Can Science Build a Champion Athlete?

February 16, 1993

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NOVA - S20 - E6

Athletes are training smarter, running faster, jumping higher and generally outperforming their predecessors—thanks to high technology. NOVA covers the record-setting trend for improving sports performance with science.

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NOVA: Season 20 - 20 Episode s

20x1 - The Hunt for Saddam's Secret Weapons
January 5, 1993
In a 90-minute special presentation, NOVA reveals the ancient secrets of how the pyramids were built by actually building one. A noted Egyptologist, Mark Lehner, and a professional stonemason, Roger Hopkins (This Old House), join forces in the shadow of the Great Pyramid of Giza to put clever and sometimes bizarre pyramid construction theories to the test.
20x2 - Can Bombing Win a War?
January 19, 1993
The Gulf War was fought in 38 days of non-stop bombing and four days of swift ground action. Did bombing win it? NOVA looks at the history of strategic bombing and asks whether bombing has now achieved preeminence in warfare.
20x3 - The Deadly Deception
January 26, 1993
For four decades, 400 African American men from Macon, Alabama were unwitting participants in a government study of untreated syphilis. NOVA tells the story of this notorious human experiment. George Strait, ABC News Medical Correspondent, hosts.
20x4 - Nazis and the Russian Bomb
February 2, 1993
NOVA tells the story of the German scientists abducted to the Soviet Union after World War II to help build an atomic bomb. The success of the crash program in 1949, with the explosion of the first Soviet nuclear weapon, shocked the world.
20x5 - In the Path of a Killer Volcano
February 9, 1993
NOVA covers scientists on the brink of a sputtering, shaking, impatient volcano, trying to forecast when it will go off. When it does, Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines goes big time, producing the largest volcanic eruption in 80 years.
20x6 - Can Science Build a Champion Athlete?
February 16, 1993
Athletes are training smarter, running faster, jumping higher and generally outperforming their predecessors—thanks to high technology. NOVA covers the record-setting trend for improving sports performance with science.
20x7 - Diving for Pirate Gold
February 23, 1993
These days, piracy on the high seas often involves sonar, magnometers, metal detectors and other high-tech equipment for finding and plundering sunken ships. NOVA explores the swashbuckling seafaring pirates of old and their present-day successors.
20x8 - Murder, Rape and DNA
March 2, 1993
Wherever we shed our body cells, we leave an indisputable identity card: our DNA. NOVA investigates the new science of DNA typing which is putting increasing numbers of murderers and rapists behind bars.
20x9 - The Lost Tribe
March 30, 1993
NOVA covers both sides of the stormy controversy over the Tasaday tribe. When these isolated cave dwellers were discovered in the Philippines in 1971, they were hailed as a Stone Age relic. Now, many anthropologists denounce them as fakes.
20x10 - The NOVA Quiz
October 5, 1993
NOVA fans from around the country match wits in a fast-paced contest of general science knowledge celebrating NOVA's 20th anniversary. Famous guests pose questions for the viewers at home. Marc Summers hosts.
20x11 - Wanted: Butch and Sundance
October 12, 1993
Forensic sleuth Clyde Snow and a posse of experts travel to Bolivia in search of the remains of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They find Hollywood and legend got a few things wrong.
20x12 - Secrets of the Psychics
October 19, 1993
Secrets of the Psychics was a PBS NOVA episode following James Randi's work. Also appearing in stock footage are Peter Popoff, Uri Geller, and many others. In the program, "Randi argues that successful psychics depend on the willingness of their audiences to believe that what they see is the result of psychic powers." This program is not to be confused with a later UK documentary Secrets of the Psychics, which was transmitted under this title as well as Secrets of the Super Psychics.
20x13 - Dying to Breathe
October 26, 1993
NOVA covers the tense vigil of three people with terminal lung disease as they await the most complex of all organ transplants—a new lung. Months of waiting end in a few frenzied hours of intricate surgery.
20x14 - Shadow of the Condor
November 2, 1993
NOVA soars with the condor, an extraordinary bird that lives a tenuous existence in the California mountains and the Andes of South America. Footage includes never-before-photographed nesting sites in the cliffs of Patagonia.
20x15 - The Real Jurassic Park
November 9, 1993
With help from director Steven Spielberg, author Michael Crichton and a host of scientific experts , NOVA investigates what it would take to recreate the dinosaur theme park in Jurassic Park. It won't be as easy as it was for Hollywood.
20x16 - Roller Coaster!
November 16, 1993
NOVA takes viewers on the ride of their lives as it explores the science of roller coasters, where physics and psychology meet. New rides of the future may take place entirely in the mind—with virtual reality.
20x17 - Mysterious Crash of Flight 201
November 30, 1993
US federal investigators are called in to determine the cause of a mysterious jetliner crash in Panama. Nothing about the accident makes sense, until a key clue emerges.
20x18 - Great Moments from NOVA
December 7, 1993
Bill Cosby guides viewers through the most exciting footage from two decades of NOVA in a 20th anniversary salute. Real-life action, adventure, mystery, drama and non-stop discovery fill this 90-minute special.
20x19 - The Best Mind Since Einstein
December 21, 1993
A profile of the late Richard Feynman—atomic bomb pioneer, Nobel prize-winning physicist, acclaimed teacher and all-around eccentric, who helped solve the mystery of the space shuttle Challenger explosion.
20x20 - Stranger in the Mirror
December 28, 1993
NOVA explores the nature of human perception through the puzzling condition called visual agnosia, the inability to recognize faces and familiar objects, made famous in Oliver Sacks' book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

20x1 - The Hunt for Saddam's Secret Weapons

20x2 - Can Bombing Win a War?

20x3 - The Deadly Deception

20x4 - Nazis and the Russian Bomb

20x5 - In the Path of a Killer Volcano

20x6 - Can Science Build a Champion Athlete?

20x7 - Diving for Pirate Gold

20x8 - Murder, Rape and DNA

20x9 - The Lost Tribe

20x10 - The NOVA Quiz

20x11 - Wanted: Butch and Sundance

20x12 - Secrets of the Psychics

20x13 - Dying to Breathe

20x14 - Shadow of the Condor

20x15 - The Real Jurassic Park

20x16 - Roller Coaster!

20x17 - Mysterious Crash of Flight 201

20x18 - Great Moments from NOVA

20x19 - The Best Mind Since Einstein

20x20 - Stranger in the Mirror

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