NOVA: Season 13
Season 13 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 12.
- 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 13 Progress Shield
Halley's Comet: Once in a Lifetime
Jan 21, 1986 · 55 min
NOVA observes worldwide preparations as amateur comet hunters, astronomers and scientists armed with specialized cameras, high powered telescopes and spacecraft look to the heavens
Goddess of the Earth
Jan 28, 1986 · 55 min
Gaia, the Greek word for Earth goddess, also is the name of the controversial hypothesis that life on Earth controls the environment. NOVA explores this provocative theory that cha
Horsemen of China
Feb 4, 1986 · 55 min
For centuries, the Chinese Kazakh horseman preserved their ancient traditions, refusing to be dominated by either the Chinese or nearby Russian cultures. Today, however, this nomad
Life's First Feelings
Feb 11, 1986 · 55 min
NOVA explores the incredibly complex emotional development of infants and examines the current theory that early childhood psychological intervention can head off emotional problem
The Case of the Frozen Addict
Feb 18, 1986 · 55 min
In July 1982, a 42-year-old addict in a San Jose, California jail became paralyzed—unable to move or talk. His symptoms, caused by a bad batch of synthetic heroin, were indistingui
Toxic Trials
Feb 25, 1986 · 55 min
When a high number of cancer cases struck the suburban community of Woburn, Massachusetts, the town mobilized to investigate why. The result was a landmark study of the effects of
Skydive to the Rain Forest
Mar 4, 1986 · 55 min
NOVA journeys to a remote region of southern Venezuela where the land is alive with spectacular waterfalls, colored by exotic flowers and inhabited by rare species of birds and ani
Return of the Osprey
Mar 11, 1986 · 55 min
NOVA follows a conservation success story as environmentalists, scientists and bird-lovers fight to save the majestic Osprey from extinction.
The Rise of a Wonder Drug
Mar 18, 1986 · 55 min
When Alexander Fleming discovered the penicillin mold in 1928, he never considered its possible therapeutic value. NOVA explores the "Fleming myth" and reveals the true story of th
When Wonder Drugs Don't Work
Mar 25, 1986 · 55 min
NOVA examines the medical community's alarm as the spread of antibiotic-resistant infection increases, and studies how one hospital fights its own dramatic epidemic.
Visions of Star Wars
Apr 22, 1986 · 55 min
NOVA and Frontline combine resources to explore the Strategic Defense Initiative. The two-hour documentary contains the most comprehensive information on "Star Wars" ever produced.
The Search for the Disappeared
Oct 14, 1986 · 55 min
NOVA joins scientists in Argentina as they help locate kidnapped children and identify thousands of dead in the aftermath of a military reign of terror.
The Planet that Got Knocked on its Side
Oct 21, 1986 · 55 min
The adventures of the Voyager 2 spacecraft continue as it passes the rings of Uranus. Scientists suspect that violent events in the early history of the planet may have shaped Uran
High-Tech Babies
Nov 4, 1986 · 55 min
Scientific breakthroughs now make it possible to reproduce ourselves in ways never before imagined. NOVA looks at the medical, legal and moral questions raised by this brave new te
Can AIDS Be Stopped?
Nov 11, 1986 · 55 min
What are the prospects for halting or curing the deadliest epidemic ever to challenge modern medicine? NOVA finds cause for both hope and alarm in the battle against AIDS.
Is Anybody Out There?
Nov 18, 1986 · 55 min
Could there be life beyond Earth? Only recently has it become possible to scan the skies in a systematic attempt to find out. NOVA joins the search with guest host Lily Tomlin.
Mystery of the Animal Pathfinders
Nov 25, 1986 · 55 min
Birds do it; bees do it, butterflies, bats and eels do it—all leave one habitat to migrate to another, often thousands of miles away. NOVA penetrates the mystery of where animals m
Are You Swimming in a Sewer?
Dec 2, 1986 · 55 min
NOVA dips into the sad plight of our coastal waters, where toxic chemicals, raw sewage and disease-carrying microbes are routinely dumped.
Sail Wars!
Dec 9, 1986 · 55 min
Yankee ingenuity has designs on the America's Cup. NOVA goes behind-the-scenes to look at the engineering effort to design a technically advanced sailboat.
Leprosy Can Be Cured!
Dec 16, 1986 · 55 min
Leprosy, a misunderstood disease that has been curable for 40 years, still afflicts some 12 million people. NOVA looks at the tragedy of the disease that need not be.
How Babies Get Made
Jan 13, 1987 · 55 min
NOVA explores the ground-breaking experiments that led to the discovery of a tiny sequence of molecules—and more clues to the mystery of how a complete baby develops from a single