NOVA

s16e01 Pioneers of Surgery: The Brutal Craft 1988-09-07 01:00 ⌄

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Pioneers of Surgery: The Brutal Craft

s16e01 · 1988-09-07 · 01:00

Part one of a four-part series on the pioneers of modern surgery relives the early days, when surgery was practiced without the benefit of anaesthesia or antiseptics and patients usually died.

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s16e02 Pioneers of Surgery: Into the Heart 1988-09-14 01:00 ⌄

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Pioneers of Surgery: Into the Heart

s16e02 · 1988-09-14 · 01:00

Once unthinkable, open-heart surgery is now an everyday miracle. NOVA looks at the brave doctors and patients who make it possible.

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s16e03 Pioneers of Surgery: New Organs for Old 1988-09-21 01:00 ⌄

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Pioneers of Surgery: New Organs for Old

s16e03 · 1988-09-21 · 01:00

From kidneys to Hearts, NOVA examines the daring attempts to replace diseased organs with transplanted ones.

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s16e04 Pioneers of Surgery: Beyond the Knife 1988-09-28 01:00 ⌄

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Pioneers of Surgery: Beyond the Knife

s16e04 · 1988-09-28 · 01:00

Surgeons have always been eager to help patients, even at the risk of killing them. NOVA looks at some of the excesses of surgery, and at how new drugs and technologies are rendering some operations obsolete.

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s16e05 Can the Vatican Save the Sistine Chapel? 1988-10-05 01:00 ⌄

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Can the Vatican Save the Sistine Chapel?

s16e05 · 1988-10-05 · 01:00

Science meets art in the controversial effort to restore Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel frescoes.

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s16e06 Can the Next President Win the Space Race? 1988-10-12 01:00 ⌄

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Can the Next President Win the Space Race?

s16e06 · 1988-10-12 · 01:00

Thirty years after Sputnik, the United States space program is mired in uncertainty, while the Russians, Europeans, Japanese and others sprint onward and upward.

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s16e07 Do Scientists Cheat? 1988-10-26 01:00 ⌄

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Do Scientists Cheat?

s16e07 · 1988-10-26 · 01:00

NOVA examines the troubling question of scientific fraud: How prevalent is it? Who commits it? And what happens when the perpetrators are caught?

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s16e08 Who Shot President Kennedy? 1988-11-16 02:00 ⌄

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Who Shot President Kennedy?

s16e08 · 1988-11-16 · 02:00

Using previously unavailable technology, NOVA probes the available evidence surrounding the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.

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s16e09 The Light Stuff 1988-11-23 02:00 ⌄

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The Light Stuff

s16e09 · 1988-11-23 · 02:00

Reliving a Greek myth takes an effort of mythic proportions, as NOVA reveals in its behind-the-scenes report of a human powered-flight across the Aegean Sea, a journey that symbolically recreated the mythical flight of Daedalus. NOVA follows the epic journey of the human-powered plane Daedalus 88 from the early prototypes to its dramatic landing in the surf after a 74-mile flight from the island of Crete to Santorini.

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s16e10 The All-American Bear 1988-12-07 02:00 ⌄

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The All-American Bear

s16e10 · 1988-12-07 · 02:00

The life of the shy, intelligent black bear in the wild—foraging, mating, playing and constantly preparing for its remarkable hibernation—is captured for the first time on film by NOVA.

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s16e11 Can We Make a Better Doctor? 1988-12-14 02:00 ⌄

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Can We Make a Better Doctor?

s16e11 · 1988-12-14 · 02:00

NOVA embarks on a 10-year project to profile—in its entirety—the education of a doctor. In the premiere episode, we follow a handful of students as they start their first year at Harvard Medical School under a revolutionary program emphasizing early clinical contact with patients. Part one of a ten-year study. See also "So You Want to Be a Doctor?", "Making of a Doctor", and "Doctors' Diaries".

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s16e12 Hot Enough for You? 1989-01-18 02:00 ⌄

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Hot Enough for You?

s16e12 · 1989-01-18 · 02:00

Was the searing summer of 1988 a taste of things to come? NOVA looks at the greenhouse effect, which portends higher temperatures, rising sea levels and other environmental disasters.

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s16e13 The Last Journey of a Genius 1989-01-25 02:00 ⌄

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The Last Journey of a Genius

s16e13 · 1989-01-25 · 02:00

NOVA looks at the bongo-playing scientist, adventurer, safecracker and yarn-spinner Richard Feynman, most recently famous for his role as gadfly of the Presidential Commission investigating the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

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s16e14 The Strange New Science of Chaos 1989-02-01 02:00 ⌄

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The Strange New Science of Chaos

s16e14 · 1989-02-01 · 02:00

NOVA explains "chaos," a new science that is making surprising sense out of chaotic phenomena in nature, from the weather to brain waves.

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s16e15 Back to Chernobyl 1989-02-15 02:00 ⌄

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Back to Chernobyl

s16e15 · 1989-02-15 · 02:00

NOVA goes to the Soviet Union for an inside investigation of the world's most catastrophic nuclear power accident with correspondent Bill Kurtis.

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s16e16 God, Darwin and the Dinosaurs 1989-02-22 02:00 ⌄

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God, Darwin and the Dinosaurs

s16e16 · 1989-02-22 · 02:00

In an Idaho classroom, teacher Phil Gerrish puts an unorthodox interpretation on the day's biology lesson. As students take notes, he explains that creationism is a valid scientific explanation for the origin on life. Once relying solely on the literal word of the Bible to make their case, creationists now argue that the scientific evidence is on their side. NOVA reports on this new twist in the long-running battle between creationism and evolution.

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s16e17 Adrift on the Gulf Stream 1989-03-01 02:00 ⌄

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Adrift on the Gulf Stream

s16e17 · 1989-03-01 · 02:00

NOVA explores the importance of the Gulf Stream to ocean life, climate and human history.

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s16e18 Secrets of Easter Island (1) 1989-03-08 02:00 ⌄

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Secrets of Easter Island (1)

s16e18 · 1989-03-08 · 02:00

A team attempts to recreate the original islanders' success at moving and erecting giant moai statues. (Part 1 of 2)

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s16e19 Legends of Easter Island (2) 1989-03-08 02:00 ⌄

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Legends of Easter Island (2)

s16e19 · 1989-03-08 · 02:00

A team attempts to recreate the original islanders' success at moving and erecting giant moai statues. (Part 2 of 2)

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s16e20 The World Is Full of Oil! 1989-03-22 02:00 ⌄

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The World Is Full of Oil!

s16e20 · 1989-03-22 · 02:00

Scientific detectives test their ingenuity in the effort to find underground oil deposits.

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s16e21 Confronting the Killer Gene 1989-03-29 02:00 ⌄

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Confronting the Killer Gene

s16e21 · 1989-03-29 · 02:00

Arlo, Nancy and Janice each have a 50/50 chance of developing a devastating nerve disorder. A laboratory test can tell them if in fact they will fall victim. In their shoes, would you take the test? Thousands of others face a similar choice: to know, or not know, if they will carry the genetic time bomb of Huntington's disease. NOVA looks at this incurable disease which affects 20,000 people in the US and threatens tens of thousands of others.

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