Editor's Note: On the night of March 24-25, 1944, 76 Allied prisoners of Stalag Luft III, a German prison camp in Sagan, 100 miles southeast of Berlin, escaped through a tunnel named "Harry." Within ...

The birth of writing and the first alphabet were among the world’s most vital inventions.

Many physicists consider Ed Witten to be Einstein's true successor. A mathematical physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, Witten has been awarded everything from a ...

On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers flew their "Flyer" four times, with their longest flight lasting 59 seconds and covering 852 feet. To assist in making a turn, the Wrights realized that the ...

In this feature, you will be faced with an ethical dilemma that is illustrated with ideas and imagery you might find repugnant, even abhorrent. In addition, this feature may not be suitable for ...

How were the giant stone heads of Rapa Nui–also known as Easter Island–carved and raised, and why? Since Europeans arrived on this remote Pacific island over 300 years ago, controversy has swirled ...

When Glacial Lake Missoula's ice dam shattered, a northern arm of the lake drained in a matter of hours through a narrow gap in Montana's Blackfoot River valley. One can only imagine the extraordinary ...

The story behind the centuries-long decipherment of ancient Maya hieroglyphs.

This one-hour program is divided into six chapters. Choose any chapter below and select QuickTime or Windows Media Player to begin viewing the video. If you experience difficulty viewing, it may be ...

Color photos, old newspapers, the Declaration—we've all seen materials damaged by long-term exposure to light. But what's actually happening? The Declaration of Independence took a lot of abuse in the ...

Once you’ve seen a slime mold—its gooey, delicately branching structure oozing in a vaguely unsettling way along a log or leaf—you’re unlikely to forget it. They’re unmistakable because there’s ...

Every age develops its stories or metaphors for how the universe was conceived and structured. According to an ancient Indian creation myth, the universe was created when the gods dismembered the ...