Our Virtual Reality • 2016 • episode "S1E2" • Curiosity Retreats: 2016 Lectures

58:33

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 1: Metal) Professor Mark Miodownik travels to Israel to trace the history of our love affair with gleaming, lustrous metal. He learns how we first extracted glinting copper from dull rock and used it to shape our world and reveals how our eternal quest for lighter, stronger metals led us to forge hard, sharp steel from malleable iron and to create complex alloys in order to conquer the skies. He investigates metals at the atomic level to reveal mysterious properties such as why they get stronger when they are hit, and he discovers how metal crystals can be grown to survive inside one of our most extreme environments - the jet engine.

S1E1 • How It Works • 2012 • Technology

42:06

Rolls-Royce is not only a legendary automotive brand, they're also one of the largest manufacturers of aircraft engines producing the revolutionary Trent XWB, one of the world's most powerful, efficient and eco-friendly jet engines.

S1E7 • Super Factories • 2020 • Technology

58:59

Setting off from a snowy mountain ski resort in Cyprus, Simon finds an island and a capital city still deeply divided between Turkish Cypriots in the north and Greek Cypriots in the south. Simon joins the UN troops who patrol the line that separates the two sides, one of the world's longest-running peacekeeping missions. From Cyprus, Simon heads to the Middle East, a region of the Mediterranean that's also no stranger to conflict and division. In Lebanon, Simon explores a country of breathtaking landscapes, with spectacular coastline, soaring mountains and a sacred valley known as the Qadisha, a holy site for Lebanese Christians. Staying overnight in an abandoned monastery carved into the rock face, Simon learns that in a Muslim-dominated Middle East, Christians are facing persecution and numbers are collapsing. Travelling south, Simon's next stop is Israel, a country that perhaps more than any other depends on the Mediterranean for its survival. With few friends in the region, Israel has to transport most of its goods by sea. Simon joins the Israeli Navy who patrol the coast and protect the country's offshore oil reserves using the latest military weaponry and technology, including unmanned, combat-ready drone boats. From Israel Simon crosses one of the world's most heavily fortified borders to reach the Gaza Strip. Palestinians and Israelis have endured a seemingly endless cycle of violence and in Gaza the result has been devastating destruction. Many building materials are restricted by an Israeli blockade on Gaza, but Simon meets an inspiring young woman who has helped reconstruction efforts by inventing an ingenious method of making bricks from ash. It's a rare ray of hope in one of the most troubled regions of the Mediterranean.

S1E2 • Mediterranean with Simon Reeve • 2018 • Technology

52:13

Go into the physical heart of the Internet and learn about the very first message sent by UCLA professor Leonard Kleinrock.

S1E1 • Digits • 2017 • Technology

51:25

This episode will reveal the ways in which our eating habits will be revolutionized: vegetable proteins, urban farming, connected supermarkets, personalized food, new flavour experiences and more.

S1E8 • Dream the Future • 2017 • Technology

40:47

The invention of TV is born out of a David vs. Goliath competition between Sarnoff and Farnsworth.

S1E3 • American Genius • 2015 • Technology