As of July 2026, NOVA Season 6 aired in 1979 with 19 episodes — streaming now on Hoopla. Full episode guide and where to watch below.
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NOVA Season 6

1979 19 Episodes Documentary ⭐ 7/10

Right now you can watch NOVA Season 6 on and — and it earns the access it was given. Across 1 season, the show has had time to find its rhythm and keep it. 140 viewers have already rated it on TMDB — the kind of consensus that does not happen by accident. The access the production secured is remarkable, and it does justice to it. Put it on tonight and see for yourself.

Whatever else is competing for your attention this week, NOVA Season 6 is worth clearing space for. NOVA Season 6 resists the urge to oversimplify a subject that deserves better. Season 6 of NOVA includes 19 episodes. It aired from January 1979 to December 1979. Episodes include "Black Tide", "Long Walk Of Fred Young", "A World Of Difference". It was aired in 1979. NOVA Season 6 lets its subjects speak for themselves rather than shaping them into a predetermined narrative. There is real craft here, even in the moments that do not fully land.

NOVA Season 6 is the kind of documentary you immediately want to recommend to someone else. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. The complete run is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. The access the production gets is remarkable, and the storytelling does full justice to it. Worth watching in order, from the beginning.

📡 Where to Watch NOVA Season 6

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🇬🇧 United Kingdom
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🎬 NOVA Season 6 — Episode Guide

E1
Black Tide
1979-01-04
On the morning of March 16, 1978, the US owned, Liberian registered supertanker, the Amoco Cadiz, went aground off the coast of Brittany. Over the following days and weeks its entire 68 million gallons of oil drained into the sea. A NOVA production team began filmming at the scene shortly after the ...
E2
Long Walk Of Fred Young
1979-01-11
As a child, Fred Young hunted birds and wild animals with primitive weapons, spoke only the Indian languages Ute and Navajo, went to a medicine man when he was sick, and slept under the stars. NOVA profiles Dr. Frederick Young, now a nuclear physicist working on the laser fusion project at the Los A...
E3
A World Of Difference
1979-01-18
In 1945, B.F. Skinner shocked the world by putting his 13 month-old daughter, Deborah, into a "box." The box was actually a climate-controlled crib designed for comfort and protection, and the young psychologist was merely testing his theory that environment controls behavior. NOVA portrays the life...
E4
Cashing In On The Ocean
1979-02-01
The bed of the northeast Pacific Ocean is covered with a "carpet" estimated to be worth a staggering ten million dollars. These manganese nodules—the bumpy carpet—are rich not only in manganese but in the key strategic minerals: copper, nickel and cobalt. NOVA examines the debate about who owns them...
E5
Patterns From The Past
1979-02-08
Below the snow-capped peaks of the Peruvian Andes, the Q'eros Indians live a life patterned on that of their ancestors thousands of years ago. NOVA takes a look at the unchanging world of these isolated mountain people.
E6
The Invisible Flame
1979-02-22
Some day hydrogen may replace the gasoline that we are now using up so rapidly. NOVA looks at the potential of hydrogen as a zero-pollution fuel.
E7
The End Of The Rainbow
1979-03-01
Is nuclear fusion the solution to the energy crisis? NOVA examines the promise—and problems—of fusion as a future energy source.
E8
The Beersheva Experiment
1979-03-08
Health care is the third largest industry in the US. As a result of billions of dollars spent for medical education in the 1960s, there are now too many specialists and too few primary care physicians, especially in underserved areas. NOVA tells the story of one medical school in Israel that is trai...
E9
Einstein
1979-03-15
One hundred years after his birth, Albert Einstein remains an enigma to most Americans. NOVA presents an insightful portrait of the man and his mind through rarely viewed film footage.
E10
The Keys Of Paradise
1979-03-29
Some powerful and complex painkilling drugs have just been discovered—in a place where you would least expect to find them. Endorphins and their component enkephalins are manufactured in the brain, and perform the same painkilling function as analgesics like morphine. NOVA explores some physiologica...
E11
A Plague on our Children
1979-10-02
Is the chemical industry a boom to modern civilization, or a major threat to our health and that of future generations? NOVA examines how toxic heribicides, Pesticides, and other chemicals may cause cancer, Miscarriages and Birth defects in humans.
E12
Life on a Silken Thread
1979-10-09
Sinister, sometimes even deadly, spiders have little popular appeal; yet their silken webs are among nature's loveliest creations. NOVA takes a close-look in slow motion, as spiders reveal a delicate grace and beauty, and an amazing array of lifestyles.
E13
Sweet Solutions
1979-10-16
NOVA views the history of sugar—from its scientific, religious and political history to its medical controversy.
E14
Race for the Gold
1979-10-30
At the 1976 Olympics, East German athletes walked off with 40 of the coveted gold medals, though their country is only the size of New Jersey. NOVA investigates whether a drug is responsible for their incredible success—or is American athletic training and commitment falling behind that of the Commu...
E15
All Part of the Game
1979-11-06
Thousands of amateur athletes are hurt every year, and many professional athletes suffer injuries that may mean the end of a career. NOVA looks at a new medical specialty—sports medicine—that promises to prevent and cure many sports related problems.
E16
India: Machinery of Hope
1979-11-20
Most of India lives by the same rhythm, the same tools, as in centuries past. But there is another India—with thriving commercial centers, spotless research laboratories and large-scale industry. NOVA looks at how the gap between these two extremes is shrinking because of a policy of "appropriate" t...
E17
The Bridge that Spanned the World
1979-12-04
The Iron Bridge across the River Severn in Telford, England is two centuries old this year. It remains a monument to the Shropshire iron masters who built it, and a symbol of the Industrial Revolution that was born in the area where the bridge stands. NOVA traces the development of ironmaking and it...
E18
Termites to Telescopes
1979-12-11
Dr. Philip Morrison, Institute Professor and professor of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, presents this thoughtful and provocative commentary on the nature of civilization.
E19
Blindness: Five Points of Views
1979-12-18
For many people the idea of life without vision is as fearful as death. NOVA looks at five people struggling to save their threatened vision using drugs, surgery, counseling and determination.

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