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S29.E1 ∙ Death Star

Mon, Jan 07, 2002

Astronomers struggle for decades to determine where gamma ray bursts are coming from unsure whether they are nearby or half way across the universe. Once that is pinned down an even bigger question arises, what could possibly produce them.

7.1 /10

S29.E2 ∙ Neanderthals on Trial

Mon, Jan 21, 2002

Examining the anthropological controversy surrounding Neanderthals, who died out almost 30,000 years ago. Were they our ancestors, or were they an evolutionary dead end?

7.7 /10

S29.E3 ∙ Fireworks!

Mon, Jan 28, 2002

This explosive NOVA presents the colorful history of pyrotechnics and reveals how hi-tech firing systems are transforming public displays into a dazzling, split-second science.

6.1 /10

S29.E4 ∙ Secrets, Lies, and Atomic Spies

Mon, Feb 04, 2002

Chronicling the lives and covert activities of the so-called "atom spies" in the 1940's, including the big one that got away, Theodore Alvin Hall.

7.4 /10

S29.E5 ∙ The Missing Link

Mon, Feb 25, 2002

A paleontological tour-de-force and suspenseful scientific detective story, the program documents the search for the ancestor of all four-limbed animals, including humans.

7.6 /10

S29.E6 ∙ Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance

Mon, Mar 25, 2002

Charting the 21-month ordeal of Ernest Shackleton and his 27-man crew off Antarctica in 1915 and 1916, after their ship (prophetically named Endurance) was crushed by an ice pack, stranding them.

8.5 /10

S29.E7 ∙ Why the Towers Fell

Sat, Feb 09, 2002

Film on the mechanism of collapse of the World Trade Center.

7.5 /10

S29.E8 ∙ Fire Wars

Mon, May 06, 2002

Following smoke jumpers and "hotshots" as they fight forest fires during 2000---"the fire summer from hell," says Bruce Babbitt, the secretary of the interior at the time.

7.8 /10

S29.E9 ∙ Killer Disease on Campus

Mon, Sep 02, 2002

Exploring meningococal disease, which strikes mostly young children and young adults. It's rare (just 3000 cases a year in the U.S.) but it can be deadly.

8.2 /10

S29.E10 ∙ Mysterious Life of Caves

Mon, Sep 30, 2002

Following spelunking scientists as they look for evidence of how caves in New Mexico, Wyoming and Mexico were formed---and what that might say about extraterrestrial life.

6.8 /10

S29.E11 ∙ Lost Roman Treasure

Mon, Oct 07, 2002

Experts rescue priceless mosaics from an ancient city that is about to disappear beneath a reservoir.

8.1 /10

S29.E12 ∙ Galileo's Battle for the Heavens

Mon, Oct 28, 2002

Galileo's struggle to convince Roman Catholic Church authorities that Earth revolves around the sun. Why the headstrong Galileo (1564-1642) didn't succeed is explored in interviews with scientists.

7.3 /10

S29.E13 ∙ Volcano's Deadly Warning

Mon, Nov 11, 2002

Explores a seismic shift in the way scientists predict eruptions. The new method: reading seismic signals indicating magma and gas buildup in active volcanoes.

7.6 /10

S29.E14 ∙ Sinking City of Venice

Mon, Nov 18, 2002

Experts struggle to save the City of Canals before it vanishes beneath the waves.

7.3 /10

S29.E15 ∙ The Orchid Hunter

Mon, Nov 25, 2002

"Orchid Hunter" explores the appeal of the world's largest plant family by following a young Englishman as he risks life and limb in Indonesian jungles to find a new species to name after his grandmother.

7.2 /10