The WORST episodes of NOVA
Every episode of NOVA ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of NOVA!
Helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines.
#1 - Cracking the Ice Age
Season 23 - Episode 20 - Aired 12/31/1996
Did the crash of continents that produced the Himalayan Mountains also trigger the Ice Age?
#2 - The Battle to Beat Malaria
Season 50 - Episode 17 - Aired 11/15/2023
Malaria is one of humanity’s oldest and most devastating plagues. In many parts of the world, it remains an ever-present scourge that sickens or kills millions of people each year. What if it could finally be defeated? Now, scientists may be on the verge of a breakthrough with a promising vaccine in the final stages of testing and approval. Follow researchers on a quest to deliver humankind from one of the world’s deadliest diseases.
#3 - Touching the Asteroid
Season 47 - Episode 14 - Aired 10/21/2020
If spacecraft OSIRIS-REx can grab a piece of an asteroid and bring it back to Earth, scientists could gain great insight into our planet's origins, and even how to defend against rogue asteroids. But NASA only gets three shots at collecting a sample.
Watch Now:Apple TV#4 - Secrets of the Lost Red Paint People
Season 14 - Episode 22 - Aired 12/15/1987
NOVA follows archaeologists as they unearth clues, some 7,000 years old, about an unknown, mysterious and advanced sea-faring people who lived along the North Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada.
#5 - First Man on the Moon
Season 41 - Episode 23 - Aired 12/3/2014
Everyone knows Neil Armstrong was the first to set foot on the moon. But this modest and unassuming man was determined to stay out of the spotlight. NOVA presents an intimate portrait of Armstrong through interviews with his family and friends, many of whom have never spoken publicly before. Discover and relive his achievements before and after Apollo, from his time as a Navy combat veteran and later as a pioneer of high-speed flight to his leading role in the inquiry into the Challenger disaster and his efforts to encourage young people to take to the skies.
#6 - Asteroid: Doomsday or Payday?
Season 40 - Episode 24 - Aired 11/20/2013
The asteroid that exploded over Siberia—injuring more than 1,000 and damaging buildings in six cities—was a shocking reminder that Earth is a target in a cosmic shooting range. From the width of a football field to the size of a small city, these space rocks have the potential to be killers. In a collision with Earth, they could set off deadly blast waves, raging fires and colossal tidal waves. But some audacious entrepreneurs look up at asteroids and see payday, not doomsday. Some asteroids are loaded with billions of dollars’ worth of elements like iron, nickel, and platinum. NASA is planning an ambitious mission to return samples from a potentially hazardous asteroid, and would-be asteroid miners are dreaming up their own program to scout for potentially profitable asteroids. Will asteroids turn out to be our economic salvation—or instruments of extinction?
#7 - At the Edge of Space
Season 40 - Episode 23 - Aired 11/20/2013
Between the blue sky above and the infinite blackness beyond lies a frontier that scientists have only just begun to investigate. In "At the Edge of Space," NOVA takes viewers on a spectacular exploration of the Earth-space boundary that's home to some of nature's most puzzling and alluring phenomena: the shimmering aurora, streaking meteors, and fleeting flashes that shoot upwards from thunderclouds, known as sprites. Only discovered in 1989, sprites have eluded capture because they exist for a mere split-second—40-times faster than an eye blink. NOVA rides with scientists in a high-flying weather observation plane on a hunt for sprites, finally snaring them in 3D video and gaining vital clues to unraveling their mystery. Combining advanced video technology with stunning footage shot from the International Space Station, "At the Edge of Space" probes the boundary zone and offers an entirely new perspective on our home planet.
#8 - Making Stuff Safer (4)
Season 40 - Episode 21 - Aired 11/6/2013
The world has always been a dangerous place, so how do we increase our odds of survival? In "Making Stuff Safer," David Pogue explores the cutting-edge research of scientists and engineers who want to keep us out of harm’s way. Some are countering the threat of natural disasters with new firefighting materials and safer buildings. Others are at work on technologies to thwart terrorist attacks. A next-generation vaccine will save millions from deadly disease. And innovations like smarter cars and better sports gear will reduce the risk of everyday activities. We’ll never eliminate danger—but science and technology are making stuff safer.
#9 - The Plane that Changed the World
Season 12 - Episode 21 - Aired 12/17/1985
NOVA joins the 50th anniversary celebration of the DC-3—the plane that revolutionized commercial air travel, served gallantly in World War II and is called the most important plane ever built.
#10 - Mammal Origins
Season 53 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/11/2026
Uncover the surprising ancient origins of mammals, a story that began long before the dinosaurs' reign. Surveying Earth's tumultuous past reveals how some of our earliest ancestors, the therapsids – creatures that looked like reptiles but were starting to develop mammalian traits – survived multiple global catastrophes. Through remarkable adaptations like burrowing and the emergence of warm-bloodedness, they forged a lineage that persevered against all odds. Fascinating fossil clues and cutting-edge science reveal how a small, resilient group of animals faced extinction events, outlived giants, and ultimately gave rise to the diverse world of mammals we know today, including us.
#11 - Can Buildings Make You Sick?
Season 22 - Episode 17 - Aired 12/26/1995
A search for the causes of Sick Building Syndrome. Experts look at various problem buildings, inspecting their air conditioning, lights and carpets for clues to the mysterious maladies afflicting the workers inside.
#12 - Race to Catch a Buckyball
Season 22 - Episode 16 - Aired 12/19/1995
In 1985 a chemist looking at stardust, paired with one searching for brand new materials, stumbled across what science said could not exist – a third form of carbon. They named the soccer ball-shaped molecules "Buckminsterfullerene" after the architect who invented the geodesic dome. Today "Buckyballs," as the molecules are playfully known, are revolutionizing chemistry and promise countless technological applications. NOVA traces this remarkable tale of serendipity in scientific discovery.
#13 - Treasures of the Great Barrier Reef
Season 22 - Episode 15 - Aired 11/28/1995
The Great Barrier Reef along the northeast coast of Australia is the largest coral formation in the world, covering more than 365,000 square kilometers. Within it exists a unique underwater environment that is continually evolving: the coral itself can vary greatly from one region of the reef to another as it adapts to varying conditions of light, surf, and temperature. In this program, marine biologists and photographers explore the reef using specialized underwater cameras to investigate the diverse and interdependent plants and animals that live there. The program also documents the annual spawning of coral and the geological and biological forces that make it possible for coral reefs to survive. Coral reefs around the world are incredibly fragile; many are endangered by overfishing and excessive use by humans.
#14 - Hunt for the Serial Arsonist
Season 22 - Episode 14 - Aired 11/14/1995
One out of every three fires in the United States is set deliberately. Firefighters must report the cause and origin of each fire they fight. If the cause of a fire cannot be determined immediately, a fire investigator may be assigned to the case. Investigators sift through the remains of a fire for clues about its cause, and if there is evidence of arson, the investigators also collect information to help police identify and locate the arsonist. In this episode of NOVA, a series of similar arson fires in California raises concern that a serial arsonist might be at work. The program follows the investigative team that solved this incredibly difficult case.
#15 - Volcano Above The Clouds
Season 30 - Episode 17 - Aired 11/18/2003
Join a scientific expedition to the glacier-capped summit of Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain.
#16 - Flying Casanovas
Season 28 - Episode 19 - Aired 12/25/2001
The program, with Sir David Attenborough narrating, celebrates the extraordinary antics male bowerbirds get up to when courting a female.
#17 - Methuselah Tree
Season 28 - Episode 18 - Aired 12/11/2001
Marked by striking imagery and a poetic style, the film dramatizes the life cycle of the world's oldest living thing, the bristlecone pine of California's White Mountains.
#18 - 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.
#19 - Lee and Liza's Family Tree
Season 50 - Episode 18 - Aired 11/22/2023
Many descendants of enslaved people have little record of their family's ancestry. Follow one family's quest to discover their lost history, and see how science and genealogy can help rebuild a family tree broken by slavery. Join filmmaker Byron Hurt at his extended family reunion as they celebrate the joy of family in the African diaspora, and discover new details of their history that they thought were lost forever.
#20 - Operation Space Station: Science and Survival
Season 52 - Episode 20 - Aired 11/12/2025
Witness life-or-death decisions 250 miles above Earth, as astronauts and Mission Control work together to survive moments of high danger on board humanity's remarkable orbiting laboratory, the International Space Station.
#21 - Critical Condition: Health in Black America
Season 52 - Episode 9 - Aired 4/30/2025
This two-hour feature documentary produced by acclaimed Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson traces the roots of systemic racism in our medical system and the biological impacts of discrimination on the body to understand why Black Americans experience such disproportionately poor health outcomes - and did long before COVID-19 highlighted the devastating health disparities in our country.
#22 - Secrets of the Forest
Season 52 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/16/2025
What would the restoration of Earth's forests mean in the fight against climate change? Follow researchers around the globe as they race to understand how nature processes and responds to carbon on the largest scales and how microorganisms, plants, animals, and humans combine to sustain healthy ecosystems. NOVA's cameras travel to spectacular forest landscapes in Costa Rica, Canada, Brazil, Madagascar, and other places as a global team of scientists gather data on how forests work and try to figure out how they can help tackle the twin threats of climate change and the existential threat of species extinction.
#23 - Pompeii's Secret Underworld
Season 52 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/19/2025
New archaeological finds in Pompeii are revealing that the city, hailed as a sophisticated jewel of the Roman Empire, hid a very dark side. As the evidence unfolds, a much more complex picture of the fated city comes into view.
#24 - Extreme Airport Engineering
Season 52 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/29/2025
In New York City, a team of elite engineers and construction workers are on a mission to build the ultimate airport. Follow their ups and downs as they race to build a new, world-class LaGuardia on the site of one of America's busiest aviation hubs.
#25 - Egypt's Tombs of Amun
Season 52 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/12/2025
Follow archaeologists as they discover a long-lost ancient cemetery in Egypt's sacred desert. Treasures emerge unlike anything seen by the team, revealing details of a unique period when women had remarkable power.