We've all heard of the Ox and the ass, and the donkey that carried Mary, but did you know gazelles are mentioned in the Bible? Or whales, lions, scorpions. A whole menagerie is featured. Some are creatures of the holy lands, but others have been selected for traits that make them ideal symbols.
"Thunder Road", a term coined to identify the nighttime route from Harlan, Kentucky, to Knoxville, Tennessee, traveled by illegal whiskey haulers. Tracing its origins to European immigrants who showed up with barely a shirt on their back and a recipe for making hooch.
Much loved, clowns of the sea, seals are endlessly fascinating. Agile hunters and graceful in the water, and yet bloated sausages on land, seals entertain us with dramatic courtships, an endless playful sense of curiosity, and some of the cutest fluffy white babies on the planet.
Feeling out of shape? You're not alone. The pandemic has totally crushed most exercise routines. But a revolution in "connected fitness" is changing that, bringing hi-tech gear, live instruction and social interaction right into our homes.
The FAST radio telescope is the biggest ever built—and can detect signals emitted tens of thousands of light years away. From technological innovations to architectural challenges and first results, follow each step that gave birth to a tool designed to prove we aren’t alone in the universe.
Return to President John F. Kennedy’s early years as an adventurous student in the 1930s as he travels across the Atlantic, discovers his love for Europe and searches for his path in life.
During the 1930s, communities across Appalachia were in the dark at night because electric lines still had not connected them to the 20th Century. The TVA turned to the watersheds draining the Great Smoky Mountains and built a series of hydroelectric complexes that sparked the South’s economy.
What started in the 1970s as a gathering of hippies became what is known as the whitewater industry and Steep Creek Kayaking. Where boaters are pulled underwater by rapids, spit out downstream and come back for more.
In 1956, the National Guard descended on Clinton, Tennessee, to protect 12 black students enrolled in the newly integrated Clinton High School. Ultimately, the troops weren’t enough to keep the peace. Who were the Clinton 12?
All habitats present challenges to life, but few more so than the desert, but still, even here, life abounds, from little foxes to speed lizards and light-footed gazelles to huge camels. Each one finds its own ways to exploit and conserve food and water, creating new dramas every day.
Some creatures play hard and die young. Small bodies are more susceptible to heat loss need a lot of calories to stay warm. With high metabolisms, creatures like shrews, hummingbirds, and porpoises must devote their lives to eating and might perish between meals.
The mountains of North Carolina and Georgia became the perfect hideout for suspected bomber Eric Robert Rudolph. Relive this warped tale of one man on the run, outwitting some of the most skilled man-trackers in the business. And how the authorities finally brought the Olympic Bomber to justice.
We are a funny bunch with our superstitions, and it's surprising how many of them involved animals. It can be good or bad luck to see a cat, magpies, and pigs are believed to bring good luck and prosperity.
From the arctic tundra to the great planes, the kingdom of the wolf extends across the entire northern hemisphere. They are icons of the wilderness, spectacular creatures that live and die by the sword.
We all know antelopes as the prey of lions. They represent food to many of the predators of the plain and so it’s hardly surprising that they stick together in groups, seeking safety in numbers, with more pairs of eyes to spot danger.
Traveling north across the planet, eventually, you’ll run out of forest, a land too harsh for even trees to take root. This is tundra. But with dramatic seasonal changes, it offers rich rewards for those tough enough to take on the challenge.
Mini oceans inland, lakes are treasure troves of aquatic wonders, each zone, from the depths to the surface, the banks to the mud at the bottom, hosts its own animal communities of predators and prey. Fish, birds, insects, even mammals, enjoy the bounty of their freshwater home.
We take our features, our noses, eyes, and ears for granted, but they are pretty weird things until you look at the nose of a tapir or desman, the eyes of a cuttlefish or chameleon, or the ears of a seal or elephant. There is an almost endless variety of designs, and some are downright odd!
It’s tough out in nature, but many creatures are forced or choose to leave it all behind and seek a new life in the urban jungle. For some, it is life on the breadline, while others find a land of opportunity.
Ghosts and ghouls go bump in the night, but so do many of the planet's most weird and wonderful creatures. The list of the secret creatures of the dark is endless, fascinating, and bizarre.
It’s a pretty tough decision to pick nature's cutest animal - a koala, a penguin, a big-eyed, wobbly-kneed fawn, a fluffy white seal, playing polar bear cubs. It’s a long line-up but expects a lot of oooh’s and awwws while you try to decide!
During WWII the federal government took over the 60k acres of land known as, Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau, turning it into a secret city where workers unknowingly were building the world's 1st atomic bomb. Today it’s known as the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where some believe that WWII was won.
Few animals have more complex societies and interactions than elephants. For these slow-growing, long-lived animals, survival is totally dependent on knowledge passed down from family members and from the constant support of the herd. It’s no wonder we find them so endearing.
All over the world, while many species are under threat of extinction, raccoons are experiencing an unprecedented expansion. Behind their innocent, cute look hides an outstanding survivor's temperament. When it comes to feeding and defending themselves, raccoons are capable of anything.
