The BEST episodes of Modern Marvels
Every episode of Modern Marvels ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Modern Marvels!
Celebrating ingenuity, invention and imagination brought to life on a grand scale, MODERN MARVELS tells the fascinating stories of the doers, dreamers and sometime-schemers who created everyday items, technological breakthroughs and man-made wonders.
#1 - Hoover Dam
Season 6 - Episode 17 - Aired 7/12/1999
Venture into the Southwestern Desert for the complete story of one of the seven engineering wonders of the world -- Hoover Dam. From the blueprints to reality, this is the story of the ingenuity and manpower that literally moved a river and sculpted a mountain of concrete.
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#2 - Carbon
Season 15 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/14/2008
Carbon is the chemical basis of all known life and yet this simple element is also the foundation of modern technology. Carbon burns hotter, cuts deeper, insulates more thoroughly and absorbs more fully than any other material. See why carbon is the key both in heavy-duty industries, as well as in tools like the graphite pencil, the charcoal water filter, and the diamond saw blade.
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#5 - The Tool Bench: Power Tools
Season 6 - Episode 27 - Aired 10/11/1999
The history of civilization could easily be measured in terms of our ability to make, use, and improve tools. We'll examine today's power tool industry, which is booming thanks to more powerful, lighter, and quieter cordless tools.
#8 - Medical Imaging: The Voyage Inward
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/28/1998
Medical imaging, the technology that allows us to see inside the human body, is full of amazing stories. Learn how X-rays were discovered in 1895, completely by accident; how ultrasound was developed to locate enemy submarines; and how the CAT Scan might never have been built if it weren't for The Beatles!
#9 - Work Clothes
Season 8 - Episode 39 - Aired 10/17/2001
From the riveted blue jeans of the old ’49ers working the gold mines of California to the million-dollar suits astronauts wear in outer space, we see how “dressing for success” often means being able to get the job done. With the right work clothes, people have been able to go anywhere and do any job.
Watch Now:Amazon#11 - World's Strongest 3
Season 15 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/6/2008
Witness some mind-blowing feats of strength starting with the world's most powerful elevators. Discover the world's strongest tire, the strongest mountain bike, the world's strongest land transport vehicle that carries the Space Shuttle & strongest home blender.
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#12 - Construction Machines
Season 8 - Episode 29 - Aired 8/17/2001
Feel the earth move under your feet and dig into the fascinating story of earthmoving equipment. 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.
#13 - Tuna
Season 16 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/4/2010
It's the most popular fish in the American diet. From the school lunch box--to the high end sushi bar--to the outdoor barbecue, tuna crosses all demographic lines. We'll go fishing with the men who risk their lives to bring in a haul, stop in at Bumble Bee, the only major tuna cannery still operating in America, and visit the world's largest fish market in Tokyo, where a single tuna can sell for as much as $100,000. We'll also explore worldwide efforts to save the giant bluefin tuna, which has been over-fished to a point of peril. Then we'll head to sea with scientists who track the tunas' inter-oceanic migrations, and travel to South Australia, where entrepreneurs seek to breed the mighty bluefin in captivity.
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#17 - Power Plants
Season 8 - Episode 20 - Aired 6/16/2001
Mankind controls the environment in a variety of ways--whether by capturing the force of a river, harnessing the power in coal or oil, controlling a nuclear reaction, or transforming the light of the sun into electricity. Join us for an electrifying hour as we review the foundation for all of this--power plants.
#19 - Death Devices
Season 7 - Episode 38 - Aired 11/13/2000
The hangman, guillotine, gas chamber, firing squad, and electric chair are just a few of the ways in which societies have rid themselves of those who committed capital crimes. The macabre history of execution mechanics--from the first "stone" of antiquity, the dungeons of the Inquisition, and Nazi death camps to today's sterile injection chambers.
#20 - Statue of Liberty
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/12/1995
It started as an idea at a French dinner party and became the symbol of the free world. The story of France's gift to the U.S. reveals a 20-year struggle to design and build the world's largest monument--using paper-thin copper sheets.
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#23 - Firefighting! Extreme Conditions
Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/8/1998
The most extreme raging fires and the firefighters who tame them. Meet “Hell Fighters” who fight raging oil well fires and “smoke jumpers” who parachute into forest fires. Also, see how NASA guards against the very real risk of a fire aboard a space vessel.
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#25 - The Telephone
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 9/15/1996
Witness this invention's unbelievably dramatic true story: one of false starts, close calls, and a bitter rivalry.