Episode
Modern Marvels: Retro Tech
Overview
Rummage around in your garage and 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 remember each one with nostalgic fondness. Take a trip down memory lane to examine how these oldies-but-goodies worked and find out how more advanced tech superseded them.
Details
- Series
- Modern Marvels
- Season
- Season 15
- Episode
- Episode 38
- Air date
- 2008-12-19
- Runtime
- 44 min
Episode context
Retro Tech is Episode 38 in Season 15 of Modern Marvels. It aired on 2008-12-19. The runtime is 44 min.
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Episode 37: Car Wash
The car wash's in America are a $25 billion dollars a year industry, with tunnel systems to in-bay automatics, we'll show you how America keeps it's cars clean. We'll visit the largest car wash, seven acres wide which includes a dog wash, chapel, and barber shop. And then to a wash which uses trained electronic eyes, auto conveyors, and mega vacuums which can hold up a bowling ball. We also show tips for cleaning a car at home. Plus we'll add tar, glue, egg, bird droppings, and a bucket full of sludge to a $160,000 Porsche, and then challenge a detailer to clean it off. Also, see how cars are built to survive a car wash.
Episode 39: Super Human
Whether humans have the ability to possess superpowers; a man can strap on an exoskeleton and lift hundreds of pounds with little effort; Mr. Cyborg can control machines with his thoughts; flying like Superman.
More episodes from this season
Episode 36: Salt
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.
Episode 40: Measure It
How do you weigh a whale? How does your speedometer work? Take a look at the five most common areas of measurement: distance, time, speed, weight, and temperature.
Episode 35: The Turkey
The turkey is the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinners and one of the dumbest birds in the animal kingdom, but it has managed to survive since the dinosaurs; Butterball factory; turkey hunting; dining on turkey testicles and eggs.
Episode 41: Night
Some activities only occur when the world is dark; fishermen use lights to lure squid to their nets; finding night crawlers in Toronto; military night vision gear; police helicopter's Spectrolab spotlight; baseball stadium.
Episode 34: The Horse
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.
Episode 42: Fry It
Fairgrounds fried classics such as funnel cakes and churros; frog legs; Twinkies and Coke; forging a cast iron frying pan; Kentucky's World Chicken Festival.
Episode 33: Halloween Tech
An inside look at the technology used for the Halloween traditions such as producing latex masks, professional monster makeup, carving jack-o-lanterns, making fake blood and a glimpse of a popular haunted house attraction.
Episode 43: Mega Meals
Preparing meals for large groups is examined. Included: a meal at a U.S. Naval base in Bangor, Wash.; aboard a nuclear submarine; for crowds at a Philadelphia Eagles game; and the after party of the American Music Awards. Also: airline meals in New York City.
Episode 32: Bulls-eye
Examining how frequently experts in various disciplines can hit their targets, including archers, sharpshooters and even a billiards player; the ancient world's ballista and trebuchet weapons; knife thrower; Cirque du Soleil's daring artists.
Episode 44: Library of Congress
Where in Washington DC is the nation's most incredible treasure chest? It's a library unlike any other in the world, the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Modern Marvels explodes the myth that this 200 year old institution is simply "where members of Congress borrow books". Viewers are taken beyond the magnificent Jefferson Building Great Hall into the secret vaults where more than 600 miles of shelves hold 130 million items, many of them priceless treasures - from George Washington's hand-written diaries to Galileo's first images of the moon to the original camera film of the movie Frankenstein. See how a staff of 4000 catalogues protects and preserves these treasures and distributes them globally via a new World Digital Library.