This month National Geographic plays a different ball game as well as broadens viewers horizons.

National Geographic Channel will introduce viewers to wild, outlandish sports through the adventures of British sports journalist Emma Levine. On the 17th of this month in the first episode of Different Ball Game at 10:00 p.m. she visits Turkey to see two sports which are rooted in ancient warfare.

The first is based on wrestling which has been the country's national sport for over 600 years. It is called Turkish oil wrestling. Participants wearing handtooled, tight, black leather shorts soak themselves in oil, grab what they can of their opponent and wrestle. The second sport is called horseback javelin. Two teams riding on horses, chase each other and throw sharp javelins at one another.

   
The channel has also introduced a series of half-hour programs called Human Edge. The aim is to educate the viewer as to what new technologies are entering the market and how they improve the quality of our daily existence. We will see what innovations scientists, physicists, doctors are coming up with.

Tonight at 10:00 p.m. in the second episode you can watch how engineers are taking ideas from creatures that are unpleasant to look at to build robots who can do things which are too dangerous for human beings. Besides this rollercoaster enthusiasts are in for a treat. The man who built the Thrust Air 2000 will be interviewed. This space age thrill ride rockets passengers from standstill to eighty miles per hour in 1.8 seconds.

Don't fret if you missed the first episode. On Sunday at 5:30 p.m. there will be a repeat. So tune in to see how Trevor Baylis used an old instrument a wind up radio into a weapon in the war against the AIDS virus in Africa. There will also be interviews with engineers at car company Volvo who are carving a path of their own. They will describe some of the latest high-tech, life-saving cars, which will roll out soon.