Episode
Modern Marvels: Spy Technology
Overview
Espionage has been used for at least the last 4,000 years. And where there are spies, you find gadgets! We focus on the last 100 years of cloak and dagger technology–from early code-breaking computers to satellite reconnaissance–and take a look at the James Bond-type gadgets of the Cold War.
Details
- Series
- Modern Marvels
- Season
- Season 6
- Episode
- Episode 23
- Air date
- 1999-05-01
- Runtime
- 44 min
Episode context
Spy Technology is Episode 23 in Season 6 of Modern Marvels. It aired on 1999-05-01. The runtime is 44 min.
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Episode 22: City Parks
Even in ancient times, city dwellers needed a scenic break from the urban landscape. But parks play a more important role than mere relief from tension–they also keep temperatures down and supply much-needed oxygen in congested cities. Come along for a stroll through New York City’s Central Park and L.A.’s Griffith Park.
Episode 24: Battlefield Medicine
“He who would become a surgeon should join the army and follow it,” Hippocrates counseled nearly 2,500 years ago. In this history of medicine under fire, we see how a small army of medics, nurses, surgeons, stretcher-bearers, and ambulance drivers, races to keep pace with the deadly advances of war.
More episodes from this season
Episode 21: Engineering Disasters
Throughout history, the builders and engineers who paved our way out of the caves and into the modern world have also caused some of our worst disasters. What happens when their calculations prove wrong and it all comes tumbling down? From Hammurabi’s days, when the first building laws were instituted, to today’s potential nuclear or chemical disasters that can spell death for thousands, we’ll take a harrowing 2-hour tour through some of history’s greatest engineering mistakes.
Episode 25: U.S. Mints: Money Machines
Whether it jingles in our pockets or folds in our wallets, it flows by the billions from government factories that have mastered the art of making it.
Episode 20: Physical Fitness
Meet the Strong Men and Women who go beyond mere fitness to pursue major muscle mass–from ancient Greeks, to performers in the 1800s astounding audiences with feats of strength, to the body builders of California’s Muscle Beach! Lou Ferrigno and other stars share stories of the pursuit of muscle. Also looks at the effect of steroids.
Episode 26: Rescue Equipment
Avalanches, earthquakes, hurricanes, bombings–all mean human tragedy unless rescuers respond within a moment’s notice of disaster. Here are the latest advances in rescue technology, including: a Searchcam system that locates buried victims, and the Jaws of Life that can extricate a person from a crushed car in seconds.
Episode 19: Airships.
First there were balloons and blimps. Then, visionaries enlarged, reinforced, and motorized them and the airship was born. The biggest aircraft ever flown, they remain one of the most romantic aerial creations. In all, 161 rigid airships were built before spectacular crashes, including the EM Hindenburg /EM , put an end to the era.
Episode 27: Scuba And Deep Sea Diving
In antiquity, a hollow reed served as an underwater link to oxygen. As in days of old, humans still need self-contained breathing equipment for a variety of reasons–food-gathering, commercial, recreational, military, and scientific. Dive with the best as we test scuba diving’s past, and look to a future of mechanical gills.
Episode 18: Clocks
Does anybody really know what time it is? Set your clocks as we explore the relativity of time from antiquity–when man attempted to chart time with methods ranging from shadows, candles, and water–to today’s atomic clock system–accurate to within one second every two-million years.
Episode 28: Offshore Oil Drilling
Offshore drilling is one of the greaest technological dances mankind has ever attempted. From the very beginning of oil discovery, the oceans and their vast reserves became the ultimate frontier. For those willing to take the risk, the oceans offer unprecedented success and unimaginable failure.
Episode 17: Mail Delivery
Through rain, snow, heat, or gloom of night, we expect postmen to deliver the mail. The U.S. Post Office handles over 603-million pieces of mail daily. Yet it represents only 43% of the world’s total mail volume. From ancient Sumerians to Pony Express, from airmail to E-mail, we follow the long journey of mail.
Episode 29: Dynamite.
Join us for a highly charged hour as we see why Alfred Nobel's invention of dynamite took on earthshattering dimensions as his product blasted out the natural resources that built our modern world. We also examine its impact on construction of the roads, tunnels, and dams that provide us with energy and transportation.