The Phaistos Disc is one of the greatest mysteries of the Bronze Age. A strange 3,000-year-old relic found in an ancient Minoan palace marked with enigmatic images that no one has ever managed to decode. But now, using cutting-edge technology, experts might finally reveal its secrets. How can this corroded scrap of metal change the history of a continent? And is this dead woman's face the most kissed in history?
The archaeological world is fooled for nearly half a century when an ape-like skull that's claimed as solid evidence for Darwin's theory of human evolution is proven fake. Using new research, experts investigate and uncover the identity of the forger. Locked away in a store room at London Science Museum is a genuine 19th century miracle machine, a 180-year-old mechanical engine that solves complex mathematical equations, more than 100 years before the first electronic computer.
Garrett McNamara and his team return to Nazaré for another season of surfing. The team struggles through a number of accidents and challenges but eventually develop a set of safety procedures that enable them to surf Nazare's wave with less chance of injury or death. The struggles pay off when McNamara catches a nearly 80 foot tall wave that catapults him to international fame and makes him the holder of the world record for largest wave surfed.
To survive Mars, our species will need to evolve how we eat, drink, and build our homes. Will we need our genes to evolve as well? Sometime in the future humans will leave Earth to colonize Mars, and in doing so will begin to adapt to life on another planet in surprising ways. Evolutionary biologist Dr. Scott Solomon foresees a series of changes to our species from the size of our hearts and heads to the pigments in our skin.
The day of the Nazaré competition has arrived, and Garrett McNamara decides not to compete but instead support his long-time friend and teammate Andrew 'Cotty' Cotton. The competition does not go smoothly, with a major accident that has secondary effects on Cotty. After the competition, Garrett tries surfing at Nazaré again and realizes that can resume big-wave surfing. The episode concludes with retrospectives from a number of the surfers who appeared on various episodes throughout the season.
The Namib Desert is one of the oldest deserts and also one of the most diverse. With 50ºC (120ºF) temperatures and half a millimetre of rainfall annually, we see how this is possible. Half the size of Oklahoma, from its Skeleton Coast through the sea of sand to the haze of distant mountains this apparently forbidding desert hides secret water sources.
How can this corroded scrap of metal change the history of a continent? And is this dead woman's face the most kissed in history?