The notorious Tom Horn, hanged for a murder of a 14-year-old boy in 1903, is a pivotal figure in the taming of the Old West. A cowboy-turned-range-detective for big ranchers, he built a fearsome reputation as a professional hit man. Was he a cold-hearted assassin or a framed innocent man?

Discover people who perform seemingly impossible shooting feats with all kinds of firearms. Watch world-class shooters perform amazing shots as well as reenact shots made famous in history. Stories will include the toughest shot in Old West shooting exhibitions (the mirror shot) as well as modern-day Army snipers who hit targets a mile away. Super high-speed cameras will capture a bullet in the air and travel with its trajectory to the target and animation will dissect the technology of the gun, the ammunition, and the technique.

Two cattle partners set off to blaze a trail to reach new markets. Only one returns. The epic adventure of Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving defines the spirit of the American cowboy and the brutal reality of the West in the wake of the Civil War.

The notorious Tom Horn, hanged for a murder of a 14-year-old boy in 1903, is a pivotal figure in the taming of the Old West. A cowboy-turned-range-detective for big ranchers, he built a fearsome reputation as a professional hit man. Was he a cold-hearted assassin or a framed innocent man?

The Battle of Iwo Jima is best known for the famous flag-raising photograph taken on Mt. Suribachi, but there's an untold story behind the picture. Just before the photo was snapped, there was a bloody shootout on the mountain crest. This is just one of the true stories told by veterans of one of the Pacific's bloodiest battlefields, where 70,000 US Marines fought 21,000 entrenched Japanese over eight square miles of death. Follow the men of the 5th Pioneer Battalion as they fight off a savage, last-ditch suicide attack in the waning days of the battle.

SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams leap into the middle of some of the most dangerous situations around. Follow them as they plan to rescue dozens of hostages held at gunpoint in a bar. Track their strategy as they get ready to lay siege to an electronics store held captive by four armed men. Learn how they confront a disgruntled employee who threatens to kill a former co-worker. Interviews with former hostages and the SWAT officers who saved them guide viewers minute-by-minute through real crises. The tactics and technology used by the experts are detailed and dramatized, taking those watching along for the ride whether the ending is happy--or not.

Sun Tzu was the Nostradamus of warfare, and his book Art of War, written 2,400 years ago, is still the ultimate how-to book for winning. This two-hour special brings his words to life. Shot like a graphic novel, it weaves together several epic stories, including the story of Sun Tzu himself, and a war soon after his death where a city is saved using his tactics as China takes the first step toward unification. We'll also follow other epic battles in history--Roman battles, The Civil War, WWII, and present day--that illustrate more of Sun Tzu's lessons, to detail how the people who understand his strategy are the most dangerous weapons of all. And while his ideals were originally created for battle, his lessons could be used by anyone who wants to win--whether at sports, business, or life.

Are the rings of Saturn a real celestial phenomenon or merely a cosmic Illusion? Technology allows the experts to get closer to the furthest planet visible to the naked eye. Old questions are answered and new ones arise. Does Saturn hold the key to Earth's weather and will one of its moons supply us with all the oil we'll ever need? Cutting-edge computer graphics are used to show what life would be like on other planets and to imagine what kinds of life forms might evolve in alien atmospheres.

Once they were dreaded and thought to be dragons eating the sun--but modern science has dispelled mythology and we now look forward to total Solar Eclipses as one of the most spectacular phenomena in the heavens. Explore the complex movements of Earth, Moon and Sun that produce these unusual events and hear details why we may be the only intelligent beings in the known Universe to witness eclipses like we see on Earth. Man-made eclipses also figure into the science in the form of instruments called "coronagraphs." They blot out the sun and reveal its corona, uncovering secrets which, while enlightening, also warn of a disaster that could make our advanced technology crash and burn. Finally, travel into deep space, where the tiny eclipses caused by planets circling distant stars is now beginning to reveal hundreds more stars where "exoplanets" exist... perhaps even those in habitable zones like the Earth.

Earth may seem like the most hospitable planet in the solar system. But look again. Startling new discoveries reveal the blue planet has been plagued by more chaos and destruction than scientists once imagined. Stand on the Earth billions of years ago as a primitive planet slams into it. Shiver as our entire globe is frozen over like a gigantic snowball. Feel the heat as mammoth volcanoes scorch the landscape and darken the sky. From a cosmic gamma ray burst frying away the ozone layer to an Everest-size asteroid slamming into the ocean, we'll reveal new information about how these unparalleled events drove life to the brink of total extinction. Out of this continuous devastation, how has our planet--and life--got to where it is today? Are the worst days behind us--or lurking in the distant future?

Since the dawn of civilization, humans have wondered who or what created the universe. Religion offers a spiritual answer, but do the latest discoveries in physics show evidence of a transcendent intelligence, or simply that the laws of physics by themselves could have led to the universe in which we live? This episode embarks on a mind-bending scientific search for God, asking physicists and theologians if the seemingly miraculous way the universe has been calibrated to support life is evidence of a creator...whether string theory will eventually be able to rule out the existence of God...why Stephen Hawking says the universe could have been created spontaneously...and how an advanced civilization in another universe could have conceivably created our own.

Originally, the Ten Commandments didn't mean the same things as they do today. How was adultery different in the ancient world? And what did it mean to honor your father and mother? We'll study these intriguing questions and more.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Savage...sadistic...often justified--America's western frontier triggered many a shootout. The motivation? Money...women...religion--sometimes a dirty look triggered a melee. Western shootouts were messy, drunken, and deadly affairs. The vision of two gunslingers meeting in the street at high noon is pure myth. Shootouts were typically up-close and personal. They involved lawmen against outlaws, outlaws against outlaws, and sometimes lawmen against lawmen. We take a look at the Northfield Raid (James/Younger Gang vs. the Town of Northfield), the shootout at Hanska Slough (James/Younger Gang vs. the Medelia Posse), and Ingalls Raid (Doolin/Dalton Gang vs. US Marshals). And as we provide the motivation, strategy, and tactics, and examine the firearms involved on both sides of the gun battles, we detail each phase of the combat and its aftermath.

The Battle of Iwo Jima is best known for the famous flag-raising photograph taken on Mt. Suribachi, but there's an untold story behind the picture. Just before the photo was snapped, there was a bloody shootout on the mountain crest. This is just one of the true stories told by veterans of one of the Pacific's bloodiest battlefields, where 70,000 US Marines fought 21,000 entrenched Japanese over eight square miles of death. Follow the men of the 5th Pioneer Battalion as they fight off a savage, last-ditch suicide attack in the waning days of the battle.

SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams leap into the middle of some of the most dangerous situations around. Follow them as they plan to rescue dozens of hostages held at gunpoint in a bar. Track their strategy as they get ready to lay siege to an electronics store held captive by four armed men. Learn how they confront a disgruntled employee who threatens to kill a former co-worker. Interviews with former hostages and the SWAT officers who saved them guide viewers minute-by-minute through real crises. The tactics and technology used by the experts are detailed and dramatized, taking those watching along for the ride whether the ending is happy--or not.