January - December 1993

The Hunt for Saddam's Secret Weapons
NOVA follows the international team of advisors who are fulfilling the UN mandate to dismantle Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear technology, poison chemicals, missiles and giant guns are some of the threats that inspectors must hunt down in a cat-and-mouse game with the Iraqis.
Original broadcast date: 01/05/93
Topic: technology/weapons & warfare

Can Bombing Win a War?
The Gulf War was fought in 38 days of non-stop bombing and four days of swift ground action. Did bombing win it? NOVA looks at the history of strategic bombing and asks whether bombing has now achieved preeminence in warfare.
Original broadcast date: 01/19/93
Topic: technology/weapons & warfare

The Deadly Deception
For four decades, 400 African American men from Macon, Alabama were unwitting participants in a government study of untreated syphilis. NOVA tells the story of this notorious human experiment. George Strait, ABC News Medical Correspondent, hosts.
Original broadcast date: 01/26/93
Topic: science/methods, ethics & education

Nazis and the Russian Bomb
NOVA tells the story of the German scientists abducted to the Soviet Union after World War II to help build an atomic bomb. The success of the crash program in 1949, with the explosion of the first Soviet nuclear weapon, shocked the world.
Original broadcast date: 02/02/93
Topic: technology/weapons & warfare

In the Path of a Killer Volcano
NOVA covers scientists on the brink of a sputtering, shaking, impatient volcano, trying to forecast when it will go off. When it does, Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines goes big time, producing the largest volcanic eruption in 80 years.
Original broadcast date: 02/09/93
Topic: geology/earthquakes & volcanoes

Can Science Build a Champion Athlete?
Athletes are training smarter, running faster, jumping higher and generally outperforming their predecessors—thanks to high technology. NOVA covers the record-setting trend for improving sports performance with science.
Original broadcast date: 02/16/93
Topic: science/methods, ethics & education

Diving for Pirate Gold
These days, piracy on the high seas often involves sonar, magnometers, metal detectors and other high-tech equipment for finding and plundering sunken ships. NOVA explores the swashbuckling seafaring pirates of old and their present-day successors.
Original broadcast date: 02/23/93
Topic: technology/engineering

Murder, Rape and DNA
Wherever we shed our body cells, we leave an indisputable identity card: our DNA. NOVA investigates the new science of DNA typing which is putting increasing numbers of murderers and rapists behind bars.
Original broadcast date: 03/02/93
Topic: medicine/forensic

The Lost Tribe
NOVA covers both sides of the stormy controversy over the Tasaday tribe. When these isolated cave dwellers were discovered in the Philippines in 1971, they were hailed as a Stone Age relic. Now, many anthropologists denounce them as fakes.
Original broadcast date: 03/30/93
Topic: anthropology/culture

The NOVA Quiz
NOVA fans from around the country match wits in a fast-paced contest of general science knowledge celebrating NOVA's 20th anniversary. Famous guests pose questions for the viewers at home. Marc Summers hosts.
Original broadcast date: 10/05/93
Topic: science/methods, ethics & education

Wanted: Butch and Sundance
Forensic sleuth Clyde Snow and a posse of experts travel to Bolivia in search of the remains of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They find Hollywood and legend got a few things wrong.
Original broadcast date: 10/12/93
Topic: medicine/forensic

Secrets of the Psychics
Magician James "The Amazing" Randi tests the claims of mind readers, fortune tellers, faith healers and others with purported paranormal powers. As a magician, "I know how people are deceived," Randi says.
Original broadcast date: 10/19/93
Topic: unexplained phenomena

Dying to Breathe
NOVA covers the tense vigil of three people with terminal lung disease as they await the most complex of all organ transplants—a new lung. Months of waiting end in a few frenzied hours of intricate surgery.
Original broadcast date: 10/26/93
Topic: medicine/health care & surgery

Shadow of the Condor
NOVA soars with the condor, an extraordinary bird that lives a tenuous existence in the California mountains and the Andes of South America. Footage includes never-before-photographed nesting sites in the cliffs of Patagonia.
Original broadcast date: 11/02/93
Topic: animal biology/behavior

The Real Jurassic Park
With help from director Steven Spielberg, author Michael Crichton and a host of scientific experts , NOVA investigates what it would take to recreate the dinosaur theme park in Jurassic Park. It won't be as easy as it was for Hollywood.
Original broadcast date: 11/09/93
Topic: dinosaurs/paleontology

Roller Coaster!
NOVA takes viewers on the ride of their lives as it explores the science of roller coasters, where physics and psychology meet. New rides of the future may take place entirely in the mind—with virtual reality.
Original broadcast date: 11/16/93
Topic: physics

Mysterious Crash of Flight 201
US federal investigators are called in to determine the cause of a mysterious jetliner crash in Panama. Nothing about the accident makes sense, until a key clue emerges.
Original broadcast date: 11/30/93
Topic: technology/aeronautics & flight

Great Moments from NOVA
Bill Cosby guides viewers through the most exciting footage from two decades of NOVA in a 20th anniversary salute. Real-life action, adventure, mystery, drama and non-stop discovery fill this 90-minute special.
Original broadcast date: 12/07/93
Topic: science/methods, ethics & education

The Best Mind Since Einstein
A profile of the late Richard Feynman—atomic bomb pioneer, Nobel prize-winning physicist, acclaimed teacher and all-around eccentric, who helped solve the mystery of the space shuttle Challenger explosion.
Original broadcast date: 12/21/93
Topic: biography

Stranger in the Mirror
NOVA explores the nature of human perception through the puzzling condition called visual agnosia, the inability to recognize faces and familiar objects, made famous in Oliver Sacks' book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.
Original broadcast date: 12/28/93
Topic: human biology/behavior