Jennifer Peedom
	Essential Viewing Group

When I bumped into fellow Australian climber Lincoln Hall at Advance Base Camp on Everest in 2006, we were both on the mountain for different film projects. Neither of us could have imagined that soon they would be working on a film about Lincoln himself, based on an unimaginable set of circumstances that occurred that season on Everest.

It was one of the deadliest seasons on record on Mt Everest. Eleven people died, and Lincoln Hall very nearly made the death count twelve. As my team made our way up the mountain on our final summit push, I ran into Lincoln again. We stopped and chatted for a while, then climbed together briefly, between camps one and two. It was the last time I saw him on the mountain.

Following the expedition, I was exhausted and emotionally drained. On the way home to Australia, my husband and I having both lost about 10kg, decided to stop over in Thailand for a week to rest and recuperate. It was there that I received and email from a mutual friend of Lincoln’s and mine with the shattering news that he had died. As I sat in the tiny internet café, I really wondered what the point of it all had been. The final, pointless death in a horrendous season. I vowed never to return. Later than night at dinner, I received a phone call from the same friend, with the news that Lincoln may still be alive. Only a couple of weeks later, we were both in Sydney, sitting in a café, looking at the blackened frostbitten tips of Lincoln’s fingers.

It was decided that we would re-create much of Lincoln’s ordeal, as no one had been filming. We would intercut this footage with actual footage from the mountain, including the extraordinary real radio transmissions made on the mountain at the time.

Left For Dead: Miracle On Everest Premieres Tuesday May 20 at 9p. Click here to preview.

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA announced on Tuesday that everything is on course for Phoenix Lander's dissent in to Mars' atmosphere on May 25th. The Lander will be making an unprecedented attempt at landing on the Martian ice caps and will be sending the first known data of the martian planet within days of landing.

The lander will be making the amazing journey at a mere 17,000 mph and will touch down on the planet as early as 7:53 pm, according to NASA scientists. The solar powered robot will then extend its nearly eight foot scoop and begin to dig through the ice and soil on Mars. The hopes are to find evidence of microbial life and begin to analyze at what extent life can or cannot exist on the planet.

Have a question about the landing? Submit your question here on the blog or in our community area for a chance to be answered during the NGC Blog's Live-blogging event on May 25th.

For more on the Mission go to the Phoenix Lander's Official Site

*** The Phoenix mission is led by Smith with project management at JPL. The development partnership is with Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions are from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; the Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Source: NASA ***

If any NGC blog reader read one of my very first posts, you may know of my affinity for The Simpsons. And as I gear up for the live blogging event with NGC's Matt Zymet during the Phoenix Lander event on May 25, (which I hope you all join), I thought I would share one of my favorite clips that give a humorus side to NASA.

Enjoy!

	Greg Chapman
	Research

On May 25, 2008 NASA’s Phoenix Lander will enter the Martian atmosphere and land on its polar ice-cap into investigate Mars’s past and to help further determine whether life on Mars can or has ever existed.

NGC's Matt Zymet and I, along with scientific experts will be live-blogging that night with reaction and commentary about the lander. It should be one of the most unique perspectives of Mars that we have been able to see to date. So please join us the night of May 25th and submit your questions to us ahead of time for a better chance for them to be answered by our experts.

Also take our poll question as to whether you think that life exists on Mars.

	Greg Chapman
	Research

Viewers that caught the premiere of Inside a Cult on April 23 can testify to the stunning footage that was shown of the Strong City Cult and its leader Michael Travesser. Travesser and his followers are in the similar vein of other cults - the teaching of one leader about a judgement day soon approaching - but Travesser poses himself as not a follower of a God, but a God himself.

It has only been two weeks since the National Geographic Channel first aired this film and yet there has already been a need to update this saga. As you will see on Wednesday's encore airing of Inside a Cult, three children that were isolated in this compound have been removed and Michael Trevesser is now wanted for questioning related to some potential unlawful actions.

I don't have the complete details, but once the update is complete for Wednesday's airing, we'll all be able to find out what is going on.

Update: It's national news now.

Learn all you need to know about China's Geography, country facts, and a brief history overview

China is pushing architecture to its limits, while the world watches to see if they will finish everything on time.

If you are in the Washington D.C. area, the National Geographic Museum has the Visions of China photo exhibit until July 13. The exhibit profiles China's people, places, and booming infrastructure.

Videos: Polution problem in China?

More photos and wallpapers to click through