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From the Stone Age to the Silicon Age, materials have helped drive forward our civilisation. By manipulating materials we have been able to transform our world and our lives - and never more so than in the past century when we have discovered and designed more materials than at any other time in human history. (Part 3: Ceramic) Professor Mark Miodownik traces the story of ceramics. He looks at how we started with simple clay, sand and rock and changed them into pottery, glass and concrete - materials that would allow us to build cities, transform the way we view our world and communicate at the speed of light. Deep within their inner structure Mark discovers some of ceramics' most intriguing secrets. He reveals why glass can be utterly transparent, why concrete continues to harden for hundreds of years and how cooling ceramics could transform the way we power cities of the future.
S1E3 • How It Works • 2012 • Technology
Explore how a data company named Cambridge Analytica came to symbolize the dark side of social media in the wake of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
2019 • Technology
Learn how robots were first conceptualized in ancient Rome and see how their use has evolved over the centuries, from the calculator to the Roomba. Then, take a sneak peek at what future robots will be able to do. Narrated by Patrick Stewart.
Breakthrough the Ideas that Changed the World • 2019 • Technology
Board a submarine with Steven Johnson to discover what a lack of natural light means for a sailor’s working day and visit Heathrow, the world’s busiest airport, to try to get timings right at air traffic control. The story of getting a grip on time is full of curious garage tinkerers. One of them, railway clerk William F. Allen, was so exasperated by the chaos caused by the hundreds of local times zones in the U.S. that he fought tirelessly to standardize time into four zones. Learn how advancements in navigation, the way we work, technology and travel would have been impossible without the unsung heroes of time.
S1E2 • How We Got to Now • 2014 • Technology
In 50 years from now, cities will be home to 70% of all human beings. They will have seven billion mouths to feed and will face an immense challenge in terms of food supply. Are hydroponics and vertical farming going to solve this challenge?
S1E3 • Cities of Tomorrow • 2016 • Technology
Inhospitable environments that would normally be unreachable become accessible thanks to a new class of robot - Robot Explorers. Robots can help us in difficult tasks like search and rescue operations. Is there any danger in letting machines handle so many tasks that used to belong to us?
S1E4 • The Age of Robots • 2016 • Technology