Follow the investigators on the trail of the bombers and see what it takes to crack a bombing case. To show what science can do to help, NOVA profiles several notorious bombing incidents. Get an inside look at the celebrated case of the Unabomber, the World Trade Center, and lesser known cases like the Army of God, the rash of bombings in the Southeast in 1989, and even the tragic story of a booby-trapped toothpaste container placed by a teenager that cost a 5 year old girl her arm.
Producers: WGBH
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Mystery of the Senses Set
Enjoy a celebration of the senses. Hearing visits the quietest place on earth, the music-rich Maori and a deaf woman regaining her hearing. Smell samples a huge spectrum of smells, from the world’s largest perfumery to sweaty t-shirts. Taste savors the miracle of great cooking and eating. Touch discovers that touching is a potent tonic. And Vision explores how art and science enhance our most magical sense. A mysterious perfume. A mouth-watering meal. An ardent kiss. A stirring song. A radiant painting. Our senses are a source of inexhaustible pleasure as well as endless information. Inspired by the bestseller A Natural History of the Senses by poet, author, adventurer and sensory epicure Diane Ackerman, Mystery of the Senses is a vivid blend of science and imagery, literature and folklore, history and personal adventure. In five one-hour programs, this special NOVA miniseries celebrates each of the five senses – hearing, smell, taste, touch and vision – through Ackerman’s unique perspective. “To really have a full ‘sense’ of life,” Ackerman insists, “we need to understand how our senses work- their purpose, range and richness- and think about how they reveal the world to us and fill us with endless pleasures.”
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Mystery of the Senses: Hearing
Enjoy a celebration of the senses- a vivid blend of science and imagery. Visit the quietest place on earth, the music-rich Maori and a deaf woman regaining her hearing.
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Mystery of the Senses: Touch
Enjoy a celebration of the senses-a vivid blend of science and imagery. Discover how touching is a potent tonic.
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Mystery of the Senses: Vision
Enjoy a celebration of the senses- a vivid blend of science and imagery. Explore how art and science enhance vision, our most magical sense.
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Monster of the Milky Way
Join NOVA on a mind-bending hunt for a monster lurking at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers are closing in on one of the most destructive objects in the universe – a supermassive black hole – and it’s hiding right in the center of our own galaxy. Eventually, it will blast jets of radiation millions of miles its space, incinerating everything in its neighborhood, including planet Earth. For a long time, black holes were dismissed as pure science fiction. Even Albert Einstein could not bring himself to accept them, despite pioneering the theory of relativity that predicted their existence. But recently, scientists have found convincing evidence that black holes are not only real but are crucial to the life and death of galaxies everywhere in the cosmos. From the explosive birth of a black hole to its cannibalistic death throes, NOVA investigates one of the universe’s darkest secrets. With striking special effects, Monster of the Milky Way takes viewers on a scientifically accurate voyage into the belly of a supermassive black hole. When will it erupt and destroy the Milky Way?
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Wings of Madness
A century ago, Europe’s most acclaimed celebrity was a fashionable, frail, Brazilian-born aviator named Alberto Santos-Dumont. The first to fly an airplane in Europe, he also pioneered the first practical dirigibles, or powered balloons, and his daring exploits captivated the public. A fearless test pilot and innovator, Santos-Dumont pursued a unique vision of the flying machine as a personal vehicle-he delighted in steering his airship down the Paris boulevards and dropping in at cafes and garden parties. But his burst of glory was short-lived. When the Wright Brothers finally unveiled their airplane – in France – they instantly eclipsed Santos-Dumont’s fame. Eventually, Santos-Dumont slipped into illness and despair, tormented by the knowledge that the airplane, which he believed to be his invention, had become a lethal weapon of war. Based on the acclaimed biography by Paul Hoffman, Wings of Madness tells the colorful and tragic life of this neglected pioneer and brilliant technical improviser, who cut a dashing figure in turn-of-the-century Paris.
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Family That Walks on all Fours
An intense scientific debate has ignited around an extraordinary family living in rural Turkey with five adults who walk with their feet and the palms of their hands. The five siblings were first “discovered” in 2005 by scientist Uter Tan, who created a media sensation by suggesting that the handwalkers might be “genetic throwbacks,” offering clues to our early human ancestors. Intrigued by Tan’s theory, German geneticist Stephan Mundlos is searching for a genetic mutation that could be connected to why early humans first stood upright. But many leading biologists and anthropologists believe that to view these family members as a kind of missing link is both deeply insulting and scientifically incorrect. Since walking upright has long been considered a key milestone in the story of human origins, the discovery of this family raises fascinating questions about genes, social upbringing, and the evolution of our species. Is this the anthropological find of the millennium, or simply a unique medical case? NOVA reveals the touching plight of a family whose unusual handicap has thrust them into the scientific and media spotlight.
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Kingdom of the Seahorse
They’re the stuff of myth: a remarkable fish whose male becomes pregnant and gives birth. Tour the magical and complex world of the seahorse-from an underwater enclave in Australia (where their mating dance is caught on film for the first time) to the bustling apothecary shops of Hong Kong to a village in the Philippines dependent on the seahorse for survival.
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Under the Sea – The Real World of Sharks, Dolphins and Seahorses
This set contains three NOVA DVDs: Kingdom of the Seahorse, Shark Attack! and Private Lives of Dolphins. 168 min on 3 discs