The BEST episodes of NOVA season 16
Every episode of NOVA season 16, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of NOVA season 16!
Helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines.
#1 - The Schoolboys Who Cracked the Soviet Secret
Season 16 - Episode 20 - Aired 12/12/1989
The Schoolboys Who Cracked the Soviet Secret recreates the story of a British schoolteacher and his students who discovered secrets of the Soviet space program. In the 1960s, Geoffrey Perry at the Kettering Grammar School gave his students used short wave radios for a science project, but the school project had international reach when the group connected with Soviet transmissions.
#2 - The Last Journey of a Genius
Season 16 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/24/1989
NOVA looks at the bongo-playing scientist, adventurer, safecracker and yarn-spinner Richard Feynman, most recently famous for his role as gadfly of the Presidential Commission investigating the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
Watch Now:Amazon#3 - Design Wars!
Season 16 - Episode 13 - Aired 10/17/1989
NOVA examines the entries put forward by five architects and their teams, in a tough competition to choose a design for the new Chicago Public Library. The show gives viewers a chance to see the variation between the designs, as well as taking a closer look at the winning plan.
Watch Now:Amazon#4 - Confronting the Killer Gene
Season 16 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/28/1989
Arlo, Nancy and Janice each have a 50/50 chance of developing a devastating nerve disorder. A laboratory test can tell them if in fact they will fall victim. In their shoes, would you take the test? Thousands of others face a similar choice: to know, or not know, if they will carry the genetic time bomb of Huntington's disease. NOVA looks at this incurable disease which affects 20,000 people in the US and threatens tens of thousands of others.
#5 - Hurricane!
Season 16 - Episode 16 - Aired 11/7/1989
Hurricane! from the show NOVA takes the viewer inside the violent, cyclonic storms that can reach speeds of 72 miles per hour and threaten coastal areas throughout the North Atlantic region. This 1989 episode demonstrates how scientists are studying these killer storms and gathering data in hopes of better predicting their paths
#6 - Will Venice Survive Its Rescue?
Season 16 - Episode 17 - Aired 11/14/1989
In 1966, the city of Venice faced the beginnings of a large-scale crisis when the main square began to sink underwater. Since then, the government has been trying to find a solution to this potentially devastating problem. In 1989, a team from NOVA traveled to the city to explore the possible answers, as well as the possible challenges.
#7 - Yellowstone's Burning Question
Season 16 - Episode 19 - Aired 12/5/1989
In 1988, Yellowstone National Park became the site of raging forest fires. The park officials did not step in to quell the blaze, instead adopting the policy that the park would recover from the devastation naturally. The NOVA team heads to Yellowstone soon after the fires to examine the impact of the blaze on the local ecology.
#8 - What Is Music?
Season 16 - Episode 18 - Aired 11/21/1989
Humans have traditionally enjoyed a complex relationship with music. Originally aired in 1989, this NOVA episode takes a closer look at the science behind the everyday phenomenon that affects so many lives. Scientists explore the human brain's ability to perceive music. Researchers also examine the impact of various instruments, from classic violins to human voices
#9 - Decoding the Book of Life
Season 16 - Episode 15 - Aired 10/31/1989
Biologists around the world gear up to decode the three-billion-letter genetic message that describes how humans are made. Ethicists warn that it may not be such a good idea.
#10 - Echoes of War
Season 16 - Episode 14 - Aired 10/24/1989
Echoes of War is a 1989 episode from the PBS science series NOVA. World War II may have ended with the atomic bomb, but it was the radar which provided the key to winning the battles leading to Hiroshima. The NOVA team recounts the importance and history of the radar in modern warfare.
#11 - The Controversial Dr. Koop
Season 16 - Episode 12 - Aired 10/10/1989
The Controversial Dr. Koop is an episode from the PBS documentary series NOVA that aired on October 10, 1989. The episode features C. Everett Koop, the former Surgeon General of the United States, who rattled the country with his distinct views on AIDS, tobacco, and abortion while in his position from 1982 to 1989
#12 - The Hidden City
Season 16 - Episode 11 - Aired 10/3/1989
Four of the major systems forming the infrastructure of an urban center are examined. Judd Hirsch narrates as Nova looks at the distribution and disposal of electricity, water, sewage and garbage in New York City.
Watch Now:Apple TV#13 - The World Is Full of Oil!
Season 16 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/21/1989
Scientific detectives test their ingenuity in the effort to find underground oil deposits.
Watch Now:Apple TV#14 - Legends of Easter Island (2)
Season 16 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/7/1989
In the second part of this two-part series, NOVA explores ancient legends hold the clues to the violent history of the South Pacific's Easter Island.
Watch Now:Apple TV#15 - Secrets of Easter Island (1)
Season 16 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/7/1989
In this two-part series, NOVA investigates the mystery of Easter Island in the South Pacific. Who built its celebrated statues and why?
Watch Now:Apple TV#16 - Adrift on the Gulf Stream
Season 16 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/28/1989
NOVA explores the importance of the Gulf Stream to ocean life, climate and human history.
Watch Now:Apple TV#17 - God, Darwin and the Dinosaurs
Season 16 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/21/1989
In an Idaho classroom, teacher Phil Gerrish puts an unorthodox interpretation on the day's biology lesson. As students take notes, he explains that creationism is a valid scientific explanation for the origin on life. Once relying solely on the literal word of the Bible to make their case, creationists now argue that the scientific evidence is on their side. NOVA reports on this new twist in the long-running battle between creationism and evolution.
Watch Now:Apple TV#18 - Back to Chernobyl
Season 16 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/14/1989
NOVA goes to the Soviet Union for an inside investigation of the world's most catastrophic nuclear power accident with correspondent Bill Kurtis.
Watch Now:Apple TV#19 - The Strange New Science of Chaos
Season 16 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/31/1989
NOVA explains "chaos," a new science that is making surprising sense out of chaotic phenomena in nature, from the weather to brain waves.
Watch Now:Apple TV#20 - Hot Enough for You?
Season 16 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/17/1989
Was the searing summer of 1988 a taste of things to come? NOVA looks at the greenhouse effect, which portends higher temperatures, rising sea levels and other environmental disasters.
Watch Now:Apple TV