Duncan Copp
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Comets have fascinated, even terrified us for thousands of years. This year, a particularly massive chunk of ice and rock is hurtling our way, an object that will fascinate billions and should create the space show of the century. Right now Comet Ison, somewhere between 1 and 10 kilometers in diameter, is just beyond the orbit of Jupiter. As it races past us toward the sun it should develop a tail that will light up the skies brighter than a full...
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Embark on an astounding journey across 100,000 light-years to witness key moments in the history of the Milky Way. Using cutting-edge science, National Geographic constructs a 3-D state-of-the-art CGI model of the galaxy. Peer into the heart of the Milky Way on the hunt for super-massive black holes, watch how stars are born and die, fly out and above the plane of the galaxy to understand its true shape, and scour its dusty spiral arms for the possibility...
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The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010 turned much of the northern hemisphere into an ash-strewn no-fly zone. Katla, an Icelandic volcano 10 times bigger, has begun to swell and grumble, and Hekla and Laki, could erupt without warning. Iceland is a ticking time bomb: When it blows, the consequences will be global. What can we do to prepare for the coming disaster?
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In October 2012, Megastorm Sandy cut a path of devastation across the Caribbean and the East Coast, killing hundreds and doing tens of billions of dollars in damage. To many, it was a wake-up call. Now, one year after Sandy's deadly strike, NOVA follows up on the 2012 film Inside the Megastorm with a fresh investigation of the critical questions raised by this historic storm: Was Megastorm Sandy a freak combination of weather systems? Or are hurricanes...
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Drones. These unmanned flying robots–some as large as jumbo jets, others as small as birds–do things straight out of science fiction. Much of what it takes to get these robotic airplanes to fly, sense, and kill has remained secret. But now, with rare access to drone engineers and those who fly them for the U.S. military, NOVA reveals the amazing technologies that make drones so powerful as we see how a remotely-piloted drone strike looks and feels...
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3,600-year-old reliefs in Egyptian tombs and temples depict pharaohs and warriors proudly riding into battle on horse-drawn chariots. Some historians claim that the chariot launched a technological and strategic revolution, and was the secret weapon behind Egypt's greatest era of conquest known as the New Kingdom. But was the Egyptian chariot really a revolutionary design? How decisive a role did it play in the bloody battles of the ancient world?...
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What makes a person walk into a theater or a church or a classroom full of students and open fire? What combination of circumstances compels a human being to commit the most inhuman of crimes? Can science in any way help us understand these horrific events and provide any clues as to how to prevent them in the future? As the nation tries to understand the tragic events at Newtown, NOVA correspondent Miles O’Brien separates fact from fiction, investigating...
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Over 60,000 years ago, the first modern humans—people physically identical to us today—left their African homeland and entered Europe, then a bleak and inhospitable continent in the grip of the Ice Age. But when they arrived, they were not alone: the stocky, powerfully built Neanderthals had already been living there for hundred of thousands of years. So what happened when the first modern humans encountered the Neanderthals? Did we make love...
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NOVA returns to Ground Zero to witness the final chapter in an epic story of engineering, innovation, and the perseverance of the human spirit. Ground Zero Supertower examines the new skyscraper, One World Trade Center, rising up 104 stories and 1,776 feet from the site where the Twin Towers once stood. NOVA also goes underground to see another engineering marvel taking shape here: the construction of the National September 11 Memorial Museum that...
12) Magnetic storm
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On March 13, 1989, the lights went out across Canada and the eastern seaboard of the United States. One of the most serious power grid failures in American history was caused by a magnetic storm. Nova explores one of the most serious threats to life.
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Now, with the help of new spacecraft and Earth-based telescopes, scientists are seeing the Sun as they never have before and even re-creating what happens at the very center of the Sun. Their work will help us understand aspects of the sun that have puzzled scientists for decades. Secrets of the Sun reveals a bright new dawn in our understanding of our nearest star, one that might help keep our planet from going dark.
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In 2013, a particularly massive chunk of ice and rock is hurtling towards the Atlantic Ocean. The object's size will fascinate billions and should create the space show of the century. Follow scientists on the trail of the once-in-lifetime comet ISON and explore the cultural obsession with these celestial visitors.
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Between 1968 and 1972, the world watched in awe each time an American spacecraft voyaged to the Moon. Only 12 American men have walked upon its surface and they remain the only human beings to have stood on another world. Now for the first time, a combination of archival material from the original NASA film footage, much of it never before seen and interviews with the surviving astronauts tells the story of the Apollo space program.
16) Dimming the sun
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While global warming has been heating up the world, recently scientists were stunned to discover that the sun has actually been growing dimmer, with less and less sunlight reaching earth's surface. Nova unravels this baffling climate detective story.