NOVA: Season 12
Season 12 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of NOVA Season 11.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 12 Progress Shield
Edgerton and His Incredible Seeing Machines
Jan 15, 1985 · 55 min
NOVA explores the fascinating world of Dr. Harold Edgerton, electronics wizard and inventor extraordinaire, whose invention of the electronic strobe, a "magic lamp," has enabled th
Global Village
Jan 22, 1985 · 55 min
NOVA presents an in-depth look at India's attempt to use satellite technology to leapfrog into the era of space-age communication and whether it brings benefit or blight to India's
Conquest of the Parasites
Jan 29, 1985 · 55 min
NOVA examines the complex world of parasites, parasitic diseases and the exciting work currently being done by a new breed of medical researchers as they meet the challenge of conq
In the Land of the Polar Bears
Feb 5, 1985 · 55 min
A rare look at the beautiful and desolate Wrangel Island-a Soviet possession 300 miles off the coast of Alaska-as seen through the eyes of Soviet Filmmaker and naturalist Yuri Ledi
AIDS: Chapter One
Feb 12, 1985 · 55 min
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, is a deadly disease that has struck down some 2,000 people in the four years since its discovery. NOVA examines how modern science has
The Shape of Things
Feb 19, 1985 · 55 min
Sea shells, Crystals, Honeycombs, Eggs and seeds: They are shaped the way they are for a reason. NOVA takes viewers on a unique journey of discovery to find out why things are shap
Baby Talk
Feb 26, 1985 · 55 min
It's a mystery just how children acquire language. Does the process begin in the womb? And which comes first, language or thought? NOVA explores the fascinating world of baby talk
The Mathematical Mystery Tour
Mar 5, 1985 · 55 min
Imagine a bottle with no inside or a number bigger than infinity or parallel lines that meet. Welcome to the world of pure mathematics. NOVA offers a look into a wholly abstract, q
Child's Play: Prodigies and Possibilities
Mar 12, 1985 · 55 min
What do Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the painter Raphael and chess champion Bobby Fischer have in common? They were all child prodigies. NOVA explores the current efforts to learn more
Monarch of the Mountains
Mar 19, 1985 · 55 min
NOVA explores the breeding, migration and survival patterns of the Rocky Mountain elk in a unique film, made totally under natural conditions. Telephoto lenses were used so as not
The National Science Test II
Oct 8, 1985 · 55 min
In NOVA's special sequel to 1984's National Science Test, viewers can match wits with celebrity panelists David Attenborough, Michelle Johnson, Edwin Newman and Alvin Poussaint and
Seeds of Tomorrow
Oct 15, 1985 · 55 min
NOVA examines worldwide efforts of scientists who employ aggressive agricultural technologies to ensure food for the future.
What Einstein Never Knew
Oct 22, 1985 · 55 min
Albert Einstein did not live to find the answer. NOVA follows a new generation of physicists in their search to explain the mystery of the universe.
The Robot Revolution?
Oct 29, 1985 · 55 min
How are the computer and the robot affecting the way we work? NOVA chronicles the new industrial revolution reshaping the American workplace.
The Magic of Special Effects
Nov 5, 1985 · 55 min
NOVA cameras go behind-the-scenes to reveal the new art of illusion, Hollywood-style, focusing on three blockbuster films—Return of the Jedi, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom a
Child Survival: The Silent Emergency
Nov 12, 1985 · 55 min
NOVA charts the progress of an ambitious worldwide health program established to save the lives of millions of children who continue to die from common but curable diseases.
Tornado!
Nov 19, 1985 · 55 min
NOVA follows a chase team—a group of scientists who chart deadly Tornadoes—in an effort to learn more about predicting nature's most powerful and elusive weather phenomenon.
The Genetic Gamble
Nov 26, 1985 · 55 min
NOVA examines current research and its ethical implications as modern medicine confronts the era of human gene therapy.
Animal Architects
Dec 3, 1985 · 55 min
NOVA examines the intricate world of nature's construction industry and presents rare footage of unusual habits.
The Plane that Changed the World
Dec 17, 1985 · 55 min
NOVA joins the 50th anniversary celebration of the DC-3—the plane that revolutionized commercial air travel, served gallantly in World War II and is called the most important plane