Nova

[DanaK]

About Nova episodes

“Baltimore Bridge Collapse” was pretty interesting and got into the details of what happened. I live not too far from Baltimore so this held special interest for me. Thankfully the bridge collapsed late at night or there would have been far more fatalities

[proserpina65]

This one hit home for me because I've crossed that bridge several times.  The details of how the accident happen were fascinating and scary.  And yes, if this had happened during rush hour, the fatalities would've probably numbered in the hundreds.

[DanaK]

For April 2025:

“Revolutionary War Weapons” (explores key miliary tech in the Revolutionary War), April 9

“Secrets of the Forest” (can forests help cool the planet?), April 16

“Critical Condition: Health in Black America” (filmmaker Stanley Nelson investigates the health disparities between Black and other Americans), April 30

[DanaK]

For May:

“Ultimate Test Crash” (most ambitious car crash test ever attempted; 2 parts), premieres May 7

Edited May 8 by DanaK

[DanaK]

Part 1 of Ultimate Crash Test was really fascinating, especially seeing the planned crash at the end, which was pretty scary to watch

[Shrek]

Just like the gravel being the closest to an icy road surface I think the results will throw up some very interesting & unexpected results. 

[DanaK]

2 hours ago, Shrek said:

Just like the gravel being the closest to an icy road surface I think the results will throw up some very interesting & unexpected results. 

Ah, I somehow missed that explanation and couldn't understand the purpose of the gravel. It just seemed like a weird road surface that one wouldn't see in real life

[Shrek]

24 minutes ago, DanaK said:

Ah, I somehow missed that explanation and couldn't understand the purpose of the gravel. It just seemed like a weird road surface that one wouldn't see in real life

They were trying to mimic icy road conditions, so they had a professional driver drive over to 3 different surfaces & hit the brakes at the same speed each time. Just oil, an oil & water mix and gravel, and to everyone's surprise the gravel took the longest to stop, by quite a distance, while the other 2 made no difference to normal road conditions. I thought it was fascinating & very surprising. 

[DanaK]

2 minutes ago, Shrek said:

They were trying to mimic icy road conditions, so they had a professional driver drive over to 3 different surfaces & hit the brakes at the same speed each time. Just oil, an oil & water mix and gravel, and to everyone's surprise the gravel took the longest to stop, by quite a distance, while the other 2 made no difference to normal road conditions. I thought it was fascinating & very surprising. 

I did note they were doing 3 different road surfaces, but not that they were mimicking icy road conditions, but I was on my iPad at the same time so there were parts of the dialogue I didn't retain. I should watch the episode again and pay attention

[Cress]

On 3/30/2025 at 11:40 AM, DanaK said:

“Critical Condition: Health in Black America” (filmmaker Stanley Nelson investigates the health disparities between Black and other Americans), April 30

This episode was fascinating, going into dark history like the "father of gynecology" doing surgeries on enslaved women without ether, and racist science claiming that Black people were a different species. All as terrible as the Tuskegee experiment.

The segregated neighborhoods full of pollution continued to wreak havoc on Black health. They still haven't tried to clean up the radiation at that port! The modern doctors learned about implicit bias in school, but with the shortage of doctors, can they make a difference? I did like seeing the midwives make a comeback.

[Shrek]

On 5/8/2025 at 9:32 AM, DanaK said:

I did note they were doing 3 different road surfaces, but not that they were mimicking icy road conditions, but I was on my iPad at the same time so there were parts of the dialogue I didn't retain. I should watch the episode again and pay attention

The 2nd part of this was absolutely fantastic & even more fascinating than I thought it would be. Can't remember the last time I watched something so intently because I didn't want to miss anything.

[DanaK]

4 minutes ago, Shrek said:

The 2nd part of this was absolutely fantastic & even more fascinating than I thought it would be. Can't remember the last time I watched something so intently because I didn't want to miss anything.

I watched the 2nd part this morning though not as closely as I should have and so will watch it again, but I agree. From the parts I did pay full attention to, it was fascinating and very enlightening. I was looking forward to this when I saw it was coming up because it sounded like something I haven't seen detailed before, but it was better than I was even expecting. And rather unnerving and scary given such a multi-car pileup and all the damage. It was interesting to see the investigators, who were not told beforehand the details of what happened, figure out what happened

BTW, I did rewatch Part 1 without other things to distract me and it was quite good

 

[DanaK]

On 5/15/2025 at 11:36 AM, DanaK said:

I watched the 2nd part this morning though not as closely as I should have and so will watch it again, but I agree. From the parts I did pay full attention to, it was fascinating and very enlightening. I was looking forward to this when I saw it was coming up because it sounded like something I haven't seen detailed before, but it was better than I was even expecting. And rather unnerving and scary given such a multi-car pileup and all the damage. It was interesting to see the investigators, who were not told beforehand the details of what happened, figure out what happened

BTW, I did rewatch Part 1 without other things to distract me and it was quite good

 

I rewatched Part 2 with more attentiveness and wow was it enlightening. I never knew that airbags weren't much help if someone is hit multiple times or hits multiple things because they deflate almost immediately after the initial hit. Some things I think were made clear:

1. Always wear your seatbelt

2. Be as attentive when driving as possible. I know I've let my mind wander at times

3. Be a defensive driver, though it was made clear that stopping before you get to the accident/pileup may not protect you from an inattentive driver behind you. Even stopping just short of a pileup could still get you hit. I guess one should try to get to the side of the road and stop, but in a pileup there may be too much happening for you to be safe. I was surprised when one of the experts suggested that one probably shouldn't stay in the car after an accident and should maybe get out and get away from the accident as soon as posslbe. I would think that would increase the possibility of the person being hit, especially if there are multiple accidents

The unexpected event of the car going under the upturned trailer was wild

 

[Driad]

3 hours ago, DanaK said:

I was surprised when one of the experts suggested that one probably shouldn't stay in the car after an accident and should maybe get out and get away from the accident as soon as posslbe

Was that really what they said?  I thought it was about the cars that were stopped at the side of the road before the accident, that the expert said the people should have got out and away from the road.

[DanaK]

3 minutes ago, Driad said:

Was that really what they said?  I thought it was about the cars that were stopped at the side of the road before the accident, that the expert said the people should have got out and away from the road.

I'm not sure, I may have heard wrong or misunderstood

[Shrek]

6 hours ago, DanaK said:

 

The unexpected event of the car going under the upturned trailer was wild

 

That was a 1 in a 1,000,000 chance & I doubt it could be replicated easily without it going horribly wrong. 

I think the comment about getting out & getting away was about the people in the stopped vehicles, you don't want to be trying that while things are still moving & getting hit.