NOVA — Season 39

All 19 episodes in airing order, with first-run dates and viewer ratings.

1. 01

   September 7, 2011 · 1h

   Engineering Ground Zero6.5

   NOVA presents an epic story of engineering, innovation, and the perseverance of the human spirit. With extraordinary access granted by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, "Engineering Ground Zero" follows the five-year construction of One World Trade Center (1 WTC) and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

2. 02

   September 28, 2011 · 1h

   Surviving the Tsunami

   The earthquake that hit the northern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, was recorded at magnitude 9.0 the worst ever recorded in Japan. It generated an unprecedented tsunami, obliterating coastal villages and towns in a matter of minutes. In some areas, the tsunami climbed above 100 feet in height and traveled miles inland. Amazingly, amateur and professional photographers captured it all on video, including remarkable tales of human survival, as ordinary citizens became heroes in a drama they never could have imagined. As the waves rush in, a daughter struggles to help her elderly mother ascend their rooftop to safety; a man climbs onto an overpass just as the wave overtakes his car. These never-before-seen stories are captured in video and retold after the fact by the survivors who reveal what they were thinking as they made their life-saving decisions. Their stories provide lessons for how we should all act in the face of life-threatening disasters.

3. 03

   October 19, 2011 · 1h

   Finding Life Beyond Earth: Are We Alone?7.0

   Take a spectacular trip to distant realms of our solar system to discover where secret forms of life may lie hidden. Combining the latest telescope images with dazzling animation, this program immerses audiences in the sights and sounds of alien worlds, while top astrobiologists explain how these places are changing how we think about the potential for life in our solar system. We used to think our neighboring planets and moons were fairly boring, mostly cold, dead rocks where life could never take hold. Today, however, the solar system looks wilder than we ever imagined.

4. 04

   October 26, 2011 · 1h

   Iceman Murder Mystery7.5

   He's been dead for more than 5,000 years and poked, prodded, and probed by scientists for the last 20. Yet Otzi the Iceman, the famous mummified corpse pulled from a glacier in the Italian Alps, continues to keep many secrets. Now, through an autopsy like none other, scientists will attempt to unravel mysteries about this ancient mummy, revealing not only the details of Otzi's death but also an entire way of life. How did people live during Otzi's time, the Copper Age? What did they eat? What diseases did they cope with? Join NOVA as we defrost the ultimate time capsule—the 5,000-year-old man.

5. 05

   November 2, 2011 · 1h

   The Fabric of the Cosmos - What is Space?

   In this four part series, Brian Greene reveals space as a dynamic fabric that can stretch, twist, warp, and ripple under the influence of gravity. Stranger still is the newly discovered dark energy, an ingredient of space that makes up 70 percent of the universe.but scientists have no idea what it is.

6. 06

   November 9, 2011 · 1h

   The Fabric of the Cosmos - The Illusion of Time

   Ask physicists what time actually is, and the answer might shock you: they have no idea. The deep sense we have of time passing from present to past may be an illusion. How can our understanding of something so familiar be so wrong? In search of answers, Brian Greene takes us on the ultimate time-traveling adventure.

7. 07

   November 16, 2011 · 1h

   The Fabric of the Cosmos - Quantum Leap

   Brian Greene explores the weirdness of quantum physics, which governs the universe on the tiniest of scales. While counterintuitive, it's one of the most successful theories in the history of science.

8. 08

   November 23, 2011 · 1h

   The Fabric of the Cosmos - Universe or Multiverse?

   Our universe may be just one of an infinite number of worlds that make up the multiverse. In this show, Brian Greene explains why scientists believe this is true and shows what some of these alternate realities might be like.

9. 09

   January 4, 2012 · 1h

   Deadliest Volcanoes

   Travel with scientists who are attempting to discover how likely volcanoes are to erupt, when eruptions might happen and how deadly they could prove to be.

10. 10

    January 11, 2012 · 1h

    Bombing Hitler's Dams5.5

    Learn about the revolutionary bouncing bomb and the bombers who destroyed two gigantic dams in Germany's industrial heartland during WWII.

11. 11

    January 18, 2012 · 1h

    3D Spies of WWII

    Discover the previously untold story of air photo intelligence that played a vital role in defeating Hitler.

12. 12

    January 25, 2012 · 1h

    Mystery of a Masterpiece8.0

    NOVA meets a new breed of experts who are approaching "cold case" art mysteries as if they were crime scenes, determined to discover "who committed the art," and follows art sleuths as they deploy new techniques to combat the multi-billion dollar criminal market in stolen and fraudulent art.

13. 13

    February 1, 2012 · 1h

    Ice Age Death Trap7.0

    In the Rocky Mountains, archeologists uncover a unique fossil site packed with astonishingly well-preserved bones of mammoths, mastodons, and other giant extinct beasts. The discovery opens a highly focused window on the vanished world of the Ice Age in North America.

14. 14

    February 8, 2012 · 1h

    Separating Twins

    Witness the extraordinary surgery that will allow twin girls, born joined at the head, to live separate lives.

15. 15

    March 28, 2012 · 1h

    Cracking Your Genetic Code

    Discover why the new era of personalized, gene-based medicine is both ominous and promising - and relevant to everyone.

16. 16

    April 4, 2012 · 1h

    Hunting the Elements

    Take a spin with David Pogue through the world of weird, extreme chemistry to unlock the secrets of the elements.

17. 17

    April 11, 2012 · 1h

    Deadliest Tornadoes7.5

    In the wake of April 2011's tornado outbreak, learn how we can protect ourselves and our communities in the future. In 2011, the worst tornado season in decades left a trail of destruction across the U.S., killing more than 550 people. Why was there such an extreme outbreak? How do such outbreaks form? With modern warning systems, why did so many die? Is our weather getting more extreme - and if so, how bad will it get? In this NOVA special, we meet scientists striving to understand the forces at work behind last year's outbreak. Could their work improve tornado prediction in the future? We also meet people whose lives have been upended by these extreme weather events and learn how we all can protect ourselves and our communities for the future.

18. 18

    April 18, 2012 · 1h

    Why Ships Sink7.0

    Find out if modern cruise ships are really safe - or if we're on the brink of a 21st-century Titanic. Twenty million passengers embark on cruises each year, vacationing in deluxe "floating cities" that offer everything from swimming pools to shopping malls to ice skating rinks. And the ships just keep getting bigger: The average cruise ship has doubled in size in just the last ten years. Some engineers fear that these towering behemoths are dangerously unstable, and the recent tragedy of the Costa Concordia has raised new questions about their safety. Now, NOVA brings together marine engineering and safety experts to reconstruct the events that led up to famous cruise disasters, including the ill-fated Concordia, the Sea Diamond, and the Oceanos.

19. 19

    April 25, 2012 · 1h

    Secrets of the Sun8.0

    It contains 99.9 percent of all the matter in our solar system and sheds hot plasma at nearly a million miles an hour. The temperature at its core is a staggering 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. It convulses, it blazes, it sings. You know it as the sun. Scientists know it as one of the most amazing physics laboratories in the universe. Now, with the help of new spacecraft and Earth-based telescopes, scientists are seeing the sun as they never have before and even recreating what happens at its very center in labs here on Earth. Their work will help us understand aspects of the sun that have puzzled scientists for decades. But more critically, it may help us predict and track solar storms that have the power to zap our power grid, shut down telecommunications, and ground global air travel for days, weeks, or even longer. Such storms have happened before—but never in the modern era of satellite communication. "Secrets of the Sun" reveals a bright new dawn in our understanding of our nearest star — one that might help keep our planet from going dark.