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NOVA Season 33 Episodes

17 Episodes 2006 - 2006

Episode 1

The Mummy Who Would Be King

Tue, Jan 3, 2006 60 mins

The history of a mummy that was part of a Niagara Falls Museum display is unraveled, with evidence pointing toward it being the body of a pharaoh---Rameses I. The first hint (its crossed arms) to its origins was spotted in the 1960s, but it wasn't until 1998, when Emory University purchased the display, that the mummy was a serious study topic, including CT scans. Included: insights from Egyptologist Salima Ikram and Zahi Hawass, Egypt's director of antiquities.

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Episode 2

Deadly Ascent

Tue, Jan 17, 2006 60 mins

A team of experts seeks to determine what causes the deaths of mountain climbers at extreme altitudes. Filmed on Alaska's Mount McKinley. Included: the dangers of hyperthermia and hypothermia; scenes of daring rescues and emergency treatments during the climbing season.

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Episode 3

The Perfect Corpse

Tue, Feb 7, 2006 60 mins

Two murder cases that date to the Iron Age (more than 2000 years ago) are investigated upon the discovery of two well-preserved bodies in Irish peat bogs. The 18-month investigation uses CAT scans and hair and radiocarbon analysis in an attempt to learn how the men lived and why they died.

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Episode 4

Jewel of the Earth

Tue, Feb 14, 2006 60 mins

David Attenborough hosts this fascinating examination of the prehistoric creatures found inside amber, a fossilized tree resin that often holds perfectly preserved insects. Using an amber specimen given to him as a youth, he uncovers information about what the Baltic region of northern Europe was like 40 million years ago. He also investigates amber found in the Dominican Republic, including one piece that holds a honeypot ant from 150 million years ago.

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NOVA, Season 33 Episode 4 image

Episode 5

The Ghost Particle

Tue, Feb 21, 2006 60 mins

Scientists' efforts to identify and understand neutrinos, unseen building blocks of the universe, are chronicled, beginning in 1930 with Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli's observations about a decaying radioactive atomic nucleus. Included are comments from astrophysicist John Bahcall, who calculated the sun's theoretical neutrino output during the 1960s; and Nobel Prize winner Raymond Davis Jr., who built a neutrino trap in a South Dakota gold mine.

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Episode 6

Arctic Passage: Prisoners of the Ice

Tue, Feb 28, 2006 60 mins

An intriguing look at British explorer John Franklin's 1845 attempt to discover a route from Europe to the Pacific through the maze of islands in Arctic Canada, which featured a 129-man expedition sailing two retrofitted warships. The men were never heard from again.

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Episode 7

Arctic Passage: Ice Survivors

Tue, Feb 28, 2006 60 mins

A fascinating account of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen's 1903 journey from Europe to the Pacific through the maze of islands in Arctic Canada. Amundsen set sail using a light ship and a small crew; two years later they came out the other side, proving the voyage was possible.

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Episode 8

The Great Robot Race

Tue, Mar 28, 2006 60 mins

The DARPA Grand Challenge, a Pentagon-sponsored race of unmanned robotic vehicles over a 131.6-mile course in the Mojave Desert. Included: the inaugural 2004 event, which no entrant was able to finish; prep work by the 2005 entrants, who are vying for a Pentagon contract. Among the teams are ones from Stanford and Carnegie Mellon (which has two vehicles); and Team DAD (consisting of two brothers, who've competed on the "BattleBots" TV series).

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Episode 9

Voyage to the Mystery Moon

Tue, Apr 4, 2006 57 mins

A chronicle of the cooperative effort by NASA and the European Space Agency to send two probes, Cassini and Huygens, to study Saturn and its moon Titan. The project involves the orbit of Cassini around the sixth planet from the sun; and Huygens' landing on Titan, which is one of four astral bodies in the solar system that has an atmosphere.

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NOVA, Season 33 Episode 9 image

Episode 10

Dimming Sun

Tue, Apr 18, 2006 57 mins

The discovery that the sunlight reaching Earth is dimming and the implications that has for global climate change, is examined. Included: how researchers used the days after 9/11, when aircraft were grounded in the U.S., to study how plane vapor trails affect the atmosphere; and how less pollution in the atmosphere may have the unintended consequence of accelerating global warming.

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Episode 11

Building on Ground Zero

Tue, Sep 5, 2006 57 mins

"Building on Ground Zero" details some of the structural reasons for the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings, employing computer animation and 9/11 footage to explain a National Institute for Standards and Technology report on the subject. Included: proposals to revise American building codes, such as increasing the width of stairways. Also: WTC lead engineer Leslie Robertson leads a tour of a complex on which he is working, the 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center.

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Episode 12

Mystery of the Megavolcano

Tue, Sep 26, 2006 60 mins

A look at a "supervolcano" that erupted some 74,000 years ago in Sumatra and may have precipitated a global deep freeze. Scientists examine evidence in Greenland's ice cap, from beneath the ocean floor and in ash recovered from across southern Asia.

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Episode 13

The Deadliest Plane Crash

Tue, Oct 17, 2006 57 mins

An examination of the worst accident in civil aviation history, a March 1977 collision between two 747s on a foggy runway in Tenerife (one of the Canary Islands) that resulted in the deaths of 583 people. Included: what led to the tragedy; and insights from survivors, including co-pilot Robert Bragg and flight attendant Joan Jackson. Also: a look at improvements in runway safety since, featuring comments from NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker.

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NOVA, Season 33 Episode 13 image

Episode 14

Monster of the Milky Way

Tue, Oct 31, 2006 57 mins

An examination of black holes, what they are, and their role in the life and death of galaxies. Included: the work of a team led by UCLA astrophysicist Andrea M. Ghez to prove that a black hole exists at the center of the Milky Way (and if it does, what it may mean for the fate of the galaxy).

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Episode 15

Wings of Madness

Tue, Nov 7, 2006 57 mins

The story of Brazilian-born aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932), who was a leader in the field of dirigible balloons and, in 1906, became the first to fly a powered airplane---his self-designed, tail-first 14-bis flying machine---in Europe. Included: archival footage of his early flights; and a look at a replica of the 14-bis.

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Episode 16

Family That Walks on All Fours

Tue, Nov 14, 2006 57 mins

This episode focuses on a scientific debate about five siblings in a Turkish family who walk on all fours. When, in 2005, scientist Uner Tan labeled them "genetic throwbacks," they became part of the dialogue about a possible missing link to an era when humans walked on all fours. Included: comments from geneticist Sean Carroll and anthropologist Brian Richmond, who disagree with Tan; and interviews with and footage of the family.

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Episode 17

Underwater Dream Machine

Tue, Dec 26, 2006 57 mins

The story of Peter Robbins, an engineer who---at a cost of $1.5 million---built his own submarine (named Alicia) in order to explore sunken German U-boats. Included: the Alicia's maiden voyage.

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