Modern Marvels

Parks play an even more important role than simply offering city dwellers a scenic break from the urban landscape. They keep temperatures down and supply much-needed oxygen in congested cities, like Los Angeles and New York.

Avalanches, earthquakes & bombings—all mean tragedy unless rescuers respond in a moment's notice. The latest rescue tech: a searchcam that locates buried victims & the Jaws of Life that can extricate a person from a crushed car in seconds.

Discover more about this priceless commodity essential to our very survival. It has over 14,000 uses, from de-icing our roads to softening our water.

Offshore drilling is to onshore drilling what Ginger Rodgers was to Fred Astaire—she did everything he did except she did it backwards & in high heels. Drilling oil offshore may be one of the most dangerous acts mankind has ever attempted.

Much of NYC's history can be viewed via its bridges—all 18 that connect Manhattan Island to its neighbors. See how these architectural masterpieces have changed destinies, linking some to opportunity, and others to ruin.

Emergency room medicine has only been a recognized specialty since 1989—and took almost 2 millennia. Examine what led to the modern ER—from the Byzantine's establishment of the first hospitals around 1050 A.D. to today's telemedicine.

Well over 2 million years before the evolution of modern man, his primitive ancestors were making tools. Thought to be the one of the keys to human evolution itself, tools permeate nearly every aspect of history.