• Premiered: Mar 1974
  • Episodes: 1034
  • Followers: 306
  • Running
  • PBS
  • Wednesday at 21
  • Documentary

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Season 13
13x1
Halley's Comet: Once in a Lifetime
Episode overview
Air date
Jan 21, 1986
NOVA observes worldwide preparations as amateur comet hunters, astronomers and scientists armed with specialized cameras, high powered telescopes and spacecraft look to the heavens in search of the expected arrival in 1986 of Halley's Comet.
13x2
Goddess of the Earth
Episode overview
Air date
Jan 28, 1986
Gaia, the Greek word for Earth goddess, also is the name of the controversial hypothesis that life on Earth controls the environment. NOVA explores this provocative theory that challenges conventional ways of thinking about the Earth.
13x3
Horsemen of China
Episode overview
Air date
Feb 04, 1986
For centuries, the Chinese Kazakh horseman preserved their ancient traditions, refusing to be dominated by either the Chinese or nearby Russian cultures. Today, however, this nomadic .. show full overview
13x4
Life's First Feelings
Episode overview
Air date
Feb 11, 1986
NOVA explores the incredibly complex emotional development of infants and examines the current theory that early childhood psychological intervention can head off emotional problems later in life.
13x5
The Case of the Frozen Addict
Episode overview
Air date
Feb 18, 1986
In July 1982, a 42-year-old addict in a San Jose, California jail became paralyzed—unable to move or talk. His symptoms, caused by a bad batch of synthetic heroin, were indistinguishable .. show full overview
13x6
Toxic Trials
Episode overview
Air date
Feb 25, 1986
When a high number of cancer cases struck the suburban community of Woburn, Massachusetts, the town mobilized to investigate why. The result was a landmark study of the effects of .. show full overview
13x7
Skydive to the Rain Forest
Episode overview
Air date
Mar 04, 1986
NOVA journeys to a remote region of southern Venezuela where the land is alive with spectacular waterfalls, colored by exotic flowers and inhabited by rare species of birds and animals.
13x8
Return of the Osprey
Episode overview
Air date
Mar 11, 1986
NOVA follows a conservation success story as environmentalists, scientists and bird-lovers fight to save the majestic Osprey from extinction.
13x9
The Rise of a Wonder Drug
Episode overview
Air date
Mar 18, 1986
When Alexander Fleming discovered the penicillin mold in 1928, he never considered its possible therapeutic value. NOVA explores the "Fleming myth" and reveals the true story of .. show full overview
13x10
When Wonder Drugs Don't Work
Episode overview
Air date
Mar 25, 1986
NOVA examines the medical community's alarm as the spread of antibiotic-resistant infection increases, and studies how one hospital fights its own dramatic epidemic.
13x11
Visions of Star Wars
Episode overview
Air date
Apr 22, 1986
NOVA and Frontline combine resources to explore the Strategic Defense Initiative. The two-hour documentary contains the most comprehensive information on "Star Wars" ever produced. Bill Kurtis of WBBM-TV/Chicago hosts.
13x12
The Search for the Disappeared
Episode overview
Air date
Oct 14, 1986
NOVA joins scientists in Argentina as they help locate kidnapped children and identify thousands of dead in the aftermath of a military reign of terror.
13x13
The Planet that Got Knocked on its Side
Episode overview
Air date
Oct 21, 1986
The adventures of the Voyager 2 spacecraft continue as it passes the rings of Uranus. Scientists suspect that violent events in the early history of the planet may have shaped Uranus and its strange collection of moons.
13x14
High-Tech Babies
Episode overview
Air date
Nov 04, 1986
Scientific breakthroughs now make it possible to reproduce ourselves in ways never before imagined. NOVA looks at the medical, legal and moral questions raised by this brave new technology.
13x15
Can AIDS Be Stopped?
Episode overview
Air date
Nov 11, 1986
What are the prospects for halting or curing the deadliest epidemic ever to challenge modern medicine? NOVA finds cause for both hope and alarm in the battle against AIDS.
13x16
Is Anybody Out There?
Episode overview
Air date
Nov 18, 1986
Could there be life beyond Earth? Only recently has it become possible to scan the skies in a systematic attempt to find out. NOVA joins the search with guest host Lily Tomlin.
13x17
Mystery of the Animal Pathfinders
Episode overview
Air date
Nov 25, 1986
Birds do it; bees do it, butterflies, bats and eels do it—all leave one habitat to migrate to another, often thousands of miles away. NOVA penetrates the mystery of where animals migrate, why and how they get there.
13x18
Are You Swimming in a Sewer?
Episode overview
Air date
Dec 02, 1986
NOVA dips into the sad plight of our coastal waters, where toxic chemicals, raw sewage and disease-carrying microbes are routinely dumped.
13x19
Sail Wars!
Episode overview
Air date
Dec 09, 1986
Yankee ingenuity has designs on the America's Cup. NOVA goes behind-the-scenes to look at the engineering effort to design a technically advanced sailboat.
13x20 Season finale
Leprosy Can Be Cured!
Episode overview
Air date
Dec 16, 1986
Leprosy, a misunderstood disease that has been curable for 40 years, still afflicts some 12 million people. NOVA looks at the tragedy of the disease that need not be.

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