The Best Episodes of NOVA Season 36

#1 Fan Favorite
7.7/10(84 votes)
#1 - Arctic Dinosaurs
S36:E110/7/2008
Most people imagine dinosaurs lurking in warm locales with swamps and jungles, dining on vegetation and each other. But "Arctic Dinosaurs" reveals that many species also thrived in the harsh environments of the north and south polar regions. NOVA follows two high-stakes expeditions and the paleontologists who push the limits of science to unearth 70 million-year-old fossils buried in the vast Alaskan tundra.
Directors:Chris Schmidt, Jackie Mow
Writer:Chris Schmidt
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Directors:Chris Schmidt, Jackie Mow
Writer:Chris Schmidt
7.1/10(87 votes)
#2 - Space Shuttle Disaster
S36:E210/14/2008
At the end of a nearly flawless 15-day mission in early 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere, killing the crew of seven men and women. In this documentary, NOVA probes the accident and the decisions stretching back four decades that made the tragedy almost inevitable. It offers a penetrating look at the history of the shuttle program and the political pressures that made the shuttle a highly complex engineering compromise, which fell short of its ambitious goal to make space travel routine, cheap, and safe.
Director:Gilles Cayatte
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Gilles Cayatte
Writer:Unknown
7.8/10(40 votes)
#3 - Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives
S36:E310/21/2008
Join Mark Everett on his quixotic quest to understand his father Hugh, creator of a radical theory of quantum physics.
Director:Louise Lockwood
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Louise Lockwood
Writer:Unknown
7.4/10(84 votes)
#4 - Hunting The Hidden Dimension
S36:E410/28/2008
Fractals are more than just pretty pictures. These simple but sophisticated equations describe the world we live in, from forest growth patterns to the beating of a human heart, and they are inspiring new investigation in myriad fields of science and technology.
Directors:Michael Schwarz, Bill Jersey
Writer:Unknown
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Directors:Michael Schwarz, Bill Jersey
Writer:Unknown
7.7/10(36 votes)
#5 - Alien From Earth
S36:E511/11/2008
The 2004 discovery of tiny human fossil bones on the island of Flores, Indonesia, raised new—and controversial—speculation about the history of the human race. Ever since, scientists have been scrambling to find more information about these "hobbits."
Directors:Simon Nasht, Annámaria Tálas
Writer:Sarah Holt
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Directors:Simon Nasht, Annámaria Tálas
Writer:Sarah Holt
7.9/10(28 votes)
#6 - The Bible's Buried Secrets
S36:E611/18/2008
An archeological detective story tackling some of the biggest questions in biblical studies: Where did the ancient Israelites come from? Who wrote the Bible, when, and why? How did the worship of one God—the foundation of modern Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—emerge?
Director:Gary Glassman
Writer:Gary Glassman
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Director:Gary Glassman
Writer:Gary Glassman

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8.5/10(27 votes)
#7 - Ocean Animal Emergency
S36:E711/25/2008
NOVA takes you inside a very special ER to witness the efforts of wildlife veterinarians as they fight to save their animal patients as well as to uncover the cause of a mysterious neurological illness plaguing marine mammals like California sea lions and harbor seal pups. Part emergency room, part rehab facility, and part research lab, the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California means the difference between life and death for sick and injured ocean animals. Not only are the animal patients endearing, they are also sending us an urgent message about the health of our oceans.
Director:Doug Hamilton
Writer:Doug Hamilton
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Director:Doug Hamilton
Writer:Doug Hamilton
7.3/10(27 votes)
#8 - Is There Life On Mars?
S36:E812/30/2008
After four decades of fly-by probes, orbiters, landers, and rovers, the quest for life on Mars is as tantalizing as ever. NOVA goes behind the scenes of the latest NASA missions to the Red Planet to reveal new clues and challenges on the road to answering this ultimate question. With unique access to the NASA Phoenix and Mars Exploration Rover missions, NOVA shows scientists and engineers in action, directing the operations of spacecraft millions of miles away, as the robotic explorers drill into rock, claw into soil, analyze samples, and trundle across the rock-strewn landscape in search of signs that Mars once or maybe even still harbors some form of life.
Director:Jonathan Grupper
Writer:Jonathan Grupper
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Director:Jonathan Grupper
Writer:Jonathan Grupper
0.0/10(0 votes)
#9 - The Big Energy Gamble
S36:E91/20/2009
As Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger launches a dramatic and controversial program to slash carbon dioxide emissions and promote energy efficiency. NOVA explores the pros and cons of California's bold approach, which calls for improvements in energy efficiency in homes and commercial buildings; increased reliance on renewable power sources, primarily solar and wind; and major upgrades in car mileage. Hear from Governor Schwarzenegger, skeptics and supporters of the plan, and ordinary citizens and businesspeople whose lives are impacted. Among those interviewed is Steven Chu, who went on to become the U.S. Energy Secretary in the Obama Administration.
Director:Larry Klein
Writer:Larry Klein
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Director:Larry Klein
Writer:Larry Klein
7.0/10(211 votes)
#10 - The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies
S36:E101/27/2009
Orange-and-black wings fill the sky as NOVA charts one of nature's most remarkable phenomena: the epic migration of monarch butterflies across North America. To capture a butterfly's point of view, NOVA’s filmmakers used a helicopter, ultralight, and hot-air balloon for aerial views along the transcontinental route. This wondrous annual migration, which scientists are just beginning to fathom, is an endangered phenomenon that could dwindle to insignificance if the giant firs that the butterflies cling to during the winter disappear.
Director:Nick de Pencier
Writer:Elizabeth Arledge
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Director:Nick de Pencier
Writer:Elizabeth Arledge
7.4/10(52 votes)
#11 - The Spy Factory
S36:E112/3/2009
In this program, an eye-opening documentary on the National Security Agency by best-selling author James Bamford and Emmy Award-winning producer Scott Willis, NOVA exposes the ultra-secret intelligence agency's role in the failure to stop the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent eavesdropping program that listens in without warrant on millions of American citizens.
Director:C. Scott Willis
Writer:James Bamford
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Director:C. Scott Willis
Writer:James Bamford
7.8/10(43 votes)
#12 - Rat Attack
S36:E122/24/2009
Once every 48 years, bamboo forests in parts of northeast India go into exuberant flower. Then, like clockwork, the flowering is invariably followed by a plague of black rats that appear to spring from nowhere to spread destruction and famine in their wake. For the first time on film, NOVA and National Geographic capture this rat population explosion in vivid detail and show how scientists are unraveling the connections between bamboo flowering and rat outbreaks. Ultimately, their research should help local people better cope with the next attack—due in 2056.
Director:Rick King
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Rick King
Writer:Unknown
7.9/10(165 votes)
#13 - Extreme Ice
S36:E133/24/2009
In collaboration with National Geographic, NOVA follows the exploits of acclaimed photojournalist James Balog and a scientific team as they deploy time-lapse cameras in risky, remote locations in the Alps and Arctic, including Alaska and Greenland. Grappling with blizzards, fickle technology, and climbs up craggy precipices, the team must anchor cameras capable of withstanding subzero temperatures and winds up to 170 miles per hour. In this high-action scientific adventure, NOVA and National Geographic investigate the mystery of the mighty ice sheets, whose still-unknown behavior will affect the fate of coastlines around the world.
Director:Noel Dockstader
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Noel Dockstader
Writer:Unknown
7.9/10(139 votes)
#14 - Last Extinction
S36:E143/31/2009
An examination over whether a comet struck the Great Lakes region 12,900 years ago, and whether it caused the extinction of such mega-creatures as the woolly mammoth and the saber-toothed cat in North America. Also included is the discovery of nano-diamonds which are created by heat and objects from space.
Director:Doug Hamilton
Writer:Doug Hamilton
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Director:Doug Hamilton
Writer:Doug Hamilton
8.0/10(128 votes)
#15 - Doctors' Diaries Pt.1
S36:E154/7/2009
In 1987, NOVA's cameras began rolling to chronicle the lives of seven young, bright medical students embarking on the longest and most rigorous endeavor in higher education: the years-long journey to become a doctor. From their first days at Harvard Medical School to the present day, none of them could have predicted what it would take, personally and professionally. In "Doctors' Diaries," a two-hour special, NOVA returns to find out what sorts of doctors—and people—the seven young students have become. The program is the latest installment in the longest-running U.S. documentary of its kind.
Director:Michael Barnes
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Michael Barnes
Writer:Unknown
7.1/10(122 votes)
#16 - Doctors' Diaries Pt.2
S36:E164/14/2009
In 1987, NOVA's cameras began rolling to chronicle the lives of seven young, bright medical students embarking on the longest and most rigorous endeavor in higher education: the years-long journey to become a doctor. From their first days at Harvard Medical School to the present day, none of them could have predicted what it would take, personally and professionally. In "Doctors' Diaries," a two-hour special, NOVA returns to find out what sorts of doctors—and people—the seven young students have become. The program is the latest installment in the longest-running U.S. documentary of its kind.
Director:Michael Barnes
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Michael Barnes
Writer:Unknown
8.1/10(145 votes)
#17 - Musical Minds
S36:E176/30/2009
An exploration of the effect of music on the brain via four case studies from neurologist Oliver Sacks book "Musicopia" and the MRI visualizations from Sacks' own brain as classical music is played, including Bach's "Mass in B Minor." Study subjects include a man with Tourettes syndrome who has found relief while playing the drums; an autistic savant who is simply dazzling on the piano; a woman who suffers the inability to process music, known as amusia; and a surgeon whose life changed after being struck by lightning.
Director:Louise Lockwood
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Louise Lockwood
Writer:Unknown