NOVA: Season 16
Season 16 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 15.
- 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 16 Progress Shield
Hot Enough for You?
Jan 17, 1989 · 55 min
Was the searing summer of 1988 a taste of things to come? NOVA looks at the greenhouse effect, which portends higher temperatures, rising sea levels and other environmental disaste
The Last Journey of a Genius
Jan 24, 1989 · 55 min
NOVA looks at the bongo-playing scientist, adventurer, safecracker and yarn-spinner Richard Feynman, most recently famous for his role as gadfly of the Presidential Commission inve
The Strange New Science of Chaos
Jan 31, 1989 · 55 min
NOVA explains "chaos," a new science that is making surprising sense out of chaotic phenomena in nature, from the weather to brain waves.
Back to Chernobyl
Feb 14, 1989 · 55 min
NOVA goes to the Soviet Union for an inside investigation of the world's most catastrophic nuclear power accident with correspondent Bill Kurtis.
God, Darwin and the Dinosaurs
Feb 21, 1989 · 55 min
In an Idaho classroom, teacher Phil Gerrish puts an unorthodox interpretation on the day's biology lesson. As students take notes, he explains that creationism is a valid scientifi
Adrift on the Gulf Stream
Feb 28, 1989 · 55 min
NOVA explores the importance of the Gulf Stream to ocean life, climate and human history.
Secrets of Easter Island (1)
Mar 7, 1989 · 55 min
In this two-part series, NOVA investigates the mystery of Easter Island in the South Pacific. Who built its celebrated statues and why?
Legends of Easter Island (2)
Mar 7, 1989 · 55 min
In the second part of this two-part series, NOVA explores ancient legends hold the clues to the violent history of the South Pacific's Easter Island.
The World Is Full of Oil!
Mar 21, 1989 · 55 min
Scientific detectives test their ingenuity in the effort to find underground oil deposits.
Confronting the Killer Gene
Mar 28, 1989 · 55 min
Arlo, Nancy and Janice each have a 50/50 chance of developing a devastating nerve disorder. A laboratory test can tell them if in fact they will fall victim. In their shoes, would
The Hidden City
Oct 3, 1989 · 55 min
Actor Judd Hirsch narrates this behind-the scenes look at what makes New York City tick. Water, power and waste are the critical systems that usually work, but sometimes break down
The Controversial Dr. Koop
Oct 10, 1989 · 55 min
In this profile of the former Surgeon General, NOVA follows events as they unfold in a unique behind-the-scenes account of a man who speaks his mind on AIDS, smoking and abortion.
Design Wars!
Oct 17, 1989 · 55 min
Five architects compete for the approval of architecture-obsessed Chicagoans in the contest to build the city's new public library. NOVA looks at the strengths and weakness of each
Echoes of War
Oct 24, 1989 · 55 min
The atomic bomb might have ended World War II, but radar was the quiet miracle that won battles. NOVA tells the little-known wartime history of radar.
Decoding the Book of Life
Oct 31, 1989 · 55 min
Biologists around the world gear up to decode the three-billion-letter genetic message that describes how humans are made. Ethicists warn that it may not be such a good idea.
Hurricane!
Nov 7, 1989 · 55 min
NOVA studies hurricanes—the lurking giants waiting to destroy many coastal areas—by flying straight into one. Scientists hope that such close-up studies will supply the data to mak
Will Venice Survive Its Rescue?
Nov 14, 1989 · 55 min
Increasingly awash in high water, the romantic city of Venice is counting on high-tech floodgates to save it from drowning. Environmentalists worry that the gates may destroy the f
What Is Music?
Nov 21, 1989 · 55 min
East and West came into direct conflict over trade and power in the 19th century. The West won. NOVA explores how Japan was later able to master Western methods, while China was no
Yellowstone's Burning Question
Dec 5, 1989 · 55 min
The 1988 Yellowstone fire may have been one of the worst in human memory, but nature has had eons of experience with such events. NOVA accompanies scientists who are studying the s
The Schoolboys Who Cracked the Soviet Secret
Dec 12, 1989 · 55 min
NOVA re-enacts a classic case of classroom detection when English schoolboys track down a secret Soviet launch site. Docudrama.