Modern Marvels Season 12 Episodes

Episode 1

Glue

Wed, May 18, 2005

The ubiquitous uses of glue are profiled.

Episode 2

F/A-22 Raptor

Fri, May 20, 2005

Episode 3

Machines of D-Day

Fri, Jun 3, 200543 mins

In June 1944, the greatest machine of World War Two springs into action, made up of thousands of ships and aircraft, tens of thousands of men, and millions of tons of steel and concrete. This is Operation Overlord.

Episode 4

John Hancock Center

Wed, Jun 8, 2005

The history behind Chicago's John Hancock Center.

Episode 6

Secret Japanese Aircraft of WWII

Thu, Jun 16, 2005

Episode 7

Secrets of Soviet Space Disasters

Fri, Jul 1, 2005

Episode 8

Cowboy Tech

Wed, Jul 20, 2005

A look at how the tools of the cowboy trade came to be and how they are made from past to the present. Among the inventions featured are ropes, saddles, horseshoes, branding technology, guns, Also featured are modern innovations like the use cell phones, ATVs, airplanes, and helicopters. Rodeos are also featured.

Episode 9

Sewers

Wed, Jul 27, 2005

Episode 10

Lube Job

Wed, Aug 10, 2005

The history, development, and current technologies in car maintenance.

Episode 11

Secret Luftwaffe Aircraft of WWII

Wed, Aug 17, 2005

Episode 12

B-2 Bomber

Fri, Aug 26, 2005

The story of America's B-2 stealth bomber.

Episode 13

Nature Tech: Lightning

Wed, Aug 31, 2005

Episode 14

HMS Victory

Fri, Sep 2, 2005

Episode 15

Cereal: History in a Bowl

Wed, Sep 14, 2005

The history of one of the worlds most popular breakfast foods: cereal including its humble beginnings to its modern plethora of variety.

Episode 44

Civil War Tech

Wed, May 25, 2005

A look at the first modern war, the American Civil War and how technology pioneered in the 1860s has helped shaped modern warfare.

Episode 51

World's Longest Bridge

Wed, Oct 27, 2004

To stimulate inter-island commerce Japan has an extensive bridge program to provide safer, more reliable transit across the treacherous waters served by ferries. The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge is the longest. This program chronicles the construction of the bridge and explains its unique design aspects including; prefabrication, type of concrete, construction techniques and the design of the anchors and main cables.

Episode 52

Secrets of the Acropolis

Thu, Apr 10, 2003

Recent archaeology, using regular and modern technology, sheds new light on the Acropolis, the 'citadel' crowning jewel of Ancient Athens, and especially its best-known site, the patron goddess's Parthenon ('virgin') temple. It's actually built over the remnants if older temple site, dwarfing its 'shabby' predecessor. It required staggering costs and efforts, with ingenuity, just getting the marble up from a 'nearby' quarry required an impressive ramp and pulley system. In earthquake-sensitive Greece, that it survived tremors unlike most younger buildings is testimony to a luck-safer geological position but also largely thanks to the use of no mortar, just indestructible metal clamps. It was of blinding exuberance, brightly painted in colorful patterns and elaborate mythical scene decoration fixated with bees wax and resin, with a huge statue of over a ton of gold and masses of ivory. The research is used to rely on or match original techniques now restoration is needed after over 2500 years of exposure to fire, pillaging, religious reuse, hits by canon balls, powder explosion and erosion -mostly by modern pollution- plus the results of poor restoration with inept materials .

Episode 53

Forensic Science: The Crimefighter's Weapon

Sun, Sep 28, 199748 mins

From fingerprints and ballistics to profiling and DNA evidence, see how technology has transformed the art of crime-solving.

Episode 55

The M-16

Fri, Jun 8, 2001

A look at the M-16 assault rifle, including design stages and its use in the Vietnam War.

Episode 56

Las Vegas

Wed, Feb 9, 199447 mins

Rising from a stretch of desert with nothing but remoteness to recommend it, Vegas became a glittering wonderland for dreamers. Modern Marvels takes a look at the forces that made Las Vegas a place unlike any on earth.

Episode 57

Oakland Bay Bridge

Fri, Apr 21, 200645 mins

Trace the history of the Bay icon from Gold Rush era dreams to the 21st century.

Episode 58

Battlefield Engineering

Mon, Feb 9, 2026

The history of military's unsung heros, the battlefield engineers.

Episode 59

Transatlantic Cable

Tue, Feb 9, 199345 mins

Cyrus West Field pursues his vision of an instant, reliable transcontinental mode of communication in the mid-1800s.

Episode 60

Copper Kings

Mon, Feb 9, 2026

Episode 62

Guns of the Civil War

Mon, Feb 9, 2026

Episode 63

High Explosives

Mon, Feb 9, 2026

Since the creation of black powder in China centuries ago, explosives have been decisive on the battlefield. Follow their incendiary story from ancient times right up to today's plastic demolitions.

Episode 64

B-25 Bomber

Mon, Feb 9, 2026

Episode 67

Space Shuttle

Wed, Feb 9, 199447 mins

Considered by many to be the most astounding machine ever built, this reusable spaceship is the apex of flight technology. Explore the issues that led to NASA's decision to create an "airplane" to navigate space.

Episode 70

Statue of Liberty

Wed, Feb 9, 199444 mins

It started as an idea at a French dinner party and became the very symbol of the free world. The story of France's gift to the US reveals a 20-year struggle to design and build the world's largest monument--using paper-thin copper sheets.

Episode 71

More Earthmovers

Mon, Feb 9, 202644 mins

Ride on specialized behemoth dump trucks and delve below sea level to view dredging equipment.

Episode 72

Firefighting!: Extreme Conditions

Mon, Feb 9, 2026

Episode 74

Panama Canal

Fri, Mar 4, 199445 mins

Chronicles one of the most incredible engineering feats of all time--the construction of the 51-mile canal that took 10 years to build and employed over 40,000 workers--6,000 of whom died of yellow fever, malaria, and other horrors.