The BEST episodes of NOVA season 49
Every episode of NOVA season 49, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of NOVA season 49!
Helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines.
#1 - Can Psychedelics Cure?
Season 49 - Episode 14 - Aired 10/19/2022
Hallucinogenic drugs—popularly called psychedelics—have been used by human societies for thousands of years. Today, scientists are taking a second look at many of these mind-altering substances–both natural and synthetic–and discovering that they can have profoundly positive clinical impacts, helping patients struggling with a range of afflictions from addiction to depression and PTSD.
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#2 - Ultimate Space Telescope
Season 49 - Episode 10 - Aired 7/13/2022
Follow the dramatic story of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope – the most complex machine ever launched into space – in hopes of peering deeper back in time than ever before and answering some of astronomy’s biggest questions.
#3 - Ocean Invaders
Season 49 - Episode 15 - Aired 10/26/2022
Lionfish – long prized in home aquariums – have invaded the Atlantic, and are now one of the ocean’s most successful invasive species, wreaking havoc in waters across the globe. Join ocean explorer Danni Washington on a journey to find out how they took over, why they’re doing so much damage, and what can be done about it. These fascinating creatures are a window into the impacts of invasive species in a globalized world where human activity is an increasingly powerful evolutionary force.
#4 - Computers v. Crime
Season 49 - Episode 13 - Aired 10/12/2022
In police departments and courts across the country, artificial intelligence is being used to help decide who is policed, who gets bail, how offenders should be sentenced, and who gets parole. But is it actually making our law enforcement and court systems fairer and more just? This timely investigation digs into the hidden biases, privacy risks, and design flaws of this controversial technology.
#5 - Dinosaur Apocalypse: The Last Day
Season 49 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/11/2022
Scientists use new fossils to reconstruct the day the dinosaurs died.
#6 - Augmented
Season 49 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/23/2022
Follow the dramatic personal journey of Hugh Herr, a biophysicist working to create brain-controlled robotic limbs. At age 17, Herr’s legs were amputated after a climbing accident. Frustrated by the crude prosthetic limbs he was given, Herr set out to remedy their design, leading him to a career as an inventor of innovative prosthetic devices.
#7 - Saving Venice
Season 49 - Episode 11 - Aired 9/28/2022
Rising seas and sinking land threaten to destroy Venice. Can the city’s new hi-tech flood barrier save it? Discover the innovative projects and feats of engineering designed to stop this historic city from being lost to future generations.
#8 - Nazca Desert Mystery
Season 49 - Episode 16 - Aired 11/2/2022
One of the world’s greatest ancient enigmas, the Nazca lines are a dense network of criss-crossing lines, geometric shapes, and animal figures etched across 200 square miles of Peruvian desert. Who created them and why? Ever since they were seen from the air in the 1940s, scholars and enthusiasts have raised countless theories about their purpose. Now, archaeologists have discovered hundreds of long-hidden lines and figures as well as evidence of ancient rituals, offering new clues to the origins and motivations behind the giant desert symbols.
#9 - Ice Age Footprints
Season 49 - Episode 9 - Aired 5/25/2022
Ancient footprints provide new evidence of humans and extinct giant beasts of the Ice Age.
#10 - Determined: Fighting Alzheimer's
Season 49 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/6/2022
Follow three women at risk of developing Alzheimer’s as they join a groundbreaking study to try to prevent the disease – sharing their ups and downs, anxiously watching for symptoms, and hoping they can make a difference.
#11 - Arctic Sinkholes
Season 49 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/2/2022
Colossal explosions shake a remote corner of the Siberian tundra, leaving behind massive craters. In Alaska, a huge lake erupts with bubbles of inflammable gas. Scientists are discovering that these mystifying phenomena add up to a ticking time bomb, as long-frozen permafrost melts and releases vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. What are the implications of these dramatic developments in the Arctic? Scientists and local communities alike are struggling to grasp the scale of the methane threat and what it means for our climate future.
#12 - Rebuilding Notre Dame
Season 49 - Episode 19 - Aired 12/14/2022
In April 2019, the world watched as a devastating fire almost destroyed Paris’s iconic Notre Dame Cathedral. Go behind the scenes with a team of engineers, masons, and timber workers tackling the daunting challenges of restoring the historic landmark.
#13 - Ending HIV in America
Season 49 - Episode 12 - Aired 10/5/2022
Almost 40 years after the discovery of HIV, could we be on the verge of ending the AIDS epidemic in America? As of 2019, in the U.S., there were only 34,000 new cases of the disease—a feat that once seemed near-impossible to achieve. How did scientists and the public health community tackle one of the most elusive deadly viruses to ever infect humans? Can innovative drugs bring new infections to zero? This is the story of an incredible scientific achievement and the public health work that still needs to be done to end HIV in America.
#14 - Secrets in the Scat
Season 49 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/9/2022
Scott Burnett is “Scatman”—an Australian ecologist on the trail of the secrets of poop. By identifying and analyzing animal scat for DNA and hormones, he discovers essential details of their behavior, how they fit in the ecosystem, and even how to protect them. From the mysterious cubic poop of wombats to the precious pink waste of whales, join scientists as they explore nature’s smelliest secrets.
#15 - Great Mammoth Mystery
Season 49 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/16/2022
Sir David Attenborough investigates a unique site in southern England where amateur fossil hunters uncovered giant mammoth bones and evidence of Neanderthals. A team of paleontologists and archaeologists soon discover that the site preserves rare evidence of the extinct beasts and early human inhabitants of Britain dating to over 200,000 years ago.
#16 - Why Ships Crash
Season 49 - Episode 8 - Aired 5/18/2022
How could a single ship cause a major supply chain crisis around the globe?
#17 - Crypto Decoded
Season 49 - Episode 17 - Aired 11/9/2022
From Bitcoin to NFTs, crypto is making headlines. But what exactly is it, and how does it work? Experts go beyond the hype and skepticism to unravel the social and technological underpinnings of crypto – exploring how it came to be and why this new technology may change more than just money.
#18 - Dinosaur Apocalypse: The New Evidence
Season 49 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/11/2022
Striking new fossils paint a picture of life right before the asteroid impact.
#19 - Zero to Infinity
Season 49 - Episode 18 - Aired 11/16/2022
Zero and infinity. These seemingly opposite, obvious, and indispensable concepts are relatively recent human inventions. Discover the surprising story of how these key concepts that revolutionized mathematics came to be – not just once, but over and over again as different cultures invented and re-invented them across thousands of years.