Modern Marvels

Each year in the U.S., 280 million hens lay 80 billion eggs, one of the world's most affordable sources of protein; charting an egg's journey from the henhouse to the breakfast table; how powdered eggs are manufactured.

The versatile and nutritious potato; the potato's mysterious origins in South America's Andes; potato knishes in New York City; farming exotic potatoes in Maine; large-scale potato production in Iowa and Pennsylvania.

The story of tuna, the most popular fish in the American diet; fishing and canning operations; a single tuna can net as much as $100,000 in the world's largest fish market in Tokyo; efforts to save the giant bluefin tuna from overfishing.

The technology behind the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, including the bobsled run, ski jump and speed skating.

Chrome hot rod; the Chrome Shop Mafia adds bling to truckers' big rigs in Missouri; Illinois' Arlington Plating Co. adds luster to auto parts; how Harley-Davidson puts chrome to work as both a decorative and protective feature of motorcycles.

Beans; converting soybeans into vegetable oils, flour and soy meal; Nebraska's Kelley Bean Co. cleans 80,000 pounds of dry beans daily; New England baked beans made by B&M; Italian chef Cesare Casella uses heirloom beans; hummus.

Hot and spicy items; Tabasco sauce made by McIlhenny Co. in Louisiana; McCormick & Co. spices from Baltimore; chili cook-off; capsaicin gives peppers tongue-burning heat; Michael Jordan's SolToro Tequila Grill in Connecticut.

The complex logistics behind creating feasts for huge crowds; dining aboard a U.S. Navy sub packed with enough food for a 120-day mission; cooks prepare a "Victory Meal" for 1,000 Marines; feeding 69,000 NFL fans during a Philadelphia Eagles game.

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.

The history of soft drinks; the production process at Dr. Pepper, the world's third-largest soft-drink supplier; the Gatorade sports drink; energy drinks; the roots of ginger ale and root beer.

Delivering everything from pizza to packages; how UPS transported China's ancient terra-cotta warriors to a museum in Los Angeles; a submersible carrier ship delivers yachts; racehorses ride a special jet; New York City bicycle messengers.

In Alabama, fly with the Apache Longbow, the deadliest helicopter in the world, and learn how to fly the Blackhawk, one of the most versatile helicopters in world; climb aboard a Coast Guard helicopter as a team trains for water rescues in the Gulf.

The largest, strongest and unique ships; an oceanography research vessel that can flip a full 90 degrees; one of the world's largest cruise ships; the U.S. Navy's newest and most advanced transport ship; green tugboat; fastest car ferry.

Testing the breaking points of vehicles and crash test dummies; firing rounds at bulletproof glass; breaching a safe; the breaking points of steel and concrete.

How padlocks and combination locks are made; biometric locks; cracking open a bank vault; how the government plans to keep people away from a nuclear waste site for the next 10,000 years.

Steam power; Jay Leno fires up two steam cars and an 11-ton steam tractor built in 1860; coal-burning boiler; century-old steam locomotive; paddlewheel steamboat.

Entries and exits; world's tallest doors at the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center; a company that makes blast doors and bulletproof doors; fabricating doors for homes.

Visiting the U.S. Library of Congress to explore the contents of secret vaults and see how the staff of 4,000 catalogs and preserves treasures.

It's impossible to live without them, and yet they didn't even exist a couple of decades ago; episode counts down a list of the top ten technological innovations of the last generation.

Mega stores are giant facilities engineered to keep up with America's supersized habits; they are the largest, busiest places in the country; their greatest challenge: keeping up with demand on a massive scale.

The biggest stacked burger in the world at almost 250 pounds; a plus-sized Sicilian pizza that feeds almost 75 people; a 72-ounce steak that no real cowboy can resist; the seven-pound hot dog that's too big for a bun; a giant cupcake.

The historic one-armed bandits; cutting edge, computerized slot machines; some of the wackiest vending machines; binoculars at popular tourist sites; a unique company that collects and cleans the coins thrown into fountains.

Dogs are fearless, faithful, determined, and swift, serving as hunters, soldiers, rescuers, and protectors; they are perfectly engineered marvels, combining natural instincts with complex training.

A look under the feet of Americans, from secret military installations and experimental farms to tunnel networks and neutron lasers.

The world's biggest and oldest flag manufacturer; inside the last US athletic shoe factory; the strangest form of alternate transportation; a hot toy company that believes it's imperative to keep their work here at home.

Get behind the wheel and take control of some of the largest, fastest, most powerful machines on the planet; these aren't the average vehicles and handling one of these rides is unlike anything else.

Rice is the world's most versatile grain; there are over 140,000 types - white, brown, long-grain, wild, short-grain, jasmine, Arborio, Basmati, black Thai, sweet, sticky - enough to satisfy any discerning palate.