The History Channel

Viewers will go where only the most elite insiders from the highest levels of the US government are allowed--on board Air Force One. Discover what makes this uniquely modified Boeing 747 faster, more secure, more comfortable and more capable than any other comparable plane. Take a 20,000-mile voyage through the heart of Africa and join the crew and privileged passengers on one of Air Force One's most challenging missions.

Take a supersonic flight through a world of flying machines that are redefining our skies. Pull serious G's in the U.S. military's latest fighter jet: the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Riding shotgun in the lethal B-1B Lancer, and look close or you'll miss the swarm of MAV's (Micro Air Vehicles)--so small they are launched out of a backpack. The "vertical takeoff and landing" capable PAV's (Personal Aerial Vehicles) may be the answer to the commuting needs of tired travelers. Then, discover how a commercial jetliner has been retrofitted into the biggest flying fire truck the world has ever seen.

It is the chemical basis of all known life and yet this simple element is also the foundation of modern technology. Carbon burns hotter, cuts deeper, insulates more thoroughly and absorbs more fully than any other material. See why carbon is the key both in heavy-duty industries, as well as in tools like the graphite pencil, the charcoal water filter, and the diamond saw blade. Watch how carbon fiber, a material stronger than steel and lighter than fiberglass, is made into the fuselage of a new Boeing 787. Discover why "activated charcoal" is the material of choice for absorbing everything from toxic heavy metals in your drinking water to funky odors in your shoes.

Just the whiff of a foul odor can make your head spin, your eyes water, your stomach turn--it can even send you hurling. From cesspools, military stink bombs, and rancid rotting meat... to cow farms and landfills... to bad breath, B.O and beyond, the world is full of stink--and we've spent centuries battling the funk. So how do we deal with these horrific odors? Hold your breath `cause these sensational stories are gonna STINK!

Hundreds of years before steel and plastic, wood was the building block of America. But even today, it touches every aspect of our lives. It's underneath our feet and flying through the sky, propping up skyscrapers and making burgers fry -- from the historical, to the modern, to the timeless, we explore the surprising ways we cannot live without WOOD.

A rapid-fire history of our world, from the beginning of time as we know it to present day. This two-hour CGI-driven special delves into the key turning points: the formation of earth, emergence of life, spread of man and the growth of civilization--and reveals their surprising connections to our world today.

Geologist Scott Wolter has reason to believe America has its very own Stonehenge in New Hampshire. With the help of a young man who discovered an amazing connection between America s Stonehenge and Stonehenge in England, Wolter explores the possibility that the ancient Phoenicians are connected to both of these megalithic sites. At America's Stonehenge, he uncovers many clues, including a sacrificial table and a mysterious message carved on a stone in ancient script that helps advance this provocative theory. He also discovers both sites are accurate astronomical calendars and that alignments with the heavens are incorporated into their design.

A man shows up at Scott Wolter's lab with a 500-pound discovery. In the flatbed of his truck is a large boulder he pulled from the Arkansas River, inscribed with a mysterious bull symbol. Wolter's investigation into who carved the stone and for what ritualistic purpose ultimately reveals a connection between the ancient Egyptian cult of the Apis bull, the mysterious religion known as Mithraism and a party of pre-Columbian explorers to Oklahoma's panhandle. In the end, carvings in a cave in America's Heartland shed light on an ancient connection that could prove a group of religious outcasts made it to America in pre-Columbian times.

The Vikings were fearsome warriors from Denmark and Norway who burst upon Western Europe, raiding and plundering at the end of the 8th century. They first targeted coastal monasteries, but later they constructed magnificent ships that could sail up rivers and sack inland towns. These raids resulted in the Viking invasion of Britain and Northern France. Many of the sites of the most crucial events in world history are now lost. Follow a team of historical detectives who use evidence from recent excavations, scientific studies and historical documents to see what these locations looked like. Computer graphics allow viewers to fly over, enter the streets and peer into these lost worlds.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Constructed as tombs for the ancient pharaohs, over 100 pyramids remain in Egypt. Built during a span of well over 1,000 years, they stand as cultural and engineering marvels of staggering proportions. But many things about these monuments, including the exact methods used to construct them, remain tantalizingly obscure. Travel back in time as we investigate their evolution--from the earlier mastaba to the Step Pyramid, Bent Pyramid, and of course, the magnificent necropolis at Giza.

Egyptian monuments and great works of art still astound us today. We will reveal another surprising aspect of Egyptian life--their weapons of war, and their great might on the battlefield. A common perception of the Egyptians is of a cultured civilization, yet there is fascinating evidence which reveals they were also a war faring people, who developed advanced weapon making techniques. Some of these techniques would be used for the very first time in history and some of the battles they fought were on a truly massive scale.

Mining the earth for coal, erecting drilling rigs for oil and natural gas, and smelting iron ore are all fundamentals of the modern industrialized world, but they are nothing new. Travel to China to explore the origins and use of these vital resources more than 2000 years ago. Host Michael Guillen explores the site of ancient drilling rigs that drilled for gas centuries before anyone else. We explore the modern science of "geobotany" using vegetation to tell us what is in the earth beneath, and how the Chinese pioneered this.

Modern warships, cargo, and container ships are the cutting edge of maritime technology. But 2,500 years ago, no one dominated shipbuilding like the Greeks. We travel to Greece for a firsthand look at how their maritime expertise evolved. We examine a reproduction of the Greek warship called a trireme. A 3-D CGI reproduction captures the grandeur of the gigantic cargo ship the Syracusia. Host Michael Guillen demonstrates an Archimedean Screw--designed to pump water out of a ship's hold. He also demonstrates Archimedes' most famous discovery: the principle of buoyancy, a key component in any shipbuilding process. In England, we investigate the Antikythera device. After decades of study, historians have concluded that it was actually a celestial computer that tracked the movement of the Sun, Moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury, and a handful of stars. And on the Greek island Kalymnos, we learn how sponge diving evolved into the lucrative business of salvage diving.

Travel to the heart of the Roman Empire to examine it's remarkable civil engineering project that resulted in a 53-thousand mile network of highways. Host Michael Guillen takes us on a chariot ride through ancient Rome and discovers that many of the highway amenities that we imagine as modern developments date back over 2000 years. It's an amazing look at a travel network where so little has changed after so many years.