The BEST episodes of Modern Marvels season 13
Every episode of Modern Marvels season 13, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Modern Marvels season 13!
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 - '80's Tech
Season 13 - Episode 15 - Aired 5/24/2006
Remember “brick” cell phones, Pac-Man, Rubik’s Cube, Sony Walkman, and the first music CDs? Remember all the new and exciting gadgets of the 1980s? Join us as we investigate the transition from Industrial to Information Age–a digital decade dedicated to ergonomics and entertainment. The microchip ushered in an era that revolutionized the way we work, play, and communicate. And we tour Silicon Valley–birthplace of some of the greatest inventions from an amazing time of change, including the modern personal computer. Steve “Woz” Wozniak tells us about the evolution of Apple computers, and we talk to Sony–makers of the Walkman, Betamax, and the first CD players. A visit to the Computer History Museum shows fun technological “artifacts”, primitive by today’s standards. At Intel, makers of the first microchips, we learn why technology moves at such a fast pace. We also take a ride in a DeLorean DMC-12 sports car–few things moved faster.
#2 - Boneyard: Where Machines End Their Lives
Season 13 - Episode 24 - Aired 7/26/2006
Where do machines go when they die? From B-52 Bombers to massive aircraft carriers, from passenger cars to Cold War cruise missiles and remnants of the Twin Towers, all that we manufacture has a lifespan. But reaching the end of their original purposes can be just the beginning.
#3 - Super Tools: Skyscrapers
Season 13 - Episode 26 - Aired 7/28/2006
Skyscrapers are an extraordinary feat of human engineering: exposing millions of pounds of concrete and steel to the enemy forces of wind and gravity. Starting with the foundation and on through the support structures and concrete flooring, every piece of these superstructures has to be super-strong. Go behind the scenes with the five tools that make these buildings possible: the foundation drill rig, the tower crane, the impact wrench, the power trowel, and the total station.
#4 - Renewable Energy
Season 13 - Episode 41 - Aired 9/20/2006
Take an in-depth look at the most proven and reliable sources: solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels, and tidal power. From the experimental to the tried-and-true, renewable energy sources are overflowing with potential... just waiting to be exploited on a massive scale.
#5 - Drilling
Season 13 - Episode 14 - Aired 5/10/2006
The program features the quest to drill the deepest hole ever and the scientific drill ship expected to perform the feat, and also looks at drills used to recover ice cores that will unearth thousands of years of climate history.
#6 - Money
Season 13 - Episode 19 - Aired 6/19/2006
How does America make money--literally? We visit the United States Mint and the Bureau of Printing and Engraving to see the secretive government facilities where our legal tender is generated. With a storied past as tantalizing as the wealth they create, these mints can spit out fortunes in an hour and keep our economy flowing.
#7 - Cities of the Underworld
Season 13 - Episode 43 - Aired 9/21/2006
Teamed with leading archeologists and experts, peel back the layers of the past--to reveal a hidden history that hasn't seen the light of day for ages.
#8 - Cotton
Season 13 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/18/2006
Tune in as Modern Marvels looks into the history of cotton, a product used in hundreds of different products, from clothing to lipstick.
#9 - Engineering Disasters (19)
Season 13 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/22/2006
More engineering disasters are profiled, including the sinking of SS Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 in Lake Superior; two Boeing 737 crashes; a diesel-fuel leak, a radiation-spilling accident at Santa Susana, an oil spill in the Monongahela River, and the failure of Galaxy 4 Satellite affecting communications and pagers nation-wide.
#10 - Nature Tech: Avalanches
Season 13 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/24/2006
Examining unusual World War II weapons that were in the planning or testing stages for use by the Allies. Included: floating tanks; pigeon-guided missiles.
#11 - World's Biggest Machines (5)
Season 13 - Episode 25 - Aired 7/26/2006
Join us for another look at big machines. At NASA's Ames Research Center, we visit the world's biggest wind tunnel, part of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex, and one of the biggest and most complex flight simulators, NASA's Vertical Motion Simulator, or VMS. At the Joy Mining Machinery plant in Franklin, Pennsylvania, giant machine tools form, cut, and measure the enormous individual parts that make up a Continuous Miner, the biggest underground mining machine in the world. But big machines aren't limited to science and commerce. Ride with us on the biggest observation wheel in the world, the London Eye, which stands 443 feet high and provides a 360 degree unobstructed view of London. And we take a look at IMAX technology. The film, cameras, projectors, and theater screens are the largest in the world. Finally, we take a ride on every lawn tender's dream machine--the Claas Cougar, the world's biggest lawnmower.
#12 - Stealth & Beyond: Air Stealth
Season 13 - Episode 45 - Aired 9/27/2006
They are the swarthy eagles of the sky: Past, present, and future advances in stealth military aircraft
#13 - The Supermarket
Season 13 - Episode 52 - Aired 11/15/2006
Our basic need and desire for food has made the supermarket one of the great success stories of modern retailing. Making customers' visits to the market as efficient as possible has led to bar coding and a scale that recognizes the type of produce placed on it. Explore the psychology of the supermarket including store layout, lighting, music and aromas that trigger the appetite. With a growing percentage of the public interested in eating healthier foods, organic grocers are carving out an increasingly large niche.
#14 - The Copper Kings
Season 13 - Episode 17 - Aired 6/12/2006
More than a century ago two men controlled nearly all of U.S. copper production, transforming Butte, Montana from a washed-up gold-mining camp into a global powerhouse. William Clark, a ruthless banker known for preying on the misfortune of miners and Marcus Daly, a self-made man with a knack for knowing where to dig, created huge empires and lived like kings, while fighting a ferocious, personal, battle that lasted nearly 25 years.
#15 - The Cola Wars
Season 13 - Episode 36 - Aired 9/7/2006
Coke vs Pepsi for world supremacy. Each year, Americans consume more soft drinks than tap water. Available in nearly 200 countries, Coca-Cola alone sells one-billion bottles, cans, and glasses of pop daily, with archenemy Pepsi-Cola a close second. We look at the legendary rivalry between these giants in a $100-billion industry built on little more than sugar and water as they battle not just to quench consumer thirst, but for their hearts and minds as well
#16 - Shotguns
Season 13 - Episode 38 - Aired 9/17/2006
The first specialized gun, the British upper-class used it to shoot birds and small game for sport. The shotgun took on a variety of roles, used by hunter and warrior alike.
#17 - The AK-47
Season 13 - Episode 27 - Aired 7/28/2006
The development of the deadly Avtomat Kalashnikova, 1947, known as the AK-47, is discussed by its inventor, Mikhail Kalashnikov, who talks about working within the secretive world of the Soviet military at the height of the Cold War.
#18 - Snow
Season 13 - Episode 57 - Aired 12/10/2006
It is the bane of every suburban parent and the joy to every school kid. Born in a swirling storm cloud through a process called nucleation, the characteristics of snow flakes are threatened by pollution trapped in the clouds.
#19 - Containers
Season 13 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/4/2006
They hold just about everything we need, from condiments to cargo. Made of steel, aluminum, paper and glass, they protect and preserve. They're underground and above ground, they journey around the world. They've revolutionized civilization.
#20 - Fire
Season 13 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/11/2006
Out of control it’s a monster with a voracious appetite. Properly harnessed it’s a force that has shaped our world. We’ve learned to create and exploit it, but we’ll never truly tame it. From furnaces to flamethrowers, fire testing to fireballs, now, Fire, on Modern Marvels.
#21 - Engineering Disasters: New Orleans
Season 13 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/28/2006
Modern Marvels examines the destruction Hurricane Katrina caused in New Orleans.
#22 - BBQ Tech
Season 13 - Episode 20 - Aired 6/28/2006
An old-fashioned style of cooking, barbecue has evolved into a modern food craze and spawned a multi-billion dollar industry. We digest famous barbecue cook-offs and visit long-established barbecue restaurants like Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City, where the huge grills and taste thrills of true barbecue are more popular than ever. At home, three out of four US households own a grill. After WWII's end, the phenomenon of backyard barbecuing swept the nation, thanks to inexpensive and mass-produced grills, including the kettle-shaped Weber. Our tour of Weber's modern factories shows how they keep pace with demand by manufacturing more choices than ever, including portable mini-grills. We also examine the variety of fuels available for the savory selection of spicy sauces and rubs. Join us as we devour the mouthwatering flavors of BBQ in this episode.
#23 - Levees
Season 13 - Episode 34 - Aired 8/30/2006
From collapsing floodwalls in New Orleans to high-tech mechanical storm surge barriers in Europe, we'll explore the 2,500-year history of keeping rivers and tides at bay by erecting levees.
#24 - Weird Weapons: The Axis
Season 13 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/21/2006
Examining unusual World War II weapons that were in the planning or testing stages for use by the Axis powers. Included: an assault rifle that could shoot around corners; a death ray capable of boiling people; and an army in space.
#25 - Shovels
Season 13 - Episode 13 - Aired 5/3/2006
Man has always had a need to move large amounts of earth. In this episode, we profile the technological advances which have allowed shovels to become absolutely enormous, capable of carrying 200 tons of earth in one load today.