Show cover for NOVA

The Best Episodes of NOVA Season 34

Every episode of NOVA Season 34 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of NOVA Season 34!

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...
Genre:Documentary
Network:PBS

Season 34 Ratings Summary

"Building on Ground Zero" is the best rated episode of "NOVA" season 34. It scored N/A/10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Larry Klein and written by Larry Klein, it aired on 9/5/2006. This episode is rated NaN points higher than the second-best, "Mystery of the Megavolcano".

  • Building on Ground Zero
    NaN/100 votes

    #1 - Building on Ground Zero

    Season 34 Episode 1 - Aired 9/5/2006

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

    Director: Larry Klein

    Writer: Larry Klein

  • Mystery of the Megavolcano
    8.1/1067 votes

    #2 - Mystery of the Megavolcano

    Season 34 Episode 2 - Aired 9/26/2006

    Researchers unearth clues about the greatest Volcanic eruption of the past 100000 years.

    Director: Ben Fox

    Writer: N/A

  • The Deadliest Plane Crash
    8.3/1019 votes

    #3 - The Deadliest Plane Crash

    Season 34 Episode 3 - Aired 10/17/2006

    On March 27, 1977, on the island of Tenerife, two fully loaded 747 jumbo jets collided on a fog-blanketed runway, claiming the lives of 583 people in what is still the deadliest crash in aviation history. Now, almost 30 years later, near misses on the ground are the leading cause of aviation accidents, raising the question of what can be done to improve runway safety. Featuring moving interviews with the few survivors of the disaster and with top accident investigators, this program examines the fateful confluence of events that led to the Tenerife tragedy and its continuing relevance for air travel today.

    Director: Chantal Hébert

    Writer: N/A

  • Monster of the Milky Way
    8.2/1047 votes

    #4 - Monster of the Milky Way

    Season 34 Episode 4 - Aired 10/31/2006

    Astronomers are closing in on the proof they've sought for years that one of the most destructive objects in the universe—a supermassive black hole—lurks at the center of our own galaxy. Could it flare up and consume our entire galactic neighborhood? Join NOVA on a mind-bending investigation into one of the most bizarre corners of cosmological science: black hole research. From event horizon to singularity, the elusive secrets of supermassive black holes are revealed through stunning computer-generated imagery, including an extraordinary simulation of what it might look like to fall into the belly of such an all-devouring beast.

    Director: Thomas Lucas, Julia Cort

    Writer: Jonathan Grupper, Julia Cort

  • Wings of Madness
    6.8/1025 votes

    #5 - Wings of Madness

    Season 34 Episode 5 - Aired 11/7/2006

    The flamboyant rise and tragic death of pioneering aviator Alberto-Santos Dumont.

    Director: Brian Breger

    Writer: N/A

  • Family That Walks on All Fours
    7.8/1029 votes

    #6 - Family That Walks on All Fours

    Season 34 Episode 6 - Aired 11/14/2006

    Experts explore the mysterious story of five siblings living in a remote Turkish village.

    Director: Sarah Holt, Jemima Harrison

    Writer: N/A

  • Underwater Dream Machine
    7.0/1028 votes

    #7 - Underwater Dream Machine

    Season 34 Episode 7 - Aired 12/26/2006

    Follow one man's dream to engeneer a submarine with panaramic views.

    Director: Andreas Sawall

    Writer: N/A

  • Forgotten Genius
    NaN/100 votes

    #8 - Forgotten Genius

    Season 34 Episode 8 - Aired 2/6/2007

    The grandson of Alabama slaves, Percy Julian met with every possible barrier in a deeply segregated America. He was a man of genius, devotion, and determination. As a black man he was also an outsider, fighting to make a place for himself in a profession and country divided by bigotry—a man who would eventually find freedom in the laboratory. By the time of his death, Julian had risen to the highest levels of scientific and personal achievement, overcoming countless obstacles to become a world-class scientist, a self-made millionaire, and a civil-rights pioneer.

    Director: Llewellyn M. Smith

    Writer: Llewellyn M. Smith, Stephen Lyons

  • The Last Great Ape
    7.8/1020 votes

    #9 - The Last Great Ape

    Season 34 Episode 9 - Aired 2/13/2007

    Scientists return to the jungles of Congo to further explore the peaceful lives of bonobos.

    Director: Steve Greenwood

    Writer: N/A

  • Kings of Camouflage
    6.9/1058 votes

    #10 - Kings of Camouflage

    Season 34 Episode 10 - Aired 4/3/2007

    Join NOVA on a voyage beneath the waves, where you'll discover a bizarre, alien-like creature like no other. It's an animal with eight sucker-covered arms growing out of its head, three hearts pumping its blue-green blood, and a doughnut-shaped brain. It has the ability to change its color and shape to blend in with seaweed and rocks, and it has a knack for switching on electrifying light shows that dazzle its prey. Perhaps most surprising of all, this animal is quite intelligent, with a highly complex brain. In this program, underwater cameras capture the extraordinary powers of the cuttlefish.

    Director: Gisela Kaufmann

    Writer: Gisela Kaufmann

  • First Flower
    NaN/100 votes

    #11 - First Flower

    Season 34 Episode 11 - Aired 4/17/2007

    In the remote mountains of China, scientist come closer to understanding the origins of flowers.

    Director: Doug Hamilton

    Writer: Doug Hamilton

  • Saved by the Sun
    NaN/100 votes

    #12 - Saved by the Sun

    Season 34 Episode 12 - Aired 4/24/2007

    As the Earth heats up at a dangerous rate and fossil fuels become scarcer, ordinary citizens and businesses are bypassing the federal government to lead the way in exploring a clean, renewable source of power: the sun. In this report, NOVA shines a light on how and why people across America and the world are "going solar," using radiant energy of the sun to power homes, businesses, and even entire communities. But can everyday people really make a difference by using solar power? And can solar technologies, with their high cost and logistical challenges, truly play a bigger role in powering the future of humanity? The grand hopes, latest innovations, roiling controversies, and practical realities of solar power all come to the fore in this program.

    Director: Steven Latham

    Writer: Larry Klein, Evan I. Schwartz

  • Pocahontas Revealed
    7.8/1071 votes

    #13 - Pocahontas Revealed

    Season 34 Episode 13 - Aired 5/8/2007

    The recent archeological discovery of the Native American Powhatan village of Werowocomoco, sheds new light on the Jamestown story of Pocahontas.

    Director: Kirk Wolfinger, Lisa Q. Wolfinger

    Writer: Matthew Collins

  • Bone Diggers
    7.8/1036 votes

    #14 - Bone Diggers

    Season 34 Episode 14 - Aired 6/19/2007

    NOVA follows a group of paleontologists to a cave in southwestern Australia where the fossils of a meat-eating marsupial lion, and other extinct giant animals, have recently been discovered.

    Director: Stuart Scowcroft, Clay Bryce, Carolyn Bertram, Ingo Helbig

    Writer: Elizabeth Arledge

  • The Great Inca Rebellion
    6.2/1025 votes

    #15 - The Great Inca Rebellion

    Season 34 Episode 15 - Aired 6/26/2007

    Through a mix of crime-lab science, archeology, and history, this NOVA/National Geographic special presents new evidence that is changing what we know about the final days of the once-mighty Inca Empire. This probing story of archeological discovery begins in a cemetery crammed with skeletons that offer tantalizing clues about a fierce 16th-century battle between warriors of the collapsing Inca Empire and Spanish invaders. Now, the long-accepted account of a swift Spanish conquest of the Inca—achieved with guns, steel, and horses—is being replaced by a more complete story based on surprising new evidence, including what may be the first gunshot wound in the Americas.

    Director: Graham Townsley

    Writer: Graham Townsley