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Where To Stream NOVA Season 26 Episode 10

The Perfect Pearl

The pearl. The only gem produced by a living animal, has long carried a certain allure. Yet the best mollusk for making this gem, the pearl oyster doesn't always produce a pearl, and even then, the pearls are rarely perfectly round. It wasn't until the late nineteenth century, when a Japanese scientist discovered a technique to incite oysters to produce these gems, that an industry was formed. Inducing an oyster to create a pearl is only half the battle—the oyster then needs a nutrient-rich,...