Describes the work of physicists John Bahcall and Ray Davis to find and discover the nature of neutrinos, ghostly particles with no electric charge that are essential to life on Earth.
Examines the personality of Sir Isaac Newton, the seventeenth-century genius who developed the laws of motion, looking at his abilities in math and science, as well as his obsessions with religion and alchemy.
Chronicles the life of Galileo Galilei and his relationship with his eldest child Virginia, examining how she helped influence her father's work. Based on a series of surviving letters between father and daughter.
Provides information about China's 8,000-year-old terracotta warriors that were created to protect the First Emperor of China in the afterlife and have been buried in the dust for two millennia. Examines how this large army was created using ancient technology.
Examines the latest scientific discoveries regarding Mars based on robot explorers and orbiting satellites. Includes printable materials for educators and access to the "Nova" web site.
Story of Jaime Escalante, a math teacher at East Los Angeles' Garfield High School, who refuses to write off his inner-city students as losers. Escalante pushes and inspires 18 students who were struggling with math to become math whizzes.
The source of the earth's great variety of animals was a scientific mystery until Charles Darwin proposed the idea of natural selection. Nova presents breakthroughs in a new science nicknamed "evo devo" that are linking the enigma of origins to another of nature's mysteries, the development of embryos.
Dramatizes the story of Mary Mallon, a seemingly healthy Irish immigrant cook who became known as Typhoid Mary after being identified as the source of an outbreak of typhoid fever in New York in 1906, and who was subsequently banished to a quarantine island off Manhattan against her will.
Discusses attempts by scientists to explain the dramatic weakening of Earth's magnetic field and contemplates what might happen to the planet if the magnetic field were to vanish.
