Modern Marvels

The Alaska Ocean is the largest factory-fishing boat in the US fleet. The crew’s mission: hunt down, catch and process 300 tons of Alaskan Pollock each day on the unforgiving waters of the Bering Sea. We travel with them on the last voyage of a long and grueling season. The crew reveals the inner workings of one of the most sophisticated and complex vessels afloat. It is half fishing boat, half floating factory, processing and flash freezing Alaskan Pollock as fast as its crew can catch it. To meet their seasonal quota of Pollock, the crew must overcome obstacles of weather, mechanical dangers aboard the sea-tossed ship and the wiliness of the fish themselves. Captain Scott Symonds takes us inside the amazing ultra-modern world of high stakes commercial fishing where a wrong decision on his part can cost not just the season’s catch, but also the lives of his crew.

It’s the basic source of nourishment for half the world–bread. Bake it, roast it, slice it, toast it–it’s a wonder that three simple ingredients, flour, water and salt, can be transformed into so many different shapes and tastes. From baguettes to pita, from corn bread to flour tortillas, every culture finds a way to make it and bake it.

Explore the hottest trends in gadgets, how they’ve evolved and where they’re going. See how the latest miniaturized, mobile gadgetry can fit all the technology that once filled an entire office into a single briefcase. Visit Brookstone, the ultimate gadget store. We’ll meet a gadget collector who’s turned his home into a gadget museum. And we’ll visit basement inventors who have developed everything from an iron you slip over your hand to smart appliances that talk back. Revisit some of the original gadgets like the corkscrew and zipper and see how some gadgets evolve into new forms. Discover which gadget inventors may hold tomorrow’s hottest new trends and learn why some gadgets succeed while others crash and burn.

Feared by millions worldwide, rats are some of the most dangerous, destructive and useful animals on Earth. Ride along with a Terminix exterminator to get face to face with the creepy creature in a near rat infestation and see the great lengths we take to get rid of the pesky pest. Tour the Hacco Inc. rodenticide plant to see how tasty poisons are concocted. At the Taconic rat breeding facility, we’ll see how hundreds of thousands of rats are bred and raised in high-tech and controlled environments. Watch rodents compete in the Xtreme Rat Challenge at the annual American Fancy Rat show. We’ll trace their history and role as a vector of deadly diseases, but also explore how they have saved countless lives as lab rats. Scientists will show us how a remote controlled rat could be your savior in the near future.

The axe is one of the world’s oldest, most dangerous and efficient cutting tools. Watch as competitive lumberjacks and Jills chop through 12-inch logs in a matter of seconds. Visit one of the nation’s largest axe manufacturers to see hot metal forged into a modern axe. Take a swing with a Vikings’ battleaxe and then see which knight would win in a fight of sword versus axe. Learn why the Native American tomahawk is making a comeback as a modern tactical weapon. Finally, see how the classic fireman’s axe has evolved into a trailer full of high tech rescue tools.

Discover that the deadliest snakes, sports and weather events are closer and more treacherous than you think. Travel to the slopes of Mt. Rainier, America’s most dangerous volcano, and find out why 100,000 people could be in serious trouble. Watch where you step, because the most dangerous snake in the U.S. slithers in great numbers and has a short temper. Learn where the most dangerous weather phenomenon, the tornado, can cause the most damage. We’ll look for protection for the most dangerous hits football can muster.

Do you ever wonder what happens to your body after you die? You might be surprised to discover that the human body is host to a multitude of hidden secrets. Discover how coroners and forensic anthropologists use a body to both save lives and catch killers. Visit the University of Tennessee’s famed “Body Farm,” a crematorium, and one of the largest tissue banks in the United States.

From the gelato of Italy, to the French Pot process of the 1800s, to the numerous assortments of frozen delights being served up today, learn the history of this delicious dessert. Visit factories at Dreyer’s, TCBY and the Joy Cone Company where ice cream, frozen yogurt, and the cone, roll off the assembly line. Get the scoop on how Ben & Jerry’s come up with their crazy ideas and watch as one of their madcap inventors creates a new flavor, just for us.

Bathroom technology; Kohler makes a digitally controlled shower complete with steam, music and LED chromatherapy; manufacturing sinks; “uncloggable” toilet; the engineering behind low-flow showers and toilets.

Explore collisions that shake our world from the astronomic to the subatomic. Discover breakthroughs that could make the deadly sport of professional auto racing safer and visit a motorcycle crash test facility and examine two-wheeled accidents in detail. Meet a skydiver who survived a crash to earth from 11,000 feet. An asteroid crashing to earth could destroy our planet–watch as NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid Tracking team hunt down dangerous asteroids. Finally learn about scientist’s who are creating crashes with colliding subatomic particles in the world’s largest machine. Will they unlock the secrets of the universe–or accidentally open a black hole?

Every 15 minutes, Americans insert over 3.5 million coins into vending machines. We’ll visit a sprawling factory that mass produces the latest in high-tech vending machines, and a small company that makes a giant gumball machine that holds 40,000 gumballs. Then, there’s the dreaded parking meter, including new ones that can take credit cards and text message for help when they are being robbed or vandalized. We’ll visit America’s last pinball factory, and see what strange coin operated fare kept people amused 100 years ago. Is coin counting Coinstar the ultimate coin operated machine? We’ll follow their coins all the way to a Brinks warehouse. Our last stop is Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanized Museum, housing some of the weirdest coin-op machines ever invented. If seeing a life-sized, robotic old man vomit is your idea of entertainment, drop a couple of quarters into “Dr. Ralph Bingenpurge”. Now, that’s money well spent.

Rubber, Plastic, Nylon, Aerosols, Resins, Solvents, and Lubricants–none can exist without oil. If we stopped driving our cars tomorrow, America would still need five million barrels of oil a day. Visit Vulcan Materials, where oil tanks are emptied into massive double-barrel mixers to make asphalt and then continue to the Rolls Royce Aerospace Facility where complex jet fuels are blended. Travel back to the 1870’s to see how an unemployed whale oil salesman turned a greasy oil-drilling by-product into a household staple: Vaseline. Finally discover how cutting-edge recycling techniques can breathe new life into used motor oil, and where a number of renewable fuels and technologies take aim at oil sovereignty.

From the spear, axe, and sword to today’s high tech arsenal, iron weapons have revolutionized warfare. Visit the mines of Minnesota and discover how iron ore is extracted and made into steel. Learn how military-metallurgists create the latest weapons and demonstrate their firepower. Discover iron super magnets, and study the biggest iron magnet of all–the earth! See how iron oxide plays a significant role in creating paints for cars and houses and ink for tattoos and the dollar bill. Finally, it’s off to the Moon and Mars to mine iron in space.

Take a ride along some of the world’s most dangerous roads. From Bolivia’s “Death Road,” to California’s fog-shrouded Highway 99, find the danger that waits behind every blind curve. Visit the Federal Highway Administration’s test laboratory to see what’s being done to make roads safer in the U.S. Finally, ride along in extreme four-wheel drive trucks with some adrenaline junkies that drive boulder-strewn trails just for the fun of it!

Learning about various fungal organisms that live in the human body, grow from the ground, float in the air, and help create some foods and beverages; professional remediators battle millions of green invaders in a moldy home.

A versatile yet toxic metal, lead has served mankind for 6,000 years. Explore the vast mines where heavy machinery extracts and refines lead. Visit a car battery factory that makes a superior battery from pure lead. See how a team of experts safely remove harmful lead products from homes and businesses. How can a metal as dark as lead make lead crystal not only sparkle, but manage to stay transparent?

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the aging U.S. infrastructure is in danger of collapse. Learn about a company in Missouri that uses a trench-less technology to rebuild corroded sewer pipes from the inside out while engineers at General Motors Proving Grounds lead the battle against corrosive road de-icing salts. See how a bioreactor in Florida turns mountains of garbage methane gas. Finally, discover how the tiny termite is teaching us how to turn agricultural waste into ethanol at a fraction of the current cost.

From LAPD’s sharp shooters to Army snipers, discover what it means to be armed and accurate. Learn how ancient ballista and trebuchet could repeatedly strike their targets. Find out how the Phoenix Lander will navigate to its target some 422 million miles away. See a nine ball expert hit several bulls-eyes, sometimes with the same shot to run the table. Finally, watch as Cirque de Soleil’s daring artists are both projectile and target as they perform their breathtaking feats.

Halloween has become a six billion dollar industry. Go behind-the-scenes at Knott’s Berry Farm’s 35th annual Halloween Haunt. Learn how to apply Hollywood grade monster make-up, watch scary latex masks cranked out by the thousands and discover which costumes are past and present winners. See the most extreme jack-o-lanterns ever made, find out how hundreds of gallons of fake blood are manufactured and finally visit a haunted house with an annual attendance of over 50,000.

A celebration of the horse, the animal that helped mankind change the world; the thoroughbred racing industry in Kentucky; how a Minnesota logging company uses real horsepower; a Colorado program pairs horses and prison inmates.

It’s the only rock we eat, and we need it to live. History has shown that those who have salt rule the world–and today, this versatile substance has 14,000 known uses. Travel to a salt mine 1,800 feet below Lake Erie where workers blast salt from a massive deposit spanning four states, to an evaporation facility near San Francisco where machines harvest salt from the briny ocean. Visit a Florida restaurant that offers 40 different varieties of salt…and journey to New York to explore salt’s surprising number one application: de-icing snowy winter roads. See how a high-tech desalination plant removes salt from ocean water, producing 25 million gallons of drinkable water every day. And if it’s speed you’re after, look no further than a natural drag strip in Utah made of pure salt.

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.

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.

How do you weigh a whale? We go to Shamu’s Tank at Sea World to find out. How does your speedometer work? Off to GM’s test track for the answer. We’ll look at the five most common areas of measurement in our everyday lives: distance, time, speed, weight, and temperature. We visit the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to find out where common measurements come from and how standards for those measurements are set. Next, we’ll go inside Stanley Tools where we’ll see how they guarantee every measuring tape gives the right distance every time. And while we’re measuring time, we’ll learn why a $5 kid’s watch is more accurate than a $10,000 luxury brand.