The History Channel

Take a ride along some of the world's most dangerous roads. From Bolivia's "Death Road," to California's fog-shrouded Highway 99, find the danger that waits behind every blind curve. Visit the Federal Highway Administration's test laboratory to see what's being done to make roads safer in the U.S. Finally, ride along in extreme four-wheel drive trucks with some adrenaline junkies that drive boulder-strewn trails just for the fun of it!

From the beginning of time we've worked to protect ourselves against the very element that keeps us alive...Water. We love it and hate it. With water covering 75% of the Earth's surface, it's no wonder we struggle to stay safe and dry. We fight against ferocious weather and floods with state-of-the-art roofing, wraps, tarps, tunnels, clothing, boats, and much more... devising extreme tests to probe the limits of our modern waterproof technology.

This useful metal was once considered more valuable than gold. Watch as aluminum is stretched, pounded, melted and turned into foam. Did you know that aluminum is made out of a powder? Visit the widest rolling mill in the world where skins for the largest jets are made, then it's off to NASA to observe how aluminum is used to make reflective mirrors for telescopes. Discover the process of making aluminum foil and learn why aluminum baseball bats are better than wood.

America would come to a standstill without trucks. Trucks transport a staggering 70 percent of all the nation's goods. Explore the amazingly diverse world of American trucks and the colorful men and women who drive them. Join country superstar Brad Paisley and his crew of truckers on the road between Little Rock and Tulsa--racing the clock to be on time for Brad's next concert. In Dearborn, Michigan, climb aboard one of the most popular pickups--the Ford F-150--as it tackles a devilish test course. And in Virginia, see how fast the world's most nimble tow truck can extract a car from the tightest parking spot imaginable. Meet a Mack truck fanatic and his cool collection of vintage models, and ride-along with an unsung hero with a truly dirty job--operating a truck designed to empty and clean portable toilets.

Take a look at the technology of cold. Think your home freezer is "cool"? Try spending some time in a 12-story unit filled with 135 million pounds of ice cream. Enter Arctic vaults that store millions of different seeds and learn how scientists have mastered temperatures of -200 degrees F and below. Explore how the cold not only preserves and chills, but also shatters rubber tires, strengthens steel, and fuels rockets. Finally, visit Alcor, where researchers keep cadavers on ice in hopes of future revival.

Fertilizer--without it two thirds of the world would starve. It makes our lawns grow greener and our crops grow taller. Take a tour of the places where the essential nutrients that feed the soil are harnessed. Dig deep in a phosphate mine, sniff around a sewage treatment plant and get dirty in a trough teeming with seven million worms. Finally, learn about a war that was fought over the control of bat poop!

Gotcha! Traps are a device designed to capture and kill, but they don't always harm their prey. Often necessary to the survival of a species, watch as Black Bears are trapped by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources biologists for a population study. Feral cats left stranded in New Orleans after Katrina are trapped, neutered, and released. Head underwater to see how giant screw traps count salmon on the Columbia River. Man traps? See high tech versions, straight out of action movies.

What does it take to turn twenty tons of steel into top-notch vehicles in less than a day? How does a pile of lumber become a million dollar home in a mere week? Every process, from beginning to end, is a unique and incredible adventure. From the fiery birth of high tech golf clubs to the cataclysmic end of old buildings... get ready to race from Start to Finish.

It's all around us--so much a part of our lives that we forget it's there. But try to survive a single day without packaging. This episode reveals the astounding technology and ingenuity required to create our packaged world. At a Michigan company that designs water bottles, we'll show you how engineers find their inspiration from a bell pepper. In New Jersey, the makers of bubble Wrap clue you in on their manufacturing secrets. In Texas, workers conquer the challenge of packaging the world's largest crane. And you'll also see how America's military goods and supplies are packaged and shipped by the United States Transportation Command. Other stories include a new easy to open package that's the cure for "wrap rage"--and how NASA engineers packed a fragile humanoid robot for a trip into orbit.

We spend one-third of our lives in the bedroom. Explore the technologies that help to ensure we wake up on the right side of the bed. Check out ancient Chinese fire clocks, today's flying alarm clock, big city napping pods, snore stoppers and sunrise simulators. We'll explore sleeping disorders and delve into the creepy world of those blood-sucking midnight snackers, the bed bugs. Electric blankets step aside as Hugh Hefner's fantasy bedroom in the Playboy Mansion is revealed!

This special takes viewers deep inside America in the late 1960s--into a world of hate, fear, sex, and mind-control. It vividly details how Charles Manson transformed a harmless group of hippies--mostly young women from decent families--into a gang of brutal murderers. The two-hour drama-documentary weaves in rare archival footage and on-camera eyewitness testimony to present a spellbinding portrait of a true nightmare in U.S. history. At the center of the film is Linda Kasabian, the star witness for the prosecution, who has emerged from hiding to tell the full story of the murders for the first time in four decades.

Ethiopia is home to some of the oldest settlements in the world. This cradle of mankind is a country born from legend and shrouded in mystery. An ancient home to both Jews and Muslims, Ethiopia is also the world's second oldest Christian nation. But if you were a Christian during ancient times, and if you wanted to stay alive, the only place to practice your faith was underground. From underground engineering marvels to remote, cliff-hanging caves, Ethiopia's isolated churches allowed Christianity to evolve in ways found nowhere else in the world. From tombs of vanished emperors and subterranean cathedrals where orthodox priests have been worshipping for thousands of years, to the buried Palace of the Queen of Sheba and the possible resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, clues to Ethiopia's lost legends and tribes are littered right here...in the African underground.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Ethiopia is home to some of the oldest settlements in the world. This cradle of mankind is a country born from legend and shrouded in mystery. An ancient home to both Jews and Muslims, Ethiopia is also the world's second oldest Christian nation. But if you were a Christian during ancient times, and if you wanted to stay alive, the only place to practice your faith was underground. From underground engineering marvels to remote, cliff-hanging caves, Ethiopia's isolated churches allowed Christianity to evolve in ways found nowhere else in the world. From tombs of vanished emperors and subterranean cathedrals where orthodox priests have been worshipping for thousands of years, to the buried Palace of the Queen of Sheba and the possible resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, clues to Ethiopia's lost legends and tribes are littered right here...in the African underground.

Take a look at the technology of cold. Think your home freezer is "cool"? Try spending some time in a 12-story unit filled with 135 million pounds of ice cream. Enter Arctic vaults that store millions of different seeds and learn how scientists have mastered temperatures of -200 degrees F and below. Explore how the cold not only preserves and chills, but also shatters rubber tires, strengthens steel, and fuels rockets. Finally, visit Alcor, where researchers keep cadavers on ice in hopes of future revival.

Fertilizer--without it two thirds of the world would starve. It makes our lawns grow greener and our crops grow taller. Take a tour of the places where the essential nutrients that feed the soil are harnessed. Dig deep in a phosphate mine, sniff around a sewage treatment plant and get dirty in a trough teeming with seven million worms. Finally, learn about a war that was fought over the control of bat poop!

Gotcha! Traps are a device designed to capture and kill, but they don't always harm their prey. Often necessary to the survival of a species, watch as Black Bears are trapped by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources biologists for a population study. Feral cats left stranded in New Orleans after Katrina are trapped, neutered, and released. Head underwater to see how giant screw traps count salmon on the Columbia River. Man traps? See high tech versions, straight out of action movies.

What does it take to turn twenty tons of steel into top-notch vehicles in less than a day? How does a pile of lumber become a million dollar home in a mere week? Every process, from beginning to end, is a unique and incredible adventure. From the fiery birth of high tech golf clubs to the cataclysmic end of old buildings... get ready to race from Start to Finish.

It's all around us--so much a part of our lives that we forget it's there. But try to survive a single day without packaging. This episode reveals the astounding technology and ingenuity required to create our packaged world. At a Michigan company that designs water bottles, we'll show you how engineers find their inspiration from a bell pepper. In New Jersey, the makers of bubble Wrap clue you in on their manufacturing secrets. In Texas, workers conquer the challenge of packaging the world's largest crane. And you'll also see how America's military goods and supplies are packaged and shipped by the United States Transportation Command. Other stories include a new easy to open package that's the cure for "wrap rage"--and how NASA engineers packed a fragile humanoid robot for a trip into orbit.