Latest Videos

Vermont This Week
May 17, 2013

Vermont Constitution Quiz

St. Michael's College

May 2013 Commencement
More Videos

Nova

Trapped In An Elevator

Series Website »
Episodes & Air Times »
Across North America elevators move 325 million passengers every day, and most of the time, people don't give them a second thought. In "Trapped in an Elevator," NOVA reveals the secret life of these ubiquitous machines. How do elevators work? Are they safe? (Yes.) Why are so many people afraid of them? (We'll find out.) NOVA's cameras ride the world's fastest elevator to the top of the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building, and test whether the Burj's elevator system is ready for the task of moving people to unprecedented heights. On the other side of the world, NOVA follows one of the thousands of elevator maintenance crews in Manhattan that keep New Yorkers moving up and down every day. Then, at the Otis Test Tower -- a 28-story high-rise that's the most over-elevatored building in the world -- we experience pure elevator terror as a test elevator is sent into free fall. Once brawny but simple machines, elevators are getting a brainy makeover. Computer controls, like the ones that run the elevators at the Marriot Marquis in Time Square, are getting passengers to their destinations faster and more safely than ever before. But will the elevator-wary be comfortable handing over the reins to computers? Everybody has an elevator story. What's yours?


  • Meteor Strike

  • Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Strange Creatures

  • Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Monsters

  • Australia: Life Explodes

  • Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Awakening

  • Mind of a Rampage Killer

  • Ancient Computer

  • Earth from Space

  • Building Pharaoh's Chariot

  • Who Killed Lindbergh's Baby?

  • Rise of the Drones

  • Decoding Neanderthals

  • Doomsday Volcanoes

  • Inside the Megastorm

  • Ultimate Mars Challenge

  • Mystery of Easter Island

  • Secrets of the Viking Sword

  • Forensics on Trial

  • Why Ships Sink

  • Deadliest Tornadoes

  • Cracking Your Genetic Code

  • Separating Twins

  • Secrets of the Sun

  • Hunting the Elements

  • Ice Age Death Trap

  • Mystery of a Masterpiece

  • 3D Spies of WWII

  • Bombing Hitler's Dams

  • Deadliest Volcanoes

  • The Fabric of the Cosmos: Universe or Multiverse?

  • The Fabric of the Cosmos: Quantum Leap

  • The Fabric of the Cosmos: The Illusion of Time

  • The Fabric of the Cosmos: What Is Space?

  • Iceman Murder Mystery

  • Finding Life Beyond Earth

  • Engineering Ground Zero

  • Japan's Killer Quake

  • Power Surge

  • Venom: Nature's Killer

  • Crash of Flight 447

  • Smartest Machine on Earth

  • Making Stuff: Smarter

  • Making Stuff: Cleaner

  • Making Stuff: Smaller

  • Making Stuff: Stronger

  • Deadliest Earthquakes

  • Secrets Beneath the Ice

  • Quest for Solomon's Mines

  • Secrets of Stonehenge

  • Trapped in an Elevator

  • Emergency Mine Rescue

  • Building the Great Cathedrals

  • Hunting the Edge of Space: Part 2

  • Hunting the Edge of Space: Part 1

  • Mind Over Money

  • Extreme Cave Diving

  • Riddles of the Sphinx

  • What Darwin Never Knew

  • Lizard Kings

  • Becoming Human Part 3

  • Becoming Human Part 2

  • Becoming Human Part 1

  • Doctors' Diaries

  • Darwin's Darkest Hour

  • Extreme Ice

  • Rat Attack

  • The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies

  • Space Shuttle Disaster

  • Ape Genius

  • A Walk to Beautiful

  • Missing in MiG Alley

  • The Great Inca Rebellion

  • Becoming Human Full Series Preview

  • The Pluto Files

  • Mt. St. Helens: Back From the Dead

Donate »


Site Map



Full Size site »

Contact Us | Support Us | Careers | Volunteer | About Us