Nova

- Season 39

(2012)

Millions of people around the world live in the shadow of active volcanoes. Under constant threat of massive volcanic eruptions, their homes and their lives are daily at risk from these sleeping giants. From Japan's Mount Fuji to the "Sleeping Giant" submerged beneath Naples to the Yellowstone "supervolcano" in the United States, we will travel with scientists from around the world who are at work on these sites, attempting to discover how likely these volcanoes are to erupt, when it might happen, and exactly how deadly they could prove to be.

The physics and design of the World War II Dambuster attack are examined and recreated.

The story of British aerial military photographic reconnaissance and analysis using stereoscopic viewing techniques during World War II.

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.

In a race against developers in the Rocky Mountains, archaeologists 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.

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

Those in the know contend that soon gene sequencing will be cheap enough that anyone can have their genome deciphered. This program shows how confusing this knowledge can be as people struggle with how to chart their lives and protect their privacy. But it is also leading to promising treatments for previously intractable diseases and patients with mysterious illnesses.

Where do nature's building blocks, called the elements, come from? They're the hidden ingredients of everything in our world, from the carbon in our bodies to the metals in our smartphones. Watch as David Pogue unlocks their secrets.

Scientists strive to understand what caused the devasting tornado outbreak of April 2011. Could their research improve future tornado prediction?

NOVA looks at questions about cruise ship safety and the science of the ships' buoyancy

Nova reviews what scientists have learned in recent years about the sun's behavior and how it works. Most significantly, astronomers are at last beginning to understand the the solar phenomenon that impact our civilization; solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

The Vikings were the most ferocious warriors of the Middle Ages. Especially fearsome were the select few who wielded a formidable weapon: a light, razor sharp, virtually indestructible sword with its maker's name, ULFBERHT, inlaid along the blade.

Nova investigates forensic science and examines how what is often perceived as rock solid forensic evidence can sometimes lead to wrongful convictions. It looks at a cases where false fingerprint and tooth impression matches have lead to wrongful accusations and convictions. It also examines how MRI and CT technology are now being used to determine causes of death. Finally, it examines problems in the forensics of the O.J. Simpson murder case and looks at how crime scene investigators use computers to record crime scenes in minute detail.

Easter Island has mystified the world ever since the first Europeans arrived in 1722.

NOVA will be there for the exhilarating moments after Curiosity's landing on Mars --and for the spectacular discoveries sure to come.

Inside the Megastorm takes viewers moment by moment through Hurricane Sandy, its impacts and the future of storm protection.