Rise of Robots & More Set for PBS's NOVA This Jan/Feb
By: Caryn Robbins Dec. 03, 2015
PBS'S NOVA announces January and February 2016 Program Descriptions:
Premieres Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS
Short: During World War I, the Allies devised a devastating attack, planting 600 tons of explosives in secret tunnels driven under the German trenches. NOVA uncovers traces of the operation and why it failed to break the lethal deadlock of trench warfare. Long: During World War I, the Allies and Germans repeatedly struggled to break the hideous stalemate of trench warfare. In the winter of 1916, Allied engineers devised a massive surprise attack on the German army. Their weapon of choice: 600 tons of explosives, hidden in secret tunnels driven under German lines. Building the tunnels was desperate work, with tunnelers at constant risk from flooding, cave-ins and enemy digging teams; German sappers would listen for telltale sounds and explode counter-mines, or sometimes break through into Allied tunnels and grapple in primitive, face-to-face combat in the dark. At 3:10 AM on June 7th, 25 mines at Messines were simultaneously triggered in what was probably the single biggest non-nuclear explosion of all time, heard clearly in London 150 miles away. 10,000 German troops were killed instantly?but the stunning success was just the beginning of another wartime nightmare. Now, archaeologists are revealing the extraordinary scale and risks of the Allied tunneling operations in the biggest excavation ever undertaken on the Western Front. NOVA follows bomb disposal experts as they clear topsoil packed with shrapnel and unexploded shells and probe one tunnel system connected to what is probably the world?s largest unexploded bomb?a mine consisting of 22 tons of explosives that was flooded by German engineers before the attack. Secret Tunnel Warfare opens a unique window on the frenzy of Allied mining activity that led up to the attack, and its bitter aftermath.
NOVA Life's Rocky Start
Premieres Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS
Short: From the first sparks of life to the survival of the fittest, unearth the secret relationship between rocks and life. NOVA goes around the world and back in time to investigate how minerals are vital to the origins and evolution of life. Long: Four and a half billion years ago, the young Earth was a hellish place a seething chaos of meteorite impacts, volcanoes belching noxious gases, and lightning flashing through a thin, torrid atmosphere. Then, in a process that has puzzled scientists for decades, life emerged. How did it happen? NOVA joins mineralogist Robert Hazen on the rocky trail to resolve this enduring mystery. As Hazen journeys around the globe?from an ancient Moroccan market to the Australian Outback he advances a startling and counterintuitive idea?that the rocks beneath our feet were not only essential to jump-starting life, but then, as microbes flourished and took over the biosphere, life helped give birth to hundreds of minerals we know and depend on today. This intriguing perspective of the co-evolution of Earth and life is reshaping the grand-narrative of our planet's story. In this stunning adventure through billions of years of history, the story of life on Earth is revealed as fundamentally interwoven with the epic, unfolding story of Earth itself.
NOVA Mystery Beneath the Ice
Premieres Wednesday, January 20, 2016 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS
Short: A mystery killer is decimating the population of delicate shrimp-like creatures at the foundation of the Antarctic food chain. Dive under the ice and explore Antarctica's under-ice landscape with a team of scientists as they search for the culprit. Long: They're so tiny you might not notice them if you weren't looking for them. But these delicate, transparent, shrimp-like creatures are crucial to the Antarctic ecosystem and, maybe, to the future of all our oceans. The population of krill has crashed since the 1970s for reasons that continue to baffle the experts. A leading theory says that krill?s life cycle is driven by an internal body clock that responds to the waxing and waning of the Antarctic ice pack. As climate change alters the timing of the ice pack, their life cycle is disrupted or so the theory goes. To test it, NOVA travels on the Polarstern, a state-of-the-art research vessel, to a place rarely, if ever, visited before: the vast ice pack that grows around Antarctica in the winter months, a frigid seasonal continent twice the size of the U.S. The Polarstern fights its way through the pack to establish camps on the ice, from which scientists dive beneath the surface in search of the ice caves in which juvenile krill shelter during the winter. The implications go well beyond the Antarctic ecosystem, for it?s through similar shifts in the timing of the seasons that climate change may have its most devastating impact on the natural world across the globe.
NOVA Himalayan Megaquake
Premieres Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS
Short: Dramatic eyewitness footage reveals the shocking quake that rocked Nepal in April 2015. Join scientists as they examine why this earthquake was so devastating, how the victims are rebuilding, and whether another earthquake may loom on the horizon... Long: On April 25, 2015 a devastating earthquake rocked Nepal. As it ripped across the Himalayas, it wiped out villages and left thousands dead. Featuring harrowing stories of the Nepalese people who lived near the epicenter and of survivors trapped on Everest, NOVA tells the story of this crippling disaster. Through dramatic eyewitness footage, expert interviews, and stunning graphics, NOVA reveals the anatomy of this megaquake while scientists race to answer urgent questions Is another big one just around the corner What can we learn from the deadly combination of earthquakes and landslides And we rebuild to survive the next big one
NOVA "Creatures of Light"
Premieres Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS
NOVA "Memory (w.t.)"
Premieres Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS Discover how researchers on the cutting edge of mind-control can implant, change, and even erase memories. On this thought-provoking journey into the mind, NOVA investigates the mysterious nature of how we remember.
NOVA "Iceman Reborn "
Premieres Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS Murdered more than 5,000 years ago, Otzi the Iceman is the oldest human mummy on Earth. Now, newly discovered evidence sheds light not only on this mysterious ancient man, but on the dawn of civilization in Europe.
NOVA "Rise of the Robots"
Premieres Wednesday, February 24, 2016 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS Machines with human-like capabilities have long been the stuff of science fiction. Until now. Meet the world's most advance humanoid robots as they leave the lab, battle real-world challenges, and endeavor to become part of our everyday lives.
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