Welcome to Multipleverses

NGC brings extraterrestrial storms to Earth in Storm Worlds (Sun 5/16 at 8-10pm ET/PT)

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

National Geographic Channel this Sunday, May 16, starting at 8PM ET/PT. Storm Worlds imagines various scenarios in which the worst of the weather conditions in the universe hits the Earth. Below are descriptions from the three episodes, as well as some images and embeddable videos. On our website, there’s a special interactive feature for Storm Worlds as well, through allows viewers to apply and experience various extraterrestrial storm scenarios – STORM WORLDS Interactive: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/storm-worlds-interactive


STORM WORLDS: COSMIC FIRE

Sunday, May 16 at 8PM ET/PT

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/storm-worlds/4065/Overview

In 1859, a huge solar storm hit Earth with tremendous force, wiping out what were then modern communications across the world. Experts believe that if a storm on the same scale were to happen again, it could destroy us. As scientists prepare for another solar storm of apocalyptic proportions, see how evidence extracted from Arctic ice cores contains a chilling record of the 1859 event. If it happened again, what would it mean for our modern world?

CGI IMAGE: A coronal mass ejection (CME) blasts towards a satellite. (Photo Credit: © Yap Storm Productions Inc/ Yap films Inc)

Video “Disaster Lights in the Sky” – In 1859, a terrifying display of light filled the skies all over the world. This was no ordinary aurora.

Link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/storm-worlds/4065/Videos/08077_00

Video “Sun Fire Blast” – A plasma blast from the sun’s superheated atmosphere, the corona, could change life as we know it on Earth.

Link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/storm-worlds/4065/Videos/08076_00

STORM WORLDS: ALIEN WIND

Sunday, May 16 at 9PM ET/PT

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/storm-worlds/4064/Overview

To understand the worst weather in the universe, Storm Worlds travels to the outer cosmos to investigate the worst weather ever, as scientists look at the most extreme weather here on Earth – from giant sand dunes in Africa to “underwater hurricanes” to a typhoon hot spot. Using cutting-edge CGI fantasy sequences witness the destructive power of these mind-blowing storms as they descend on San Francisco.

Amado, Arizona, USA: Stars burns bringhtly above Whipple Observatory near Amado, Arizona, where scientists recorded the September 24, 2009, transit of exoplanet HD 80606b across its star. (Photo Credit © Yap Films)


Video “Space Storms Pummel Earth” – Witness the destructive power of mind-blowing storms from far away planets as they descend upon Earth.

Link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/storm-worlds/4064/Videos/08137_00

Video “Mega Tempest From Outer Space” – What would happen if the wildest storms in the universe hit Earth?

Link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/storm-worlds/4064/Videos/08138_00

STORM WORLDS: DEADLY DUST

Sunday, May 16 at 10PM ET/PT

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/storm-worlds/4063/Overview

The sky turns black, blotting out the sun. The air is suddenly 30 degrees hotter and dust infiltrates every possible crevice. People are buried alive as they run for their lives. You are trapped in a Martian dust storm. As the potential for human exploration of Mars becomes more of a reality, scientists are following a trail of dust around the Earth. Using cutting-edge GGI, we experience the terrifying impact an all-encompassing, Martian-sized dust storm would have on Earth.

Studio City, CA, USA: Scientists Ana De Leon (left) and Pablo De Leon (r) fit colleague Pascal Lee with a specialized space suit designed to provide protection in Mars-like atmospheric conditions. (Photo Credit © Yap Films)


Video “Martian Dust Devils” – A team of researchers try to understand the physics and meteorology behind Mars’ dust devils.

Link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/storm-worlds/4063/Videos/08078_00

11.05.2010 National Geographic Channel No Comments

National Geographic Channel l Explorer: Vampire Forensics (Tue 2/23 at 10PM ET/PT)

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Before Robert Pattinson made vampires a Hollywood heartthrob, 16th century Venetians battled the unimaginable horror of the plague, then a growing legend of the “shroud eater.” Explorer: Vampire Forensics follows forensic anthropologist Matteo Borrini as he digs deeper into this legend. Below are some photos and videos from the program:

EXPLORER: VAMPIRE FORENSICS
Tuesday, February 23 at 10PM ET/PT

Florence, Italy: Dr. Matteo Borrini, a forensic anthropologist, investigates evidence collected at a crime scene in his Florence laboratory. (Photo Credit: © NGT)

Florence, Italy: The skull and brick from the Vampire of Venice. In the summer of 2006, on the Venetian island of Lazaretto Nuovo, Dr. Matteo Borrini and his team were excavating a mass grave dating from the plague of the 16th Century. They found a skeleton with a brick between the jaws of its skull. A brick was placed in the mouth of the corpse to kill a vampire.
(Photo Credit: © NGT)

Venice, 1575 – the jewelled city of northern Italy is in the throes of unimaginable horror. One of the worst plagues ever to strike mankind: the Black Death. Mass graves swell thousands of bodies. A legend grows that a vampire known as a “Shroud-eater” is the cause of the plague. The Shroud-eater feasts on corpses, then rises from the earth to infect the living. More than four hundred years later Italian forensic anthropologist and CSI specialist Matteo Borrini leads a team excavating a 16th Century mass grave on one of Venice’s outlying islands. He uncovers a skeleton unlike any he had ever seen before. A brick appears to have been inserted between the jaws of the skull. Why? The answer shocks him. He believes the object was part of a macabre ritual designed to kill a vampire. The discovery launches Borrini on a forensic investigation unlike any he has ever attempted – as he attempts to put a face – a life – to the Vampire of Venice.
Video “Flesh Eating Corpses” – A 500-year-old skull may tell us more about 16th century European beliefs about vampires.


Video “Consorting with the Devil” – Forensic anthropologists examine the skeleton of a 500-year-old vampire.

More photos from the episode:

19.02.2010 National Geographic Channel No Comments

NOAA, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I AND NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL ANNOUNCE DISCOVERY OF TWO TOP-SECRET JAPANESE COMBAT SUBMARINES

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

EXPEDITION WEEK: Hunt for the Samurai Subs
Tuesday, November 17 at 9PM ET/PT
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/expedition-week/4577/Overview
Just before the atomic bomb forced Japan into submission, the Imperial Navy sent a fleet of incredibly advanced combat subs to attack a major U.S. naval base in the Pacific. But when Japan surrendered, the U.S. Navy confiscated them, only to later have them scuttled near Hawaii when Soviet scientists demanded access. The war machines’ precise location would remain a mystery for decades. Now a team of explorers thinks they can find some of these lost subs in the Pacific’s dark waters. From the Hawaiian island of Oahu, deep submergence vehicle pilots Terry Kerby and Max Cramer, along with a team of devoted explorers, prepare to dive to depths of nearly 3,000 feet to hunt for some of WWII’s largest and fastest submarines — in a Japanese super-submarine graveyard ? and solve one of the war’s great mysteries.

Video “Preview: Samurai Subs” – Deep sea explorers hunt for Japanese submarines lost on the ocean floor – once part of a top-secret plan to dominate WWII.

15.11.2009 National Geographic Channel No Comments

Watch National Geographic Expedition Week Nov 15- 22!

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

EXPEDITION WEEK Website

The Headshrinker – Shrink your head!:

EXPEDITION WEEK: Search for the Amazon Head Shrinkers
Sunday, November 15 at 9PM ET/PT
Head Shrinker
Terrifying legends from the Amazon tell of Indian headshrinkers who would shrink an enemy’s head to render the vengeful soul powerless. Now, NGC has exclusive U.S. access to 45-year-old archive footage captured by explorer Edmundo Bielawski, purportedly the only known footage that shows the process of an actual ? recently deceased ? human head being shrunk. Author and explorer Piers Gibbon heads deep into the Amazon jungle in an attempt to trace Bielawski’s 1960s journey, rediscover the exact location where this scene was filmed and reconnect with the tribe today. After a string of setbacks, Gibbon finally gets a striking clue that leads him on an arduous trek to the village of Tukupi, where he finds one aging warrior, the last of his generation, who could provide answers to the mystery once and for all.
Video “How to Shrink a Human Head” – Piers Gibbon learns from a local priest how the Shuar people’s head shrinking ceremony might have looked.
Video “The Head Shrinker Archives” – Rare archival footage demonstrates the Shuar practice of shrinking a human head.
EXPEDITION WEEK: Expedition Great White
Monday, November 16 at 9PM ET/PT
A hundred sixty miles off the coast of Baja California, science and sport fishing join forces for an unprecedented research effort. A team of world-class anglers will land one of the most challenging fish imaginable: the great white shark. Unlike any other catch ever attempted, they’ll lift an SUV-sized shark out of the water onto a platform, mount a long-lasting tracking tag by hand, take measurements and DNA samples while pumping water into the shark’s mouth to keep it alive, and release it unharmed … all within minutes, like a NASCAR race pit stop. Marine biologist Dr. Michael Domeier uses advanced tracking devices to help uncover how this predator lives, how it mates and where it roams, with the ultimate goal of conserving and protecting this endangered species. But he’ll rely on the fishing expertise of expedition leader Chris Fischer and crew members like actor Paul Walker (“Fast and Furious”), who jumped in as a deckhand and quickly earned the crew’s respect. With more than 1,000 hours of footage culled into 10 upcoming episodes, NGC gives the ultimate EXPEDITION WEEK sneak peak at this exciting series.
Guadalupe Island, Mexico: A great white shark approaches the underwater deck along with crew member Jody Whitworth before it is lifted onto the boat for tagging. (photo credit: © Chris Ross/Chris Fischer)
4015370214_94a12be6f3Video “Expedition Great White” – Maneuvering the great white shark and getting it safely into the cradle is a tense and delicate operation

Link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/expedition-week/4906/Overview#tab-Videos/07441_00

Video: “Preview: Expedition Great White” – Scientists and anglers work like a well-trained pit crew to tag a massive Great White, collect data, and get DNA samples.Link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/expedition-week/4906/Videos/07442_00

EXPEDITION WEEK: Deep Secrets: The Ballard Gallipoli Expedition
Wednesday, November 18 at 9PM ET/PT
With 120 deep-sea expeditions under his belt ? one of which resulted in the historic discovery of the sunken R.M.S. Titanic — National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Bob Ballard embarks on a new, unparalleled underwater exploration for NGC’s second annual EXPEDITION WEEK. Off the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey, he’ll dive to the ocean depths searching for British and French warships that sank during the Battle at Gallipoli — one of the bloodiest and most controversial campaigns of World War I. We’ll scour the warship graveyard using Nautilus, an advanced mobile research vessel with state-of-the-art electronics, computers, navigational and communications systems, as well as side scan sonar and two deep-sea ROVs named Hercules and Argus. It’s the most comprehensive underwater exploration of shipwrecks from the Battle at Gallipoli ever taken. Now, stunning HD images from the sea floor could offer tantalizing new details about the Allied army’s catastrophic loss and the tragic carnage left in the battle’s wake.
wreck
SCREEN GRAB: AE2 wreck, as seen from underwater. (Photo Credit: © 2009 Prospero PTY Ltd./NGT/Screen Australia/Screen West, Inc.)
Video “Preview: Gallipoli Expedition” – Join Bob Bollard as he explores the sunken WWI battleships at Gallipoli and reveals secrets hidden for nearly a century.
EXPEDITION WEEK: Mars: Making the New Earth
Thursday, November 19 at 9PM ET/PT
The notion of bringing Mars to life ? transforming a cold, dry, uninhabitable desert into a living planet ? called terraforming, has been around for almost a century. Initially just a science fiction concept, it has become a subject of serious scientific investigation. NASA astrobiologist Dr. Chris McKay has spent 30 years researching extreme environments to understand the potential of such planetary engineering. On the surface, the red planet’s freeze-dried world of rocks, ice and dust looks like an unlikely place to plant a garden. But rocks and minerals found by the Mars rovers show it must once have had warmer, habitable living conditions. Now, using photorealistic CGI visualizations, we’ll make a science fiction dream of Mars — a world of trees, rivers and blue skies — a plausible future.
mars
Early stage terraformed Mars (no vegetation), orbital view. This stage will be the first of many that will take hundreds of years. (Photo credit: © National Geographic Channel) Insrt Photo
Video “Preview: Mars: Making the New Earth” – An 18,500 foot volcano in Mexico is a living laboratory for NASA scientist Chris McKay as he investigates how to transform Mars from a cold, dead planet into a living world like planet Earth.
EXPEDITION WEEK: The First Jesus?
graves
Friday, November 20 at 9PM ET/PT
He was called the King of the Jews, believed to be a Messiah. Just before Passover, the Romans beheaded him and crucified many of his followers outside Jerusalem. But his name was not Jesus … it was Simon, a self-proclaimed Messiah who died four years before Christ was born. Now, new analysis of a three-foot-tall stone tablet from the first century B.C., being hailed by scholars as a “Dead Sea Scroll on stone,” speaks of an early Messiah and his resurrection. Was Simon of Peraea real? Did his life serve as the prototype of a Messiah for Jesus and his followers? And could this tablet shake up the basic premise of Christianity? We’ll go to Israel to assess this unique and mysterious artifact, including testing by a leading archeological geologist and comprehensive review of the letters, script and content by a Dead Sea Scroll expert. Then, from Jerusalem to Jericho, we’ll investigate key archeological ruins that could help prove Simon was indeed real — all of which just might sway the skeptics.
Video “Preview: The First Jesus?” – Explore the mysteries of a recently discovered stone tablet that may speak of a messiah before Christ, who rose from the dead after three days.

10.11.2009 National Geographic Channel No Comments

National Geographic Channel presents 2012: COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON (Sun 11/8 at 8PM ET/PT)

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

2012: COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON

Sunday, November 8 at 8PM ET/PT

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/2012-countdown-to-armageddon-4438/Overview

National Geographic Channel examines the evidence behind the Maya calendar prophecies in 2012: Countdown to Armageddon, premiering Sunday, November 8, 2009, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Follow Princeton University scientist Adam Maloof to three continents on a detective story that spans eons — with clues embedded in the oldest rocks on the planet. Is there evidence of global upheaval on a massive scale? What can be gleaned from the technically advanced celestial orientation of the Maya ruins? What were the Maya hoping to record in their comprehensive astronomy text called the Dresden Codex? And does a discovery from a melting glacier offer provocative signs of devastating change in ancient Maya times?

In addition to the photos and videos from the program, you can also check out our “Ends of the Earth” hub for other theories and programs on the topic, including interactive features illustrating various scenarios.

null

Cameraman Thomas Sassenberg and Director / Executive Producer Andreas Gutzeit atop the Temple of the Warriors (Templo de los Guerreros) in Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico. (Photo Credit: © Story House Productions)

Video “Maya Doomsday Prophecy” – The Maya calendar will end on December 21, 2012. Are we three years from the end of the world?

Video “The Maya’s Lost Civilization” – The abrupt abandonment of the Maya’s great cities has stumped scholars for centuries.

Video “A Climate Event to End Time” – Could a sudden climate shift that took place 5,200 years ago tell us more about what the Maya predicted for 2012?

21.10.2009 National Geographic Channel, Science Television No Comments

Previous Entries