Episode
NOVA: The Business of Extinction
Overview
NOVA explores the huge international illegal trade in animals, penetrates the thriving underworld of smugglers and assesses the effects on vanishing wildlife.
Details
- Series
- NOVA
- Season
- Season 4
- Episode
- Episode 13
- Air date
- 1977-04-20
- Runtime
- 55 min
Episode context
The Business of Extinction is Episode 13 in Season 4 of NOVA. It aired on 1977-04-20. The runtime is 55 min.
Previous / Next
Episode 12: The Dawn of the Solar Age
Solar energy is increasingly popular as a home heating source. But only recently has it been seriously considered as a source of industrial power. NOVA looks at this new industrial approach, such as the use of a huge windmill in Ohio, giant machines that may generate electricity from the heat of the tropical seas or from the motion of waves, and an orbiting solar power station able to beam microwaves to earth.
Episode 14: The Red Planet
NOVA traces 300 years of speculation, investigation and discovery that have centered on Mars—particularly the theory that the planet could support life. Questions raised by NASA's 1976 Viking mariner missions about how the vast canyons were formed are also explored.
More episodes from this season
Episode 11: The Wolf Equation
In the winter of 1976-77, 80 percent of the wolf population in Northwest Alaska was the target of aerial hunts. Although the area is roamed by the Western Arctic caribou herds—a natural predator of the wolf—the caribou population has been steadily decreasing in number. NOVA examines how the Dept. of Fish and Game is handling the the problem of wolf control.
Episode 15: Tongues of Men (1)
In part one of this two-part exploration of the diversity of world languages, NOVA examines how and why the bewildering confusion of languages came about.
Episode 10: The Human Animal
NOVA investigates the controversial theory of Harvard University biologist E.O. Wilson, that many aspects of human behavior are genetically determined.
Episode 16: Tongues of Men (2)
In part two of this two-part series on the diversity of language, NOVA explores how man has coped with the confusion of language and asks if the growing acceptance of English is the answer.
Episode 9: The Gene Engineers
NOVA explores the history of genetic engineering and the possible risks and benefits of this area of research
Episode 17: Linus Pauling: Crusading Scientist
NOVA profiles Linus Pauling—the only person to have received two unshared Nobel Prizes for his work in nuclear weapons.
Episode 8: The Pill for the People
NOVA profiles chemist Russell Marker who made the birth control pill possible by discovering a synthetic substitute for the hormone progesterone.
Episode 18: Across the Silent Barrier
NOVA explores the different means by which hearing-impaired people have learned to penetrate the world of the hearing by visiting with Kitty O'Neil—a woman record-holding speed car racer; Frances Parsons, an advocate of hearing-impaired persons' rights; and workers at Silent Industries—a factory in Los Angeles founded by a deaf man.
Episode 7: Bye Bye Blackbird
NOVA looks at blackbirds, their winter habit of nesting in the millions, and the destruction they do to crops.
Episode 19: The New Healers
NOVA explores the delibitating diseases that are often caused by poverty and follows two paths to health care in Tanzania and the United States.