History

Modern Marvels goes beyond the basics to provide insight and history into things we wonder about and that impact our lives.

In "HUNTING HITLER," an FBI cold case that has laid dormant for 70 years leads a group of world-renown investigators on the ultimate manhunt to finally answer the question: Did Adolf Hitler survive World War II?

UNDERWATER UNIVERSE tracks the history and evolution of the ocean's seven deadliest zones.

This season on ALONE, participants will face the most punishing environment yet: The Arctic. Canada’s Great Slave Lake—the deepest lake in North America—is where season 6’s survivalists will endure frigid conditions & a slew of dangerous wild life, like a thriving bear population, territorial moose, wolves, muskox and the stealthy porcupine. No camera crew. No gimmicks. Last one standing wins.

The world's largest concrete dam--and the largest concrete structure in the world--lies on the Columbia River in the State of Washington. B uilt in 1931, it is also one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world.

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 Hindenburg, put an end to the era.

Though now considered a country cousin when compared to the sophisticated television, merely a century ago, the radio galvanized communications as it linked the world without wires. The program examines the long life of the radio.

In a historic survey of man's adaptation to killer environmental conditions, we travel to the desert, the Arctic, the sea, jungle, and space, charting the body's physiological responses to extreme circumstances such as frostbite, heatstroke, and hypothermia. We talk with military survival experts and learn about the latest cutting-edge survival gear, as well as the equipment aboard the space station, and look to the future, when nano-technology will...

From amazing ancient Roman aqueducts and arch bridges, romantic Renaissance spans, 19th-century railroad crossovers, to monumental marvels of our time, bridges played a key role in the human quest to connect and unify. We'll trace the history of bridge types, including suspension, arch, beam, truss, and cantilever designs.