Arts & Culture

Writer Marc Guggenheim makes the call to this week's Marvel Hotline to dish on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #587 and the overwhelming odds Spidey faces this week!

National Geographic takes you on an exclusive tour inside Air Force One, part luxury hotel, part super-secret military command post. From its beginnings with President Roosevelt making a secret wartime flight in 1943, to the historic flight that returned President Kennedy's body to Washington after his assassination, to the closing months of the Clinton administration, Air Force One takes you through the history of the world's most powerful plane. Features exclusive interviews with President George W. Bush and former Presidents Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter.

For three decades, National Geographic has set the standard for spellbinding television documentaries of exploration and discovery. From the first American expedition to summit Everest, to undersea worlds of danger and beauty with Jacques Ives Cousteau, to the historic discovery of fossils of our earliest ancestors with Louis and Mary Leakey, witness as National Geographic filmmakers capture the mystery and wonder of life around the world. From the delicate rhythms of the natural world to the many faces of human culture, 30 Years of National Geographic Specials chronicles a visual saga of humankind's quest for knowledge.

Explore the Hawaiian Islands, an archipelago born of volcanic eruptions tens of millions of years ago. Fertile for evolution and protected by the immense Pacific Ocean, this isolated tropical haven produced an explosion of wildlife found nowhere else on earth. Once able to flourish, exquisite creatures such as the ancient green sea turtle, the playful monk seal, and the Hawaiian honeycreeper now exist in fragile habitats. Since the arrival of man 2,000 years ago, 70% of all native species have disappeared. Watch as conservation heroes dangle from the cliffs of Moloka'i, risking their lives to hand-pollinate endangered flowers. Ironically, Hawaii's plants and animals must now rely on man's intervention in order to survive. Join National Geographic and discover a land of precious and threatened life forms in HAWAII: STRANGERS IN PARADISE.

They are symbols of affection - widely thought to be as pure as love itself - and the vast majority are legal stones that are mined, exported and sold in the clear light of day. But for years, some diamonds have been sold illegally - with devastating results linking to war, blood and brutality. In the diamond-rich West African nation of Sierra Leone, rebels have used the precious gems to bankroll a violent ten-year insurrection, leaving a terrorized population and a ravaged landscape in its wake. Join National Geographic from Europe to Africa to uncover the truth about the dark side of the diamond trade.

National Geographic Ultimate Explorer host Lisa Ling examines the consequences of China's two-decade-old, ''one-child policy'' designed to curb the country's exploding population. Due to cultural, social and economic factors, traditional preference leans toward boys, so girls are often hidden, aborted, or abandoned. As a result, tens of thousands of girls end up in orphanages across China. Today, more than one quarter of all babies adopted from abroad by American families come from China - and nearly all are girls. Ling joins some of these families as they travel to China to meet their new daughters for the first time. Along this emotional journey, she shares in the joy of these growing families and also witnesses firsthand China's gender gap, its roots, and its possible repercussions.

ADAM: LEGEND OF THE BLUE MARVEL writer Kevin Grevioux drops delectable details on issue #4.

All you need to know about The Battle of the Bulge - A major German offensive of World War II, in the Ardennes Mountian region

Perpetuating the species, is a risky, dangerous mission. You have to find a mate, find the right place to bring your children into the world, build a home, defend them from enemies and feed them until they become independent. An exhausting task, simply to pass on your genes to future generations.

The diverse and threatened jungles of Costa Rica and the natural world found within.

Practitioners in China, Peru and Sudan face challenges from wounded rebels to flesh-eating diseases.

National Geographic presents an intimate and three-dimensional documentation of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and sheds light on the universal principles of Islam during the days of the Hajj. Learn the historical significance of the city to Muslim and non-Muslim populations alike. And, experience the epic journey of a lifetime, the Hajj, as we witness the personal stories of the pilgrims and the mental preparation, physical strain and spiritual ecstasy they encounter on their life-altering pilgrimage of faith.

All you need to know about The Battle of Verdun - the longest, and one of the most critical, battles in World War I

All you need to know about The Battle of Rorke's Drift - 139 British troops defended their garrison against over 4,000 Zulu warriors in one of the finest defences in military history

All you need to know about The Battle of Gettysburg - a turning point in the American Civil war

The ecology of Venezuelan plains and some of the most seriously threatened species that inhabit it : anacondas, Orinoco crocodiles, oatzines, ocelots?

All you need to know about The Stuka Dive Bomber - the German ground attack plane of World War II

All you need to know about The Battle of Agincourt - at Agincourt English troops defeated a much larger French force as part of the Hundred Years War

Artist Todd Nauck joins Marvel.com Assistant Editor Ben Morse at New York Comic Con to talk about drawing President Barack Obama, creating art for the Super Bowl and more in the latest episode of our Marvel One on One video series.

The marine or porous crocodile, the largest crocodile on earth, and its alarming situation in Australia.