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NOVA

NOVA Season 10

1983·21 episodes

PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits.

Episodes

  1. Episode 1 · 55m · 18 Jan 1983Hawaii: Crucible of LifeThis land of fire and beauty is the most isolated island chain in the world. NOVA cameras uncover an extraordinary world far from the teeming tourist hotels, one filled with unique life forms, but also scarred by tragic extinction.
  2. Episode 2 · 55m · 25 Jan 1983The Pleasure of Finding Things OutNOVA captivates a remarkably candid portrait of Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, a man of few pretensions and tremendous personal charm, who speaks with the same passion about a child's toy wagon and the frontiers of subatomic physics.
  3. Episode 3 · 55m · 8 Feb 1983Lassa FeverA gripping docudrama about a mysterious, highly lethal disease which struck a village in Nigeria in 1969, and the frustrating, seesaw battle against it. NOVA recounts how public health workers came perilously close to accidentally releasing a deadly virus in the US.
  4. Episode 4 · 55m · 15 Feb 1983The Miracle of LifeNOVA presents the first film ever made of the incredible chain of events which turns a sperm and an egg into a newborn baby. Amazing photographic techniques give the viewers the feeling of being reduced to the size of cells, following the sperm on its perilous voyage toward the egg, and meeting protectors and enemies along the way—like Ulysses on a microscopic odyssey.
  5. Episode 5 · 55m · 1 Mar 1983Asbestos: A Lethal LegacyEvery 58 minutes between now and the end of the century, one American will die from asbestos exposure. NOVA turns its spotlight on the tragic consequences of asbestos use and on the current controversy over who is responsible.
  6. Episode 6 · 55m · 8 Mar 1983City of CoralNOVA takes a spellbinding voyage through one of the world's most fascinating and colorful ecosystems: a coral reef, where the line between plants and animals is blurred, "rocks" move, eat and fight, fish farm, and weak animals borrow the shields and weapons of stronger ones.
  7. Episode 7 · 55m · 22 Mar 1983Fat Chance in a Thin World"Why can't I lose weight?" It's a question many Americans ask themselves everyday. NOVA comes up with some surprising answers about weight and dieting that could have significant impact on our daily lives.
  8. Episode 8 · 55m · 29 Mar 1983Sixty Minutes to MeltdownThe accident at Three Mile Island made front page news all over the world and rocked the entire nuclear power industry. In this special 90-minute broadcast, NOVA presents a docudrama chronicling the minute-by-minute events leading up to the accident and examines the questions raised about safety confronting nuclear power industry today.
  9. Episode 9 · 55m · 11 Oct 1983Signs of the Apes, Songs of the WhalesThe dream of talking with animals has been with us for centuries. NOVA explores the latest research, from language experiments with dolphins and apes to studies of animal calls in the wild.
  10. Episode 10 · 55m · 18 Oct 1983The Artificial HeartSeattle dentist Barney Clark received the first artificial heart implant in 1982. He died in March 1983, having survived 112 days with the world's first permanent, pneumatic, totally artificial heart. NOVA follows the case with the surgeon, William DeVries, and looks at the prospects for this technology to save lives. It also explored the work of Dr. William F. Bernhard on the Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) ongoing at the Cardiovascular Surgical Research Laboratories, Boston Children's Hospital Medical Center.
  11. Episode 11 · 55m · 25 Oct 1983Talking TurtleNOVA looks at computers in the classroom through the eyes of MIT's Seymour Papert, father of the Turtle—a computerized robot that crawls on the floor and talks in versatile language even five-year-olds can learn.
  12. Episode 12 · 55m · 1 Nov 1983Papua New Guinea: Anthropology on TrialRemote tribes and exotic islanders have been made known to the world through the lens of anthropology. But in recent years, some of these people have begun to object. NOVA travels to Margaret Mead's Papua New Guinea and looks at anthropology from the other side.
  13. Episode 13 · 55m · 8 Nov 1983To Live Until You Die: The Work of Elizabeth Kubler-RossDr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has become a legend in her lifetime for her work with the dying. For the first time on American television, her explorations with patients are captured in film, as NOVA presents an intimate portrait of the Swiss-born psychiatrist at work.
  14. Episode 14 · 55m · 15 Nov 1983A Magic Way of Going: The Story of ThoroughbredsCan the thoroughbred horse run any faster? NOVA examines the billion-dollar horse racing industry in its search for the magic combination of speed, stamina and the will to win.
  15. Episode 15 · 55m · 22 Nov 1983A Normal Face: The Wonders of Plastic SurgeryWhen plastic surgeons repair the shattered face of a soldier or rescue a child from a disfiguring disease, the victory is more than skin-deep. NOVA looks at the history, heroes and miracles of plastic surgery in mending the accidents of war and birth.
  16. Episode 16 · 55m · 29 Nov 1983Captives of CarePatients at an Australian institution for the severely handicapped rebel against a pair of over-zealous custodians. This astonishing true story was filmed as a docudrama, written and performed by the patients themselves.
  17. Episode 17 · 55m · 6 Dec 1983Twenty-Five Years in SpaceAs the American space program celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, NOVA chronicles the effects of the space age on Earth, drawing on popular music, film and television archives from the last quarter of a century.
  18. Episode 18 · 55m · 13 Dec 1983Nuclear Strategy for BeginnersWill nuclear weapons deter World War III or only make it more likely? NOVA explores the military strategies of the nuclear age, now that the challenge may no longer be to win global war but to prevent it.
  19. Episode 19 · 55m · 20 Dec 1983The Climate CrisisThis summer's record temperatures may be one of the signs that the earth's atmosphere is warming up. NOVA looks at the climate predictions and hazard warnings for the next century, based on the effects of our soaring consumption of Fossil fuels.
  20. Episode 20 · 55m · 27 Dec 1983Eyes Over ChinaNOVA documents a dramatic encounter in international medicine when an American plane lands in China—equipped with a state-of-the-art eye-operating theater—and two very different medical systems meet eyeball to eyeball.
  21. Episode 21 · 55m · 10 Jan 1984Alcoholism: Life Under The InfluenceIn a culture laced with alcohol, the search for a scientific understanding of alcoholism is as complex as the disease. In an interdisciplinary report, NOVA looks at the many faces of alcoholism—medical, historical and social.