AETN Exploration Wednesday: Attenborough, Chariots & the Pacific Depths

Posted on 06 Feb 2013

Travel through time and history with us this AETN Exploration Wednesday as we continue the amazing life stories of Sir David Attenborough on “Nature,” explore the Egyptian war machines on “NOVA,” and learn what secret the great depths of the Pacific Ocean hold with "Life On Fire." The adventure begins Feb. 6 at 7 p.m.

Beginning the evening, and closing the remarkable series, “Attenborough’s Life Stories,” “Nature” explores Sir David Attenborough’s reflections on the dramatic impact that human beings have had on the natural world during his lifetime in “Our Fragile Planet.” The heralded raconteur  tells surprising, entertaining and deeply personal stories of the shifts he’s seen and about the pioneering conservationsists in whose footsteps he has followed. Attenborough also shares his experience with the revolution in people’s attitude toward nature that has taken place around the globe.

Next, our travels take us Egypt, with “NOVA: Building Pharaoh’s Chariot.” We’ll join a team of archaeologists, engineers, woodworkers and horse trainers to build and test two highly accurate replicas of Egyptian royal chariots. With astonishingly advanced features – including spoked wheels, springs, shock absorbers, anti-roll bars and even a convex-shaped rear mirror – the team tests the claim that the chariot marked a crucial turning point in ancient military history. And what’s the best way to establish that claim? In our minds, nothing short of a test drive will do!

Finally, explore the tectonic movements that can construct or swallow islands in the vast emptiness of the Pacific Ocean in “Life On Fire: Pioneers of the Deep.” In the Tongagn archipelago, two little-known animals have learned to cope with the ephemeral landscape that rise from the ocean depths. Follow the sooty tern – a seabird that never dares wet its wings for fear of drowning – and the Alvin shrimp – a blind crustacean that manages to navigate the abyss. When an underwater volcano forms an island, the fates of these two extraordinary paradoxes are linked!

TUNE IN:

AETN Exploration Wednesday

Feb. 6, 2012

“Nature – Attenborough’s Life Stories: Our Fragile Planet,” 7 p.m.

“NOVA: Building Pharaoh’s Chariot,” 8 p.m.

“Life On Fire: Pioneers of the Deep,” 9 p.m.