Season 15 poster

Season 15

(1988)

Cast

Episodes

Top Gun and Beyond poster

Top Gun and Beyond 0.0

January 19, 1988

Today's sophisticated fighter jets can almost fly themselves, but well-trained pilots are still needed to win air battl…

How to Create a Junk Food poster

How to Create a Junk Food 0.0

January 26, 1988

Julia Child introduces NOVA's behind-the-scenes look at how science aids in the creation of snack foods.

Buried in Ice poster

Buried in Ice 0.0

February 2, 1988

Scientists investigate the frozen remains of members of the 19th century Franklin Expedition to the Canadian Arctic and…

Why Planes Burn poster

Why Planes Burn 0.0

February 9, 1988

Airplane fires are often deadly. NOVA looks at efforts to make fires aboard planes less likely and more survivable.

Battles in the War on Cancer: A Wonder Drug on Trial poster

Battles in the War on Cancer: A Wonder Drug on Trial 0.0

February 23, 1988

In part one of a two-part special presentation, NOVA reports on the trials to determine whether the new drug Interleuki…

Battles in the War on Cancer: Turning the Tide poster

Battles in the War on Cancer: Turning the Tide 0.0

March 1, 1988

Breast cancer claims the lives of four American women every hour. Jane Pauley of NBC News hosts and narrates this NOVA …

The Mystery of the Master Builders poster

The Mystery of the Master Builders 0.0

March 8, 1988

Princeton professor and author Robert Mark tracks down the engineering secrets of some of the beautiful buildings in th…

Whale Rescue poster

Whale Rescue 0.0

March 15, 1988

It was a blustery day in December 1986, and the New England Coast was in the midst of a winter storm, accompanied by st…

The Man Who Loved Numbers poster

The Man Who Loved Numbers 0.0

March 22, 1988

NOVA explores the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a poor clerk from India who astounded mathematicians in the 1910s with h…

Race for the Superconductor poster

Race for the Superconductor 0.0

March 29, 1988

NOVA charts an electronics revolution in the making as Japan and the United States race to develop a material that will…

Can You Still Get Polio? poster

Can You Still Get Polio? 0.0

April 5, 1988

Most cases of polio in this country are caused by the vaccine designed to prevent it. NOVA examines the controvery surr…

Pioneers of Surgery: The Brutal Craft poster

Pioneers of Surgery: The Brutal Craft 0.0

September 6, 1988

Part one of a four-part series on the pioneers of modern surgery relives the early days, when surgery was practiced wit…

Pioneers of Surgery: Into the Heart poster

Pioneers of Surgery: Into the Heart 0.0

September 13, 1988

Once unthinkable, open-heart surgery is now an everyday miracle. NOVA looks at the brave doctors and patients who make …

Pioneers of Surgery: New Organs for Old poster

Pioneers of Surgery: New Organs for Old 0.0

September 20, 1988

From kidneys to hearts, NOVA examines the daring attempts to replace diseased organs with transplanted ones.

Pioneers of Surgery: Beyond the Knife poster

Pioneers of Surgery: Beyond the Knife 0.0

September 27, 1988

Surgeons have always been eager to help patients, even at the risk of killing them. NOVA looks at some of the excesses …

Can the Vatican Save the Sistine Chapel? poster

Can the Vatican Save the Sistine Chapel? 0.0

October 4, 1988

Science meets art in the controversial effort to restore Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel frescoes.

Can the Next President Win the Space Race? poster

Can the Next President Win the Space Race? 0.0

October 11, 1988

Thirty years after Sputnik, the United States space program is mired in uncertainty, while the Russians, Europeans, Jap…

Do Scientists Cheat? poster

Do Scientists Cheat? 0.0

October 18, 1988

NOVA examines the troubling question of scientific fraud: How prevalent is it? Who commits it? And what happens when th…

Who Shot President Kennedy? poster

Who Shot President Kennedy? 0.0

November 15, 1988

Using previously unavailable technology, NOVA probes the available evidence surrounding the 1963 assassination of John …

The Light Stuff poster

The Light Stuff 0.0

November 22, 1988

Reliving a Greek myth takes an effort of mythic proportions, as NOVA reveals in its behind-the-scenes report of a human…

The All-American Bear poster

The All-American Bear 0.0

December 6, 1988

The life of the shy, intelligent black bear in the wild—foraging, mating, playing and constantly preparing for its rema…

Can We Make a Better Doctor? poster

Can We Make a Better Doctor? 0.0

December 13, 1988

NOVA embarks on a 10-year project to profile—in its entirety—the education of a doctor. In the premiere episode, we fol…