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20 Episodes 1986 - 1986
Episode 1
Tue, Jan 21, 1986 60 mins
Chronicling the study of comets. Included: reviews of theories on their physical components; and interviews with amateur and professional astronomers, including those who first spotted the comet with electronic devices.
Episode 2
Tue, Jan 28, 1986 60 mins
A review of James Lovelock's Gaia theory on the role of organisms in maintaining life on Earth. Included: how the atmosphere appears to be self-regulating; why the earth's temperature remains constant; and why there's no life on Mars.
Episode 3
Tue, Feb 4, 1986 60 mins
A study of the Kazakhs, descendants of Turks who maintain their traditions despite embracing aspects of Chinese Communism. Included: children learning Communist tenets in their native Arabic and Kazakhs attending brigade committee meetings.
Episode 4
Tue, Feb 11, 1986 60 mins
Examining the biological bases of babies' facial expressions and charting the stages in their emotional development. Included: an interview with Stanley Greenspan of the National Institute of Mental Health.
Episode 5
Tue, Feb 18, 1986 60 mins
How efforts to solve "The Case of the Frozen Addict" (a paralyzed heroin addict) led to breakthroughs in research into Parkinson's disease. Included: an interview with neurologist William Langston; footage of "frozen addicts"; and reenactments.
Episode 6
Tue, Feb 25, 1986 60 mins
Examining a lawsuit filed by Woburn, Mass., families that claims water contaminated by industrial waste led to illness and death in the town. Included: interviews with researchers, plaintiffs and lawyers.
Episode 7
Tue, Mar 4, 1986 60 mins
"Skydive to the Rain Forest" follows a team that parachuted onto Cerro Autano, a "sandstone monolith" that rises abruptly out of the Venezuelan jungle. Included: scenes of the group studying a network of caves, and the region's flora and fauna.
Episode 8
Tue, Mar 11, 1986 60 mins
The "Return of the Osprey" to the coastal marshes of the Northeast following the banning of the pesticide DDT in 1971. In recent years, the osprey population has increased by 10 percent annually, signaling a healthy environment for all species.
Episode 9
Tue, Mar 18, 1986 60 mins
The development of penicillin is chronicled, beginning with Alexander Fleming's observation in 1928 that mold growing in a dish killed surrounding bacteria. Included: use of the antibiotic during World War II; and interviews with researchers involved in its development.
Episode 10
Tue, Mar 25, 1986 60 mins
A report on bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. The hour includes a visit to a hospital in Melbourne, Australia, which was besieged in 1977 by a staph infection that wouldn't respond to most antibiotics.
Episode 11
Tue, Apr 22, 1986 121 mins
A "Nova"-"Frontline" look at the Strategic Defense Initiative. Included: a discussion of the technologies involved, and whether such weaponry would be invulnerable to attack.
Episode 12
Tue, Oct 14, 1986 60 mins
The role of forensic medicine in the 1985 trial of nine Argentine military officers who waged war against leftists from 1976 to '83. Oklahoma forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow was enlisted to help identify some of the 10,000 to 30,000 victims. Included: testimony from relatives of the missing; scenes of Snow at work.
Episode 13
Tue, Oct 21, 1986 60 mins
Uranus as pictured by Voyager 2, which flew to within 50,000 miles of the vertically spinning planet in January 1986. Included: images of the planet's rotation, weather, rings and satellites.
Episode 14
Tue, Nov 4, 1986 60 mins
Examining medical, legal, ethical and political issues surrounding alternative childbearing methods. Included: in vitro fertilization; embryo freezing; surrogate parenthood.
Episode 15
Tue, Nov 11, 1986 60 mins
Research being done to find a treatment, cure and vaccine for AIDS. Included: how the disease attacks the immune system; the use of the drug AZT.
Episode 16
Tue, Nov 18, 1986 60 mins
Lily Tomlin narrates this consideration of the existence of extraterrestrial life forms. Included: interviews with astronomers Carl Sagan and Paul Drake, who discuss the criteria for communication with aliens; and why a visit by aliens is unlikely.
Episode 17
Tue, Nov 25, 1986 60 mins
"The Mystery of Animal Pathfinders" studies migratory patterns of redknots, which annually fly from South America to the Arctic; the flight of monarch butterflies from the U.S. to Mexico; and the course of American Atlantic eels.
Episode 18
Tue, Dec 2, 1986 60 mins
"Are You Swimming in a Sewer?" addresses the problem of pollution and examines cities that face health problems because of antiquated treatment plants. Also: industrial and municipal recycling programs; and a Los Angeles task force that apprehends the heads of companies that pollute.
Episode 19
Tue, Dec 9, 1986 60 mins
Burt Lancaster narrates a chronicle of Sail America's efforts to bring the America's Cup back to the U.S. in 1987. Included: comments from skipper Dennis Conner and design coordinator John Marshall.
Episode 20
Tue, Dec 16, 1986 60 mins
A report on leprosy, which can be cured, even though millions of people still suffer from the disfiguring and isolating disease. Included: the stigma of leprosy; and how the disease damages nerve endings.