How the Panama Canal Lifts Ships Over a Mountain

How do you lift a ship longer than three football fields up and over a mountain — using nothing but water? This video breaks down the Panama Canal in five parts: the 82-kilometer shortcut carrying around 6% of all world trade, the lock staircases that raise each ship 26 meters up the continental divide to Gatun Lake and lower it back down the other side, the French failure and the American triumph (and the thousands who died digging it), the $5 billion expansion with its new Neo-Panamax locks, and the drought now threatening the canal's water supply.