From Stone Age Explorers to Treasures of a Sunken City

While taking a break from pursuing your personal brand of amateur science, there's plenty of professional science to read about in magazines, books and on the web. Or you can enjoy some spectacular science on television.

Consider NOVA, the award winning series on Public Television. The range of NOVA programs is remarkable, and some deal with topics that amateur scientists have pursued, including the recent NOVA program America's Stone Age Explorers. See, for example, "The Mammoth Hunter: David Wasion's Quest for Pre-Clovis People in North America" (The Citizen Scientist, 11 February 2005). See also the feature in this installment of The Citizen Scientist related to the legal side of collecting artifacts.

If you enjoy either archaeology or diving, NOVA's recent program on Treasures of the Sunken City is for you.

These programs have already played on PBS, so you will need to check your local listings for when they return. You can also visit the companion web sites for America's Stone Age Explorers and Treasures of the Sunken City.

Meanwhile, standby for 20 March, when NOVA airs, Mystery of the Megaflood. The advance billing asks, "What unleashed a catastrophic flood that scarred thousands of square miles in the American Northwest?" You can find out more at the companion web site.

You can keep up with the latest shows on NOVA at their web site. If a particular program is of special interest, you can buy the DVD from the WGBH Video Shop.

Do you have a favorite TV science series? Send your recommendations to Backscatter. Begin a discussion on the SAS Community Forum. Or write up a review for The Citizen Scientist. Please be fair and be sure to include links.

Forrest M. Mims III