The BEST episodes of Modern Marvels

#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.

#2 - World's Fair: Visions of the Future

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/24/1998

A look at the expositions known as "World's Fairs," which have served as showcases for entertainment, cultural events and new technology.

#3 - 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!

#4 - 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.

#5 - 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.

#6 - Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

Season 10 - Episode 53 - Aired 10/15/2003

In the land of Mardi Gras, jambalaya, and zydeco, exits an engineering marvel called the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway that seems to go on forever. Two ribbons of concrete span the largest inland body of water in Louisiana, and at nearly 23.87 and 23.88 miles long, these two spans form the world's longest automobile bridge. At midpoint--12 miles out--water surrounds travelers who are unable to see either shoreline. The bridge is so long, it actually transverses 1/1000th of the earth's circumference!

#7 - Engineering Disasters 12

Season 11 - Episode 53 - Aired 11/9/2004

In Milwaukee, 104 died after drinking contaminated tap water. At Texas A&M, a tradition turned tragic when a pile of bonfire logs collapsed onto its builders. Thousands of US soldiers expired in known WWII deathtraps--Sherman Tanks. In 1973, 14 men working on a 26-story building died when supports were removed from wet concrete. And in 1993, Denver's "dream" airport became a nightmare when its baggage-handling system ran amok. Aided by computer graphics, catastrophe footage, and visits to the locations today, MIT scientists, Center for Disease Control experts, WWII vets, bonfire builders, and construction engineers explain these tragedies and measures taken to prevent them in future.

#8 - 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.

#9 - Rocks

Season 14 - Episode 41 - Aired 12/3/2007

From the Stone Age, to the Space Age, we've built our world from rocks. With moon rocks located at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

#10 - Plumbing: The Arteries of Civilization

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/2/1998

Each day, billions of gallons of water flow through cities into homes and back out again in a confusing mess of pipes, pumps, and fixtures. The history of plumbing is a tale crucial to our survival--supplying ourselves with fresh water and disposing of human waste. From ancient solutions to the future, we'll plumb plumbing's depths.

#11 - 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.

#12 - Radio: Out of Thin Air

Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 8/24/1997

Though now considered a country cousin when compared to the sophisticated television, merely a century ago, the radio galvanized communications as it linked the world without wires. The program examines the long life of the radio.

#13 - The Spitfire

Season 8 - Episode 28 - Aired 8/16/2001

The Supermarine Spitfire is a revolutionary fighter plane.

#14 - Dynamite

Season 6 - Episode 15 - Aired 6/21/1999

Dynamite blasts out the natural resources that have built our modern world.

#15 - The Future of Food

Season 21 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/28/2021

Adam Richman travels through time to uncover: the Future of Food! With special security clearance to a U.S. Army lab we get a glimpse into the cutting-edge food research that's taking a quantum leap into the future. At Impossible Foods, we make a delicious discovery and learn why it's not impossible for plants to look, taste and even bleed like meat. Plus, science fiction becomes fact when we see food grilled and served by robots, food made to last for years, and food made to be eaten in Earth's upper atmosphere. The future of food is here and it's tasty!

#16 - Desert Tech

Season 12 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/23/2005

It's hot, dry, deadly, and hard to ignore with close to 40% of Earth classified as desert. But in this scorching hour, the desert turns from barren wasteland into an environment rich with hope. In the Middle East, desalination of seawater now fills water needs. Americans have created booming desert communities like Las Vegas, where the Hoover Dam produces hydroelectric power and manmade Lake Mead supplies water. Native Americans farmed the desert on a small scale, but 20th-century technology begot greater opportunity. Once desolate areas of California and Mexico now grow agriculture due to irrigation, and the desert's abundant sunshine allows solar-energy and wind-power production. And in the future, desert technology may enable colonization of planets like Mars. We also take a look at how refrigeration and air conditioning have made life in desert communities tolerable, and examine the latest in survival gear and equipment.

#17 - Apollo 13

Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/22/2001

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.

#18 - The Great Bridge: 8 Miles of Steel

Season 12 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/23/2005

San Francisco's Oakland Bay Bridge stands as an incredible feat of engineering against the nearly impossible. Once chosen as one of the seven engineering wonders of the modern world, it features an unique double suspension structure in its west end. Join us as we cross this triumph of construction, while we visit its past and look to its future.

#19 - Clocks

Season 5 - Episode 18 - Aired 12/28/1998

“Clocks” examines mankind's predilection for telling time, from the ancient uses of shadows and hourglasses to the digital age. Also: a super-accurate atomic timepiece; water clocks.

#20 - Extreme Aircraft

Season 11 - Episode 30 - Aired 8/25/2004

Join us for a supersonic look at some of the most cutting-edge aircraft ever developed--from the X-1 that first broke the sound barrier to the X-43 Scramjet that recently flew at Mach 7. These extreme aircraft have made their mark on aeronautical history, and sometimes on political history as well. The U-2 and SR-71 spy planes played a crucial role in the Cold War, and now Lockheed Martin's top-secret "Skunkworks" division is touting the new "air dominance" fighter plane-- the F/A-22 Raptor.

#21 - Inventions of War

Season 7 - Episode 39 - Aired 12/12/2000

Arising from the horrible carnage, deprivation, and suffering caused by war is a countless array of everyday items--from hairbrushes to microwaves--that directly descend from wartime innovations.

#22 - Earth Movers 2

Season 6 - Episode 27 - Aired 10/13/1999

#23 - Fireworks

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/11/1992

Since the invention of gunpowder, fireworks have thrilled audiences around the world. We'll review highlights of fireworks exhibitions throughout history, and go behind the scenes to explore how science and art mingle in this unique, ancient craft.

#24 - Hangars

Season 9 - Episode 25 - Aired 6/25/2002

Come in for a smooth landing as we explore the history of hangars--stark, massive structures that house and protect flight vehicles.

#25 - Jet Engines

Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 5/3/1999

Strap on a parachute and soar through the saga of jet propulsion, which radically transformed our world since inception in WWII.