January - December 1995

Mammoths of the Ice Age
The subjects of Stone Age cave paintings thunder onto the screen as NOVA explores Woolly Mammoths. Recent discoveries show that the hairy ancestors of elephants fought off extinction much longer than anyone thought, surviving on an isolated island in the Arctic Ocean until as recently as 4,000 year ago.
Original broadcast date: 01/09/95
Topic: animal biology/behavior

Vikings in America
NOVA investigates the myth and reality of the first known Europeans to reach North America -Vikings. These intrepid Norsemen explored and settled parts of present-day North America 500 years before Columbus set sail.
Original broadcast date: 01/24/95
Topic: anthropology/ancient

Little Creatures Who Run the World
Entomologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward O. Wilson shows who's boss on this planet-ants. The professor's infectious fascination for ant civilization wins over even the most confirmed "formicophobe" (ant hater).
Original broadcast date: 01/31/95
Topic: animal biology/behavior

Nazi Designers of Death
NOVA uses recently discovered documents to uncover the complicity of German architects and engineers in the Holocaust. Focusing on Auschwitz, the program tells a tale of ever-deepening evil as the prison camp was methodically converted into a super-efficient factory for genocide.
Original broadcast date: 02/07/95
Topic: technology/weapons & warfare

Siamese Twins
Born joined at the pelvis, Siamese twins Dao and Duan were brought to the United States from Thailand to assess their chances for being separated surgically. NOVA covers the intricate planning and protracted operations that eventually made the two girls into two distinct individuals.
Original broadcast date: 02/14/95
Topic: medicine/health care & surgery

Universe Within, The
What amazing processes go on inside super-athletes and couch potatoes alike? NOVA uses the latest medical imaging techniques to explore the body's incredible inner workings-with the help of Olympic ice skater Bonnie Blair, world record long jumper Mike Powell and others.
Original broadcast date: 03/07/95
Topic: human biology/behavior

Making of a Doctor
In the third installment of a 10-year project, NOVA checks up on a group of aspiring doctors who've been chronicled since their first day of medical school in 1987. Now bona fide MDs and in the middle of residency training, the group faces the awesome responsibility of curing the sick and keeping their own lives intact.
Original broadcast date: 05/03/95
Topic: medicine/health care & surgery

Fast Cars
What does it take to win at Indy? NOVA follows champion race driver Bobby Rahal and a team of engineers as they strive to design a new car that can win the checkered flag at the Memorial Day classic. The program also features racing insights from top drivers Emerson Fittipladi, Willy T. Ribbs and Lyn Saint James.
Original broadcast date: 05/23/95
Topic: physics

Anastasia Dead or Alive?
Shortly after midnight on 17 July 19l8, at a house in the town of Ekaterinburg in the Ural mountains, Bolshevik guards awakened the deposed Tsar Nicholas II together with his family and forced them into the basement, where they were shot and clubbed to death. NOVA follows forensic tests of skeletons discovered in Ekaterinburg in 1979 that are alleged to be the remains of the Russian royals, and explores the intriguing claim that Anna Anderson of Charlottesville, Virginia, was really the long lost Anastasia
Original broadcast date: 10/10/95
Topic: biography, medicine/forensic, technology/crime

Venus Unveiled
Venus reveals its true face, recorded in detail for the first time by the radar spacecraft Magellan. Our next-door planetary neighbor turns out to be one of the most bizarre places in the solar system.
Original broadcast date: 10/17/95
Topic: astronomy/space exploration

Hawaii Born of Fire
Go to the companion Web site
NOVA explores the fiery moonscapes and lush rainforests or the world's most isolated archipelago: the Hawaiian islands. From blistering beginnings as molten rock, the islands have developed into a verdant paradise of unique lifeforms.
Original broadcast date: 10/24/95
Topic: environment/ecology, geography/oceanography, geology/earthquakes & volcanoes

The Doomsday Asteroid
Is there an asteroid or comet out there with our name on it? NOVA scans the skies and the geological record on Earth, for evidence that giant rocks from outer space have struck before and will eventually plow into our planet again.
Original broadcast date: 10/31/95
Topic: astronomy/space exploration

Lightning!

Original broadcast date: 11/07/95
Topic: environment/weather

Hunt for the Serial Arsonist
In the spring of 1991, a rash of suspicious store fires in Los Angeles set fire investigators on the trail of a serial arsonist. Using ingenious techniques to "read" burn patterns and reconstruct the chain of events at each fire, the team uncovered a crucial clue—a fingerprint on a crude incendiary device. Eight months later, the team closed in on their chief suspect and revealed the shocking truth behind his identity. A classic scientific detective story with a final twist that will keep viewers guessing until the end.
Original broadcast date: 11/14/95
Topic: technology/crime

Treasures of the Great Barrier Reef
Recording sights that will astonish even experienced divers, NOVA documents an extraordinary day in the life of the largest coral reef in the world, capturing for the first time the annual spawning of coral and other unusual creatures of the reef.
Original broadcast date: 11/28/95
Topic: animal biology/behavior, environment/ecology, geography/oceanography

Race to Catch a Buckyball

Original broadcast date: 12/19/95
Topic: physics, technology/engineering

Can Buildings Make You Sick
NOVA unravels baffling cases of bad air in buildings all over the world. Even hospitals are on the "sick building" list - along with offices, schools, homes and just about any enclosed space.
Original broadcast date: 12/26/95
Topic: medicine/disease and research