Tuesday, September 7 at 9:00 p.m.
Engineering Ground Zero
NOVA captures the behind-the-scenes struggle of architects and engineers to make the buildings safe and highly secure under the pressures of a tight schedule, the demands of practical office space and efficient “green” architecture, and the public’s expectations of a fitting site for national remembrance. The program features interviews with 1 WTC architect David Childs; Chris Ward, the Port Authority’s executive director; Mayor Michael Bloomberg, chairman of the 9/11 Memorial Foundation; and Michael Arad, the man behind the breakthrough concept for the 9/11 Memorial.
Wednesday, September 14 at 9:00 p.m.
The Smartest Machine
Smartest Machine on Earth chronicles NOVA’s unprecedented, behind- the-scenes access to IBM researchers as they develop the technology for Watson, the state-of-the-art computing system, named after company founder Thomas J. Watson. The film examines the technological feats and hurdles necessary to develop “Watson,” the challenges artificial intelligence researchers face in mimicking the human thought process, and potential applications for the future. This super computer just recently made an appearance on the game show Jeopardy where it competed against two of the show's smartest contestants, Ken Jennings (left) and Brad Rutter (right) and won.
Wednesday, September 28 at 9:00 p.m.
Japan's Killer Quake
The facts and figures are astonishing. The March 11th earthquake was the world's fourth-largest earthquake since record keeping began in 1900 and the worst ever to shake Japan. The seismic shock wave released more than 4,000 times the energy of the largest nuclear test ever conducted; it shifted the earth's axis by six inches and shortened the day by a few millionths of a second. The tsunami slammed Japan's coast with 30-feet-high waves that traveled six miles inland, obliterating entire towns in a matter of minutes. “Japan’s Killer Quake” combines authoritative on-the-spot reporting, personal stories of tragedy and survival, compelling eyewitness videos, explanatory graphics and exclusive helicopter footage for a unique look at the science behind the catastrophe.
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