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The Best Episodes of NOVA Season 31

Every episode of NOVA Season 31 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of NOVA Season 31!

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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 31 Episode 1 - Infinite Secrets
    7.8/10(57 votes)

    #1 - Infinite Secrets

    S31:E1

    A battered manuscript turns up after 1000 years revealing the mind of the Greek genius Archimedes

    Director:Liz Tucker
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. NOVA Season 31 Episode 2 - Who Killed the Red Baron?
    6.5/10(10 votes)

    #2 - Who Killed the Red Baron?

    S31:E2

    Forensic experts investigate the most famous aviation mystery of World War 1.

    Director:Peter Nicholson
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. NOVA Season 31 Episode 3 - The Elegant Universe: Einstein's Dream (1)
    7.5/10(32 votes)

    #3 - The Elegant Universe: Einstein's Dream (1)

    S31:E3

    Part 1, "Einstein's Dream," introduces string theory and shows how modern physics—composed of two theories that are ferociously incompatible—reached its schizophrenic impasse: One theory, general relativity, successfully describes big things like stars and galaxies, while another, quantum mechanics, is equally successful at explaining small things like atoms and subatomic particles. Albert Einstein, the inventor of general relativity, dreamed of finding a single theory that would embrace all of nature's laws. But in this quest for the so-called unified theory, Einstein came up empty-handed, and the conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics has stymied all who've followed. That is, until the discovery of string theory.

    Director:Joseph McMaster
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. NOVA Season 31 Episode 4 - The Elegant Universe: String's the Thing (2)
    7.0/10(17 votes)

    #4 - The Elegant Universe: String's the Thing (2)

    S31:E4

    Part 2, "String's the Thing," opens with a whimsical scene in a movie theater in which the history of the universe runs backwards to the Big Bang, the moment at which general relativity and quantum mechanics both came into play, and therefore the point at which our conventional model of reality breaks down. Then it's string theory to the rescue as Greene describes the steps that led from a forgotten 200-year-old mathematical formula to the first glimmerings of strings—quivering strands of energy whose different vibrations give rise to quarks, electrons, photons, and all other elementary particles. Strings are truly tiny, being smaller than an atom by the same factor that a tree is smaller than the solar system. But, as Greene explains, they are able to combine the laws of the large and the laws of the small into a proposal for a single, harmonious theory of everything.

    Director:Joseph McMaster
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. NOVA Season 31 Episode 5 - The Elegant Universe: Welcome to the 11th Dimension (3)
    8.1/10(29 votes)

    #5 - The Elegant Universe: Welcome to the 11th Dimension (3)

    S31:E5

    Part 3 of "The Elegant Universe” with host Brian Greene shows how Edward Witten of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, aided by others, revolutionized string theory by successfully uniting the five different versions into a single theory that is cryptically named "M-theory," a development that requires a total of eleven dimensions. Ten...eleven...who's counting? But the new 11th dimension implies that strings can come in shapes called membranes, or "branes" for short. These have truly science fiction-like qualities, since in principle they can be as large as the universe. A brane can even be a universe—a parallel universe—and we may be living on one right now.

    Directors:Joseph McMaster, Julia Cort
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. NOVA Season 31 Episode 6 - Wright Brothers' Flying Machine
    8.1/10(33 votes)

    #6 - Wright Brothers' Flying Machine

    S31:E6

    Relive the engineering challenges that two bicycle makers overcame to become the first in flight.

    Director:David Axelrod
    Writers:Michael Barnes, Kate Hudec, David Axelrod

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  7. NOVA Season 31 Episode 7 - Magnetic Storm
    7.6/10(44 votes)

    #7 - Magnetic Storm

    S31:E7

    Is the magnetic field protecting Earth from deadly radiation about to reverse direction or even dissapear?

    Director:Duncan Copp
    Writer:David Sington

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  8. NOVA Season 31 Episode 8 - Volcano Above the Clouds
    8.0/10(15 votes)

    #8 - Volcano Above the Clouds

    S31:E8

    Join a scientific expedition to the glacier-capped summit of Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain.

    Director:Hugh Thomson
    Writer:Hugh Thomson

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  9. NOVA Season 31 Episode 9 - MARS Dead or Alive
    7.8/10(28 votes)

    #9 - MARS Dead or Alive

    S31:E9

    Go inside NASA's risky field trip to the red planet in this tense and dramatic behind-the-scenes chronicle of the $820 million Mars Exploration Rover (MER) project.

    Director:Mark Davis
    Writer:Mark Davis

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  10. NOVA Season 31 Episode 10 - Secrets of the Crocodile Caves
    7.3/10(12 votes)

    #10 - Secrets of the Crocodile Caves

    S31:E10

    Rare lemurs and crocodiles with bizarre cave-dwelling behavior draw scientists to remote corner of Madagascar.

    Director:Jacinth O'Donnell
    Writer:Julia Cort

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  11. NOVA Season 31 Episode 11 - Dogs and More Dogs
    7.9/10(44 votes)

    #11 - Dogs and More Dogs

    S31:E11

    NOVA goes beyond the wagging tails and floppy ears to reveal surprising insights into the origin and evolutionary strategy of our canine companions. From a wolf research facility in rural Indiana to New York’s Westminster Dog Show, you’ll discover some amazing dog facts. Did you know the Saluki can beat any other mammal on earth in a three-mile race? That dogs developed spots for a specific reason? And that their evolution is helping us learn about our own?

    Directors:Noel Buckner, Rob Whittlesey
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. NOVA Season 31 Episode 12 - Descent Into the Ice
    7.6/10(53 votes)

    #12 - Descent Into the Ice

    S31:E12

    A team of "glacionauts" verntures into a labyrinth of unexplored and hazardous glacier caves on France's Mt. Blanc.

    Director:Liesl Clark
    Writer:Liesl Clark

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  13. NOVA Season 31 Episode 13 - Crash of Flight 111
    7.9/10(67 votes)

    #13 - Crash of Flight 111

    S31:E13

    One of the most exhaustive investigations in aviation history reveals telling clues to the cause of a dissaster off Nova Scotia.

    Director:Gary Glassman
    Writer:Gary Glassman

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  14. NOVA Season 31 Episode 14 - Life and Death in the War Zone
    8.1/10(45 votes)

    #14 - Life and Death in the War Zone

    S31:E14

    While other reporters were embedded in fighting units during the Iraq War, NOVA was covering the emergency medical response, living night and day with the doctors, nurses, and medics in a frontline Combat Support Hospital (CSH). The program captures a period of the conflict in April and May of 2003 when CSH units faced a deluge of injured Iraqi soldiers and civilians who had little support from their country's collapsed health-care system.

    Directors:Dimitri Doganis, Callum Macrae
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. NOVA Season 31 Episode 15 - Hunt for the Supertwister
    7.8/10(26 votes)

    #15 - Hunt for the Supertwister

    S31:E15

    Scientists, meteorologists and storm chasers try to uncover the secrets of F5 tornadoes, the largest, most powerful and most dangerous on Earth. Included are looks at how funnels form and the devastating 2003 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, plus "tornado tourists," who pay companies to take them to the ferocious phenomena to see them first-hand.

    Director:Thomas Lucas
    Writers:Julia Cort, Thomas Lucas

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  16. NOVA Season 31 Episode 16 - World in the Balance: The People Paradox (1)
    8.1/10(24 votes)

    #16 - World in the Balance: The People Paradox (1)

    S31:E16

    Nova investigates the impact of forces that are radically changing populations in both rich and poor nations.

    Director:Sarah Holt
    Writer:Sarah Holt

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  17. NOVA Season 31 Episode 17 - World in the Balance: China Revs Up (2)
    8.2/10(28 votes)

    #17 - World in the Balance: China Revs Up (2)

    S31:E17

    Nova investigates the impact of forces that are radically changing populations in both rich and poor nations.

    Director:Chris Schmidt
    Writers:Chris Schmidt, Joel Olicker

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  18. NOVA Season 31 Episode 18 - Battle Plan Under Fire
    7.3/10(24 votes)

    #18 - Battle Plan Under Fire

    S31:E18

    Can the US military's high tech weaponry prevail against insurgants.

    Director:C. Scott Willis
    Writer:Michael Winship

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Season 31 Ratings Summary

"Infinite Secrets" is the best rated episode of "NOVA" season 31. It scored 7.8/10 based on 57 votes. Directed by Liz Tucker and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/30/2003. This episode is rated 1.3 points higher than the second-best, "Who Killed the Red Baron?".