The BEST episodes written by Henry Schipper
#1 - Battlefield Medicine
Modern Marvels - Season 6 - Episode 20
"He who would become a surgeon should join the army and follow it," Hippocrates counseled nearly 2,500 years ago. In this history of medicine under fire, we see how a small army of medics, nurses, surgeons, stretcher-bearers, and ambulance drivers, races to keep pace with the deadly advances of war.
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#2 - Cattle Ranches
Modern Marvels - Season 8 - Episode 22
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.
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#3 - Tea
Modern Marvels - Season 13 - Episode 58
After water, tea is the second most popular drink in the world. It has been around as a drink for 5000 years, and 6 billion pounds of tea are harvested annually.
#4 - Landmines
Modern Marvels - Season 10 - Episode 51
A major battlefield weapon since the American Civil War and the stuff of nightmares ever since, the civilian toll from landmines remains immense. Inflicted by an enemy that can't be seen, landmines are littered throughout 64 countries, making life a game of Russian roulette for two-thirds of the world's poorest nations. Featuring an interview with Jerry White, co-founder of Landmine Survivor's Network, who lost a leg due to a landmine in Israel.
#5 - High Tech Sex
Modern Marvels - Season 9 - Episode 52
Join us for a walk on the wild side of the history of sexual enhancement and contraception--from Cleopatra's box of buzzing bees to 17th-century condoms to Internet sex and 21st-century holographic pornography! In an explicit exploration of the aphrodisiacs, drugs, contraceptives, toys, and cyber-tech innovations that have ushered in a brave new world of modern sexuality, we talk to sexologists and historians for ribald romp behind the bedroom's closed doors.
#6 - Salt Mines
Modern Marvels - Season 9 - Episode 61
It's in our blood, sweat, and tears. Join us as we dig up salt mining's history--from the "white gold" on the table to the oceanic and underground deposits whence it came. Though today we take salt for granted, most life depends on it. Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in it--hence the word salary. And many slaves died procuring it.
#7 - The Crumbling of America
History Channel Documentaries - Season 2009 - Episode 267
America's infrastructure is collapsing. Tens of thousands of bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. A third of the nation's highways are in poor or mediocre shape. Massively leaking water and sewage systems are creating health hazards and contaminating rivers and streams. Weakened and under-maintained levees and dams tower over communities and schools. And the power grid is increasingly maxed out, disrupting millions of lives and putting entire cities in the dark. The Crumbling of America explores these problems using expert interviews, on location shooting and computer generated animation to illustrate the kinds of infrastructure disasters that could be just around the bend.
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