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Glass serves as one of the most versatile materials, sheathing skyscrapers, containing liquids, aiding vision, enabling high-speed communication, and providing artistic expression; heating certain rocks and minerals creates this transparent material.

Then and Now: Glass

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More than two million people die in the U.S. annually, creating 5,500 daily burials with 80 percent choosing caskets and 20 percent cremation; explore dealing with death throughout centuries and today's $20-billion funeral industry.

Cemeteries

Defensive fortifications span WWI bunkers to futuristic structures; explore submarine bunkers at Lorient housing 20 subs, Churchill's Cabinet War Room, Hitler's Berlin bunker, Cold War shelters, and nuclear weapon protection bunkers.

Bunkers

After World War I, Russia built its prolific MiG aircraft line; MiG pilots fought in WWII, but the MiG-15 design brought their heyday as a Nazi jet copy that dueled F-86s in Korea and MiG-21s contested North Vietnam skies.

The Mig

Half a mile below earth's surface, miners extract rough diamonds, pure carbon substances that become precious gems when cut and polished; explore diamond mining history and technology from 4th century BC to modern South Africa.

Diamond Mines

Dynamite explodes hills, drills divide stone walls, and giant cranes pull 400,000-pound blocks from quarry pits; rock serves as civilization's raw material for roads, buildings, paint, glue, makeup, antacids, and chewing gum.

Quarries

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has trained students in warfare for nearly 200 years; located 50 miles north of New York City on 16,000 acres, it overlooks the Hudson River and evolved with America's expanding responsibilities.

West Point

Nuclear submarines carry more firepower than all bombs dropped in history; since the 1950s, these steel vessels became U.S. defense cornerstones, sparking Cold War underwater competition and creating engineering miracles for deterrence.

Nuclear Subs

Cannons evolved from 13th-century fort-penetrating weapons to atomic bomb launchers with smart weapons; explore how cannons were cast and forged, terrorized in world wars, and advanced to today's 40-ton self-propelled Crusader.

Cannons

Examination of chemical and biological warfare history and technology traces back 4,000 years to ancient India's toxic fumes; includes details of Soviet biological programs and interviews with former scientists Ken Alibek and Bill Patrick.

Chemical and Biological Weapons

Engineering disasters exact costs in lives when design flaws fail projects; examine the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Idaho's first nuclear accident, Soyuz 11 deaths, Texas Tower destruction, and NASA's Mars mission losses.

Engineering Disasters 3

From colossal devices designed to save the world to mind-expanding, world-shrinking machines, tracing the evolution of mice and menus; learning about the world's most powerful computer that operates at 12-trillion calculations a second.

Computers

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Stories of those who believed in dreams and defied the commonplace with their extraordinary creations; covering some of the world's architectural and engineering structures, scientific inventions, and social wonders.

S7 E45 | Then and Now: Glass