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Nova Season 17 Episodes
Season 17 Episode Guide
20 Episodes 1990 - 1990
Episode 1
Poison in the Rockies
Tue, Jan 9, 1990
Poison in the Rockies is focused on the damage that decades of mining operations in the Rockies have inflicted on the local environment. It covers other problems such as the acid rain that afflicts the region, but concentrates on the harmful chemicals entering the surrounding states' water supplies from mining drainage.
Episode 2
Race for the Top
Tue, Jan 23, 1990
Using some of the largest machines ever built on earth, American and European physicists race to discover one of the most fundamental and most elusive objects in nature -the top quark.
Episode 3
Disguises of War
Tue, Feb 6, 1990
NOVA takes the wraps off the art of deception in war -from simple camouflage to the expensive, radar-evading technology embodied in the Stealth bomber.
Episode 4
The Bomb's Lethal Legacy
Tue, Feb 13, 1990
NOVA examines an alarming nuclear waste problem at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington state, where 45 years of mismanagement in the nuclear weapons industry will cost billions to correct.
Episode 5
The Big Spill
Tue, Feb 27, 1990
The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill takes a center stage when NOVA heads to Alaska to find out how technology contributed to one of the world's largest oil spills. Cameras board the Valdez with expert scientists to film the supertanker's instruments and to get opinions on how some advanced gadgets, which were designed to protect the ship, failed in preventing the disaster.
Episode 6
The Genius That Was China: Rise of the Dragon
Tue, Mar 20, 1990
China in the 13th century was the richest, most powerful, most technologically advanced civilization on earth. NOVA looks at how China achieved what it did, and what in Chinese politics, culture and economy kept it from doing more.
Episode 7
The Genius That Was China: Empires in Collision
Tue, Mar 27, 1990
NOVA examines the extraordinary transformation that propelled Europe outward into the world from the 15th to 18th centuries, while China remained the insular middle kingdom. Part two of a four part series.
Episode 8
The Genius That Was China: The Threat from Japan
Tue, Apr 3, 1990
East and West came into direct conflict over trade and power in the 19th century. The West won. NOVA explores how Japan was later able to master Western methods, while China was not. Part three of a four part series.
Episode 9
The Genius That Was China: Will the Dragon Rise Again?
Tue, Apr 10, 1990
NOVA covers China's long road to economic and technological equality with the West, punctuated by frequent setbacks such as the 1989 massacre of pro-democratic demonstrations in Beijing. Part four of a four part series.
Episode 10
The KGB, the Computer and Me
Tue, Oct 2, 199058 mins
Astronomer-turned-computer system administrator Clifford Stoll discovers a hacker in his system at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. The trail leads him from California, across the United States, and eventually to Germany, where the hacker is discovered to be selling secrets to the KGB.
Episode 11
Neptune's Cold Fury
Tue, Oct 9, 1990
NOVA visits Neptune, the planet that took Voyager 12 years to reach. Mysteries abound in and around this big, blue world at the outer limits of the solar system. Actor Patrick Stewart hosts.
Episode 12
To Boldly Go...
Tue, Oct 16, 1990
NOVA chronicles the Voyager space mission -from Earth to the ends of the solar system. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and dozens of moons star in this epic voyage of exploration. Actor Patrick Stewart hosts.
Episode 13
Poisoned Winds of War
Tue, Oct 23, 1990
Sixty-five years after attempts to ban them, chemical weapons pose more of a threat than ever. NOVA looks at the problem of controlling substances that are easily produced and cruelly effective.
Episode 14
The Blimp Is Back!
Tue, Oct 30, 1990
NOVA examines the troubled past and promising future of blimps, zeppelins, cyclocranes and other species of airships. There's life in the old gasbags yet.
Episode 15
Earthquake!
Tue, Nov 6, 1990
NOVA looks at the high-stakes quest to predict earthquakes. Despite past disappointments, geologists still hope to divine the clues that precede nature's ultimate upheavals.
Episode 16
Killing Machines
Tue, Nov 13, 1990
Robotic weapons that seek out and destroy ships, planes, and other targets are the wave of the future. NOVA questions whether their proliferation may spell an end to superpower invincibility.
Episode 17
Can the Elephant Be Saved?
Tue, Nov 20, 1990
Is the ivory ban in the elephant's best interest? NOVA looks at the controversial strategies to save the world's largest land animal from extinction.
Episode 18
We Know Where You Live
Tue, Nov 27, 1990
Ever wonder how junk mail finds you? NOVA investigates the hidden world of direct marketing, pointing out how advertisers know a lot more about us than we think.
Episode 19
In the Land of the Llamas
Tue, Dec 4, 1990
NOVA profiles the llama, alpaca, vicuna and guanaco of South America. At one time nearly extinct, these four members of the camel family are exceptionally well adapted to life in the beautiful high Andes.
Episode 20
What's Killing the Children?
Tue, Dec 18, 1990
NOVA tracks a mysterious disease that suddenly and fatally attacks the children of a small Brazilian town. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta are called in to crack the case.