NOVA: Season 20
Season 20 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 19.
- 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 20 Progress Shield
The Hunt for Saddam's Secret Weapons
Jan 5, 1993 · 55 min
In a 90-minute special presentation, NOVA reveals the ancient secrets of how the pyramids were built by actually building one. A noted Egyptologist, Mark Lehner, and a professional
Can Bombing Win a War?
Jan 19, 1993 · 55 min
The Gulf War was fought in 38 days of non-stop bombing and four days of swift ground action. Did bombing win it? NOVA looks at the history of strategic bombing and asks whether bom
The Deadly Deception
Jan 26, 1993 · 55 min
For four decades, 400 African American men from Macon, Alabama were unwitting participants in a government study of untreated syphilis. NOVA tells the story of this notorious human
Nazis and the Russian Bomb
Feb 2, 1993 · 55 min
NOVA tells the story of the German scientists abducted to the Soviet Union after World War II to help build an atomic bomb. The success of the crash program in 1949, with the explo
In the Path of a Killer Volcano
Feb 9, 1993 · 55 min
NOVA covers scientists on the brink of a sputtering, shaking, impatient volcano, trying to forecast when it will go off. When it does, Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines goes big time
Can Science Build a Champion Athlete?
Feb 16, 1993 · 55 min
Athletes are training smarter, running faster, jumping higher and generally outperforming their predecessors—thanks to high technology. NOVA covers the record-setting trend for imp
Diving for Pirate Gold
Feb 23, 1993 · 55 min
These days, piracy on the high seas often involves sonar, magnometers, metal detectors and other high-tech equipment for finding and plundering sunken ships. NOVA explores the swas
Murder, Rape and DNA
Mar 2, 1993 · 55 min
Wherever we shed our body cells, we leave an indisputable identity card: our DNA. NOVA investigates the new science of DNA typing which is putting increasing numbers of murderers a
The Lost Tribe
Mar 30, 1993 · 55 min
NOVA covers both sides of the stormy controversy over the Tasaday tribe. When these isolated cave dwellers were discovered in the Philippines in 1971, they were hailed as a Stone A
The NOVA Quiz
Oct 5, 1993 · 55 min
NOVA fans from around the country match wits in a fast-paced contest of general science knowledge celebrating NOVA's 20th anniversary. Famous guests pose questions for the viewers
Wanted: Butch and Sundance
Oct 12, 1993 · 55 min
Forensic sleuth Clyde Snow and a posse of experts travel to Bolivia in search of the remains of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They find Hollywood and legend got a few things
Secrets of the Psychics
Oct 19, 1993 · 55 min
Secrets of the Psychics was a PBS NOVA episode following James Randi's work. Also appearing in stock footage are Peter Popoff, Uri Geller, and many others. In the program, "Randi
Dying to Breathe
Oct 26, 1993 · 55 min
NOVA covers the tense vigil of three people with terminal lung disease as they await the most complex of all organ transplants—a new lung. Months of waiting end in a few frenzied h
Shadow of the Condor
Nov 2, 1993 · 55 min
NOVA soars with the condor, an extraordinary bird that lives a tenuous existence in the California mountains and the Andes of South America. Footage includes never-before-photograp
The Real Jurassic Park
Nov 9, 1993 · 55 min
With help from director Steven Spielberg, author Michael Crichton and a host of scientific experts , NOVA investigates what it would take to recreate the dinosaur theme park in Jur
Roller Coaster!
Nov 16, 1993 · 55 min
NOVA takes viewers on the ride of their lives as it explores the science of roller coasters, where physics and psychology meet. New rides of the future may take place entirely in t
Mysterious Crash of Flight 201
Nov 30, 1993 · 55 min
US federal investigators are called in to determine the cause of a mysterious jetliner crash in Panama. Nothing about the accident makes sense, until a key clue emerges.
Great Moments from NOVA
Dec 7, 1993 · 55 min
Bill Cosby guides viewers through the most exciting footage from two decades of NOVA in a 20th anniversary salute. Real-life action, adventure, mystery, drama and non-stop discover
The Best Mind Since Einstein
Dec 21, 1993 · 55 min
A profile of the late Richard Feynman—atomic bomb pioneer, Nobel prize-winning physicist, acclaimed teacher and all-around eccentric, who helped solve the mystery of the space shut
Stranger in the Mirror
Dec 28, 1993 · 55 min
NOVA explores the nature of human perception through the puzzling condition called visual agnosia, the inability to recognize faces and familiar objects, made famous in Oliver Sack