and a posse of experts travel to Bolivia in search of the remains of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They find Hollywood and legend got a few things wrong.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. NOVA Season 20 Episode 13 - Dying to Breathe
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E13

    NOVA covers the tense vigil of three people with terminal lung disease as they await the most complex of all organ transplants—a new lung. Months of waiting end in a few frenzied hours of intricate surgery.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. NOVA Season 20 Episode 14 - Shadow of the Condor
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E14

    NOVA soars with the condor, an extraordinary bird that lives a tenuous existence in the California mountains and the Andes of South America. Footage includes never-before-photographed nesting sites in the cliffs of Patagonia.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. NOVA Season 20 Episode 16 - Roller Coaster!
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E16

    NOVA takes viewers on the ride of their lives as it explores the science of roller coasters, where physics and psychology meet. New rides of the future may take place entirely in the mind—with virtual reality.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. NOVA Season 20 Episode 18 - Great Moments from NOVA
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E18

    Bill Cosby guides viewers through the most exciting footage from two decades of NOVA in a 20th anniversary salute. Real-life action, adventure, mystery, drama and non-stop discovery fill this 90-minute special.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. NOVA Season 20 Episode 20 - Stranger in the Mirror
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S20:E20

    NOVA explores the nature of human perception through the puzzling condition called visual agnosia, the inability to recognize faces and familiar objects, made famous in Oliver Sacks' book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 20 Ratings Summary

"The Real Jurassic Park" is the best rated episode of "NOVA" season 20. It scored 8.6/10 based on 14 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 11/9/1993. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "The Deadly Deception".