Episodes

The infamous "Bridge on the River Kwai," and remnants of railway (abandoned in 1945), do stand today, but the Thai and Burmese jungles have consumed much of their remains. Just how did a team of Allied POWs in such poor condition and confronted with so many obstacles manage to build the railway? And how did their Allied brethren ultimately achieve its demolition?

In 1918, a flu pandemic ripped through the global population with such speed and virulence that by the end of the following year an estimated 40 million people would be dead. Where did this particular flu strain come from, and what made it so deadly? 85 years later, virologists and epidemiologists the world over are still hunting down the answers to those two critical questions.

In a central part of Turin Cathedral is an elaborate, baroque shrine housing one of the Catholic Church’s most precious and controversial artifacts: a 15-foot-long piece of cloth known as the Turin Shroud. Could it actually be stained with the blood of Jesus Christ? Experts debate the origin of a prized religious relic.

The Allied invasion of Nazi-controlled France on June 6, 1944, looms larger in our collective conscience than perhaps any other single battle. Explore the back story of the “Longest Day,” using the invasion itself as a narrative spine, and recounting, in remarkable detail, the long-term planning and ingenious execution that led to the Allied victory.

After unearthing evidence of a culture of ancient warrior women in the Russian steppes, Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball follows a trail of artifacts to a remote village in Western Mongolia, where her quest for a living link to a long-imagined tribe ends with a startling discovery.