NOVA poster

TV series

NOVA

1974TV-PG53 seasons7.0 / 10

PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits.

Streaming, rental and purchase options

Where to watch in United States

Checked Jul 22, 2026

NOVA is available to stream on DirecTV On Demand, Prime Video, YouTube TV, and Hoopla in United States. You can also rent or buy it from Google Play, Amazon, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home. Use the direct links below to open the provider.

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Synopsis

PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits.

Season 22 episodes

Choose an episode, then use the watch options above for the show.

← Season 21

Episode 1

Mammoths of the Ice Age

55m

The subjects of Stone Age cave paintings thunder onto the screen as NOVA explores Woolly Mammoths. Recent discoveries show that the hairy ancestors of elephants fought off extinction much longer than anyone thought, surviving on an isolated island in the Arctic Ocean until as recently as 4,000 year ago.

Where to watch NOVA

Episode 2

Vikings in America

55m

NOVA investigates the myth and reality of the first known Europeans to reach North America -Vikings. These intrepid Norsemen explored and settled parts of present-day North America 500 years before Columbus set sail.

Where to watch NOVA

Episode 3

Little Creatures Who Run the World

55m1.0 / 10

NOVA looks at the most successful life forms on the face of the planet in Ants: Little Creatures Who Run the World, hosted by Harvard University's internationally renowned ant authority, naturalist Edward O. Wilson. What's impressive about ants is how they practice what we preach: family values. Unselfishness is the rule. Everything they do is for their colony's good. For them, socialism works.

Where to watch NOVA

Episode 4

Nazi Designers of Death

55m

NOVA uses recently discovered documents to uncover the complicity of German architects and engineers in the Holocaust. Focusing on Auschwitz, the program tells a tale of ever-deepening evil as the prison camp was methodically converted into a super-efficient factory for genocide.

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Episode 5

Siamese Twins

55m

Born joined at the pelvis, Siamese twins Dao and Duan were brought to the United States from Thailand to assess their chances for being separated surgically. NOVA covers the intricate planning and protracted operations that eventually made the two girls into two distinct individuals.

Episode credits

Guest stars Stacy Keach

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Episode 6

Mystery of the Senses—Hearing

55m

Shortly after midnight on 17 July 19l8, at a house in the town of Ekaterinburg in the Ural mountains, Bolshevik guards awakened the deposed Tsar Nicholas II together with his family and forced them into the basement, where they were shot and clubbed to death. NOVA follows forensic tests of skeletons discovered in Ekaterinburg in 1979 that are alleged to be the remains of the Russian royals, and explores the intriguing claim that Anna Anderson of Charlottesville, Virginia, was really the long lost Anastasia.

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Episode 7

Mystery of the Senses—Smell

55m

NOVA unravels baffling cases of bad air in buildings all over the world. Even hospitals are on the "sick building" list - along with offices, schools, homes and just about any enclosed space.

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Episode 11

The Universe Within

55m

What amazing processes go on inside super-athletes and couch potatoes alike? NOVA uses the latest medical imaging techniques to explore the body's incredible inner workings-with the help of Olympic ice skater Bonnie Blair, world record long jumper Mike Powell and others.

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Episode 12

Making of a Doctor

55m

In the third installment of a 10-year project, NOVA checks up on a group of aspiring doctors who've been chronicled since their first day of medical school in 1987. Now bona fide MDs and in the middle of residency training, the group faces the awesome responsibility of curing the sick and keeping their own lives intact.

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Episode 13

Fast Cars

55mfinale

What does it take to win at Indy? NOVA follows champion race driver Bobby Rahal and a team of engineers as they strive to design a new car that can win the checkered flag at the Memorial Day classic. The program also features racing insights from top drivers Emerson Fittipladi, Willy T. Ribbs and Lyn Saint James.

Where to watch NOVA

Episode information updated Jul 25, 2026

More about NOVA

Cast

Corey JohnsonNarrator
Jay O. SandersSelf - Narrator (voice)
Demetri GoritsasNarrator
Richard SmithHost
Lance LewmanNarrator (voice)
Ted MarcouxNarrator
Peter ThomasNarrator
Brian GreeneHost

Production details

Status
Returning Series
Series type
Documentary
Episodes
1,025
Original language
English

Networks & production

  • PBSUnited States
  • GBHUnited States

Themes

candiddramaticfactualinspirationalinstructivenature