Human Bones Burned in Swordmaking Video -- National Geographic

Human Bones Burned in Swordmaking Video September 8, 2009—When forged over burning human bones, swords become filled with "spirit," says the Taiwanese swordmaker behind the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sword and other masterpieces.Welcome to the National Geographic video player.Video Sections

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- "Cove" Town Halts Dolphin Hunt - September 11, 2009—The Japanese town made infamous by the movie The Cove has temporarily suspended its hunt. The annual Taiji hunt claims around 2,000 dolphins, killed by hand after being herded into a shallow cove.
- 16th-Century Convent "Reappears" - September 2, 2009—Low water levels at a southern Mexico reservoir have revealed the remains of a 16th-century convent submerged when the lake was created 40 years ago.
- Activist Back at Dolphin-Hunt Cove - September 3, 2009—Former dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, star of the new documentary The Cove, again confronts the Japanese town where dolphins are trapped and killed by hand in "drive hunts."
- Colored Solar Panels Touted - September 14, 2009—A "green" technology company has developed jewel-toned solar panels that capture different parts of the sun's light spectrum and don't need direct sunlight to work, the company says.
- Coral "Triangle" Launched - September 1, 2009—See undersea worlds that stand to be lost—and that six Southeast Asian governments are trying to save with their new Coral Triangle initiative to protect coastal reefs.
- Dead Sea Still Shrinking Fast - August 26, 2009—As the Dead Sea—really a giant freshwater lake—dramatically shrinks, Palestinian, Israeli, and Jordanian environmentalists have begun to devise ways to slow the decline.
- Dung Heaps Tell Climate Story - September 4, 2009—Rock rabbit dung heaps in Africa—some dating back tens of thousands of years—are time capsules of climate and vegetation information.
- Epic U.S. Antelope Trek, Up Close - August 13, 2009—America's longest annual migrations, which is increasingly threatened by fences and highways.
- Fire Ants "Attacked" From Air - August 11, 2009—Sarah Palin isn't the only one who supports hunting from a helicopter. The Australian government is using choppers with heat sensors to scour the land for invasive fire ants.
- Flash Flood Traps Drivers on Roofs - September 9, 2009—Dramatic video shows people trapped on bus and van rooftops as a raging flash flood inundates a busy Istanbul, Turkey, roadway. More than 28 are reported dead in related flooding.
- Flooding Hits Bangladesh - August 27, 2009—As monsoons and cyclones worsen due to climate change in the South Asian country, many coastal peoples are migrating to drier cities.
- Glacial Loss Spurs Warning - September 10, 2009—As officials meet in Denmark to prepare for the successor to the Kyoto Protocol, scientists in the Danish territory of Greenland warn of accelerated glacial loss, which could boost sea levels.
- Hamster-like Pika in Peril - September 4, 2009—Global warming is putting the pika, a hamster-like mammal, in peril. High in the Colorado mountains, a National Geographic researcher is trying to find out why its numbers are falling.
- Human Bones Burned in Swordmaking - September 8, 2009—When forged over burning human bones, swords become filled with "spirit," says the Taiwanese swordmaker behind the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sword and other masterpieces.
- Injured Elephants Get Fake Legs - August 24, 2009—Two Asian elephants in Thailand have been fitted with new prosthetic limbs after each lost a leg to landmine explosions.
- Internet's 40th "Birthday" Marked - August 31, 2009—In fall 1969, computers sending data between two California universities set the stage for the Internet, which became a household word in the 1990s.
- Leg-Lengthening Surgery in Siberia - August 19, 2009—Putting the "extreme" in extreme makeover, some Russian surgeons are courting controversy by breaking legs, among other procedures, to make the limbs longer for cosmetic purposes.
- Lost People Really Walk in Circles - August 20, 2009—A new study finds that people naturally walk in circles when their sense of direction is lost. Researchers had people walk in the desert and through a forest.
- NASA Drops "Spiders" Into Volcano - August 13, 2009—NASA helicopters have lowered about a dozen monitoring "spiders" in and around Mount St. Helens's volcanic crater to better predict major eruptions.
- Orphaned Gorillas Sent to Island - August 17, 2009—Six gorilla orphans of a critically endangered species have been released on an isolated African island. Conservationists hope to move the gorillas into the wider wilderness within three years.
- Pandas Extinct in 3 Generations? - August 18, 2009—A WWF spokesperson says that, unless development around giant panda habitat in China is controlled, the panda could become extinct within two or three generations.
- Paris Catacombs "Dense in Death" - August 25, 2009—In underground passageways that snake underneath the French capital, nearly six million people who died of disease in the Middle Ages share a final resting place.
- Roman Emperor's Birthplace Found? - August 12, 2009—Rich with marble and mosaics, a vast, newfound ruin near Rome is likely the 2,000-year-old birthplace of Emperor Vespasian, who commissioned the Colosseum, archaeologists say.
- Slain Che Guevara Soldiers Found? - August 21, 2009—Five bodies found in Bolivia may be guerrilla soldiers killed four decades ago for their involvement with revolutionary leader Che Guevara, anthropologists claim.
- Whole Families Hooked on Opium - August 10, 2009—In a small village in northeastern Afghanistan, it's estimated more than half the residents are addicted to opium. Even the youngest of children are given the drug.
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