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20 Episodes 1989 - 1989
Episode 1
Tue, Jan 17, 1989 60 mins
The hot, droughty summer of 1988 and the possible long-term consequences of the greenhouse effect. Included: atmospheric damage caused by the use of certain aerosols and deforestation.
Episode 2
Tue, Jan 24, 1989 60 mins
A profile of physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88), whose research on atoms won him a Nobel Prize. Included: an interview with Feynman, who discusses his work and his quest to visit Tannu Tuva, in the USSR.
Episode 3
Tue, Jan 31, 1989 60 mins
"The Strange New Science of Chaos" examines how the universe is being redefined. Included: forces involved in cardiac arrhythmias, waterfalls and in space. Don Wescott is the program narrator.
Episode 4
Tue, Feb 14, 1989 60 mins
Reporter Bill Kurtis and physicist Richard Wilson travel to Chernobyl to examine the 1986 nuclear accident. Included: interviews with experts, who address the human-error factor.
Episode 5
Tue, Feb 21, 1989 60 mins
Tracing the battle between creationists and evolutionists. Included: comments by members of the Institute for Creation Research and scientists who are evolutionists; a scene from the 1960 film "Inherit the Wind."
Episode 6
Tue, Feb 28, 1989 60 mins
A look at the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, "the most powerful oceanic current in the world." Included: creatures that inhabit its waters.
Episode 7
Tue, Mar 7, 1989 60 mins
A study of the magnificent stone statues on Easter Island. Islanders believed that the carvings possessed mana, supernatural power, that guaranteed prosperity.
Episode 8
Tue, Mar 7, 1989 60 mins
Researchers explore Easter Island, a Chilean territory in the Pacific inhabited by some 2000 people. Included: comments by archaeologists; and glimpses of ceremonial stone statues.
Episode 9
Tue, Mar 21, 1989 60 mins
Examining the scope of Earth's oil reserves. Included: exploration in the U.S. and Africa. Don Wescott narrates.
Episode 10
Tue, Mar 28, 1989 60 mins
How doctors are "Confronting the Killer Gene" in Huntington's disease, an incurable hereditary disorder caused by a genetic flaw. Included: comments by Arlo Guthrie, whose father Woody died from the illness in 1967.
Episode 11
Tue, Oct 3, 1989 60 mins
A 1989 tour of "The Hidden City," New York's infrastructure that's "invisible and ignored" except when it breaks down. Included: power plants in Queens and Westchester; and a garbage landfill on Staten Island.
Episode 12
Tue, Oct 10, 1989 60 mins
A profile of the 13th Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, who resigned from the post in May 1989. The hour recalls his battles with the tobacco industry; and with conservative groups over his AIDS-prevention strategies.
Episode 13
Tue, Oct 17, 1989 60 mins
Reporting on the competition in Chicago among architects and developers for the contract to build a new public library that's slated to become the Nation's largest.
Episode 14
Tue, Oct 24, 1989 60 mins
Scanning the history of radar and its contribution to the Allied victory in WWII. Included: interviews with radar pioneers; footage of the Battle of Britain.
Episode 15
Tue, Oct 31, 1989 60 mins
Observing efforts to decipher human genetics. Included: scientists Leroy Hood, Walter Gilbert, Charles Cantor and James Watson.
Episode 16
Tue, Nov 7, 1989 60 mins
A study of scientific efforts to determine what makes a hurricane includes the impact of Andrew (1992), Gilbert (1988), Elena and Gloria (1985) and Camille (1969).
Episode 17
Tue, Nov 14, 1989 60 mins
Observing an engineering program to save Venice from further destruction by floods, which have increased because of climate changes and soil erosion.
Episode 18
Tue, Nov 21, 1989 60 mins
"What Is Music?" includes violin making; how an organ produces sound; how the brain synthesizes tones; and computers that can duplicate the sounds of instruments and voices. Narrator: Don Wescott.
Episode 19
Tue, Dec 5, 1989 60 mins
Examining the effects of 1988's fires that seared nearly half the park. Included: footage of firefighters battling a blaze that threatened Old Faithful.
Episode 20
Tue, Dec 12, 1989 60 mins
Interviews recall the discovery of a Soviet space center where spy satellites were launched. Included: reminiscences from those responsible for the find.