The record behind
the story.

• Video 01 · Saipan ChannelThe Bomber That Was Never FoundAn unidentified B-29 wreck, found on the floor of the Saipan Channel. NOAA Ocean Exploration footage and archival records.
• Video 02 · Racetrack PlayaThe Sliding Rocks of Death ValleyThe stones that leave tracks across a dry lakebed, and the research that explained their movement.
• Video 03 · GreenlandCamp Century & Project IcewormThe U.S. Army’s hidden ice-sheet base and its Cold War plan, documented through military and scientific records.
• Video 04 · Antarctica, 1912–13Douglas Mawson: Antarctic SurvivalThe Far Eastern Party’s expedition, Mawson’s return, and the diary that preserves the story.
• Video 05 · Pacific OceanThe Mystery of the Sperm Whale That Destroyed the EssexThe sperm whale that sank the whaleship Essex in 1820, and the research into how it hunts, dives and communicates.
• Video 06 · Strait of HormuzWhat Happens When the World's Oil Has One Door?Why a few narrow gaps carry so much of the world's trade, and why closing the Strait of Hormuz is different from closing a shortcut like Suez.
• Video 07 · The root key ceremoniesWhy the Internet's Master Key Lives in a CageWhy the key at the top of the internet's chain of trust is kept in a locked cage, what it actually signs, and why the people who hold its keys cannot switch the internet off.
• Video 08 · How maps workHow Google Maps Actually WorksHow the map on your phone is built from photographs, height measurements and road data, how your phone finds its own position, and how a route and its arrival time are worked out.
• Video 09 · The Iberian blackoutThe Blackout That Took Down Two CountriesHow mainland Spain and Portugal lost almost all their electricity in 27 seconds, why it was too much voltage rather than too little power, and how the grid was restarted.
• Video 10 · Solar storms and satellitesThe Day the Sun Knocked 38 Satellites Out of the SkyWhy a small solar storm brought down 38 new Starlink satellites, how the Sun swells the air at satellite height, and what the same effect did to Skylab in 1979.
• Video 11 · World timeThe Invisible Clock That Runs the Entire WorldHow about 450 atomic clocks in some 85 labs become one world time, why a drift of four millionths of a second in Boulder mattered, and why leap seconds are ending.
• Video 12 · Airline pricesWhy the Person Next to You Paid Half Your FareWhy the same economy seat can sell at 15 prices, how the system that sets them was built for a fight in the 1980s, and what really makes a fare rise or fall.
• Video 13 · Orca huntingWhy Orcas Are the Ocean's Deadliest HuntersGreat white sharks, seals on ice and whale calves beside their mothers: how orcas hunt as a team, when they fail, and how much of it is really a plan.

Credits for each published film are permanent. If you spot an error, read the corrections policy or contact us.