The History Channel

Modern Marvels is going big, and counting down. We take the "best of" Modern Marvels and give you the MEGA Top 10 countdown. On this edition: Awe-Inspiring Machines--featuring the top ten mightiest, strangest, and most unique innovations from our archives.

The gadget: It's small enough to hold in your hands. It's mechanical or electronic, and mass-produced. It's a personal item that evolves from novelty to necessity--and ultimately shows its paradigm-shifting power. In this two-hour special, the editors of Popular Mechanics and a panel of experts join forces with HISTORY to rank the most influential inventions of the past 200 years and tell the surprising stories behind them.

Journey underground and backstage at the technological marvel that is Walt Disney World. Enter a make-believe world spanning some 27,000 acres, brought to life by cutting-edge technology. What was once Florida swampland now boasts the world's largest theme park. The ride technology ranges from space-age centrifuges to enhanced motion vehicles powered by 3,000 PSI of hydraulic pressure. And hundreds of audio animatronics brought to life through the power of pneumatics, hydraulics, and electrical systems. Walt Disney World is made up of four separate theme parks, each with its own innovations: the 107-acre Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom. The four parks are all part of a megaplex of a resort. Twice the size of Manhattan, it was the final vision and crowning achievement of a man who spent more than 40 years pushing the limits of technology to create entertainment magic: Walt Disney.

In March of 2005, the BP Refinery in Texas City, Texas, suffered a series of explosions that decimated a large portion of the facility and killed 15 workers. Examine the series of events that led to one of the worst industrial accidents in the United States. Then we'll document the unusual circumstances that caused American Airlines flight 587 to fall from the sky. What happened in Times Beach, Missouri, when a local waste hauler oiled down dusty roads with oil that was laced with dioxin? Next we'll look at what went wrong with NASA's Skylab in 1974 and finally we'll examine the fire that destroyed the gas company, Praxair, in June of 2005. Interviews with survivors help complete the picture.

We can't live without them and yet they didn't even exist a couple of decades ago. We'll count down our list of the top ten technological innovations of the last generation. Have they made human existence exponentially better, or more fragmented and precarious? Tune in to find out what they are, and how they've impacted our lives.

Rummage around in your garage. You'll likely find remnants of gadgets past--a typewriter, analog TV, LPs, film cameras and brick-sized mobile phones. These products served us well and we remember each one with nostalgic fondness. We'll take a trip down memory lane to examine how these oldies-but-goodies worked and find out how more advanced tech superseded them. At the Palm Corporation in Sunnyvale, California, we'll follow the evolution of hand-held tech. At the Houston Chronicle, we'll learn how the print edition of a major American newspaper coexists with its online edition. A car aficionado will compare what's under the hoods of a classic 1968 Shelby Mustang and a spiffy 2009 model. We'll witness a vinyl resurgence at Rainbo Records in Canoga Park, California. A TV expert from Best Buy, a typewriter collector and a futurist forecast what might fall by the wayside next. And when it does, we'll find out how to safely recycle that outdated equipment.

160 million Americans visit a convenience store every day. Why? Because it's fast. But what you probably didn't know is how every detail of its design has been engineered to work that way. Step inside one of the busiest 7-11's in America and find out what makes it tick. And go behind the scenes to see how favorite innovations--like slurpees, turbo ovens, and beef jerky--are made. The science of convenience will amaze you!

Who are the beings with big heads and giant eyes that seem to have been visiting our planet for millennia? Known by researchers as the "greys," these mysterious beings have been depicted in rock-art and carved stone figures throughout the ages and all over the world. Who are they, what planet do they come from, and what do they want?

In 1980, three young military men were sent into a UK forest to investigate strange lights. They reportedly encountered a spacecraft of unknown origin. When one of the men touched it, he claims to have received telepathically a long sequence of binary code, which he later wrote down and translated. The military ordered them to never speak about the incident. Why do such UFO encounters continue to be kept under wraps, and what might they reveal about our ancient past?

Scott Wolter investigates a burial site in the mountains of Arizona, only to discover it may belong to a medieval Englishman.

Geologist and adventurer Scott Wolter explores a government-restricted site, and makes a startling discovery connecting the ancient Mayans with rural Georgia.

Follow one of the world's most holy relics on its two-thousand-year journey down through history. It began as an instrument of mercy in the hands of a Roman soldier at Christ's Passion and became one of history's most powerful relics. The Spear of Christ is believed to have been infused with miraculous power as it pierced the side of Christ and has been linked to some of history's most remarkable episodes. Travel through history as we examine each of four artifacts claiming to be the Holy Lance. Scientific analysis helps in our attempt to discover if a true Spear of Christ exists today. Through high quality re-enactments, shooting on location, and the use of historic images, we tell the amazing tale of this sacred relic.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

Informational programming.

The Seven Wonders of the World were a celebration of religion, mythology, art, power, and science. They were built by the ancients in a time before Christ and their scale and majesty continues to mesmerize us today. The structures were created on a scale that's hard to imagine, and their architects pushed engineering to a new height which still astounds us today.

In the late Stone Age, the pagan people of the British Isles constructed some of the greatest monuments of the ancient world. Fabulous constructions of wood, earth, and stone arose. In this hour, we enter the world of their builders. We travel from the ancient stone villages of the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland, to Stonehenge, in Southern England. We reveal a startling new theory about the role this extraordinary structure played in the lives of the pagans. With computer animation, we reconstruct the monument as it appeared to them. We then trace a forgotten ancient pathway to Stonehenge's lost twin--Woodhenge, explore the secrets of Silbury Hill, the world's largest man-made mound, and visit Maiden Castle, a fortress that witnessed the pagan world's end.