NOVA — Season 26

In 1714, following a maritime disaster, British Parliament offers £20,000 for the first reliable method of determining longitude on a ship at sea. It's known that longitude can be found by comparing a ship's local time to the time at the port of origin. The challenge is finding a clock—a chronometer—that can keep time at sea, where temperature changes, humidity, gravity and a ship's movement affect accuracy. NOVA chronicles the seventeenth-century journey to determine longitude.

A massive planet-sized machine controls our weather day-to-day, and our climate season-to-season. It takes an event of staggering proportions to disrupt a machine this large and powerful, a juggernaut with more energy than a million nuclear bombs. Signs now indicate that such an event is underway - El Niño. More than a series of storms stunning the California coastline, El Niño is second only to the seasons in its effect on global weather. In a P-3 off the coast, a team plunges into a storm front to explore its cause and effects. In a boat off the Galapagos, an array of buoys are checked for temperature and current data. On a mountan in Peru, signs of the devastation of past El Niños are revealed. As scientists push to extremes to explore this phenomenon, they understand for the first time the extent to which all the world's weather is connected, and just how delicate is the balance.

Experience the harrowing and life-threatening problems aboard the aging Mir space station through the eyes of the Russian and American astronauts who lived through them. Feel the heat from the fire that erupted on board. See the collision between Mir and another space craft. Endure the power outages and the computer failures that have jeopardized lives. Hear the debate over whether NASA should continue to risk its astronauts by sending them to Mir in preparation for the launch later this year of the most ambitious space project yet—the International Space Station.

NOVA goes behind the scenes in Hollywood, where the art of illusion meets the science of perception.

The shattered remnants of the Roman city of Pompeii bear witness to the risk that the people of Naples still face today.

In this three part series, this is the bizarre and fascinating story of the remains of Inca culture, frozen for posterity high in the mountains of the Andes. Evidence has emerged of sacrifice to the mountain gods, whose existence dominated the civilization over 500 years ago. The film traces the frozen bodies of children uncovered by archaeologists in South America, and follows an archaeological expedition to a high-altitude sacred site in search of ritual remains and another body. How did they come to be there? Why did they go to their deaths willingly? What was the religious framework that dictated their sacrifice to fierce gods?

In this second of a three part series, the Siberian Ice Maiden, discovered in the Pastures of Heaven on the high Steppes, is believed to have been a shamaness of the lost Pazyryk culture. She had been mummified and then frozen by freak climatic conditions around 2400 years ago, along with six decorated horses and a symbolic meal for her last journey. Her body was covered with vivid blue tattoos of mythical animal figures. Together with the newly discovered body of a man, nicknamed "Conan," her body has now been restored, and is providing new clues to the role and power of women in the nomadic peoples of ancient Siberia.

In the final episode of this three part series, cutting-edge science and archaeology are reconstructing the life and culture of The Iceman—the 5000-year-old frozen corpse found buried in the ice of the Alps. By analyzing every inch of the Iceman's body and the tools and equipment found with it, scientists are piecing together the most complete picture yet of the late Stone Age in this part of Europe. X-ray, CAT scan, and microscopic analysis of this spectacular find is revealing where the iceman lived, what he ate, and how he may have died; nuclear physics reveals that the Iceman's hair was contaminated with arsenic and copper, suggesting he was involved in copper production centuries before it was known to exist in the region.

Night stalkers by nature, leopards are observed both by night and day, using state-of-the-art camera equipment, to reveal never before seen hunting behavior. Filmed in the Luangua Valley in Zambia, Leopard reveals the challenges and dangers faced daily by these beautiful animals. Shadowed by hungry hyenas in pursuit of leftovers, and stalked by lumbering crocodiles hoping to tackle a lone leopard on a kill, how can they hope to challenge such beasts?

The pearl. The only gem produced by a living animal, has long carried a certain allure. Yet the best mollusk for making this gem, the pearl oyster doesn't always produce a pearl, and even then, the pearls are rarely perfectly round. It wasn't until the late nineteenth century, when a Japanese scientist discovered a technique to incite oysters to produce these gems, that an industry was formed. Inducing an oyster to create a pearl is only half the battle—the oyster then needs a nutrient-rich, open environment in which to grow. This NOVA program looks at the science of pearl farming, follows efforts of oyster farmers trying to cope with growing problems of pollution and overcrowding, and considers the shifting sands of dominance within the pearl industry.

Is it just a fairy tale, or could a primeval beast lurk in the deep, dark waters of a Scottish lake? Since it was first reported more than 60 years ago, hundreds claim to have witnessed the Loch Ness Monster, while one scientist after another has brought the latest technology to the loch to probe the phenomenon. Twenty-five years after their first, groundbreaking expedition to Loch Ness, NOVA joins two American scientists as they return to Scotland for one last go at Nessie. During a three-week expedition, they use state-of-the-art sonar and sensitive underwater cameras in an attempt to track down and identify the elusive beast. Biologists study the ecosystem of the loch to determine if it could support a large animal. Geologists study its history, looking for clues about what kind of creature might have colonized it, and when. NOVA examines the photographic evidence in the case. And eyewitnesses vividly recount their sightings. Could this legendary creature be real, perhaps a relic from the time of dinosaurs? Or is it a shared illusion—a product of myth, mirage and wishful thinking?

Explorer Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic, investigates the wrecks of two Cold War-era nuclear submarines.

A 1986 report tracing a mysterious 1924 attempt to climb Mount Everest. Britons George Mallory and Andrew Irvine were spotted less than 1000 feet from the summit, but were never seen alive again (Irvine's body has never been found; Mallory's was, in 1999). The hour speculates on whether they got to the top before they died. Interviewees include two members of the expedition, Noel Odell and John Noel; and Sir Edmund Hillary, who managed to get to the summit in 1953.

Molecular biologists, immunologists, geneticists, and physicians pool their expertise in search of an AIDS vaccine.

In this four part series, engineers learn from past disasters to make fires along with car, plane, and ship accidents increasingly survivable. (Part 1 of 4)

In this four part series, engineers learn from past disasters to make fires along with car, plane, and ship accidents increasingly survivable. (Part 2 of 4)

In this four part series, engineers learn from past disasters to make fires along with car, plane, and ship accidents increasingly survivable. (Part 3 of 4)

In this four part series, engineers learn from past disasters to make fires along with car, plane, and ship accidents increasingly survivable. (Part 4 of 4)

At the height of tensions in the Middle East, the United States placed a huge armada at ground zero in the Persian Gulf. This strategic move was without precedent during peace time operations—a big stick waved at a defiant Saddam Hussein. In an ironic twist of timing, at the center of this massive military force was the Navy's oldest and most celebrated aircraft carrier, the USS Independence, on her final voyage, and the newest, the highly sophisticated nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, on her maiden voyage. Join NOVA as it moves with exclusive access throughout the fleet, from carriers and cruisers to submarines and jet fighters. Follow the strategy makers, fighter pilots, Aegis cruiser captains and fast attack submarine crews as they contend with a hostile Iraq and a new battlefield. NOVA examines up-close a new and powerful technology, tasked with a new assignment, a Blue Water force designed for global confrontation in a post-Cold War scenario. Has US war capability and technology kept pace with a changing battlefield?

NOVA follows a team of scientists as they journey to the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the Pacific Ocean to study and raise hydrothermal vent structures from the ocean floor.

In 1968, men first left the earth for the moon. Millions of people watched their journey on television. But scarcely a handful knew how it really began. The mission seemed impossible, the odds astronomical, but the results were spectacular. NOVA presents the fascinating story behind the Apollo space program, including the historic walk on the moon in 1969, in a two-hour special. Meet unsung heroes, experience the dangers, and discover new Apollo perspectives through rare footage, little-known facts, and interviews with NASA scientists, engineers, geologists, and the astronauts themselves.