Modern Marvels Season 14, Episode 22: Fertilizer

1

Balls

Examining the technology and evolution of balls used in sports. Included: a tour of the Wilson Football Factory Ohio; the Rawlings baseball factory Costa Rica and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. And also "juego de pelota" - the ancient Mesoamerican ball game.

44 min

2

Environmental Tech

From the prairies of Saskatchewan to a Manhattan skyscraper we’ll see the 21st Century’s cutting-edge “green” technologies in action. New technologies such as carbon sequestration and bioremediation take on our most daunting environmental crises, from global warming and deforestation to nuclear waste.

44 min

3

Canning

It's the unsung essential of modern life. Canning is the method of a preserving and packaging food, without which civilization would never have ventured beyond the local food supply. It changed the way the world eats and revolutionized the food industry.

44 min

4

Pumps

The history of the pump is chronicled. Pumps used in water distribution in Southern California - The Colorado River Aqueduct, a robotic cow-milking pump and a pump used in heart surgery.

44 min

5

Ice

The solid form of life's precious elixir has played a key role in fashioning our history and is making its mark as an unusual tool of technology. Explore how Earth's ice originated and recount how ice age glaciers sculpted North America. Take an inside look at Colorado's National Ice Core Repository to see how ice drilled from Antarctica and Greenland is an invaluable archive of past climate, and at a Canadian research lab experts demonstrate the dynamics and dangers of icebergs. See how Greenland's massive ice sheet may be sliding faster than ever toward the sea. Take a look at how scientists are using Antarctica's ice as a gigantic lens to probe the secrets of the universe.

44 min

6

More Ice

It traps a treasure of energy on the ocean floor, and confounds scientists still trying to solve why it’s so slippery. We’ll venture inside NASA’s Icing Research Tunnel in Ohio, and then it’s off to Salt Lake City’s Olympic Oval which boasts “the fastest ice on Earth.” Dive to the ocean floor to collect and analyze a unique form of ice called methane clathrates–cages of ice encasing pressurized natural gas. Scientists believe that if only one percent of the world’s ice-entrapped methane could be harvested, it would more than double our current supply of natural gas. Other highlights include the search for extraterrestrial ice and a trip inside the studio of a chainsaw-wielding artist as he sculpts a masterpiece.

44 min

7

The Destroyer

The destroyers made during World War II are examined. With interviews with veterans and archival film footage.

44 min

8

Star Trek Tech

In this episode we are presented with the technology and gadgets used while filming the Star Trek series. It also explores some of the real or possible technologies that were inspired by various Star Trek series.

44 min

9

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Nuclear and biological Weapons of mass destruction are examined. With a computer-generated depiction of a dirty-bomb attack in Seattle and how scientists identify biological agents.

44 min

10

Barbarian Battle Tech

It's clear from the bow that nearly brought down Rome, the suspension system that revolutionized the chariot, and the axe that named a country that barbarians and technology aren't such a contradiction after all.

44 min

11

Dams

Dams - one of man's greatest accomplishments are explored. The history of dams from construction to demolition and their impact on the environment. Beavers and their dams and construction of embankment dams and larger Hydroelectric dams such as Three Gorges, Hoover, and Grand Coulee are explored.

44 min

12

Yard Tech

The technology used to keep your lawn green including the lawnmower, riding movers, sod, astro turf, and sprinklers. The state of the art grass used in the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona. Also: how a company moves big trees, and the science of different types of grasses.

44 min

13

More Military Movers

Soldiers, machines, and supplies are only effective if they arrive at the battlefield in time. Explore the history and the technology behind the machines that do the heavy moving in times of war.

44 min

14

Deep Sea Salvage

Driven by the need for deep sea rescue and salvage capabilities, the US Navy Diving and Salvage Programs have gathered together a highly skilled team of divers, scientists and engineers, who have been involved in some of the most exciting and dangerous salvage operations ever undertaken.

44 min

15

Welding

It was a science first conjured amid the fiery ovens of ancient blacksmiths; today more than 50% of all U.S. products require some form of welding. Whether via electricity, flammable gases, sonic waves, or sometimes just raw explosive power, welding creates powerful bonds between metal unmatched by any other joining process. From high atop emerging 60-story towers on the Las Vegas strip to oil platforms hundreds of feet below the ocean, discover how welders forge the backbone of civilization. Learn about exciting new applications: how sound waves create bulletproof welds for contemporary body armor; the technologies behind robotic welding systems; and the knee-rattling impact of an explosion weld, the most powerful method of all.

44 min

16

60s Tech

A look at the technology behind some of the 1960s greatest inventions. With color television, transistor radios, satellite broadcasting, touch-tone phones, lava lamps, the Ford Mustang, and toys like Etch-a-Sketch and the Super Ball.

44 min

17

It Came From Outer Space

What do remote controlled robots, Tempur-Pedic mattresses, polarized glasses and metallized blankets have in common? They are all civilian inventions among the thousands derived from technologies used in space exploration.

44 min

18

World's Strongest II

What does it take to become "the world's strongest"? You'll find out on this episode of Modern Marvels. With life-saving boron carbide body armor and MegaFly - a giant ram air parachute.

44 min

19

Engineering Disasters of the '70s

To err is human, but when the error results in the loss of life, it's a disaster. Learn about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Buffalo Creek Dam disaster, and the explosion of a tanker in Los Angeles harbor.

44 min

20

70s Tech

The 1970s were a decade of excess. Dust off your mirror ball, put on your leisure suit, and rediscover the gadgets of the era

44 min

21

Truck Stops

Join Modern Marvels as we discover how truck stops, serving more than twenty million truckers nationwide, are bigger and better than ever. These mammoth pit-stops are essential cogs in the machinery that keeps goods flowing seamlessly around the country. In this episode we'll tour the world's largest truck stop, a grand service area complete with fuel, food, parking, private showers, a movie theater, a dentist office, and a barbershop. We'll see how 18-wheelers power elaborate living quarters without idling their engines by plugging into truck stop utilities.

44 min

22

Fertilizer

Without it one third of us would starve. Modern Marvels: Fertilizer tours the places that harness the vital nutrients that enrich the soil...that grow the crops...that feed us.

44 min

23

Cheese

From the giant cheese factories of Wisconsin to the goat farms of Northern California, this episode explores cheese.

44 min

24

Saws

They brought down the forests and built up the pyramids. They're a cut above for construction, salvage, demolition - and they even make music and some have used them to torture.

44 min

25

Aluminum

This useful metal was once considered more valuable than gold. Watch as aluminum is stretched, pounded, melted and turned into foam. Did you know that aluminum is made out of a powder? Visit the widest rolling mill in the world where skins for the largest jets are made, then it’s off to NASA to observe how aluminum is used to make reflective mirrors for telescopes. Discover the process of making aluminum foil and learn why aluminum baseball bats are better than wood.

44 min

26

Sticky Stuff

A look at everyday stuff that is sticky including VHB tape, velcro, stealth rubber, cling wrap, and asphalt.

44 min

27

Chocolate

It's America's favorite flavor. We eat over three and a half billion pounds of it each year. It satiated the ancients and built modern-day empires. From the equatorial fields, to the factories of moguls, and the kitchens of artisans.

44 min

28

Bedroom Tech

We spend 1/3 of our lives in the bedroom, explore the technologies that help to ensure we wake up on the right side of the bed.

44 min

29

Vacuums

On this episode of Modern Marvels we'll see giant-sized vacuums that clean up after disasters like Hurricane Katrina and 9-11. Beneath the sea we'll meet The Super Sucker, an underwater vacuum that saves coral reefs by suctioning up invasive alien algae.

44 min

30

Traps

They're designed to capture and often kill, but they don't always harm their prey. Traps are devices as old as humanity itself. We'll trap 400 pounds Black Bears with West Virginia Division of Natural Resources biologists.

44 min

31

Nature Tech: Volcanoes

Volcano technology is examined. Included: attempts to monitor and control activity.

44 min

32

Star Wars Tech

In this episode we are presented with the technology and gadgets used while filming Star Wars. It also explores some of the real or possible technologies that were inspired by various Star Wars movies and TV shows.

44 min

33

Extreme Aircraft II

Take a supersonic flight through a world of flying machines that are redefining our skies. Pull serious G’s in the U.S. military’s latest fighter jet: the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Riding shotgun in the lethal B-1B Lancer, and look close or you’ll miss the swarm of MAV’s (Micro Air Vehicles)–so small they are launched out of a backpack. The “vertical takeoff and landing” capable PAV’s (Personal Aerial Vehicles) may be the answer to the commuting needs of tired travelers. Then, discover how a commercial jetliner has been retrofitted into the biggest flying fire truck the world has ever seen.

44 min

34

Deep Freeze

Modern Marvels: Deep Freeze takes the technology of cold to the extreme: A 12-story ice box filled with 135 million pounds of ice cream, arctic vaults that store billions of seeds and learn how scientists have mastered temperatures of minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

44 min

35

Acid

It is the most widely produced chemical in the world and possibly the most dangerous. Take a look at the many uses of acid. See how the military harnesses acid to make the explosive “Comp B-4.” Visit a sulfuric acid plant to see how acid can take the stain out of stainless steel and learn how it can be mixed to dissolve precious metal. At the Heinz vinegar plant discover why acid’s sour taste is sweet. Finally, learn how acid loving bacteria in Yellowstone National Park may hold the key to a biological industrial revolution and meet a mad scientist who will demonstrate how acid can hollow out a penny and turn a hot dog to sludge!

44 min

36

World's Sharpest

The Katana blade of the Samurai is the world's sharpest sword. We'll craft one from scratch to reveal the secret of its legendary cutting ability. We'll also visit Cutco Cutlery, where the sharpest for chopping food in your kitchen are made.

44 min

37

Engineering Disasters 21

A steam pipe explosion rocks in Midtown Manhattan. In Boston's sections of a tunnel ceiling fall onto the roadway. And in Minnesota a bridge plunges into the Mississippi River.

44 min

38

Environmental Tech II

Take a look at the innovations designed to hold off a global warming meltdown.

44 min

39

Corn

Corn has found its way into over 3,000 different items. Discover how tons of sweet corn make it from the field to a sealed can within mere hours at Lakeside Foods in Wisconsin and how corn is transformed into clear plastic packaging at NatureWorks in Nebraska.

44 min

40

The Pig

A pig is as smart as a three-year-old human. The pancreas, heart valve and intestines of the pig have been transplanted into human bodies. But the primary use of the pig is for food. Watch the transformation into bacon, ham, ribs and sausage.

44 min

41

Rocks

From the Stone Age, to the Space Age, we've built our world from rocks. With moon rocks located at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

44 min

42

Most Shocking

The dangers associated with Electric Shock are real. It kills and injures thousands each year. In the last 100 years we've corralled its power to create marvelous devices. We'll explore the stunning ways that electric shocks occur - from lethal prison fences to the slippery shock of an Electric Eel.

44 min

43

Cold Cuts

They're the meat in our sandwiches. We will take you behind the deli counter to reveal the secret ingredients in boloney. Watch a master sausage maker craft salami, and pile it on at Carnegie Deli with their famous mile-high pastrami sandwich.

44 min

44

Fast Food Tech

Carl's Jr., Jack in the Box, Wendy's, Burger King or McDonald's. Fast food joints dominate the American landscape to the tune of $150 billion dollars in annual sales.

44 min