NOVA: Season 38 (2011)

This installment of NOVA examines how the great medieval cathedrals were built. The architectural marvels, made from stone and by hand, often required the labor of entire towns, and some took 100 years to finish. Many, however, now may collapse. Here, architects, engineers, computer scientists and art historians investigate the secrets used to build them in order to save them, including how the soaring, glass-filled walls where erected.

This riveting documentary from the filmmakers at NOVA follows the stories of three of the teams who helped rescue the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for 69 days following a collapse in 2010. Using the commentary and analysis of experts and engineers, and with animations and other recreations, the program explains the superhuman task of getting the workers out alive.

Nova examines the technology powering elevators, and investigates their overall safety in transporting over 325 million passengers daily. The program also speaks with several people who have experienced the terror of being stuck inside of a malfunctioning elevator.

Movies and TV shows have long portrayed the domestic bond between dogs and humans and now NOVA: Dog Decoded uses science to try and figure out what exactly makes Fido best friend material. This PBS special looks to genetics to explain a dog's ability to read human emotion and how humans establish a bond with their dogs similar to a mother and her child. The relation between dogs and wild wolves is also examined in an effort to discover just how these beloved canines were domesticated.

This riveting documentary from the filmmakers at NOVA seeks to uncover the mysterious origins of the massive stone structure in Salisbury Plain, England known as Stonehenge. Dating back 5000 years to the late stone age, the purposes of the structure and the way it was constructed have spurred continual debate, but in the program, scientists and archaeologists pose theories about how and why it came to be.

Inspired by the spectacular tales of King Solomon's mines, Nova and National Geographic travel to the desert of Jordan in hopes of finding the source of wealth that led to the great Biblical Kingdoms.

This documentary from NOVA takes a look at the project known as ANDRILL - an effort by leading scientists and engineers to drill into unprecedented depths in the Arctic Peninsula following a massive ice collapse in 2002, to determine whether more melting was in store, indicating that sea levels must be poised to rise to disastrous levels.

Follow investigations that may lead to a breakthrough in predicting earthquakes.

Join host David Pogue to find out what is the world's strongest material.