NOVA: Season 3
NOVA is an American popular science television program produced by WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, which has been in production since 1974. As the premier science series for PBS, the program is designed to help viewers of all ages explore the science behind current headlines while working to demystify technology and science. The series is recognized as the most-watched primetime science series on television, reaching
Season 3 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- NOVA is a popular science television program produced by WGBH in Boston.
- The series premiered in 1974 and airs on PBS.
- The program focuses on demystifying science and technology for viewers of all ages.
- The series explores the science behind current headlines.
Season overview
NOVA is an American popular science television program produced by WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, which has been in production since 1974. As the premier science series for PBS, the program is designed to help viewers of all ages explore the science behind current headlines while working to demystify technology and science. The series is recognized as the most-watched primetime science series on television, reaching an average of five million viewers. Season 3 of the program consists of 20 episodes that continue the overarching saga of the series. The program is stylized as NOVΛ and serves as an educational resource that provides scientific exploration for its audience.
Episode Guide
Season 3 Progress Shield
Predictable Disaster
Jan 4, 1976 · 55 min
It is now possible to predict earthquakes. At least two successful predictions have already been made in the United States; and the NOVA crew was present and filming while a third
Joey
Jan 11, 1976 · 55 min
NOVA takes viewers into the world of Joey Deacon, 54 years old and a spastic since birth. Joey has lived most of his life in institutions, unable to communicate with anyone until h
Meditation and the Mind
Jan 18, 1976 · 55 min
What do singer Peggy Lee, New York Jets Quarterback Joe Namath and Congressman Richard Nolas have in common? They all practice a ritual called TM—Transcendental Meditation. NOVA ex
The Planets
Jan 25, 1976 · 55 min
The last fourteen years have been a revolution in our understanding of our place in the stars, the Solar System. Beginning in 1961 with a Russian spacecraft flying to Venus, quicke
A Desert Place
Feb 1, 1976 · 55 min
NOVA explores the mysterious ecosystem of the desert: a snowstorm; a lashing summer monsoon; and the emergence—in a pool created only minutes before—of a pair of adult spadefoot to
A Small Imperfection
Feb 8, 1976 · 55 min
Every year, some 5,000 babies are born in the US with spina bifida, a congenital abnormality of the central nervous system. NOVA explores the mystery of what causes spina bifida an
Ninety Degrees Below
Feb 15, 1976 · 55 min
There's one place on earth where no one will ever catch a cold. And the freezing waters are so bitter there that a fish has been discovered to have developed its own anti-freeze. N
The Race for the Double Helix
Mar 7, 1976 · 55 min
Author Isaac Asimov joins NOVA in the retelling of the remarkable story of the discovery of the structure of DNA. James Watson and his ex-colleague Francis Crick exchange memories
The Renewable Tree
Mar 7, 1976 · 55 min
Each Sunday edition of the New York Times consumes 153 acres of trees. The paper packs, napkins, paper cups and packing used by McDonald's gobble up 315 square miles of trees every
The Williamsburgh File
Mar 14, 1976 · 55 min
NOVA joins chief archaeologist, Ivor Noel Hume, of Colonial Williamsburg, VA, for a fascinating glimpse of the lifestyles of the founders of this country, complete with detailed re
The Overworked Miracle
Mar 21, 1976 · 55 min
Today we take antibiotics for granted, and by doing so are steadily eroding their medical value. NOVA examines the problem of resistance to antibiotics in the bacteria they are des
The Transplant Experiment
Apr 11, 1976 · 55 min
Dr. Norman Shumway of Stanford University has performed more heart transplants than any other heart surgeon. NOVA explores those extraordinary days in 1968-69 when it appeared that
The Underground Movement
Apr 18, 1976 · 55 min
NOVA explores life underground, from foxes and badgers through moles and worms down to the myriad of micro-organisms that make soil the most complex substrate for life on earth. In
Hunters of the Seal
May 2, 1976 · 55 min
NOVA shows the Netsilik eskimoes of Pelly Bay and their traditional way of life and what happens when Western civilization is imposed upon them.
Benjamin
May 9, 1976 · 55 min
Benjamin is a healthy, normal baby, whom we meet at birth and whose first year of life provides the backbone of this revealing NOVA about early child development.
The Women Rebel
May 23, 1976 · 55 min
Margaret Sanger was responsible almost single-handedly for changing the whole attitude of the male-dominated medical profession towards "women's issues" and, above all, for gaining
Death of a Disease
Jun 6, 1976 · 55 min
As late as 1967, smallpox struck as many as 15 million people in 43 countries and killed an estimated two or three million. Experts now believe that the disease is on the verge of
Inside the Shark
Jun 13, 1976 · 55 min
The "Jaws" phenomenon has given sharks a bad name. But is the shark really such a barbarian? NOVA looks at the lifestyle of this remarkable survivor from the days when dinosaurs ru
The Genetic Chance
Jun 20, 1976 · 55 min
Recent scientific developments have made it possible to detect a wide variety of defects in unborn babies. NOVA focuses on the ethical question that must be considered: What define
The Case of the Bermuda Triangle
Jun 27, 1976 · 55 min
Since 1945, hundreds of ships and planes and thousands of people have mysteriously disappeared in an area of the Atlantic Ocean off of Florida, known as the Bermuda Triangle. NOVA