http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels#show-schedule History Channel - Show Schedule for next 2 weeks en Copyright 2012, History.com Fri, 25 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT History.com 2012-05-25T04:00:00Z en Copyright 2012, History.com http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-28 They are elements that occupy a select portion of the periodic table and are so essential to America's economic and military might that they are stored in the National Defense Stockpile in case of all-out war. We plan a riveting visit. Some of the vital heavy metals that we survey include copper, uranium, lead, zinc, and nickel. We also take a look at superalloys--consisting of steel combined with chromium, cobalt, and dozens of other heavy metals--that resist corrosion and perform increasingly elaborate functions. From Earth to space, from cosmetics to vitamins, in a million different ways, heavy metals are here to stay! 237914 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-93 Get behind the wheel and take control of the some of the largest, fastest, most powerful machines on the planet. These aren't your average vehicles--and handling one of these rides is unlike anything else. But you need more than just a learner's permit to take control of these vehicles...you need training, experience, and above all, guts--if you plan to sit in the Driver's Seat. 237872 http://www.history.com/shows/ Discover how essential space travel technologies have journeyed back to Earth with surprising and indispensable commercial applications. For example, paint that can withstand the heat of reentry now protects our steel-framed high-rises from collapsing in a fire. Batteries that can take a sports car from zero to 60 in four seconds also keep our satellites in orbit. The oxygen tank used by firefighters to save countless lives is just like the one used by our astronauts during the Apollo missions. These and many ordinary objects are traced back to their NASA roots, where they originally had the right stuff. 237918 http://www.history.com/shows/ Discover how essential space travel technologies have journeyed back to Earth with surprising and indispensable commercial applications. For example, paint that can withstand the heat of reentry now protects our steel-framed high-rises from collapsing in a fire. Batteries that can take a sports car from zero to 60 in four seconds also keep our satellites in orbit. The oxygen tank used by firefighters to save countless lives is just like the one used by our astronauts during the Apollo missions. These and many ordinary objects are traced back to their NASA roots, where they originally had the right stuff. 237917 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-200 A spectacular roadway nearly 120 miles long, the Overseas Highway links mainland Florida with the Florida Keys, and contains 51 bridges, including the Seven-Mile Bridge. A boat was the only mode of travel from Miami to Key West until oil tycoon Henry Flagler completed his railroad line in 1912. After a 1935 hurricane destroyed 40 miles of track, the scenic highway was built using Flagler's bridges. A $175-million refurbishment that ended in 1982 resulted in today's remarkable Overseas Highway. 237908 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-169 Buckle up for a rip-roaring ride through the world of extreme horsepower. Experience the fastest accelerating cars on earth. Find out how horsepower was first coined as a marketing tool for the steam engine in the early 1800s and meet the horsepower police--the Society of Automotive Engineers who test today's most powerful car engines. Feel the amazing power of Unlimited Hydroplane racing as 3-ton boat-beasts careen across water at speeds of over 200 miles per hour. Journey to the bowels of an enormous container ship where the world's most powerful diesel engine provides over 100,000 horsepower. At the Hoover Dam, watch as it harnesses the enormous power of water. Explore the 80,000 horsepower pumping units at the Edmonston Pumping Plant that delivers 2-billion gallons of water a day to thirsty Californians. And sit behind the steering wheel of a new generation of hybrid cars that boast 400-horsepower yet get 42 miles per gallon of gas. 237913 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-163 Sink your teeth into the razor sharp world of saws. Cut across the centuries to discover how the Egyptians arduously sawed stone as compared to modern saws that slice through limestone like butter. Saws have been used as instruments of torture and tools for surgery. They are imperative for construction, salvage, demolition, and they even make music. Whether they have teeth of steel, carbide or diamond, you will be on the cutting edge of successful sawing. 237920 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-118 It feeds the world. Ride along with a custom harvester traveling from Texas to North Dakota and discover the ripening wheat fields. See how the harvesting crews brave months on the road, cutting thousands of acres each season. Tour a pasta plant to see how a special kind of wheat becomes everything from spaghetti to rigatoni. Watch as the grain is mashed into a thirst-quenching brew. Finally visit a company that transforms wheat into plastic-like products, such as eating utensils, hair combs, drumsticks, and yo-yos. 237905 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-200 A spectacular roadway nearly 120 miles long, the Overseas Highway links mainland Florida with the Florida Keys, and contains 51 bridges, including the Seven-Mile Bridge. A boat was the only mode of travel from Miami to Key West until oil tycoon Henry Flagler completed his railroad line in 1912. After a 1935 hurricane destroyed 40 miles of track, the scenic highway was built using Flagler's bridges. A $175-million refurbishment that ended in 1982 resulted in today's remarkable Overseas Highway. 237907 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-169 Buckle up for a rip-roaring ride through the world of extreme horsepower. Experience the fastest accelerating cars on earth. Find out how horsepower was first coined as a marketing tool for the steam engine in the early 1800s and meet the horsepower police--the Society of Automotive Engineers who test today's most powerful car engines. Feel the amazing power of Unlimited Hydroplane racing as 3-ton boat-beasts careen across water at speeds of over 200 miles per hour. Journey to the bowels of an enormous container ship where the world's most powerful diesel engine provides over 100,000 horsepower. At the Hoover Dam, watch as it harnesses the enormous power of water. Explore the 80,000 horsepower pumping units at the Edmonston Pumping Plant that delivers 2-billion gallons of water a day to thirsty Californians. And sit behind the steering wheel of a new generation of hybrid cars that boast 400-horsepower yet get 42 miles per gallon of gas. 237912 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-163 Sink your teeth into the razor sharp world of saws. Cut across the centuries to discover how the Egyptians arduously sawed stone as compared to modern saws that slice through limestone like butter. Saws have been used as instruments of torture and tools for surgery. They are imperative for construction, salvage, demolition, and they even make music. Whether they have teeth of steel, carbide or diamond, you will be on the cutting edge of successful sawing. 237919 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-118 It feeds the world. Ride along with a custom harvester traveling from Texas to North Dakota and discover the ripening wheat fields. See how the harvesting crews brave months on the road, cutting thousands of acres each season. Tour a pasta plant to see how a special kind of wheat becomes everything from spaghetti to rigatoni. Watch as the grain is mashed into a thirst-quenching brew. Finally visit a company that transforms wheat into plastic-like products, such as eating utensils, hair combs, drumsticks, and yo-yos. 237906 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-4 Americans hit the car wash 2 million times a day--at a cost of $25 billion dollars a year. From tunnel systems to in-bay automatics, we'll go beyond the suds to see how car washes are built to clean. We'll get wet inside the largest car wash in the U.S.--a seven acre mega facility complete with a dog wash, chapel, and barber shop. We'll head to a car wash manufacturer where electric eyes are trained, auto conveyers are built, and mega vacuums suck up bowling balls. We'll learn some tips on how to clean our cars at home. Watch as we plaster a $160,000 Porsche with tar, glue, egg, bird droppings, and a bucket full of sludge... and then challenge a detailer to get it off. Cleaning radioactive waste from a train? No problem, if you go to the Energy Solutions rail car wash. Then, it's off to see how car manufacturers design and build vehicles to survive the car wash. 237884 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-234 You know the old saying "dull as dirt"...wrong! In Las Vegas we'll see how thousands of tons of dirt transform a stadium into a Supercross course, and in New Jersey we'll slog into a secret bog to collect the special mud that every major league team relies on to give extra grip to baseballs. Then, we'll join in the down and dirty fun of mud wrestling at a state fair in Hawaii. In Tucson we'll see how modern adobe and stunning rammed-earth homes are made. To farmers, "dirt" is "soil" and in a teaspoon of healthy soil there are more living organisms than people on our planet. We'll find out where they came from at a sprawling potting soil facility in central California where huge earth moving equipment adds tons of dried kelp, bat guano and other ingredients to dirt. At exclusive spas we'll watch patrons submerge in mud. Finally, we'll visit the Tide detergent factory--why? To get the dirt out, of course. 237869 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-100 Man's best friend--fearless, faithful, determined and swift. They're our sharpest eyes, noses and ears--and among the bravest hunters, soldiers, rescuers, and protectors. From natural instincts to complex training, see what makes dogs a perfectly engineered Modern Marvel. 237904 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-91 Enter the amazing and ingenious ultra-sturdy shelters, machines, containers, materials and packaging designed to deny the ruination of society. The drive to create the indestructible has inspired some of the most prolific and awe inspiring results: The Cold War spawned personal bomb shelters in the 1950s. They weren't truly safe and secure, but today's 21st century version will last a millennium. And so will the special food you can get, along with all the comforts of home--like running water, plumbing and electricity. Caskets serve as our final resting place, but how long do they really last? Investigate how valuable data from a plane crash survives in a "black box" (that's not really black), to explain what might have caused the accident. And get an intimate look at the new "home" that protects and preserves one of the world's most valuable documents--the case that houses the original Declaration of Independence. 237871 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-4 Americans hit the car wash 2 million times a day--at a cost of $25 billion dollars a year. From tunnel systems to in-bay automatics, we'll go beyond the suds to see how car washes are built to clean. We'll get wet inside the largest car wash in the U.S.--a seven acre mega facility complete with a dog wash, chapel, and barber shop. We'll head to a car wash manufacturer where electric eyes are trained, auto conveyers are built, and mega vacuums suck up bowling balls. We'll learn some tips on how to clean our cars at home. Watch as we plaster a $160,000 Porsche with tar, glue, egg, bird droppings, and a bucket full of sludge... and then challenge a detailer to get it off. Cleaning radioactive waste from a train? No problem, if you go to the Energy Solutions rail car wash. Then, it's off to see how car manufacturers design and build vehicles to survive the car wash. 237885 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-234 You know the old saying "dull as dirt"...wrong! In Las Vegas we'll see how thousands of tons of dirt transform a stadium into a Supercross course, and in New Jersey we'll slog into a secret bog to collect the special mud that every major league team relies on to give extra grip to baseballs. Then, we'll join in the down and dirty fun of mud wrestling at a state fair in Hawaii. In Tucson we'll see how modern adobe and stunning rammed-earth homes are made. To farmers, "dirt" is "soil" and in a teaspoon of healthy soil there are more living organisms than people on our planet. We'll find out where they came from at a sprawling potting soil facility in central California where huge earth moving equipment adds tons of dried kelp, bat guano and other ingredients to dirt. At exclusive spas we'll watch patrons submerge in mud. Finally, we'll visit the Tide detergent factory--why? To get the dirt out, of course. 237868 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-100 Man's best friend--fearless, faithful, determined and swift. They're our sharpest eyes, noses and ears--and among the bravest hunters, soldiers, rescuers, and protectors. From natural instincts to complex training, see what makes dogs a perfectly engineered Modern Marvel. 237903 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-91 Enter the amazing and ingenious ultra-sturdy shelters, machines, containers, materials and packaging designed to deny the ruination of society. The drive to create the indestructible has inspired some of the most prolific and awe inspiring results: The Cold War spawned personal bomb shelters in the 1950s. They weren't truly safe and secure, but today's 21st century version will last a millennium. And so will the special food you can get, along with all the comforts of home--like running water, plumbing and electricity. Caskets serve as our final resting place, but how long do they really last? Investigate how valuable data from a plane crash survives in a "black box" (that's not really black), to explain what might have caused the accident. And get an intimate look at the new "home" that protects and preserves one of the world's most valuable documents--the case that houses the original Declaration of Independence. 237870 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-47 For more than 3,000 years, emperors and generals, dictators and police, criminals, clerics, and even medical doctors have created and used a vast array of torture devices--everything from the ancient Greeks' Brazen Bull, which slowly barbecued the victim, to the elaborate mechanical apparatuses of the Spanish Inquisition. A medical doctor who specializes in victims of torture reveals how the human body responds to their use--from the earliest excruciating contrivances to the more modern. 237389 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-159 Do normal humans actually possess the ability to have super powers? In Utah, see how a man can strap on an exoskeleton and lift hundreds of pounds with virtually no effort. In England, visit "Mr. Cyborg," a man with the ability to control machines with merely a thought. In California, see a man glide through the sky like Superman, then it's off to Atlanta, Georgia to see how engineers have found a way to help people glide through the water like Aquaman. Learn how scientists at the University of Texas are building artificial muscles that are 400 times stronger than our own, and in Las Vegas, strap on velocity motion stilts for a little bionic high jumping and high speed running. 237418 http://www.history.com/shows/ Why is corn the largest agricultural crop in the world? Corn has fed the masses from ancient times to this day. Corn is not only a vegetable and a cereal grain; it is a commodity as well. Visit Lakeside Foods in Reedsburg, Wisconsin and see how tons of corn are harvested and canned within hours. Then it's off to VeraSun Energy in Charles City, Iowa, to discover how corn is converted into fuel. Take a look to our past and you will understand that without corn we probably wouldn't be here. 237394 http://www.history.com/shows/ Why is corn the largest agricultural crop in the world? Corn has fed the masses from ancient times to this day. Corn is not only a vegetable and a cereal grain; it is a commodity as well. Visit Lakeside Foods in Reedsburg, Wisconsin and see how tons of corn are harvested and canned within hours. Then it's off to VeraSun Energy in Charles City, Iowa, to discover how corn is converted into fuel. Take a look to our past and you will understand that without corn we probably wouldn't be here. 237393 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-221 They crunch; they ooze; they crackle; they pop--mmmmm, yeah! Soft drinks, donuts, meat snacks, popcorn, and gum. What's your weakness? From the handmade treats of the earliest civilizations to hi-tech mass production, these snacks are borne of man's need to feed his cravings. Join us for an hour-long tasty treat as we examine the history of snackfoods and check out how they are made today. 237381 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-27 Food Trucks are hitting the big time--across much of America, they're changing the way we eat. From humble beginnings as chuck wagons and hot dog carts, they've taken off as ethnic eateries, gourmet specialists, and even high-tech mega trucks that serve thousands at disaster scenes. Not surprisingly, it takes some pretty sophisticated engineering to make it all work--and turn a truck into a kitchen on wheels. 237377 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-221 They crunch; they ooze; they crackle; they pop--mmmmm, yeah! Soft drinks, donuts, meat snacks, popcorn, and gum. What's your weakness? From the handmade treats of the earliest civilizations to hi-tech mass production, these snacks are borne of man's need to feed his cravings. Join us for an hour-long tasty treat as we examine the history of snackfoods and check out how they are made today. 237382 http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/episodes/episode-guide#episode-27 Food Trucks are hitting the big time--across much of America, they're changing the way we eat. From humble beginnings as chuck wagons and hot dog carts, they've taken off as ethnic eateries, gourmet specialists, and even high-tech mega trucks that serve thousands at disaster scenes. Not surprisingly, it takes some pretty sophisticated engineering to make it all work--and turn a truck into a kitchen on wheels. 237376