The BEST episodes of NOVA season 51
Every episode of NOVA season 51, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of NOVA season 51!
Helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines.
#1 - Solar System: Strange Worlds
Season 51 - Episode 10 - Aired 10/9/2024
From a dwarf planet that looks like a deflated football, to a tiny moon with cliffs taller than Mt. Everest, to the spectacular rings of Saturn, discover how the effects of gravity produce the amazing variety of weird worlds in our solar system.
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#2 - Solar System: Volcano Worlds
Season 51 - Episode 11 - Aired 10/16/2024
Around our solar system, violent eruptions are shaping distant worlds. Discover the explosive forces that helped create some of the most dynamic worlds in our cosmic neighborhood - and what makes the volcanoes right here on Earth so special.
#3 - Decoding the Universe: Quantum
Season 51 - Episode 14 - Aired 11/6/2024
Dive into the universe at the tiniest - and weirdest - of scales.
#4 - Solar System: Wandering Worlds
Season 51 - Episode 13 - Aired 10/30/2024
From meteorites that impact Earth, to a moon that orbits backwards, to an imposter lurking in the asteroid belt, a variety of strange, wandering worlds are rewriting what we know - and even how we think about - our solar system.
#5 - Decoding the Universe: Cosmos
Season 51 - Episode 8 - Aired 5/22/2024
How big is the universe? If it began with the Big Bang, will it also have an end? Is there life beyond our planet?
#6 - A.I. Revolution
Season 51 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/27/2024
A.I. tools like ChatGPT seem to think, speak, and create like humans. But what are they really doing? From cancer cures to Terminator-style takeovers, leading experts explore what A.I. can – and can’t – do today, and what lies ahead.
#7 - Great American Eclipse
Season 51 - Episode 6 - Aired 4/3/2024
Explore the spectacular cosmic phenomenon of a total solar eclipse.
#8 - Solar System: Icy Worlds
Season 51 - Episode 12 - Aired 10/23/2024
Out in the solar system, ice can get bizarre. Visit strange, frozen worlds - from Uranus's ultra-hot superionic ice, to glaciers of nitrogen ice on Pluto, to carbon dioxide snow on Mars - and discover why the ice here on Earth is so unique.
#9 - Solar System: Storm Worlds
Season 51 - Episode 9 - Aired 10/2/2024
Out in the solar system, the weather gets wacky - with globe-spanning dust storms, monsoons of liquid methane, and lightning 10 times stronger than here on Earth. Discover the forces driving the dramatic weather on neighboring planets and moons.
#10 - Building Stuff: Reach It!
Season 51 - Episode 16 - Aired 11/20/2024
Humans are born to roam. See how engineers are inventing new ways to explore and extend our range.
#11 - Hunt for the Oldest DNA
Season 51 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/21/2024
For decades, scientists have tried to unlock the secrets of ancient DNA. But life’s genetic blueprint is incredibly fragile, and researchers have struggled to find DNA in fossils that could survive millions of years. Then, one maverick scientist had the controversial idea to look for DNA not in fossils or frozen ancient tissue – but in dirt. Join the hunt as scientists decipher the oldest DNA ever found, and reveal for the first time the genes of long-extinct creatures that once thrived in a warm, lush Arctic.
#12 - Secrets in Your Data
Season 51 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/15/2024
Whether you’re on social media or surfing the web, you’re sharing more personal data than you realize.
#13 - Easter Island Origins
Season 51 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/7/2024
How were the giant stone heads of Rapa Nui–also known as Easter Island–carved and raised, and why? Since Europeans arrived on this remote Pacific island over 300 years ago, controversy has swirled around the iconic ancient statues and the history of the people who created them. Now, a new generation of researchers is overturning old theories, revealing the rich history, innovation, and resilience of the Rapanui people, and uncovering intriguing new evidence about where they–and their practice of monumental stone building–came from.
#14 - When Whales Could Walk
Season 51 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/31/2024
In Egypt’s Sahara Desert, massive skeletons with strange skulls and gigantic teeth jut out from the sandy ground. This fossil graveyard, millions of years old, is known as the “Valley of the Whales.” Now, paleontologists have unearthed a whole new species of ancient whale dating to 43 million years ago, and this predator wasn’t just able to swim – it also had four legs and could walk. Follow scientists as they search for new clues to the winding evolutionary path of mammals that moved from the land into the sea to become the largest animals on Earth.
#15 - Building the Eiffel Tower
Season 51 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/14/2024
Explore the revolutionary engineering behind Paris’s iconic landmark. Completed in just over two years for the 1889 World’s Fair, the iron tower smashed the record for the tallest structure on Earth, ushering in a new age of global construction that reached for the skies. How did the engineers do it? Follow the innovations, successes, and failures that made one of the most famous buildings on the planet possible.
#16 - Building Stuff: Change It!
Season 51 - Episode 17 - Aired 11/27/2024
From electric flight to artificial noses, engineers are finding new ways to preserve our planet.
#17 - Building Stuff: Boost It!
Season 51 - Episode 15 - Aired 11/13/2024
Is engineering humanity's superpower? See how we can amplify our natural abilities in amazing ways.