The BEST episodes of Modern Marvels season 8

#1 - Glass

Season 8 - Episode 39 - Aired 12/1/2001

Glass may be our most versatile material. It sheathes skyscrapers, contains liquids, aids vision, allows communication at unimaginable speeds, and yet remains a medium for artistic expression. We see how, when man learned that heating certain rocks and minerals together could produce glass, this remarkably transparent yet strong material began working its way into our culture and everyday life. As we look to its future, we learn that the only limit to what glass may do is our ability to imagine it!

#2 - Diamond Mines

Season 8 - Episode 29 - Aired 9/19/2001

Half a mile below the earth's surface, men mine for rough diamonds--a pure carbon substance. Brilliant when cut and polished, they are marketed as the most precious gem in the world. From the earliest mines of the 4th century BC to today's technological wonders in South Africa, we explore the history and technology of the diamond mine.

#3 - Quarries

Season 8 - Episode 28 - Aired 9/18/2001

Without rock, modern society wouldn't exist.

#4 - World Trade Center

Season 8 - Episode 20 - Aired 6/25/2001

For a time, its towers were the tallest buildings on Earth. The World Trade Center, an engineering marvel, came to symbolize American prosperity and strength. Recalling a more innocent era, this new production from The History Channel – filmed just months before the towers’ tragic demise – charts the history of their construction, revealing the controversies, decisions, and innovations that surrounded the project. Includes interviews with the engineers, architects, politicians, and contractors who dreamed, designed, and built the complex.

#5 - Nuclear Subs

Season 8 - Episode 25 - Aired 8/28/2001

The most priceless jewels in the arsenals of a handful of countries, some nuclear submarines carry more firepower than all the bombs dropped in history. Since the 1950s, these lethal steel sharks have been a cornerstone of American defense policy. The Cold War launched an underwater race for supremacy with the Soviet Union. The result: engineering miracles, which roam 70% of the earth's surface, providing deterrence to enemies, intelligence about adversaries, and an abiding sense of dread.

#6 - Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel

Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/7/2001

Named one of the seven engineering wonders of the modern age, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel connects Virginia proper with its easternmost landmass. Stretching 17 miles across the historic Chesapeake Bay, the structure represents a man-made boundary between the Bay and the Atlantic. The structure includes two 2-lane highways supported mostly by trestles, four man-made and one natural island, two truss bridges, and two revolutionary sunken tube tunnels.

#7 - Garage Gadgets

Season 8 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/12/2001

Handy around the house? You will be after this history of the household garage. From lawn care products to snow removal and outdoor cooking, the garage gadgets for do-it-yourselfers have evolved over the decades to meet the ever-changing challenges of maintaining a home. With a typical garage as our starting point, we'll explore the uncommon histories behind some common garage items such as the lawn mower, string trimmer, leaf blower, barbecue grill, and more.

#8 - Drive-Thru

Season 8 - Episode 36 - Aired 11/27/2001

Join us for a ride through the history of car-culture commerce from the first gas station to the drive-thru funeral parlors and wedding chapels of today. We chronicle the birth of the first drive-in restaurants that paved the way for a billion-dollar fast-food dynasty, and feature many lesser-known drive-thru venues, such as dry cleaners, flu-shot clinics, liquor stands, and drug stores. And we'll take a journey to the future to see what products might be passing through the drive-thru of tomorrow.

#9 - Codes

Season 8 - Episode 15 - Aired 5/21/2001

Whenever a culture reaches a level of sophistication in literacy, science, and language, codes spring up spontaneously. As the social life of a community increases in complexity, the demands for private communication between two or more people inevitably lead to cryptology--a system of secret symbolic messages. Explore the rich history of communicating with secret symbols--from Egyptian hieroglyphics to Caesar's encrypted directives, from WWI and WWII codebreakers to cyberspace.

#10 - Times Square

Season 8 - Episode 38 - Aired 11/29/2001

It lies at the heart of one of the world’s greatest cities and ranks among the most popular tourist destinations on the planet. Modern Marvels takes you behind the scenes at Times Square, showing you how this marvel came to be and why it remains an icon to this day.

#11 - Los Angeles

Season 8 - Episode 37 - Aired 11/28/2001

Los Angeles is explored. Marvels include the Metro Red Line subway system; the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum; Disneyland; the Getty Center; and the freeway system.

#12 - The House (2)

Season 8 - Episode 31 - Aired 10/15/2001

#13 - West Point

Season 8 - Episode 27 - Aired 9/11/2001

For nearly 200 years, the U.S. Military Academy® at West Point, New York, has trained students in the art of war. Located 50 miles north of New York City, its 25 buildings overlook the Hudson River on a 16,000-acre government reserve. During the Revolutionary War, West Point stood guard over the river, protecting it with artillery and a 136-ton chain! From humble beginnings, the Academy® grew with the nation, as each war forced changes to keep pace with America’s expanding world responsibilities.

#14 - Cannons

Season 8 - Episode 24 - Aired 8/21/2001

Cannons have fired balls of iron and atomic bombs, changed the way wars are fought, and now come equipped with smart weapons. Beginning with 13th-century cannons that were designed to penetrate forts of the day, we'll see how cannons were first cast and later forged, and show how large cannons terrorized civilians and soldiers in WWI and WWII. Moving to the present, we feature the 40-ton self-propelled Crusader that launches 100-pound steel artillery shells more than 33 miles.

#15 - Cattle Ranches

Season 8 - Episode 22 - Aired 7/24/2001

From the 19th century's legendary cattle drives to the million-acre ranch kingdoms that sprang to life with the end of the Open Range to 21st-century techniques that include artificial insemination, embryo transplants, and genetic engineering, we review the history of cattle ranching. We'll ride herd with modern cowboys as they twirl ropes and brand calves, and look to the cattle ranch of the future, where cloning will produce the ideal meat-producing steer with a consistently juicy, low-fat carcass.

#16 - Chemical and Biological Weapons

Season 8 - Episode 13 - Aired 5/7/2001

Chemical and biological warfare goes back at least 4,000 years.

#17 - Engineering Disasters (3)

Season 8 - Episode 12 - Aired 4/16/2001

When design flaws fell projects, the cost is often exacted in lives as we see in this look at engineering disasters. Why did the Tower of Pisa begin to lean by as much as 17 feet; what caused the first nuclear accident in 1961 in Idaho; what killed three Soyuz 11 cosmonauts aboard the world's first orbiting space station; how did a winter storm destroy the Air Force's Texas Tower Radar Station, killing 28; and what errors led to NASA's loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander?

#18 - Construction Machines

Season 8 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/22/2001

Feel the earth move under your feet and dig into the fascinating story of earthmoving equipment--from the simple spade to today's powerful steam shovels. Meet legendary giants like John Deere, Jerome Case, and the founders of Caterpillar, who helped forge America's monolithic construction industry. Ride on specialized behemoth dump trucks, delve below sea level to view dredging equipment, and leave the planet altogether to explore earthmoving space equipment in this 2-hour special presentation.

#19 - Proving Grounds

Season 8 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/4/2001

Where can you fire a missile without scaring the neighbors? Or lift millions of pounds in pursuit of a couple of ounces of gold? On a proving ground, of course, where performance is the only thing that matters. Because in the heat of battle or head-to-head competition, no excuses can be given. We'll visit the US military's Cold Regions Testing Center in Alaska and desert proving grounds in Arizona, the Olympic Complex in Colorado, and the now-defunct Packard proving grounds in Michigan.

#20 - Bunkers

Season 8 - Episode 33 - Aired 10/23/2001

From the earliest bunkers of WWI through the ultra-futuristic ones of tomorrow's wars, we trace the story of defensive fortifications. In the constant struggle to hold off ever more potent forms of attack, bunkers function in a variety of forms. Three mammoth block structures comprise a submarine bunker at Lorient, France, able to house 20 subs. We visit Churchill's Cabinet War Room and Hitler's Berlin bunker, as well as backyard Cold War bunkers and those that protect nuclear weapons themselves.

#21 - More Gadgets

Season 8 - Episode 21 - Aired 6/27/2001

A salute to the tools and toys that have stood the test of time--from the Zippo lighter to the Palm Pilot, the 21st century's first great gadget. As we focus on the technology behind familiar gadgets, we see the subtle ways they have changed our lives. Other items include the flashlight, transistor radio, safety razor, and the metronome. We also go behind the scenes at Herbst-Lazar-Bell, a cutting-edge industrial design firm, and Gadget Universe, a fledgling retailer trying to topple the Sharper Image.

#22 - War Games

Season 8 - Episode 35 - Aired 10/23/2002

Fast, furious, and deadly, modern warfare is the most intensely demanding activity ever undertaken by mankind. But to wage war, one must first practice it. To achieve this extremely high level of combat readiness, equipment and personnel must be maintained at peak performance. The answer is rigorous, force on force combat exercises. Our journey through the history of war games leads us to the U.S. Army National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California--where the big boys come out to play!

#23 - Apollo 13

Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/22/2001

They really shouldn't have survived. When an oxygen tank exploded in the command module of Apollo 13, the prospects for the three astronauts aboard were exceedingly grim. But they defied the odds. Under even the best circumstances, a space mission is an extraordinary accomplishment. But the conditions faced by the crew of Apollo 13 make the story of their survival one of the most memorable By interviewing space agency veterans and using NASA's own mission records, APOLLO 13 brings this inspiring story to life. See how scientists and engineers on the ground pored over every detail of the spacecraft's electrical, navigational and propulsion systems to devise a workable way to save the crew, and how the daring and skill of the astronauts made the scheme a success. Faced with the prospect of an unmitigated disaster, NASA rallied and forged an unlikely triumph that, many feel, stands as their finest hour.

#24 - Survival Technology

Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/29/2001

In an historic survey of man's adaptation to killer environmental conditions, we travel to the desert, the Arctic, the sea, jungle, and space, charting the body's physiological responses to extreme circumstances such as frostbite, heatstroke, and hypothermia. We talk with military survival experts and learn about the latest cutting-edge survival gear, as well as the equipment aboard the space station, and look to the future, when nano-technology will create a new type of technology.

#25 - Computers

Season 8 - Episode 11 - Aired 4/11/2001

The machines at the center of the information age have revolutionized our lives and digitalized our world, making previously unthinkable tasks automatic and linking people from around the planet. MODERN MARVELS® presents a fascinating exploration into the history of the computer. See Charles Babbage's Victorian "counting machine," a mechanical computer that produced perfect results for any mathematical problem of six figures or less, and discover how IBM was launched through a punch-card counting machine built to accelerate the 1890 census. Trace the technological advancements that led to the first modern computers and witness the rapid progress that allowed them to shrink from room-sized monsters to the desktop units that revolutionized life in the '90s. THE CREATION OF THE COMPUTER journeys into the fast-paced world of technology and innovation to expose the phenomenal history of the most influential invention of modern times.