Subjects: Physical Science

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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During the Ice Age-a million or more years ago-Australia was home to a zoo of extraordinary giant animals, including eight-foot-tall kangaroos, wombats the size of hippos, snakes that were three feet in diameter, and a horned tortoise as big as a Volkswagen. But none was quite as bizarre or fearsome as Thylacoleo, the meat-eating marsupial lion. Pound for pound, this creature had the most powerful bite of any mammal, living or extinct. But even though it was the king of ancient Australian predators, Thylacoleo was eventually toppled from its throne, dying out along with all the rest of the outsized beasts. What happened to drive so many extraordinary megabeasts into oblivion?

Erected by the ancient Greeks as a temple to Athena, the Parthenon has served as a church, a fortress, an ammunition dump, and the model for countless banks, courthouses, and museums across the world. It has been shot at, exploded, set on fire, rocked by earthquakes, looted for its magnificent sculptures, and subjected to restorations that have been termed “catastrophic.” Surprisingly, despite much abuse and renown as an icon of Western civilization, the question of how the Parthenon was built has been largely ignored until recently. Thanks to the Greek government’s $10 billion restoration program, scholars are finally probing the enigmas of its planning and construction. With unprecedented access, NOVA presents the inside story of the official restoration, which reaches far beyond the challenges and controversies of conserving one of the world’s best-known buildings. The researchers are confronting some truly monumental riddles: How did the ancient Athenians build their great temple with incredible precision in a mere eight years? How did they manage to incorporate subtle, eye-pleasing distortions into the Parthenon’s layout, such that there are few straight lines or right angles to be seen? And, most baffling of all, how did they accomplish all of this without an overall building plan or blueprint, which would be indispensable to a modern architect?

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.