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The Best Episodes of NOVA Season 29

Every episode of NOVA Season 29 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of NOVA Season 29!

The Best Episodes of NOVA Season 29

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 Search for a Safe Cigarette
    7.1/10(23 votes)

    #1 - Search for a Safe Cigarette

    S29:E1

    The program chronicles the tobacco industry's decades long effort to create a "safer" cigarette.

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  2. Background image for 18 Ways to Make a Baby
    7.7/10(16 votes)

    #2 - 18 Ways to Make a Baby

    S29:E2

    The program investigates the brave new world of assisted reproduction.

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  3. Background image for Secrets of the Mind
    6.1/10(10 votes)

    #3 - Secrets of the Mind

    S29:E3

    This NOVA program delves into the mind-tingling efforts of neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran to discover how the brain works.

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  4. Background image for Sex: Unknown
    7.4/10(14 votes)

    #4 - Sex: Unknown

    S29:E4

    The film investigates the complicated world of gender identity.

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  5. Background image for Russia's Nuclear Warriors
    7.6/10(9 votes)

    #5 - Russia's Nuclear Warriors

    S29:E5

    NOVA takes an intimate look at the men who are in control of Russia's nuclear missiles, standing just a heartbeat from the top Russian politicians and Armageddon. Hosted by Vladimir Pozner, Russia's top television journalist, this startling film shows that despite low pay and the tedious existence that these soldiers and their families live with, these men are motivated by a strong sense of patriotic duty and responsibility for the ultimate powers of destruction at their fingertips, in a job that requires complete perfection.

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    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Bioterror
    8.4/10(42 votes)

    #6 - Bioterror

    S29:E6

    The film follows three New York Times reporters as they delve into the murky past of bioweapons research and grapple with the current threat of anthrax and other attacks.

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  8. Background image for Life's Greatest Miracle
    7.5/10(124 votes)

    #7 - Life's Greatest Miracle

    S29:E7

    A sequel to the most popular NOVA of all time, "Miracle of Life," the program once again uses the extraordinary microimagery of Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson to track human development from embryo to newborn.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Julia Cort
  9. Background image for Methuselah Tree
    7.8/10(17 votes)

    #8 - Methuselah Tree

    S29:E8

    Marked by striking imagery and a poetic style, the film dramatizes the life cycle of the world's oldest living thing, the bristlecone pine of California's White Mountains.

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    Director:Ian Duncan
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for Flying Casanovas
    7.8/10(10 votes)

    #9 - Flying Casanovas

    S29:E9

    The program, with Sir David Attenborough narrating, celebrates the extraordinary antics male bowerbirds get up to when courting a female.

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  11. Background image for Death Star
    6.7/10(15 votes)

    #10 - Death Star

    S29:E10

    The program probes the deep mysteries of gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful celestial explosions since the big bang.

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    Director:David McNab
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for Neanderthals on Trial
    7.9/10(15 votes)

    #11 - Neanderthals on Trial

    S29:E11

    The film probes the enigma of our Neanderthal cousins and the roots of our own ancestry.

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    Director:Mark Davis
    Writer:Mark Davis
  13. Background image for Fireworks
    7.3/10(55 votes)

    #12 - Fireworks

    S29:E12

    No description available

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for Secrets, Lies, and Atomic Spies
    7.7/10(9 votes)

    #13 - Secrets, Lies, and Atomic Spies

    S29:E13

    The program chronicles the lives and covert activities of the so-called "atom spies" in the 1940's, including the big one that got away, Theodore Alvin Hall.

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    Director:Tug Yourgrau
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for The Missing Link
    7.3/10(18 votes)

    #14 - The Missing Link

    S29:E14

    A paleontological tour-de-force and suspenseful scientific detective story, the program documents the search for the ancestor of all four-limbed animals, including humans.

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  16. Background image for Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance
    7.2/10(7 votes)

    #15 - Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance

    S29:E15

    In October and November 1999, NOVA journeyed into ice-choked Antarctic waters and onto the shores of rugged Elephant and South Georgia Islands as we followed in the footsteps of Sir Ernest Shackleton. This legendary explorer's 1914-1916 Endurance expedition is one of the greatest survival stories of all time. Then, in April 2000, we returned to document Shackleton's final trial -- the crossing of South Georgia -- by three of the world's most distinguished mountaineers, Reinhold Messner, Conrad Anker and Stephen Venables. Follow the expeditions as they unfolded in real-time on this Web site, and also watch for a NOVA Giant Screen Film Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure, as well as a NOVA program, "Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance," which originally aired on March 26, 2002.

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  17. Background image for Why the Towers Fell
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Why the Towers Fell

    S29:E16

    Can lessons learned from the Twin Towers' collapse make new buildings safer?

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  18. Background image for Fire Wars
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Fire Wars

    S29:E17

    In the program, NOVA accompanies the men and women of a wildland firefighting crew known as the Arrowhead Hotshots as they battle one of the most destructive wildfire seasons ever, the summer of 2000.

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Season 29 Ratings Summary

"Search for a Safe Cigarette" is the best rated episode of "NOVA" season 29. It scored 7.1/10 based on 23 votes. Directed by Carl Charlson and written by Carl Charlson, it aired on 10/2/2001. This episode is rated 0.6 points higher than the second-best, "18 Ways to Make a Baby".