Join undercover agents and slip into the shadowy web of illicit trade, where dangerous multi-billion dollar criminal networks threaten whole sectors of the world economy. Illicit: The Dark Trade travels the globe to expose the dire consequences of this dirty industry: money laundering, political corruption, and the subversion of entire governments. From knock-off handbags to bootlegged compact discs to fake pharmaceuticals, this hard-hitting special reveals how consumers' insatiable demand for counterfeit merchandise has given birth to a vast criminal system.

A behind the scenes look at Google today. From Google’s offices in China and Russia to the Googleplex (its Silicon Valley headquarters), uncover why this company’s corporate philosophy and attitude is so unique among major companies today.

Behind its impenetrable walls is a secret world ruled by Pope Benedict XVI. Enter the hallowed halls of the Vatican. At the heart of Rome, it is the smallest sovereign state on Earth yet one of the most powerful. Behind its impenetrable walls is a secret world ruled by Pope Benedict XVI. The men around him reveal the goings on in this beacon of Catholic faith. Director/writer, Richard Ladkani ; producers, Jean-Young Kwak, Stefan Sasse ; editor, Verena Schönauer.

One of the most important recent finds in Biblical archaeology is uncovered in this National Geographic exclusive. The Gospel of Judas gives a different view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas, offering new insights into the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Unlike the accounts in the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in which Judas is portrayed as a reviled traitor, this newly discovered Gospel portrays Judas as acting at Jesus' request when he hands Jesus over to the authorities.

In the spring of 2005, acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth's changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that would put his career and his very well-being at risk. Chasing Ice is the story of one man's mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers. As the debate polarizes America and the intensity of natural disasters ramps up globally, Balog finds himself at the end of his tether. Battling untested technology in subzero conditions, he comes face to face with his own mortality. It takes years for Balog to see the fruits of his labor. His hauntingly beautiful videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate. Chasing Ice depicts a photographer trying to deliver evidence and hope to our carbon-powered planet.

Heading to Taipei, Richard discovers the secrets of one of the world's tallest buildings, Taipei 101. How is this tower connected to a birdcage, bamboo, racing yachts, sports cars and seat belts? This journey of discovery takes him from the mines of 18th century England to almost half a kilometre into the sky at some 64 kilometres per hour (that's around a 37 second trip!).

The Fabric of the Cosmos, a four-partseries based on the book by renowned physicist and author Brian Greene, takes us to the frontiers of physics to see how scientists are piecing together the most complete picture yet of space, time, and the universe. With each step, audiences will discover that just beneath the surface of our everyday experience lies a world we'd hardly recognize, a startling world far stranger and more wondrous than anyone expected.

The Fabric of the Cosmos, a four-partseries based on the book by renowned physicist and author Brian Greene, takes us to the frontiers of physics to see how scientists are piecing together the most complete picture yet of space, time, and the universe. With each step, audiences will discover that just beneath the surface of our everyday experience lies a world we'd hardly recognize, a startling world far stranger and more wondrous than anyone expected.

The Fabric of the Cosmos, a four-partseries based on the book by renowned physicist and author Brian Greene, takes us to the frontiers of physics to see how scientists are piecing together the most complete picture yet of space, time, and the universe. With each step, audiences will discover that just beneath the surface of our everyday experience lies a world we'd hardly recognize, a startling world far stranger and more wondrous than anyone expected.

The Fabric of the Cosmos, a four-partseries based on the book by renowned physicist and author Brian Greene, takes us to the frontiers of physics to see how scientists are piecing together the most complete picture yet of space, time, and the universe. With each step, audiences will discover that just beneath the surface of our everyday experience lies a world we'd hardly recognize, a startling world far stranger and more wondrous than anyone expected.

It may just be the biggest political move in human history. The story of a power struggle that saw a small Jewish sect take over the most powerful empire the world had ever seen. Dr Michael Scott is unraveling this epic human drama filled with suspense, political intrigue, brutal religious persecution and sheer luck.

It may just be the biggest political move in human history. The story of a power struggle that saw a small Jewish sect take over the most powerful empire the world had ever seen. Dr Michael Scott is unraveling this epic human drama filled with suspense, political intrigue, brutal religious persecution and sheer luck.

It may just be the biggest political move in human history. The story of a power struggle that saw a small Jewish sect take over the most powerful empire the world had ever seen. Dr Michael Scott is unraveling this epic human drama filled with suspense, political intrigue, brutal religious persecution and sheer luck.

National Geographic Channel pays tribute to the life of one of history's most powerful and dynamic figures, tracing his momentous rise from political prisoner to South Africa's first black president.

It starts 10 years ago when an art dealer named Peter Silverman first becomes interested in an unknown artist's 19th century drawing when it appears on the auction block.

This film documents, one of the least-known yet most remarkable pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Psusennes I, who reigned around 1000 BC, was buried in a casket of solid silver and surrounded by treasures which rival those of Tutankhamun; the tomb of Psusennes is the only pharaoh's tomb ever found which hadn't previously been entered by tomb-raiders. His remarkable story has been overlooked partly because the initial discovery was made in 1940, overshadowed by the outbreak of World War II.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

A documentary series that explores how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time.

Delve into the touching first-hand accounts of people working in the World Trade Towers when the planes struck on September 11 and those who continue to grieve the loss of loved ones.

This documentary explores YouTube and the revolutionary impact it has made.

An Indonesian legend claims that monkeys can speak but they prefer to stay quiet. Do animals have languages that we don't understand? Is it just a question of getting the right dictionary or is language the one thing that separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom? Birds sing, lions roar and chimpanzees chatter but do these noises mean anything? This one-hour documentary takes viewers into the wild to listen to nature's noisemakers and meet some of the scientists who spend their days trying to have conversations with animals. From parrots to killer whales we find out who is saying what to whom and explore whether there is such a thing as animal language.

Like us, animals are exposed to parasites, bacteria and viruses – the germs which cause disease. How do they survive these attacks? Recent research and observation have shown that animals use plant and insect substances to treat themselves – not only do they apply things to their skin, they actually treat themselves by feeding on things not normally part of their diets. Capuchin monkeys rub citrus fruit on their fur, caterpillars eat poison hemlock, herbivorous red deer have even been seen chewing the legs off live seabirds. This film takes off around the world to discover how animals use medicine, it questions what notions they have about health and how medical knowledge is passed on from one generation to the next. In doing so, the film also asks what we can learn from animals about medicine.

Man is not the only social animal. At the beginning of 2001, Franz de Waal published his work on a group of chimpanzees in the Arnhem zoo, in the Netherlands. He showed the existence of elaborate and subtle rites which, according to him, revealed a political organization. This fueled the foundation of an argument much debated in today's scientific world. Man would therefore no longer stand as the only "political animal" as defined by Aristotle. Schemes, coalitions, and mediation are all aspects of chimpanzee behavior. Long before man took hold of the political domain, nature had provided other animal species with a whole array of political stratagems, from the most cunning to the most egalitarian: polyergus ants have been practicing slavery for millions of years, hamadryas baboons have a right of veto and deer on the Isle of Rum have established their own democracy. Biologists have even realized that some traits of character used by politicians to fulfill their ambitions (and reach their goals) can be found in other animal species. Domination, alliance-building, seduction and manipulation are forms of intelligence no longer monopolized by man. Barriers continue to fall as discoveries on animal societies throughout the world progress.

Altruism, an act that bestows a benefit on the recipient while conferring a cost to the actor, is one of the central paradoxes of evolution. In the wild, where only the fittest survive, adopting other animals' offspring is not really in line with Darwin's theory of evolution. And yet, amongst bees, dolphins, lions and several primate species, altruism may go as far as adoption. In the case of social insects, parent substitution was a flaw in Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection: the biologist noticed that non-reproductive insects who adopted and helped young ones, brought a large portion of genetic baggage from their parents. Darwin had to broaden his theory to the family group. For mammals, including men, what advantage is there in the act of adoption? In the years following the adoption, does the adopted individual contribute to the foster parents' survival and vice versa? The controversy at the heart of this documentary continues to be debated in today's scientific world. While raising these different questions, this documentary will study each case separately because each adoption behaviour has evolved independently forming its own pattern, its own benefit and even... its own disadvantages.

Recent discoveries have shown that hundreds of animal species use tools. New Caledonia crows, for instance, use twigs to remove insect larvae from their galleries; sea otters use flat stones to break open urchin shells or earshells; tailor ants weave leaves together with the threads secreted by the specie's larvae. Until recently, it was believed that the human tool was different from the animal tool which is neither transmitted nor accumulated. Several long-term studies on animal populations have proven quite the contrary. The animal tool can be cultural, some chimpanzee populations for instance have their own technical traditions: they crack nuts with stones. Supported by these observations, this comprehensive documentary will be structured around three central questions: how does the tool-using animal transform the world? And by extension the others? And how does the tool transform the animal's behaviour?

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings together celebrities, scientists and comedians to explore a variety of cosmic topics and collide pop culture with science in a way that late-night television has never seen before. Weekly topics range from popular science fiction, space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, to the future of Earth and the environment. Tyson is an astrophysicist with a gifted ability to connect with everyone, inspiring us all to to "keep looking up."

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings together celebrities, scientists and comedians to explore a variety of cosmic topics and collide pop culture with science in a way that late-night television has never seen before. Weekly topics range from popular science fiction, space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, to the future of Earth and the environment. Tyson is an astrophysicist with a gifted ability to connect with everyone, inspiring us all to to "keep looking up."

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings together celebrities, scientists and comedians to explore a variety of cosmic topics and collide pop culture with science in a way that late-night television has never seen before. Weekly topics range from popular science fiction, space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, to the future of Earth and the environment. Tyson is an astrophysicist with a gifted ability to connect with everyone, inspiring us all to to "keep looking up."

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings together celebrities, scientists and comedians to explore a variety of cosmic topics and collide pop culture with science in a way that late-night television has never seen before. Weekly topics range from popular science fiction, space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, to the future of Earth and the environment. Tyson is an astrophysicist with a gifted ability to connect with everyone, inspiring us all to to "keep looking up."

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings together celebrities, scientists and comedians to explore a variety of cosmic topics and collide pop culture with science in a way that late-night television has never seen before. Weekly topics range from popular science fiction, space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, to the future of Earth and the environment. Tyson is an astrophysicist with a gifted ability to connect with everyone, inspiring us all to to "keep looking up."

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings together celebrities, scientists and comedians to explore a variety of cosmic topics and collide pop culture with science in a way that late-night television has never seen before. Weekly topics range from popular science fiction, space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, to the future of Earth and the environment. Tyson is an astrophysicist with a gifted ability to connect with everyone, inspiring us all to to "keep looking up."

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings together celebrities, scientists and comedians to explore a variety of cosmic topics and collide pop culture with science in a way that late-night television has never seen before. Weekly topics range from popular science fiction, space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, to the future of Earth and the environment. Tyson is an astrophysicist with a gifted ability to connect with everyone, inspiring us all to to "keep looking up."

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings together celebrities, scientists and comedians to explore a variety of cosmic topics and collide pop culture with science in a way that late-night television has never seen before. Weekly topics range from popular science fiction, space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, to the future of Earth and the environment. Tyson is an astrophysicist with a gifted ability to connect with everyone, inspiring us all to to "keep looking up."

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings together celebrities, scientists and comedians to explore a variety of cosmic topics and collide pop culture with science in a way that late-night television has never seen before. Weekly topics range from popular science fiction, space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, to the future of Earth and the environment. Tyson is an astrophysicist with a gifted ability to connect with everyone, inspiring us all to to "keep looking up."

Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings together celebrities, scientists and comedians to explore a variety of cosmic topics and collide pop culture with science in a way that late-night television has never seen before. Weekly topics range from popular science fiction, space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, to the future of Earth and the environment. Tyson is an astrophysicist with a gifted ability to connect with everyone, inspiring us all to to "keep looking up."

In this global mega-doc, National Geographic tells the story of the 1980s like never before. An epic rollercoaster ride told through astonishing archive and dramatic reconstruction, The 80s features interviews with music and film superstars as well as titans of technology, business, media and politics. We'll bring you ten years of breakneck innovation, glamour, success, and ambition, all shot through fascinating trends. Welcome back to the 1980s.

Nonstop glamour and excess find a new poster girl in the 1980s when a hot young singer sees her chance to create her own brand. Madonna inspires countless girls across the globe to hit the nearest shopping mall to match her distinctive style. Young men with money to burn are buying into the young professional - or "yuppie" - lifestyle, and scooping up the latest expensive gadget: the cell phone. And, marketers learn an important lesson about the power of these new consumers in 1985 when Coca Cola's disastrous launch of New Coke threatens its position against Pepsi.

With the mantra "greed... is good," Gordon Gekko encapsulates the 1980's drive for excess and ruthless ambition in Oliver Stone’s "Wall Street" while big traders mirror his notoriously bad behaviour with insider trading and drug use in real life. In the 80s, CEOs see their salaries skyrocket while women struggle to overcome office boys' clubs. And, the quest to climb higher also leads to one of the '80s biggest tragedies, as NASA's Space Shuttle Challenger explodes during lift off, claiming the lives of all on board.

The 80s - often described as the decade when greed was good. But it also marked the beginning of a potent alliance between charity and celebrity. Huge events are staged to deal with the crisis of poverty abroad and at home. President Reagan has set out a vision of a better future for Americans in the famous campaign ad, Morning in America. His foreign policy, however, is paying dividends - he is breaking down barriers as he pushes for an end to the Cold War.