Explorer Season 2009

Follow the police as they investigate the latest drug-related kidnapping, uncover marijuana and ambush suspects at a ransom drop-off.

Follow the police as they investigate the latest drug-related kidnapping, uncover marijuana and ambush suspects at a ransom drop-off.

Joseph Mengele, the escaped Nazi war criminal and SS physician, known as the Angel of Death, spent years doing bizarre medical experiments on twins at Auschwitz working to determine if twins held the key to building a blond-haired, blue-eyed master race for Adolf Hitler. Now a historian says he has evidence that Mengele's attempts may not have ended at Auschwitz, and that his obsession to engineer an Aryan master race continued, and that succeeded while he was on the run in South America. Deep in the Brazilian outback in a tiny town among the 80 households in a one-square-mile area are reportedly some 38 pairs of twins. Blond, blue-eyed twins. Bizarre and inexplicable, could they be the product of Mengele's machinations? Now, with exclusive access, EXPLORER goes inside the investigation; From the secret agents who trailed him, to the scientists now uncovering the facts behind the fantastical phenomenon, no stone is left unturned.

Joseph Mengele, the escaped Nazi war criminal and SS physician, known as the Angel of Death, spent years doing bizarre medical experiments on twins at Auschwitz working to determine if twins held the key to building a blond-haired, blue-eyed master race for Adolf Hitler. Now a historian says he has evidence that Mengele's attempts may not have ended at Auschwitz, and that his obsession to engineer an Aryan master race continued, and that succeeded while he was on the run in South America. Deep in the Brazilian outback in a tiny town among the 80 households in a one-square-mile area are reportedly some 38 pairs of twins. Blond, blue-eyed twins. Bizarre and inexplicable, could they be the product of Mengele's machinations? Now, with exclusive access, EXPLORER goes inside the investigation; From the secret agents who trailed him, to the scientists now uncovering the facts behind the fantastical phenomenon, no stone is left unturned.

Explorer travels back 66 million years to break down the chain of events that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and changed the world forever. Visit a high-tech NASA lab where scientists use new technology to recreate the force of the blast and reveal the likely cascade of effects of the catastrophic impact.

Explorer travels back 66 million years to break down the chain of events that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and changed the world forever. Visit a high-tech NASA lab where scientists use new technology to recreate the force of the blast and reveal the likely cascade of effects of the catastrophic impact.

The 2006 Oscar-nominated action thriller "Blood Diamond" put the issue of conflict diamonds into the public eye. Now, NGC takes an in-depth look at these international symbols of wealth and their connection to terrorism and crime. We'll talk to a diamond dealer who discusses the dark world of diamond smuggling and the alleged 9/11 connection between al Qaeda and the Belgium diamond sector, worth billions a year.

The 2006 Oscar-nominated action thriller "Blood Diamond" put the issue of conflict diamonds into the public eye. Now, NGC takes an in-depth look at these international symbols of wealth and their connection to terrorism and crime. We'll talk to a diamond dealer who discusses the dark world of diamond smuggling and the alleged 9/11 connection between al Qaeda and the Belgium diamond sector, worth billions a year.

Could LSD be the next drug in your doctor's arsenal? New experiments have a few researchers believing that this "trippy" drug could become a pharmaceutical of the future. Outlawed in 1970, the street drug developed a reputation as the dangerous toy of the counterculture, capable of inspiring either moments of genius or a descent into madness. Now science is taking a fresh look into this psychedelic world, including the first human LSD trials in more than 35 years

Could LSD be the next drug in your doctor's arsenal? New experiments have a few researchers believing that this "trippy" drug could become a pharmaceutical of the future. Outlawed in 1970, the street drug developed a reputation as the dangerous toy of the counterculture, capable of inspiring either moments of genius or a descent into madness. Now science is taking a fresh look into this psychedelic world, including the first human LSD trials in more than 35 years

Over the period of about a year, seven human feet in sneakers washed ashore in British Columbia and Washington State. Theories of serial killers, plane crashes, and tsunami victims became tabloid fodder. With all the twists and turns of a crime-scene thriller, Explorer sets out to solve this macabre foot mystery.

They are living giants; one of the Earth's largest and oldest trees. Some tower more than 350 feet high, taller than the Statue of Liberty; some may have been seedlings when Jesus was born. Yet these natural legends still shroud centuries-old secrets. In a major National Geographic cross-platform event, which includes the October 2009 cover story for the magazine, we'll reveal the little-explored environment of the redwoods using high-tech aerial laser surveys and breathtaking imagery.

Chimpanzees. They're our closest genetic relatives, with DNA over 98% the same as ours. Chimpanzees can learn from those around them in ways many other animals can't -- and when they're captive, they become even more human-like. But is a new form of chimp evolving in captivity?

The gender of a newborn child is not always clearly male or female. For parents of gender variant children, the decisions they face have lifelong and sometimes horribly conflicting consequences. We'll investigate the science behind gender, how doctors and parents approach these decisions, and explore traditional and controversial therapies. Then, meet Alaniz, a Desert Storm veteran who found out from an MRI that he had two ovaries and a uterus.

In most places death has no schedule, but in Huntsville, Texas, an average of 16 people per year are scheduled to be executed by lethal injection. Inside Death Row interviews three inmates as their dates of execution draw near, and follows the stories of their families and loved ones as they deal with death firsthand. This story is not one of guilt or innocence; it is about how the State of Texas carries out the death penalty as well as the men and women whom, by choice or circumstance, become players in the act of executing another human being. Lastly, it explores how the residents of Huntsville feel towards living in a town that is ground zero for capital punishment in the United States.

An exploration team and scientists make an attempt to map out a large cave system which runs beneath the South Pacific's Easter Island.

They are perfectly preserved child mummies unearthed on top of a volcano in northwest Argentina. As young as 6 years old, these three children were chosen to die as an Incan sacrifice to their gods.

The naval base at Guantanamo Bay secured a place in the annals of history when the first wave of detainees from Americas War on Terror men dubbed the worst of the worst arrived in 2002. A symbol of freedom protected or freedom tragically betrayed, the controversies of Guantanamo embody the thorny issues of America's fight against an enemy that wears no uniform, has no address and will declare no armistice, and an administrations battle to keep prisoners beyond the reach of due process in American courts. The goings-on inside the wire encircling this highly classified camp have been a closely held government secret until now. For the first time, National Geographic exclusively captures day-to-day life in the most famous prison in the world exploring the ongoing daily struggle between the guard force of dedicated young military personnel and the equally dedicated detainees, many of whom are still in legal limbo after being held years.

A full-grown T. rex could grow to 40 feet long and 12,000 pounds, but scientists believe that, at birth, these dinosaurs were the size of a mere household cat. Very little information is known about the T. rex's youth. Now, Explorer takes viewers on an epic journey into this bold high-tech animatronic initiative, digging deep into the fossil record for the tiniest of clues to re-create the worlds most accurate, fully skinned, mechanical replica of a walking juvenile T. rex.

Blue whales are the largest creatures to ever inhabit the earth - yet despite their size, we know little about them. A team of scientists set out on an expedition to unlock the secrets of the blue whale and investigate why they are dying. AKA: Blue Whale Odyssey (UK)

In the cloud forests of Peru are the remains a lost civilization and an ancient legend of mass murder. For hundreds of years, anthropologists have been hunting for who or what killed these people. Now well analyze the evidence and test theories to dig up the truth.

Join a team of adventurers and scientists deep in the heart of the African Congo who are searching for an elusive man-sized predator that locals believe to be a cursed relative of the piranha, but may hold the key to evolutionary science.

Scattered across the island of Sicily, beneath picturesque churches, are thousands of mummified bodies. And most mysterious of all is one of the last to be enshrined: shes known as the sleeping beauty Rosalia Lombardo-- a child barely two years old when she died nearly a century ago, somehow her corpse remains flawlessly preserved. Now, for the first time, a scientific team of mummy hunters is on the case, unearthing hundreds of Sicilys miraculous dead, exploring how this baffling culture of mummification could operate within the Catholic Church itself, and finally, revealing the secret formula behind Rosalias perfect preservation.

Explorer investigates a provocative new theory that suggests that all life - including humans - is descended from viruses. To many people, viruses are simply agents for disease, but new evidence suggests viruses may possess far greater power.