Modern Marvels

- Season 14

(2006)

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The story behind the intense cola war between Coca-Cola and Pepsi in their quest to dominate the soft drink market.

The history of containers and how they store and move our everyday goods.

Modern Marvels: Cotton takes us on a journey from the California cotton fields to the textile mills of North Carolina, the cotton oil mills of Arkansas, and back to the garment factories of Los Angeles. The show focuses on the great technological developments in cotton's history, including: the cotton gin, spindle picker, cotton module builder, power loom, the evolution of yarn spinning technology... and of course the ingenious method that finally licked the boll weevil. Along the way, we'll survey cotton's remarkable knack for weaving itself into history... including...

Engineering disasters highlighted include a coal mine in China, a crane collapse in Milwaukee, ground water contaminated with gasoline additives, and the hazards of radiation. Also profiled are the environmental disasters that plagued the Salton Sea in California and the Aral Sea in Asia.

This program explains how some of the more popular candies are made starting with the raw ingredients through the production process. It all starts with chocolate then move on to red hots, jelly beans, salt water taffy licorice and some special candies just for adults.

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The background into the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, two Boeing 737 crashes, a nuclear disaster near Los Angeles, and an oil storage facility.

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Germany is portrayed as a nation leading the world in science and technology prior to World War Two. But it squandered this wealth of knowledge, which should have enabled it to win the war, because the high command was selective about those advances they would favor. Examples are provided of technologies that languished under Nazism but exploded into new industries when they reached other countries after the war.

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Technology from the 1980s is remembered, including early cell phones and CD players; the Sony Walkman; and personal computers. Also: comments by Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak; and a tour of the Computer History Museum in California.

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Some metals are so critical to the US economy the the Federal Government retains a strategic stock pile of them. This program describes how these metals are produced and what they are used for that make them so valuable: copper, iron, lead, nickel, uranium and zinc.

Everything related to horsepower beginning with the definition of what exactly horsepower is and how it is measured. Profiled are some of the fastest, largest, most dangerous, and most powerful engines ever made.

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Pirate technology is examined. Included: navigational instruments; ship modifications to improve speed; and weapons. Also: a visit to maritime museums and shipwreck sites.

The world's largest engineering feats are explored. Included: NASA's wind tunnel and flight simulator at the Ames Research Center in California; a continuous mining machine in Pennsylvania; the London Eye observation wheel in England. Also: the Claas Cougar lawn mower; and IMAX technology.

The story of how nuts from harvest to consumption feed the world.

Batteries. Mixtures of metals and caustic chemicals that make our tech, tools and toys surge with energy.

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Water is examined as a natural wonder and as the substance that sustains life. Also studied is the technology it supports and which supports it. Included: irrigation systems; fountains; and the bottled-water industry.

The history and the many uses of copper including how it helped create the Bronze Age and how it's mined. Among the many uses for the red metal explored are its corrosion resistant properties on sea going vessels, it's decorative appeal, and it's antimicrobial properties. Also featured are copper bells, roofs, electronics, pipes, and wires.

Global problems require global solutions. Modern Marvels: Renewable Energy, a one-hour History Channel documentary, shows how the combined forces of wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, wave and tidal power are ready to move the world beyond oil, coal and other 19th Century technologies.

The story behind the development and the modern innovations of freight trains.

The system of rivers, bays, and sounds that form the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in the United States is profiled from the colonial period to the present.

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They are the swarthy eagles of the sky: Past, present, and future advances in stealth military aircraft.

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A history of distilleries and the process of distilling alcohol. Included: a visit to the Christian Brothers winery in California; and, in France, the Courvoisier cognac company and an absinthe distillery. Also: comments by Anthony Dias Blue from Bon Appetit magazine.

Some of the world's strongest machines featured include tractor pull sleds and tugboats. Also profiled are the world's strongest rope and plastic, spider silk, and the many uses of diamonds.

Explore the legacy of the F-14 fighter jet, one of America's greatest aerial weapons ever built.

The history of tobacco since colonial times when the plant was first farmed in the New World to the modern times. Also features a look at heath effects of various tobacco products and anti-tobacco campaigns.

The history of supermarkets and a behind the scenes look at how they operate.

Wether it's bacon, eggs, and toast, oatmeal, a breakfast sandwich or cold cereal; it's the most important meal of the day. Sit back with glass of orange juice and see how your breakfast is made. Also, see how sailors aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. John C. Stennis have breakfast in the middle of the ocean.

A look at the millennia plus long fascination of wine from its beginnings in ancient civilizations to the modern equipment and processes used to cultivate and process the various types of wine.

In America's orchards and farm fields, the constant struggle between hand labor and mechanization has produced dozens of efficient and sometimes bizarre harvesting methods. Learn the secrets of the orchard manager and his ladder crew as they check fruit pressures and barometric readings. Visit California's largest fruit packing house and try to keep up with 10-fruit-per-second conveyors. Then off to the corn fields of Nebraska and the cranberry marshes of central Wisconsin. Finally go underground to the world's largest mushroom farm where the harvest takes place in ...

The story behind BP's Texas City oil refinery explosion in 2005, the 2001 crash of an American Airlines flight, and the Skylab space station.

The story of snow including how it is formed and the human inventions that help us live with the white stuff.

An hour steeped in the history of tea includes a visit to the Lipton Tea plant in Suffolk, Va., the Charleston Tea Plantation in South Carolina and the Celestial Seasonings plant in Boulder, Colo.; a chronicle of the events that led to the Boston Tea Party; and a segment on gourmet teas.

The story behind our modern Christmas traditions including how Christmas trees are grown and harvested as well as how Christmas lights and ornaments are made. Also featured are holiday store window displays at Macy's, the Rockefeller Christmas tree, and fruit cakes.