With 7.5 tons of steel salvaged from the Twin Towers forming her bow, USS New York is tribute to those who perished on 9/11; she was also built to launch up to 800 Marines and their fierce battle hardware ashore with speed and versatility.

Tectonic forces continue to transform Europe; Iceland is cracking apart at the seams, releasing geysers of steam and mountains of volcanic ash; the Alps are still rising and the Mediterranean may be drying up.

Being at the top of the food chain is not always an advantage, as illustrated by the microscopic "extremophiles" in the hot volcanic springs of Yellowstone; among other survivors of the Great Dying are blue-blooded horseshoe crabs and jellyfish.

The Antonov 124 is the world's largest serially manufactured cargo plane; built to move Soviet military vehicles and equipment, now they're in constant demand moving everything from locomotives to whales anywhere in the world.

Host Dan Snow gets down and dirty in medieval grime to find out the hard way how the London we know today was forged in the filth of the 14th century.