episodes
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1.
15 Years of Terror
From 9/11 to today’s crowd-sourced violence, trace how terrorists’ strategies have evolved.
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2.
School of the Future
How the science of learning may change education for all children.
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3.
Great Human Odyssey
Follow our ancient ancestors’ footsteps out of Africa and into every corner of our planet.
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4.
Super Tunnel
Join engineers as they build a massive new railway deep beneath the streets of London.
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5.
Treasures of the Earth: Gems
Gemstones like diamonds, rubies, opal and jade are the ultimate treasures. Delve into Earth's depths to discover how these precious stones are forged and what explains the unique allure of each captiv...
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6.
Treasures of the Earth: Metals
Gold, bronze, iron, steel... metals are pillars of our civilization, but what makes them so special? Discover their unique properties and explore how our mastery of metals has led us from the stone ag...
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7.
Treasures of the Earth: Power
Drill down to discover how Earth's natural treasures provide bountiful energy to power our modern world yet are also driving us to seek new, cleaner alternatives that can help us keep the lights on.
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8.
Secrets of the Sky Tombs
The towering Himalayas were among the last places on Earth that humanity settled. Scaling sheer cliff sides, a team of daring scientists hunts for clues to how ancient people found their way into this...
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9.
The Nuclear Option
Five years after the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the unprecedented trio of meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, scientists and engineers are struggling to control an ongoi...
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10.
Search for the Super Battery
Explore the hidden world of energy storage and how it holds the keys to a greener future.
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11.
Ultimate Cruise Ship
Join pioneering shipbuilders as they embark on a feat of maritime engineering.
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12.
The Origami Revolution
The centuries-old tradition of folding two-dimensional paper into three-dimensional shapes is inspiring a scientific revolution. The rules of folding are at the heart of many natural phenomena, from h...
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13.
Why Trains Crash
From derailments to head-on collisions to drivers killed at road crossings, deadly train accidents claim dozens of lives each year. But just how unsafe are the railroads? NOVA investigates recent rail...
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14.
Holocaust Escape Tunnel
The Lithuanian city of Vilna, known also as the “Jerusalem of the North”, was one of the most important Jewish centers in the world until World War II, when the Nazis murdered about 95% of its Jewish...
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15.
Building Chernobyl's Megatomb
Engineers race to build a massive dome to contain the crumbling remains of the reactor.
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16.
Chinese Chariot Revealed
For over 1000 years, chariots thundered across China's battlefields - dominating warfare longer than anywhere else on earth. Now, archaeological findings enable a team of experts to reconstruct and te...
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17.
Poisoned Water
NOVA investigates what happened in Flint, Michigan when local officials changed the city’s water source to save money, but overlooked a critical treatment process. As the water pipes corroded, lead le...
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18.
Eclipse Over America
On August 21, 2017, millions of Americans will witness the first total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States in 99 years. While hordes of citizens prepare to flock to the eclipse’s path...
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19.
Ghosts of Stonehenge
Stonehenge is the grandest and most enigmatic of Europe’s prehistoric monuments, and has inspired countless theories to explain who built it and why. Join NOVA as we reveal intimate details of the Sto...
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20.
Death Dive to Saturn
Aiming to skim less than 2000 miles above the cloud tops, no spacecraft has ever gone so close to Saturn, and hopes are high for incredible observations that could solve major mysteries about the plan...
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21.
Secrets of the Shining Knight
Once upon a time, knighthood was serious business, and for countless medieval fighters, their armor was what stood between life and death. NOVA challenged a blacksmith and master armorer to recreate p...
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22.
Secrets of the Forbidden City
The Forbidden City is the world’s biggest and most extravagant palace complex ever built. For five centuries, it was the power center of imperial China and survived wars, revolution, fires, and earthq...
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23.
Killer Volcanoes
NOVA follows a team of volcano sleuths as they embark on a worldwide hunt for an elusive volcanic mega-eruption that plunged medieval Earth into a deep freeze. They look for the signature of a volcani...
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24.
Killer Hurricanes
Devastating hurricanes struck the U.S. mainland and Caribbean islands in 2017. But they weren’t the first. The Great Hurricane of 1780 took nine days to blast its way across the Caribbean, killing at...
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25.
Killer Floods
All over the world, scientists are discovering traces of ancient floods on a scale that dwarfs even the most severe flood disasters of recent times. What triggered these cataclysmic floods, and could...
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26.
Extreme Animal Weapons
From lobster claws and dog teeth to bee stings and snake fangs, every creature depends on a weapon. But some are armed to extremes that make no practical sense—whether it’s bull elks with giant 40-pou...
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27.
Bird Brain
Watch astonishing tests of avian aptitude: parrots that can plan for the future, jackdaws that can “read” human faces, and crows that can solve multi-step puzzles with tools like pebbles, sticks, and...
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28.
Day the Dinosaurs Died
66 million years ago, a seven-mile-wide asteroid collided with Earth, triggering a chain of events that coincide with the end of the dinosaurs. But experts have long debated exactly what happened when...