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 - 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.
#2 - 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.
#3 - 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.
#4 - 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.
#5 - Venus Unveiled
Season 22 - Episode 10 - Aired 10/17/1995
NASA's radar-equipped spacecraft, the Magellan, has sent back unprecedented images of the surface of Venus. Scientists find that most of what was previously believed about the planet was wrong. NOVA uses Magellan's images as well as interviews with scientists to investigate what the surface of the planet is really like and what mysteries it may hold.
#6 - Hawaii Born of Fire
Season 22 - Episode 11 - Aired 10/24/1995
From their blistering beginnings as molten rock, the Hawiian islands have grown into a verdant paradise of unique lifeforms.
#7 - 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.
#8 - 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.
#9 - 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.
#10 - 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.
#11 - 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?
#12 - 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.
#13 - 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.
#14 - 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?
#15 - 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.
#16 - 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.
#17 - 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.
#18 - 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.
#19 - 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.
#20 - 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.
#21 - Top Gun Over Moscow
Season 23 - Episode 15 - Aired 11/12/1996
Flights in Russia's powerful fighter jets are for sale to foreign travelers. So is the Russian Air Force still in the game?
#22 - Runaway Universe
Season 27 - Episode 18 - Aired 11/21/2000
The program follows the efforts of two rival teams of astronomers as they search for exploding stars, map out gigantic cosmic patterns of galaxies, and grapple with the ultimate question: What is the fate of the universe?
#23 - The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/12/1977
If you were a dinosaur scientist, what would you do with a pile of fossil bones? How would you even start to put the giant jigsaw puzzle together, never mind discover anything about how these dinosaurs lived? NOVA explores the incredible world of the dinosaur scientist.
#24 - Doomsday Volcanoes
Season 40 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/2/2013
In April, 2010 the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano turned much of Europe into an ash-strewn no-fly zone, stranding millions of travelers. But was Eyjafjallajökull just the start? Now, an even more threatening Icelandic volcano, Katla, has begun to swell and grumble. Two more giants, Hekla and Laki, could erupt without warning. Iceland is a ticking time bomb: When it blows, the consequences could be global. As CGI takes us inside these geological monsters, we meet atmospheric scientists who are working to understand just how devastating an eruption could be—not just for air travel but for the global food supply and for Earth's climate. Could we be plunged into years of cold and famine? What can we do to prepare for the disaster to come?
#25 - The Case of the UFOs
Season 9 - Episode 11 - Aired 10/12/1982
For the first time on television a rigorous, scientific investigation into the fact, fiction, and hoax of unidentified flying objects. With vivid film and accounts from several eyewitnesses including astronauts, NOVA sifts the evidence for and against the existence of UFOs.