This program tells the story of three women in Ethiopia suffering from devastating childbirth injuries. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, the women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. NOVA follows each of them on their journey to a special hospital in Addis Ababa where they find solace for the first time in years, and stays with them as their lives begin to change.
Grade levels: Adult
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Last Extinction
What killed the mammoths? Near the end of the last ice age 13,000 years ago, these mighty beasts disappeared from North America together with some 35 other groups of mammals. For four decades, debate has raged over the cause of their abrupt demise. NOVA presents an in-depth investigation of a controversial new hypothesis which suggests that a massive impact from space could be the culprit, and also explores alternate theories.
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Becoming Human — Unearthing Our Earliest Ancestors – Home Use
Why the AV version? Because it provides additional usage options for PBS videos. AV versions come with limited performance rights so they can be shown in classrooms, at PTA meetings, during after school programs, and transmitted on a closed-circuit system within a building or on a single campus. They also can be enjoyed in admission-free public screenings, which also makes them ideal for use by library patrons and businesses involved in community clubs and organizations.
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Becoming Human — Unearthing Our Earliest Ancestors – Public Performance
Why the AV version? Because it provides additional usage options for PBS videos. AV versions come with limited performance rights so they can be shown in classrooms, at PTA meetings, during after school programs, and transmitted on a closed-circuit system within a building or on a single campus. They also can be enjoyed in admission-free public screenings, which also makes them ideal for use by library patrons and businesses involved in community clubs and organizations.
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Marathon Challenge
Every year thousands of athletes from across the globe flock to Boston to run the city’s marathon, known worldwide as the ultimate test of stamina and endurance. But how do you run 26 miles if you have trouble making it around the block? With good coaching, discipline, and lots of group support, as NOVA shows when it follows 13 sedentary people through a nine-month regimen designed to prepare them for the grueling Boston Marathon.
Filled with personal drama, Marathon Challenge also takes viewers on a scientific adventure inside the human body. What happens to our muscles and hearts when couch potatoes become endurance runners? And what are the hidden risks? NOVA’s behind-the-scenes portrait of the trials, tribulations, and joys of marathon training reaches a climax at the 2007 Boston Marathon. Here our 13 rookie athletes put all their hopes and hard work to the final test, experiencing hidden rewards and floods of emotion at the finish line. -
Lost Treasures of Tibet
Join the race against time as art and restoration experts mix history, science, and politics in a complicated and daunting mission to preserve the surviving sacred masterpieces of an ancient Buddhist kingdom. Travel to a remote part of the world for a remarkably rare look at the spectacular art created by a clandestine Buddhist culture. See astonishingly intricate and expressive Medieval wall paintings, woodcarvings, and a gravity-defying monastery built atop a cliff. And watch as science helps reveal vibrantly colored treasures from the past.
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DNA – Secret of Photo 51
NOVA investigates the shocking truth behind the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA and presents a moving portrait of a brilliant woman in an era of male-dominated science-Rosalind Franklin. Watson and Crick had seen a crucial piece of her data without her permission, an X-ray image, ”Photo 51,” that proved to be a vital clue in their decoding of the double helix. Narrated by Sigourney Weaver.
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First Flower
In a vivid story, blooming with beauty and scientific mystery, NOVA goes hunting for the world’s earliest flower. Although flowers have long been at the center of human life, gracing our gardens and expressing our emotions-not to mention providing us with food, crops, and medicines-the question of how flowers evolved has long baffled scientists. Charles Darwin called it “an abominable mystery.”
But now a tantalizing fossil that bloomed during the reign of the dinosaurs has surfaced in China. In First Flower, NOVA probes the controversy ignited by this unique fossil, and pursues the trail through the stunning lost world of China’s remote Hengduan Mountains. In this spectacular landscape-dubbed the “Mother of All Gardens”-lie the origins of dozens of plants we take for granted today, including forsythia, clematis, rhododendrons, dogwoods, primroses, and the regal lily. How did they reach our gardens? The detective story behind the evolution of our favorite flowers continues to unfold. Join NOVA on the trail of botany’s most beguiling mystery. -
Solar Energy – Saved by the Sun
In the face of global warming and other potentially harmful climate changes, there’s new urgency about finding a solution to our uncertain energy future. Could it be time to take solar energy seriously again? Breakthroughs in new materials and ingenious designs for solar collectors are transforming the technology into a vastly cheaper, more efficient alternative. NOVA presents the latest thinking from solar enthusiasts and skeptics as it investigates these cutting-edge research developments. The film will introduce viewers to the scientists and businesspeople who are racing to make solar power practical-for lighting and heating, and for running power plants.
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