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20 Episodes 1976 - 1976
Episode 1
Sun, Jan 4, 1976
NOVA looks at why earthquakes occur, how predictions are made, the threat they pose to cities at risk, and examines the advantages and disadvantages of making an earthquake a predictable disaster.
Episode 2
Sun, Jan 11, 1976
NOVA takes viewers into the world of Joey Deacon, 54 years old and a spastic since birth. Joey has lived most of his life in institutions, unable to communicate with anyone until he met Ernie Roberts.
Episode 3
Sun, Jan 18, 1976
What do singer Peggy Lee, NY Jets Quarterback Joe Namath and Congressman Richard Nolas have in common? They all practice a ritual called TM - Transcendental Meditation. NOVA examines the recent phenomenal success of the TM movement.
Episode 4
Sun, Jan 25, 1976
The last fourteen years have been a revolution in our understanding of our place in the stars, the Solar System. NOVA looks at the era of manned and unmanned exploration of the Solar System.
Episode 5
Sun, Feb 1, 1976
NOVA explores the mysterious ecosystem of the desert: a snowstorm; a lashing summer monsoon; and the emergence - in a pool created only minutes before - of a pair of adult spadefoot toads.
Episode 6
Sun, Feb 8, 1976
Every year, some 5,000 babies are born in the US with spina bifida, a congenital abnormality of the central nervous system. NOVA explores the mystery of what causes spina bifida.
Episode 7
Sun, Feb 15, 1976
There's one place on earth where no one will ever catch a cold. And the freezing waters are so bitter there that a fish has been discovered to have developed its own anti-freeze. NOVA explores Antarctica - the coldest desert in the world.
Episode 8
Sun, Mar 7, 1976
Isaac Asimov joins NOVA in the retelling of the story of the discovery of the structure of DNA. James Watson and ex-colleague Francis Crick exchange memories of the events which led to their winning the race for the structure of the gene.
Episode 9
Sun, Mar 7, 1976
Each Sunday edition of the NY Times consumes 153 acres of trees. The paper products like napkins and bags used by McDonald's gobble up 315 square miles of trees every day. NOVA asks if, at this rate, can trees remain a renewable resource.
Episode 10
Sun, Mar 14, 1976
NOVA joins chief archaeologist, Ivor Noel Hume, of Colonial Williamsburg, VA, for a fascinating glimpse of the lifestyles of the founders of this country, complete with detailed reconstructions of houses, stores, workshops and taverns.
Episode 11
Sun, Mar 21, 1976
Today we take antibiotics for granted, and by doing so are steadily eroding their medical value. NOVA examines the problem of resistance to antibiotics in the bacteria they are designed to kill.
Episode 12
Sun, Apr 11, 1976
Dr. Norman Shumway has performed more heart transplants than any other surgeon. NOVA explores those early days in 1968-69 when everyone with a scalpel seemed to be doing heart transplants, and survival of patients was measured in days.
Episode 13
Sun, Apr 18, 1976
NOVA explores life underground, from foxes and badgers through moles and worms down to the myriad of micro-organisms that make soil the most complex substrate for life on earth.
Episode 14
Sun, May 2, 1976
NOVA shows the Netsilik natives of Pelly Bay and their traditional way of life and what happens when Western civilization is imposed upon them.
Episode 15
Sun, May 9, 1976
Benjamin is a healthy, normal baby, whom we meet at birth and whose first year of life provides the backbone of this revealing NOVA episode about early child development.
Episode 16
Sun, May 23, 1976
Margaret Sanger was responsible almost single-handedly for changing the whole attitude of the male-dominated medical profession towards "women's issues" and, for gaining social and political acceptance for the concept of birth control.
Episode 17
Sun, Jun 6, 1976
The true story of smallpox and the successful campaign to eradicate the virus from the world. Telling the story of the long history of smallpox. How vaccination using Cowpox was started in England in the 1790s. Using circular vaccination in the 1970s to stop and eliminate the last outbreaks of the disease. With help from the World Health Organization (WHO), the last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977. The World Health Organization (WHO) certified the global eradication of the disease in 1980.
Episode 18
Sun, Jun 13, 1976
The "Jaws" phenomenon has given sharks a bad name. But is the shark really such a barbarian? NOVA looks at the lifestyle of this remarkable survivor from the days when dinosaurs ruled the earth.
Episode 19
Sun, Jun 20, 1976
Recent scientific developments have made it possible to detect a wide variety of defects in unborn babies. NOVA focuses on the ethical question that must be considered: Should defective babies be aborted, or should they be allowed to live?
Episode 20
Sun, Jun 27, 1976
Since 1945, hundreds of ships and planes and thousands of people have mysteriously disappeared in an area of the Atlantic Ocean off of Florida, known as the Bermuda Triangle. NOVA penetrates the mystery of the terrifying Bermuda Triangle.