Beginning in the 1950s, American and Soviet scientists embarked on a perilous race to see who could build and detonate the world’s largest bomb. The results exceeded all expectations about how big a bomb could be built. Initially, the Americans led the way, but then left the field clear for the Soviet Union to break all records.

It is a feeling we all know, the moment when a light goes on in your head. In a sudden flash of inspiration, a new idea is born. Today, scientists are using some unusual techniques to try to work out how these moments of creativity - whether big, small or life-changing - come about. They have devised a series of puzzles and brainteasers to draw out our creative behaviour, while the very latest neuroimaging technology means researchers can actually peer in side our brains and witness the creative spark as it happens. And what they are discovering has the power to make every one of us more creative.

Attenborough's Natural Curiosities
A five part series in which Sir David Attenborough shines the spotlight on some of nature’s evolutionary anomalies and how these curious animals continue to baffle and fascinate. Attenborough turns away from the kind of widescreen wildlife that often sweeps across our screens and adopts a more zoomed-in approach. As you’d expect, it’s exemplary broadcasting. What the series lacks in lush landscapes and beauty shots, it more than makes up for with extraordinary stats. It’s the best kind of educational television.

Documentary telling the story of the world's craziest race. In 1977 French motorcyclist Thierry Sabine was in serious trouble, lost in the Libyan desert and dying from thirst. Whilst most men would weep and think back over their lives, Thierry thought about coming back - to do a rally across the Sahara Desert. The 9,000km Paris-Dakar rally was born and it became a beacon for eccentric adventurers battling the terrain in customised vehicles, seduced by the romance of the desert and the extreme challenge. However, caught up in controversy and with a total of over 60 deaths, in 2008 the event was brought to an end in Africa by terrorism. Featuring winners Cyril Neveu, Hubert Auriol, Jean Louis Schlesser, Ari Vatanen, Stephane Peterhansel, Martine De Cortanze, former participant Sir Mark Thatcher and many more, this is the story of the biggest motorsport event the world has ever seen and one of the greatest challenges of human endeavour ever conceived, told by those that took part.

Drones. These unmanned flying robots–some as large as jumbo jets, others as small as birds–do things straight out of science fiction. Much of what it takes to get these robotic airplanes to fly, sense, and kill has remained secret. But now, with rare access to drone engineers and those who fly them for the U.S. military, NOVA reveals the amazing technologies that make drones so powerful as we see how a remotely-piloted drone strike looks and feels from inside the command center. From cameras that can capture every detail of an entire city at a glance to swarming robots that can make decisions on their own to giant air frames that can stay aloft for days on end, drones are changing our relationship to war, surveillance, and each other. And it's just the beginning. Discover the cutting edge technologies that are propelling us toward a new chapter in aviation history as NOVA gets ready for "Rise of the Drones."

Historian and former tank commander Mark Urban tells the story of six remarkable men from the Fifth Royal Tank Regiment across World War II. Surviving veterans and previously unseen letters and diaries relate in visceral detail how an extraordinary "band of brothers" fought throughout the war.

Based on research by NASA astro-biologist and paleontologist Professor Peter Ward and a group of respected American climatologists, this eye-opening documentary uses scientific evidence past and present, archive film, location photography and CGI to explore the dire consequences should the atmosphere’s CO2 levels treble over the next 100-300 years, as predicted.

Monster Bug Wars
“Monster Bug Wars” takes you ringside to witness some of nature’s deadliest encounters—where losers aren’t just KO’d, they’re eaten alive. This is the no-holds-barred, real-life world of Spiders, Scorpions, Centipedes and Killer Ants who fight to the death. It’s a five-episode bug-eat-bug gladiatorial contest where stings, spikes and deadly venom are wielded with cold-blooded precision. Filmed in super close-up high definition and illustrated with state-of-the-art CGI, Monster Bug Wars brings to life nature’s ultimate fight club—five encounters per episode—with expert commentary from Cornell University’s eminent entomologist, Dr Linda Rayor, and “Professor Poison”, Dr Bryan Grieg Fry from The University of Queensland.

Al Murray travels across the Western Front in a restored Willys MB Jeep, covering the timeline from the Invasion of Normandy to the fall of Berlin, interviewing survivors and showcasing some of the equipment used.

There are earthly forces, airborne particles and organisms that coexist with humans, but cannot be seen by the naked eye. For the first time, this incredible series will capture the things we cannot see and explore them in intricate detail. Using cutting-edge laboratory techniques, such as scanning electron microscopes and specialty photography, be prepared to see sound and heat, take an unfiltered look at what we are inhaling with every breath and explore the mysterious forces of water that you will have to see to believe. There is no computer generated imagery and no blue screens - everything you see in this series will be real.

Louis XIV is synonymous with style, debauchery and excess. The indulgent palace of Versailles: glittering on the outside, grimy on the underneath, perfectly symbolises his reign. "Versailles, c'est moi," said Louis XIV. And so this lavish Anglo-French co-production, brought vividly to life by premier league historians and opulent dramatisations, combines a portrait of the Sun King and his mistresses with the story of his grandest and greatest design. It is a tale of mind-bending contradictions. The palace enveloped a modest hunting lodge. Formal gardens and broad canals were created on a mosquito-infested swamp.

While many remember the bombing of Dresden, which resulted in the deaths of 30,000 people, this programme uncovers the reasons behind the extensive Allied attacks on other German towns during the final stages of World War Two. Historians Martin Middlebrook and Professor Tami Biddle explore the facts behind the devastation and conclude that targets were often selected on the basis of ease of destruction rather than military importance.

What are the 10 greatest scientific discoveries of all time? Find out which of the original 100 were voted by viewers as the most groundbreaking.

With physician Andreas Vesalius's groundbreaking anatomical drawings in 1538, a new science was born. Witness the horror of a pre-anesthesia operating room, see how X-rays were discovered and meet the man who developed the first vitamin. Plus, learn how physicist Sir Isaac Newton developed his three laws of motion and travel inside the atom for an explosive look at Einstein's best-known theory.

Gregor Mendel's work with pea plants pioneered the study of genetics, but it wasn't until the creation of the double helix DNA model that the field really began to take off. Hundreds of years before the first DNA test, "Micrographia" championed the use of microscopes and set the stage for the first major discovery in biology: microorganisms. Learn how the secret of the cell was solved and how starfish led to the development of stem cell research.