The BEST episodes of NOVA season 48

#1 - Arctic Drift

Season 48 - Episode 12 - Aired 10/13/2021

Join scientists on the most ambitious Arctic research expedition of all time. Experts from over twenty different nations join the voyage of the massive Polarstern icebreaker as it’s gripped by the polar ice and drifts for nearly an entire year. From this unique research station, they can make long-term observations and perform experiments in unprecedented detail. Facing hungry polar bears, perilous sea ice cracks, and brutal cold, the team strives to understand the forces that are changing the region—and the world—forever.

#2 - Ship That Changed the World

Season 48 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/2/2021

Some five centuries ago, a major revolution overturned traditional ship design: in just a few years, ships were transformed from small coastal-bound transports into massive ocean-going vessels. Once regular trans-oceanic travel became feasible, everything changed. Powerful navies arose and fought for supremacy at sea, while the new ships enabled empire-building European powers to invade and colonize Indigenous lands and exploit their peoples. How did this transformative change in ship design come about? Scholars and historians have always faced a problem: few wrecks dating back to this crucial period survive, so rough drawings and incomplete records have been their only evidence. Now, a well-preserved wreck off the coast of Sweden dating back to the era of Columbus reveals new details about the engineering that changed the world. Dive with NOVA as we recover the sunken clues to this significant new discovery.

#3 - Looking for Life on Mars

Season 48 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/24/2021

NASA launches its most ambitious hunt for traces of life on Mars, landing a car-sized rover in a rocky, ancient river delta. The rover will stow samples for possible return to Earth and test technology that may pave the way for human travel to Mars.

#4 - Picture a Scientist

Season 48 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/14/2021

#5 - NOVA Universe Revealed: Big Bang

Season 48 - Episode 18 - Aired 11/24/2021

#6 - NOVA Universe Revealed: Age of Stars

Season 48 - Episode 14 - Aired 10/27/2021

#7 - Butterfly Blueprints

Season 48 - Episode 20 - Aired 1/12/2022

The hidden scientific secrets of butterflies reveal them to be more inventive and resilient than we ever imagined. Follow their extraordinary life cycle and migrations to tropical rainforests, windswept prairies, and even inside a chrysalis as it’s being spun. Discover how butterfly science is inspiring groundbreaking technology, including more efficient solar power cells, and bulletproof vests stronger than Kevlar.

#8 - Alaskan Dinosaurs

Season 48 - Episode 21 - Aired 1/19/2022

A team of intrepid paleontologists discovers that dinosaurs thrived in the unlikeliest of places—the cold and dark of winter in the Arctic Circle. How did they survive year-round and raise their young in frigid and dark winter conditions?

#9 - Edible Insects

Season 48 - Episode 13 - Aired 10/20/2021

From crunchy crickets to nutty fly grubs, NOVA takes a tasty look at insect foods and how they could benefit our health and our warming planet. From Thailand to Texas, insect farmers are showing how the tiny critters stack up as an environmentally friendly alternative to beef protein and can, pound for pound, deliver better nutritional value than the finest steak. But will Americans overcome the “ick” factor and share the appetite of many cultures around the world for insect feasts?

#10 - Fighting for Fertility

Season 48 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/12/2021

Meet people struggling with infertility and the challenges of assisted reproduction.

#11 - NOVA Universe Revealed: Black Holes

Season 48 - Episode 17 - Aired 11/17/2021

Take a seat on the ultimate thrill ride to explore nature’s strangest and most powerful objects. Discover new science showing how black holes reshape entire galaxies, warp the fabric of space and time, and might even be portals to another universe.

#12 - Ancient Maya Metropolis

Season 48 - Episode 22 - Aired 1/26/2022

Explore ancient Maya cities and learn why their inhabitants abandoned them. The ancient ancestors of today’s Maya people thrived in large sophisticated cities across Central America for centuries. Why, around 750 CE, did they begin to abandon many of their major cities? Archaeologists investigate dramatic new evidence of the catastrophic droughts and instability that pushed cities beyond their limits. The evidence also testifies to the survival and resilience of the Maya people, whose traditions and creativity continue to enrich the world today.

#13 - Hindenburg: The New Evidence

Season 48 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/19/2021

80 years after the world’s largest airship ignited in a giant fireball, newly discovered footage sparks a reinvestigation of what exactly caused the Hindenburg disaster.

#14 - NOVA Universe Revealed: Alien Worlds

Season 48 - Episode 16 - Aired 11/10/2021

#15 - Reef Rescue

Season 48 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/21/2021

Coral reefs are not just beautiful, they are also home to over a quarter of all marine life and are crucial to human societies around the globe. But as the climate changes and oceanic heat waves become commonplace, corals are bleaching and reefs are dying off. Now, marine biologists from across the world are teaming up to counteract this catastrophe with a technique called assisted evolution. Follow scientists as they attempt to crossbreed heat-resistant corals, and even transplant corals’ algae, in a race to save the coral reefs from extinction.

#16 - NOVA Universe Revealed: Milky Way

Season 48 - Episode 15 - Aired 11/3/2021

#17 - Great Electric Airplane Race

Season 48 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/26/2021

Will electric planes replace polluting airliners and lead to flying taxis in our cities?

#18 - Secrets in Our DNA

Season 48 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/13/2021

The value of DNA testing and the risks of entrusting this private data to commercial enterprises and online databases.

#19 - High-Risk High-Rise

Season 48 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/5/2022

Skyscrapers are gleaming symbols of prestige, and an ingenious way to save space in dense urban areas. But as buildings rise ever higher, what are the risks of these architectural behemoths? Do we truly know how they will hold up in earthquakes, fires, and other potential disasters? What have--or haven’t—we learned from past tragedies?

#20 - Bat Superpowers

Season 48 - Episode 9 - Aired 9/15/2021

Bats have been implicated in deadly epidemics such as COVID-19 and Ebola, yet scientists are discovering evidence that they may hold a key to a longer and healthier life. From caves in Thailand and Texas to labs around the globe, NOVA meets the scientists who are decoding the superpowers of the bat.

#21 - The Cannabis Question

Season 48 - Episode 10 - Aired 9/29/2021

NOVA investigates the story of cannabis from the criminalization that has disproportionately harmed communities of color to the latest medical understanding of the plant. What risks does cannabis pose to the developing brain? How much do we know about its potential medical benefits? As cannabis becomes socially accepted, scientists are exploring its long-term health consequences.

#22 - Particles Unknown

Season 48 - Episode 11 - Aired 10/6/2021

Outnumbering atoms a billion to one, neutrinos are the universe’s most common yet most elusive and baffling particle. NOVA joins an international team of neutrino hunters as they try to capture an elusive fourth form of neutrino. Their results may force scientists to redraw their blueprint of the subatomic world, the Standard Model of physics, and change our understanding of how the universe works.