Nick Baker

Piranhas - the stuff of nightmares and legends. They're infamous for how fast they can devour prey, and are known to attack in groups of up to 100. National Geographic joins a team of scientists heading to the Amazon to investigate a piranha mystery of immense proportions. A fossil of a giant jaw fragment has been identified as an ancient piranha, but with a terrifying twist: the tooth belonged to a fish seven times the size of existing piranha species.

Animal domestication was a major prerequisite for human civilization to evolve. Join National Geographic as we explore how a dramatic shift from wild to tame happened by investigating foxes, chickens, dogs and rats. Travel to Siberia to see how the physiology of foxes changes when only friendly foxes are bred. In Georgia, follow a scientist as he decodes the DNA of a special population of chickens. And in Moscow, a researcher gains insight into domestication by studying a group of stray dogs.

Massive floods in Australia and Pakistan. Deadly mudslides in Brazil. Epic drought and wildfires in Russia. Historic snows and bitter cold across North America. 2010 was one of the most destructive years in history. Join National Geographic as we present the dramatic images and personal stories of this catastrophic weather year.

They are some of the most lethal substances on earth - transmitted through food, water, the people around you or even the air you breathe. These are bioweapons, strains of bacteria and viruses that include the most feared diseases in human history. Now, imagine that you have just become the leader of your nation and new intelligence confirms that terrorists are trying to make and unleash a biological weapon in one of your cities. What are their chances for success?

For the first time, the Catholic Church is allowing scientific experts and historians to openly test the veracity of the remains of reported saints. National Geographic has exclusive access to the forensic investigation. Deep in the crypt below the Cathedral of Reggio Emilia lie a set of bones believed to be those of two ancient saints, Chrysanthus and Daria. For more than 1,500 years they've been hidden away, until now.

Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter over 480 million miles away from Earth, may be our best hope for finding alien life in our solar system. Scientists believe that on Europa there is a liquid ocean buried beneath its icy crust. To find out if this alien ocean holds life, a team needs to get there, penetrate the ice shell, and navigate in an alien sea.

A 9/11 survivor, an astronaut, and a blue hole diver all survived dramatically different traumatic events only to tell strikingly similar stories: each felt a mysterious presence that guided them to safety in their time of greatest peril. But what were these strange presences? Can they be explained? The devout call them guardian angels or divine encounters, others encounter a kind stranger. Could they have been angels? Phantoms? Or were their minds just playing tricks on them?

National Geographic takes you inside the secretive underworld of the Yakuza, Japan's infamous organized crime syndicates.

Journalist Terry Anderson was kidnapped and then held prisoner by Muslim extremists for seven years. American Hostage reveals Terry Anderson's harrowing experience from the man himself: "They beat on me. They threatened me.... They would come and sit on my chest and poke guns into my neck and say, 'We kill you, we kill you.'" Hear how the loneliness, boredom and feelings of total helplessness nearly drove Anderson over the edge.

Science may be on the verge of producing a limitless supply of replacement parts by regenerating damaged or aging body parts grown from our own cells. Could it eliminate the death sentence for profound birth defects, the need for prosthetics and any shortage of transplant organs? National Geographic delves into the science of tissue engineering and tracks how scientists are beginning to harness the body's natural powers.

Explore modern and ancient cultures with Explorer. Celebrating more than 54 Emmy awards, the longest-running documentary series on cable television opens eyes to new worlds and new perspectives. It's a journey for the mind with unforgettable adventures, extraordinary stories, and remarkable destinations.

Cannibalism has long been considered a dark chapter in man's history. Yet we think of it only as isolated occurrences. A Neolithic burial pit in Germany, found filled with expertly butchered human remains, challenges those assumptions. Archaeologists have never seen anything like it - the deeper they dig, the more bizarre the scene becomes. National Geographic joins an international team of experts as they reopen the earth to understand violent events as they played out seven thousand years ago.