How Ancient Easter Island statues “walked”
A new generation of researchers is revealing the rich history, innovation, and resilience of the Rapanui people.
Easter Island Origins Preview
How were Easter Island’s giant stone heads made? New research challenges the idea that their construction led to environmental and social collapse – and uncovers surprising clues about the origins, innovations, and resilience of the Rapanui people.
How Did Whales Evolve From Land Mammals?
The oceans are thought to be where life started but about 50-million years ago, something incredible happened: some mammals found their way back into the water.
Ancient whale fossils found in the desert
This part of the Sahara Desert is the resting place of some of the earliest whales ever found. These fossils may hold the key to how whales evolved.
The whale that could walk
A small furry carnivore that lived both on land and sea is the ancestor of modern whales.
When Whales Could Walk Preview
A spectacular fossil graveyard reveals a 43-million-year-old whale that had four legs and could walk. Follow scientists as they search for new clues to how mammals moved from land into the sea to become the largest animals on Earth.
Can DNA technology Help Rebuild a Family Tree?
Many Black families in America don’t have robust ancestry records because of the legacy of slavery and family separation. But this documentary filmmaker is on a mission: use DNA technology to solve the mysteries of his family tree.
Lee and Liza's Family Tree Preview
Many descendants of enslaved people have little record of their family's ancestry. Follow one family's quest to discover their lost history, and see how science and genealogy can help rebuild a family tree broken by slavery. Join filmmaker Byron Hurt at his extended family reunion as they celebrate the joy of family in the African diaspora and discover new details of their history.
Inside the Fight To Develop a Malaria Vaccine
The World Health Organization approved anti-malaria vaccine, R-21, in 2023. Children in Ivory Coast were the first to receive the vaccine in July of 2024.
How Malaria Shaped America
Around the 1900s, parts of the United States were awash with Malaria—especially in the South and parts of the Eastern Seaboard. And it even has impacted major historical events like the American Revolution.
Why Mosquitos Are Humanity’s Deadliest Creature
Malaria overwhelms the body before it has a chance to fight back, making the development of a vaccine especially challenging.
Inside Huawei: China’s Tech Giant
To many people in China, there’s no better example of success than the tech giant Huawei. Although it’s considered controversial to some, there’s no denying that the company innovates in a very unique way.
How 5G Is Transforming China
China is betting big on 5G, deploying the technology at a greater scale than any other place in the world.
Inside China's Tech Boom Preview
In just a few decades, China has transformed into a science and technology superpower. See inside leading Chinese tech companies and labs to discover how they innovate, what drives their rise, and what it means for the future of the global economy.
What Caused the Dinosaurs to Go Extinct?
The asteroid released the equivalent of 10-billion nuclear bombs worth of energy when it struck Earth. The impact started a chain of events that wiped out 75% of all plants and animals at the time.
The Catastrophe That Killed 90% Of Earth’s Species
252 million years ago, the most devastating mass extinction of all time wiped out around 90% of all species on Earth. The culprit? Liquid magma beneath Pangea’s northern surface that split open the crust and tore apart the landscape, spewing curtains of lava and fire.
Ancient Earth: Inferno Preview
252 million years ago, a devastating mass extinction wiped out about 90% of all species on Earth. Follow scientists as they piece together evidence to discover how life survived and set the stage for a new dominant life form: the dinosaurs.
Giant Prehistoric Fungi Once Ruled the Earth
Today, plants like trees can grow very tall, while fungi remain close to the ground, with most of it hidden underneath. But millions of years ago, some fungi were were 20-feet-tall, towering over Earth’s landscape.
What to know about the “Ring of Fire” Eclipse
When the moon is at it’s farthest point away from the Earth, it appears small and doesn’t completely cover the sun, creating an annular, or “ring of fire” eclipse.
How Life Survived When Earth Was Covered in Ice
Seven-hundred-million years ago, ice threatened to make our planet uninhabitable, snuffing out new complex life forms. From this climate catastrophe, new forms of life arose, eventually leading to the living world today. But it was a close call.
Supported by
