Who would have predicted that a hot spot left over from the Big Bang would eventually lead to our galaxy, the solar system, the Earth, - and to us? Origins explores how the universe and our planet began amid chaos and eventually gave birth to the first stirrings of life. Join cutting-dege scientists on a voyage deep into the Earth to find analogs to the earliest life on our planet, and travel a million miles from Earth with a space probe designed...

What keeps a tunnel from collapsing? Tunnels have advanced from dangerous, claustrophobic passages to spacious, safe subterranean networks as roomy as shopping malls. Host David Macaulay takes viewers underground to explore the history and ingenuity behind some of the world's tunneling marvels.

What enables a simple arch bridge to support such great weight? What holds up a suspension bridge? Bridge the world with award-winning author-illustrator--and captivating storyteller--David Macaulay (The Way Things Work) and meet the brilliant designers who dared to extend roads and railways with ingenious but sometimes flawed designs.

The glories of Ancient Rome are explored in ROMAN CITY, based on David Macaulay's acclaimed book. This animated and live-action video recounts life in Verbonia, a fictional city in Gaul. A well-planned town with all modern conveniences, it is threatened by conflict between conquerors and conquered. Macaulay also visits Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ostia, Nimes, Orange, and Rome, to view actual Roman architecture and engineering greatness.

This animated program centers on a small New England community similar to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where Samuel Slater established America's first textile mill. Live action hosted by David Macaulay, takes viewers from Manchester, England, to Lowell, Massachusetts, explaining technological changes that transformed the making of textiles, a key component of the Industrial Revolution sweeping across Europe and America in the late 18th century.