NOVA S05E17 · The Desert's Edge

Overview

For thousands of years people have managed to live in deserts all over the world. But in recent years, a growing population and the demands of the international market have put more stress on these poor and easily exhausted lands. NOVA examines the consequences and possible solutions to desertification.

Torrents

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Episodes

1. 1 1. In The Event of Catastrophe1978-01-04 · 55mCan a nuclear war be survived? Some members of the defense community say yes. NOVA explores the possibility.
2. 2 2. The Green Machine1978-01-11 · 55mBotany is a neglected science and plants are all around us, but unfamiliar. NOVA examines our state of knowledge of how plants work: growth hormones, responses to light and shade,
3. 3 3. Blueprints in the Bloodstream1978-01-18 · 55mIt has been known since the turn of the century that there are four human blood groups, based on different red cells and serum characteristics. NOVA looks at the more recent discov
4. 4 4. One Small Step1978-01-25 · 55mPart one of a two-part series on the subject of man in space, NOVA examines the history of NASA—from the origin of the space race through the triumph of the Apollo programs. By tra
5. 5 5. The Final Frontier1978-02-01 · 55mSecond of the two-part series on space programs, NOVA looks ahead to the future, post-Apollo and the role that man in space will play, including the possibility of space colonizati
6. 6 6. BaMiki BaNdula: Children of the Forest1978-02-15 · 55mIn the rain forests of Zaire, in the heart of Africa, live the Mbuti Pygmies. The Pygmy way of life has always been extraordinarily difficult to capture on film, though many have t
7. 7 7. Trial of Denton Cooley1978-02-22 · 55mIn a dramatic docudrama, NOVA reconstructs the controversial lawsuit raised against renowned heart surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley when one of his patients died after heart surgery, and
8. 8 8. The Great Wine Revolution1978-03-01 · 55mA science-based revolution in the making of wine is underway. NOVA traces the secrets of the aging process and science's involvement with the predicting of mass production high-qua
9. 9 9. The Case of the Ancient Astronauts1978-03-08 · 55mNOVA investigates the theories of von Daniken and others that the Earth has been visited by intelligent beings from outer space. Among claims examined are: that the building techni
10. 10 10. The Mind Machines1978-03-22 · 55mToday's scientists may be creating their own successors. Work being done in Artificial Intelligence (AI), a branch of computer science, only suggest that in the not too distant fut
11. 11 11. Icarus' Children1978-03-29 · 55mIn the summer of 1977 Paul MacCready, a California scientist and businessman, won the coveted Kremer Prize. His achievement was to design and build an airplane which completed, una
12. 12 12. Still Waters1978-04-12 · 55mNOVA shows a year in the life of a beaver pond and includes almost every life form that exists in, on, under, around and above the water, from the microscopic plant life of summer
13. 13 13. Battle for the Acropolis1978-04-19 · 55mThe fortified plateau above Athens known as the Acropolis is the site of some of the most remarkable architecture in the world: its marble structures built in the fifth century BC,
14. 14 14. The Road to Happiness. : The Life and Times of Henry Ford1978-05-03 · 55mHenry Ford, a great friend of Edison, was a film enthusiast who amassed some one and a half million feet of film during his lifetime. Deposited in the National Archives and known a
15. 15 15. Laser : Light of the 21st Century1978-05-10 · 55mWhen first invented 18 years ago, lasers were called "a solution looking for a problem;" nobody could think what to do with them. But in fact research scientists immediately began
16. 16 16. Insect Alternative1978-05-24 · 55mIn a world that each year loses up to 40 percent of its crops to insects, some form of pest control is desperately needed. But chemical pesticides have backfired. Pesticide-resista
17. 17 17. The Desert's Edge1978-05-31 · 55mFor thousands of years people have managed to live in deserts all over the world. But in recent years, a growing population and the demands of the international market have put mor
18. 18 18. The Tsetse Trap1978-06-07 · 55mNOVA explores Bovine sleeping sickness. Spread by a fly, it is a deadly disease that poses a threat to Africa's cattle.
19. 19 19. Memories From Eden1978-06-14 · 55mTraditionally zoos were designed neither for people nor animals; barred cages taught people more about their separation from nature than about an animal and its habitat. But just a
20. 20 20. A Whisper from Space1978-06-21 · 55mIn 1965, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, two radio astronomers at Bell Telephone Laboratories, discovered faint, but ever-present, microwave signals from space—the most ancient and
21. 21 21. Alaska: The Closing Frontier1978-06-28 · 55mCongress is currently considering a proposal that would double the size of America's national park system by designating a sizeable chunk of Alaska as off-limits to developers. NOV