NOVA - Season 52

For decades UFOs have captivated the public, even as many scientists saw them as too taboo to investigate. Now, after highly publicized sightings of unidentified objects by Navy pilots, UFOs are moving out of the shadows and into the light, as NASA pledges to study them scientifically. So what does science have to say? Though some are identified as balloons or drones, weather phenomena, or optical illusions, others remain mysterious. Could they be the result of secret new technology developed by other governments – or our own? And what would it take for alien engineers to traverse vast distances to send probes or visit Earth from other solar systems? Explore the evidence, as astrophysicists and engineers use new technologies to investigate the strangest objects in our skies.

In New York City, a team of elite designers, engineers, and construction workers are on a mission to build the ultimate airport. The new LaGuardia is America's first new airport in more than 25 years and cost more than $8 billion to build. Over the course of eight years, 7,000 workers must rebuild the old airport to create a brand new, fully connected facility that can handle more than 34 million passengers every year. It takes 72,000 tons of steel and almost 600,000 tons of concrete to construct this engineering marvel, and the team has to battle extreme weather, complex geology, and massive machines. Follow their ups and downs in the extraordinary race to build a new, world-class airport on the site of one of America's busiest aviation hubs.

Contrary to popular belief, dinosaurs never went extinct. They're still alive among us – in the form of birds! Birds are the only dinosaurs that survived the cataclysmic mass extinction caused by an asteroid the size of Mt. Everest crashing into Earth about 66 million years ago. The big question is: How? How did birds manage to not only live through the apocalypse, but also go on to diversify and populate every corner of our planet? Now, rare fossil discoveries are revealing the secrets of bird evolution going back more than 100 million years, telling the story of how some resilient feathered dinos persevered and transformed into the vast array of colorful bird species that fill our skies today.

An archaeological detective story opens a door into an extraordinary moment in the history of Ancient Egypt, as the discovery of a long-lost cemetery not far from King Tut's tomb shines a light on an often-overlooked Egyptian kingdom. Treasures emerge revealing details of a unique period about 2,700 years ago, when kings from Nubia – present-day Sudan – conquered Egypt and shifted the status of Egyptian women, giving them remarkable power. Archaeologists and historians reveal how the ascent of The God's Wife of Amun lifted some women to the highest echelons of religious, political, and financial power in the ancient Egyptian empire.

For over two centuries, archaeologists have hailed Pompeii as a sophisticated city at the heart of an advanced ancient civilization. But a series of new excavations is painting a much more complex picture of the city tragically buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. New archaeological finds – including 2,000-year-old lines of graffiti, human remains, and artifacts from ancient homes and businesses – are revealing a city of both staggering wealth and extreme poverty, dependent on slavery, and riven by political conflicts, violence, and riots. Before Vesuvius rumbled, the jewel of the ancient Roman Empire hid a very dark side.

On March 26, 2024, the world collectively gasped as a massive container ship, the Dali, lost control and plowed into the landmark Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The busy four-lane bridge suffered a catastrophic collapse and crashed into the Patapsco River. Six highway workers were killed, and the Port of Baltimore – a crucial link in the global shipping chain on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States – was blocked by thousands of tons of twisted steel and concrete. How did a modern ship lose all power and propulsion? And why did the bridge fail so catastrophically? Follow the high-stakes rescue and recovery, the efforts to reopen the port, and the investigations into what went wrong and how many other crucial bridges are at risk.

In 1775, a ragtag army of farmers and tradesmen went to war against the most powerful army in the world, ultimately winning American independence. What military technologies did the American colonies use in their fight for freedom, and how did they help propel them to one of history's most unlikely victories? Archaeologists and historians uncover the real stories of innovation, skill, and strategy that determined the outcome of important battles. From the Brown Bess musket to the world's first military submarine, get a closeup look at the powerful and sometimes ingenious weapons that helped the colonies win the war.

Can forests help cool the planet? Follow scientists working in spectacular forest landscapes in Costa Rica, Brazil, Australia, and beyond as they try to untangle complex networks of trees, fungi, and creatures large and small – all in a quest to tackle the twin threats of climate change and species extinction.

Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease than White Americans, and their life expectancy is about five years shorter. Why? In this special feature-length documentary, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson investigates the dramatic health disparities in the U.S., even as scientists confirm that there are no meaningful genetic differences between races. From the deep history of pseudoscientific beliefs about race that still permeate modern medicine, to the latest research on how experiencing discrimination can directly damage the body's DNA and biology, "Critical Condition" reveals the factors behind the health crisis facing Black Americans.

Surprisingly little is known about the behavior of cars and drivers in uncontrolled, real-world accidents, despite rigorous testing in laboratory-controlled crashes. Now, a first-of-its-kind experiment aims to discover what really happens in a multi-vehicle pileup and how cars and driving could be made safer.

In the first episode of this two-part special, go behind the scenes as scientists make a series of high-stakes decisions to ensure the ambitious experiment goes off without a hitch. They only have one shot. The plan is for 8 drivers to drive 8 different cars by remote control at 70 mph down a hazardous straightaway. But how can they best represent real-world conditions to create a crash, especially when the drivers have no idea what's about to happen? How do they ensure that the remote drivers feel natural behind the wheel? And what is needed to fully capture every data-point possible? The intense preparation for the most ambitious crash test ever conducted culminates in the moment of truth as the cars barrel down an airport tarmac and collide in a massive, multi-vehicle pile-up.

Surprisingly little is known about the behavior of cars and drivers in uncontrolled, real-world accidents, despite rigorous testing in laboratory-controlled crashes. Now, a first-of-its-kind experiment aims to discover what really happens in a multi-vehicle pileup and how cars and driving could be made safer.

In the second episode of this two-part special, forensic analysis is put to the test. Real-life crash scene investigations have very little data to work with, so are they accurate? And what can we learn about car safety when there is actual data to show exactly what happened? Follow scientists, engineers, and accident investigators as they analyze a treasure trove of data – more than they've ever been able to work with before. Interviews with drivers offer valuable clues into what they saw and how they reacted, and a LIDAR scan of the scene is stitched together into a digital version of the entire event that can be analyzed millisecond by millisecond. In this unprecedented look at a major multi-vehicle accident, discover insights about driver behavior and vehicle design that could save lives.

Around 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens emerged in Africa – one of at least seven human species alive at the time. Now, we are the only remaining human line, and our impact on the planet is undeniable.In this stunningly cinematic five-part series, paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi takes viewers back in time to trace the surprising story of human origins. Remarkable new fossil evidence, modern DNA sequencing, and other cutting-edge scientific tools are shedding new light on the lives and journeys of long-vanished human species, and how our encounters with them helped make us who we are today. This evidence also reveals how our ancestors survived as they encountered new landscapes, developing the physical and cultural tools to help them survive – and eventually, with the rise of cities and complex civilizations, thrive – as no species has ever done.

Across the Middle East lie thousands of enigmatic stone megastructures whose shape, when seen from the air, looks like giant kites. The oldest were built around 7,000 B.C., predating the earliest Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge by several thousand years. Since their discovery in the 1920s, these "desert kites" have posed a stubborn mystery: Who designed them, and why were they built? How did prehistoric people, before the invention of writing, draw detailed scale models without compasses, hot air balloons, or drones? Using cutting-edge technologies, an international team of archaeologists is determined to find answers and shed new light on the poorly understood Stone Age period of human history. 

In September 2024, Hurricane Helene dumped more than 14 inches of rain on North Carolina, triggering flash floods and mudslides, causing over $50 billion of damage, and killing more than 100 people. A shocked nation wondered how the city that bore the brunt of the destruction – Asheville, at 2,000 feet above sea level and more than 250 miles inland – could have suffered such a fate. With eyewitness testimony, dramatic unseen videos, drone flyovers, and 3D animations, NOVA pieces together a moment-by-moment account of the Asheville disaster. And it looks to other recent flash floods – including the devastating Fourth of July 2025 floods in the Texas Hill Country, and catastrophic flooding in Valencia, Spain – for lessons that might help prevent the next disaster. Are these violent floods becoming more frequent and ferocious? And what can communities do to protect themselves in the future?

The size of a football field, the International Space Station hurtles around Earth at 17,000 mph, shielding its astronauts from the most hostile environment humans have ever endured. To mark the 25th anniversary of the continuous human presence in space, astronauts and Mission Control insiders reveal the most terrifying moments aboard this remarkable orbiting laboratory, where a single mistake could prove fatal. From ammonia leaks, meteor strikes, and docking disasters, to spacewalk horrors, potentially lethal showers of space junk, and the moment the entire ISS backflipped out of control, NOVA uncovers tales of life and death at 1.3 million feet above our planet – and the human ingenuity and teamwork that each time saved the day.