1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,380
(upbeat music)

2
00:00:02,380 --> 00:00:04,670
Did you know the surprising number of objects

3
00:00:04,670 --> 00:00:07,580
that you use every day are thanks to accidents?

4
00:00:07,580 --> 00:00:09,890
(metal clanking)
(glass breaking)

5
00:00:09,890 --> 00:00:12,030
Let me show you what I mean?

6
00:00:12,030 --> 00:00:14,000
On this episode, we learn how messing around

7
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,060
with a scientific toy leads to the X-ray.

8
00:00:17,060 --> 00:00:19,160
Oh, you can see inside me.

9
00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:21,630
Find out the bold truth

10
00:00:21,630 --> 00:00:23,260
behind the cure for hair loss.

11
00:00:24,430 --> 00:00:28,440
This poor woman has hair all over her face.

12
00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:30,010
And discover how an invention

13
00:00:30,010 --> 00:00:33,550
to keep people cool ends up making a lot of them very hot.

14
00:00:34,540 --> 00:00:36,860
You get a crazy situation where

15
00:00:36,860 --> 00:00:38,730
motorists in the United States

16
00:00:38,730 --> 00:00:40,640
would keep their windows rolled up

17
00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:42,770
to pretend they had air con.

18
00:00:42,770 --> 00:00:44,170
(cars honking)

19
00:00:44,170 --> 00:00:45,270
(logo exploding)
(upbeat theme music)

20
00:00:45,270 --> 00:00:47,180
"Oops I Changed The World".

21
00:00:49,870 --> 00:00:54,130
This is the story of the X-ray, a life-changing,

22
00:00:54,130 --> 00:00:57,550
and for many people, life-saving innovation

23
00:00:57,550 --> 00:01:01,190
invented by this guy, Wilhelm Rontgen.

24
00:01:01,190 --> 00:01:02,270
More about him later.

25
00:01:03,660 --> 00:01:05,390
For most of human history,

26
00:01:05,390 --> 00:01:08,330
the only way to find out what's inside the human body

27
00:01:08,330 --> 00:01:10,410
was to open it up and have a look.

28
00:01:12,580 --> 00:01:14,450
(gentle music)

29
00:01:14,450 --> 00:01:18,410
It's the golden age of Greek civilization,

30
00:01:18,410 --> 00:01:22,640
and with that comes new heights in architecture,

31
00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:25,690
in science, and also anatomy.

32
00:01:27,570 --> 00:01:29,850
Herophilus in the third century BC

33
00:01:29,850 --> 00:01:32,730
is generally considered to be the father of anatomy,

34
00:01:32,730 --> 00:01:34,270
at least in the Western tradition.

35
00:01:34,270 --> 00:01:36,210
He was the first one that we know of

36
00:01:36,210 --> 00:01:39,760
who very carefully did systematic dissections

37
00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:41,910
of the human body to see how it functioned.

38
00:01:42,930 --> 00:01:45,970
He sets up a medical school in Alexandria

39
00:01:45,970 --> 00:01:48,970
and sets about looking at cadavers,

40
00:01:48,970 --> 00:01:52,710
but his methods are not always hugely popular.

41
00:01:52,710 --> 00:01:56,180
(dramatic music)

42
00:01:56,180 --> 00:01:57,710
The ancient Greeks don't believe

43
00:01:57,710 --> 00:01:59,510
in needing the body in the afterlife

44
00:01:59,510 --> 00:02:02,370
like the ancient Egyptians and their mummies,

45
00:02:02,370 --> 00:02:05,660
but opening up corpses is still seen as dirty

46
00:02:05,660 --> 00:02:07,040
and a source of pollution.

47
00:02:07,890 --> 00:02:11,110
Herophilus however, isn't dissuaded by these taboos.

48
00:02:12,700 --> 00:02:14,390
He learns a lot through his dissections,

49
00:02:14,390 --> 00:02:19,040
taking very careful notes on the brain, the eye, the liver.

50
00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:20,880
He even identifies a difference

51
00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,080
between nerves and arteries,

52
00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,730
which is a hugely important step in understanding

53
00:02:25,730 --> 00:02:27,480
how the human body works.

54
00:02:28,770 --> 00:02:32,040
But before you sign up to the Herophilus fan club,

55
00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:33,750
there's something you should know.

56
00:02:33,750 --> 00:02:37,320
Herophilus experimented on live candidates

57
00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,310
against their will, 600 prisoners.

58
00:02:42,470 --> 00:02:44,560
Possibly because of this dark legacy,

59
00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:46,490
when Herophilus dies,

60
00:02:46,490 --> 00:02:49,040
so does his science of human dissection.

61
00:02:51,630 --> 00:02:54,430
(stone grinding)

62
00:02:54,430 --> 00:02:56,470
And when Christianity sweeps across Europe

63
00:02:56,470 --> 00:03:00,280
in the Middle Ages, dissection goes from being unpopular

64
00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:01,910
to downright blasphemous.

65
00:03:03,060 --> 00:03:05,470
The Christians believe that the human body

66
00:03:05,470 --> 00:03:08,180
will one day resurrect on judgment day,

67
00:03:08,180 --> 00:03:11,560
and so anatomy is a definite no, no.

68
00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,360
The only acceptable reason to cut someone open

69
00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:16,980
was to do life-saving surgery.

70
00:03:16,980 --> 00:03:19,260
This was performed without anesthetic

71
00:03:19,260 --> 00:03:22,490
and often without knowing what the problem was inside

72
00:03:22,490 --> 00:03:23,910
until you got there.

73
00:03:23,910 --> 00:03:27,130
(man grunting in pain)

74
00:03:27,130 --> 00:03:28,550
When we think of surgery now,

75
00:03:28,550 --> 00:03:29,820
the first thing that comes to mind

76
00:03:29,820 --> 00:03:32,760
is a very clean, careful environment,

77
00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:34,650
but it wasn't always this way.

78
00:03:35,990 --> 00:03:37,590
For most of human history

79
00:03:37,590 --> 00:03:40,970
surgery was a barbaric risky procedure

80
00:03:40,970 --> 00:03:42,770
and always a last resort.

81
00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,380
Which makes even more sense when the person cutting you open

82
00:03:47,380 --> 00:03:48,760
is also your hairdresser.

83
00:03:50,060 --> 00:03:51,930
Throughout Europe in the Middle Ages,

84
00:03:51,930 --> 00:03:55,280
it was quite common to have barber surgeons.

85
00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:59,270
So it was a person who would not only give you a haircut,

86
00:03:59,270 --> 00:04:02,810
but would also perform operations like amputations

87
00:04:02,810 --> 00:04:04,370
or removing your teeth.

88
00:04:05,660 --> 00:04:07,340
That's the sort of portfolio career

89
00:04:07,340 --> 00:04:09,250
you just don't see nowadays.

90
00:04:09,250 --> 00:04:11,530
(joyful dance music)

91
00:04:11,530 --> 00:04:12,740
(electric current buzzing)

92
00:04:12,740 --> 00:04:15,480
It wasn't until the 1800s that we would have

93
00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,370
a revolutionary new way to look inside ourselves

94
00:04:18,370 --> 00:04:20,050
without going under the knife.

95
00:04:23,250 --> 00:04:27,380
Oh, you can see inside me.

96
00:04:27,380 --> 00:04:28,910
There's my heart.

97
00:04:28,910 --> 00:04:31,870
Oh dear, I think my liver's a bit knackered.

98
00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:35,420
That's too much wine in the liver there.

99
00:04:35,420 --> 00:04:38,300
Which of course brings us back to this guy.

100
00:04:38,300 --> 00:04:40,910
Wilhelm Rontgen is a professor of physics

101
00:04:40,910 --> 00:04:41,940
living in Germany

102
00:04:41,940 --> 00:04:45,760
and he's studying the brand new science of cathode rays.

103
00:04:50,100 --> 00:04:52,570
He's got what's called a Crookes tube.

104
00:04:52,570 --> 00:04:53,990
It's essentially a tube of glass

105
00:04:53,990 --> 00:04:56,610
that when he runs electricity through it

106
00:04:56,610 --> 00:05:00,200
beams of electrons stream from the negative end,

107
00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,130
the cathode, to the anode.

108
00:05:03,130 --> 00:05:04,990
(switch snapping)

109
00:05:04,990 --> 00:05:07,450
(box squeaking)

110
00:05:07,450 --> 00:05:08,580
(switch snapping)

111
00:05:08,580 --> 00:05:11,670
Wilhelm is fascinated by these glowing tubes

112
00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:15,280
when he notices something strange.

113
00:05:17,260 --> 00:05:20,050
He's darkened the room so he can see things well,

114
00:05:20,050 --> 00:05:22,100
and he's got the Crookes tube going,

115
00:05:22,100 --> 00:05:24,900
but it's inside of a box,

116
00:05:28,100 --> 00:05:32,760
and he notices a little cardboard sheet starts to glow.

117
00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:37,060
And this really intrigues him because there's no way

118
00:05:37,060 --> 00:05:39,400
that any light can get from the Crookes tube

119
00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:41,880
all the way over there to affect it.

120
00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:43,880
(switch snapping)

121
00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,100
So Wilhelm uses the age-old, highly accurate

122
00:05:47,100 --> 00:05:49,870
experimental procedure that we all know of as

123
00:05:49,870 --> 00:05:52,120
the switch it off, switch it on again method.

124
00:05:53,410 --> 00:05:55,650
He's able to confirm that the glowing sheet

125
00:05:55,650 --> 00:05:58,260
is being produced by something invisible

126
00:05:58,260 --> 00:06:01,690
coming out from the Crookes tube, but what?

127
00:06:01,690 --> 00:06:04,580
Like any good scientist, he starts to play.

128
00:06:04,580 --> 00:06:07,350
He realizes it can pass through all sorts of things.

129
00:06:07,350 --> 00:06:08,180
He puts things in the way.

130
00:06:08,180 --> 00:06:12,010
It can pass through walls, yet he or nobody else can see it.

131
00:06:12,010 --> 00:06:15,800
So he's got this mysterious beam

132
00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:18,580
that he decides to just label X,

133
00:06:18,580 --> 00:06:19,920
'cause he doesn't know what it is,

134
00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,880
and it becomes known as the X-ray.

135
00:06:25,450 --> 00:06:28,300
Now, what happens next is a little unclear

136
00:06:28,300 --> 00:06:31,920
because when Wilhelm Rontgen dies in 1923,

137
00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,910
he has all of his lab notes destroyed.

138
00:06:34,910 --> 00:06:37,720
Though we think it happened something like this.

139
00:06:38,570 --> 00:06:41,040
Rontgen is so excited

140
00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:42,990
that he just can't leave his own laboratory.

141
00:06:42,990 --> 00:06:45,830
He ends up sleeping there, eating there,

142
00:06:45,830 --> 00:06:49,000
experimenting with this brand new ray

143
00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:50,990
that he's accidentally discovered.

144
00:06:52,410 --> 00:06:54,550
He soon works out that his new ray

145
00:06:54,550 --> 00:06:56,840
can pass through the tissues of the body,

146
00:06:56,840 --> 00:06:59,050
but not bones or metal objects.

147
00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:01,780
He finds that by using

148
00:07:01,780 --> 00:07:04,480
the right kind of photographic film,

149
00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:08,240
he can actually use the ray to take an image.

150
00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:13,070
And he brings his wife Anna in to basically take a photo

151
00:07:13,070 --> 00:07:15,490
of the inside of her hand.

152
00:07:15,490 --> 00:07:17,790
And so what we get

153
00:07:17,790 --> 00:07:20,480
is her bones in her hand,

154
00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,920
an X-ray with the wedding ring showing as well.

155
00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:28,490
And she is so shocked, she says, "I have seen my own death."

156
00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:32,420
(upbeat music)

157
00:07:32,420 --> 00:07:35,000
It's only a few months later that Wilhelm gives

158
00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,100
his first public speech to the medical society,

159
00:07:38,100 --> 00:07:39,850
performing a live X-ray.

160
00:07:40,910 --> 00:07:44,160
The crowd is astounded, and news spreads rapidly.

161
00:07:47,300 --> 00:07:49,000
This is a brand new phenomenon

162
00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,250
and it immediately becomes popularized

163
00:07:51,250 --> 00:07:53,550
at things like traveling fairs,

164
00:07:53,550 --> 00:07:56,960
where people will set up these crude X-ray machines

165
00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,640
and folks come over and can stand in front of it

166
00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,490
and get pictures taken of their bones.

167
00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:06,550
The public is captivated

168
00:08:06,550 --> 00:08:10,180
and Rontgen's discovery spreads like wildfire.

169
00:08:10,180 --> 00:08:13,320
Soon it's being shown off for entertainment in the US,

170
00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:15,050
Europe and across the globe.

171
00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,840
The medical community starts to cotton onto the idea

172
00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:21,970
that there is this device that can see through tissues,

173
00:08:22,850 --> 00:08:25,680
and this starts to really become interesting to them.

174
00:08:28,140 --> 00:08:29,700
The impact of Rontgen's

175
00:08:29,700 --> 00:08:33,690
accidentally discovered X-rays on medical treatment is huge.

176
00:08:34,860 --> 00:08:36,750
Within a month of his lecture,

177
00:08:36,750 --> 00:08:39,200
medical radiographs, as they were then called,

178
00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:41,710
had been made in Europe and the United States

179
00:08:42,630 --> 00:08:44,870
by surgeons to guide their work.

180
00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:50,610
X-ray motion pictures

181
00:08:50,610 --> 00:08:53,040
show that as we step down on the ball of the foot,

182
00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,020
the ankle acts as a movable pivot.

183
00:08:56,770 --> 00:08:59,230
(upbeat piano music)

184
00:08:59,230 --> 00:09:02,360
Marie Curie is studying at the University of Paris

185
00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:04,940
when she first hears about Wilhelm's discovery.

186
00:09:06,670 --> 00:09:10,490
Although the mechanism behind X-rays production is unknown,

187
00:09:10,490 --> 00:09:13,840
she's fascinated by them and recognizes their link

188
00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:15,920
to her work on a new concept

189
00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:18,280
that she's coined radioactivity.

190
00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:19,850
(electric current buzzing)

191
00:09:19,850 --> 00:09:23,830
In 1898, Marie Curie using an electrometer

192
00:09:23,830 --> 00:09:25,980
devised by her husband, Pierre,

193
00:09:25,980 --> 00:09:28,680
began to examine all the elements then known

194
00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:30,920
for traces of radiation.

195
00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,640
(bombs exploding)

196
00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:35,600
By World War I, the medical community

197
00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:39,170
has definitely cottoned onto the idea that X-rays are useful

198
00:09:39,170 --> 00:09:41,340
and hospitals have these X-ray machines,

199
00:09:41,340 --> 00:09:44,110
but they're huge and they're cumbersome.

200
00:09:44,110 --> 00:09:45,720
Madam Curie gets in there and says,

201
00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,220
"Okay, we need to be able to take these to the front lines,

202
00:09:48,220 --> 00:09:51,130
"to places where soldiers need them immediately."

203
00:09:51,130 --> 00:09:52,220
Along the coast,

204
00:09:52,220 --> 00:09:55,490
close to the beaches and ports in each receiving area,

205
00:09:55,490 --> 00:09:57,560
there would be holding hospitals

206
00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:01,210
fully equipped for emergency surgery.

207
00:10:01,210 --> 00:10:05,080
So she designs these little Curie wagons, petite Curie,

208
00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:10,080
where she actually puts these small mobile X-ray machines

209
00:10:10,110 --> 00:10:13,660
onto trucks, and designs a dynamo that can go in them

210
00:10:13,660 --> 00:10:16,860
so that the thing is charged by the movement of the vehicle.

211
00:10:16,860 --> 00:10:19,620
Absolutely extraordinarily ahead of its time.

212
00:10:20,850 --> 00:10:23,970
Along with the little Curies, these vehicles,

213
00:10:23,970 --> 00:10:28,220
she's responsible for the creation of 200 semipermanent

214
00:10:28,220 --> 00:10:31,320
X-ray tents at military bases.

215
00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:34,710
Those vehicles and tents save countless lives.

216
00:10:37,990 --> 00:10:41,220
Now, X-rays in themselves are really great,

217
00:10:41,220 --> 00:10:44,710
however, they've also led to other incredible inventions,

218
00:10:44,710 --> 00:10:46,500
such as CT scans,

219
00:10:46,500 --> 00:10:48,340
which are kinda like an extension of X-ray,

220
00:10:48,340 --> 00:10:51,790
but allow you to see even more detail into the human body.

221
00:10:52,910 --> 00:10:57,020
So thanks to X-rays, we've made a brave new medical world.

222
00:10:58,790 --> 00:11:02,100
But the impact of Wilhelm's accidental discovery

223
00:11:02,100 --> 00:11:05,290
extends far beyond looking inside ourselves.

224
00:11:05,290 --> 00:11:07,170
We do have a few tiles-

225
00:11:07,170 --> 00:11:10,430
We started to turn X-rays to the skies above.

226
00:11:10,430 --> 00:11:12,150
There's a brand new field in astronomy

227
00:11:12,150 --> 00:11:13,710
called X-ray astronomy,

228
00:11:13,710 --> 00:11:16,680
and it's allowed us to peer deeper into the universe

229
00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:20,800
and be able to understand new things about our cosmos.

230
00:11:21,990 --> 00:11:25,100
July 23rd, 1999,

231
00:11:25,100 --> 00:11:29,330
NASA launches the most powerful X-ray telescope ever built.

232
00:11:30,650 --> 00:11:32,760
The Chandra X-ray Observatory,

233
00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:34,230
a really brilliant telescope

234
00:11:34,230 --> 00:11:37,320
that was able to observe parts of the universe

235
00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:39,610
that we hadn't really understood before.

236
00:11:39,610 --> 00:11:40,660
Welcome home Columbia.

237
00:11:40,660 --> 00:11:41,490
Beautiful. Beautiful.

238
00:11:41,490 --> 00:11:44,260
The Earth's atmosphere blocks most X-rays

239
00:11:44,260 --> 00:11:45,710
coming from space.

240
00:11:45,710 --> 00:11:47,740
By having an orbiting telescope,

241
00:11:47,740 --> 00:11:50,840
we're able to see very faint X-ray emissions.

242
00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,500
The resolution is so good on this telescope

243
00:11:54,500 --> 00:11:58,880
that it's like reading a stop sign from 12 miles away.

244
00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,160
This remarkable clarity allows us to explore

245
00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:05,200
the very hot regions of our universe.

246
00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:08,750
Being able to detect X-rays in space

247
00:12:08,750 --> 00:12:11,680
has led to so many more understandings about our universe,

248
00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:14,500
such as detecting exploding stars,

249
00:12:14,500 --> 00:12:18,560
different parts of galaxies and even black holes.

250
00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:21,160
(ominous humming)

251
00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:22,990
I just think that's really cool.

252
00:12:22,990 --> 00:12:26,480
I love how X-rays can be used at sort of on the micro scale

253
00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:27,720
and the macro scale.

254
00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:30,400
So we're able to learn about the structure of DNA

255
00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:31,810
and the structure of the universe.

256
00:12:31,810 --> 00:12:34,260
I just think there's something poetic about that.

257
00:12:35,710 --> 00:12:40,440
(logo exploding)
(joyful theme music)

258
00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:41,750
Still to come.

259
00:12:41,750 --> 00:12:44,050
How an attempt to stop paper curling up

260
00:12:44,050 --> 00:12:47,100
changes America's political landscape.

261
00:12:47,100 --> 00:12:48,950
The population shifts in the deep South

262
00:12:48,950 --> 00:12:50,740
caused by air conditioning

263
00:12:50,740 --> 00:12:52,460
means that anybody running for president

264
00:12:52,460 --> 00:12:56,370
in the United States has to get those Southern states.

265
00:12:56,370 --> 00:12:59,810
And how a kids' toy helps save lives.

266
00:12:59,810 --> 00:13:02,320
They were able to get reception through the canopy

267
00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:04,610
and able to communicate from the jungle.

268
00:13:04,610 --> 00:13:06,510
(helicopter whirling)
But first,

269
00:13:06,510 --> 00:13:08,280
(gentle music)

270
00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,640
men have been balding since we were apes.

271
00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:13,770
And we've tried almost everything

272
00:13:13,770 --> 00:13:16,150
to avoid losing our precious hair.

273
00:13:16,150 --> 00:13:17,700
(crowd cheering)

274
00:13:17,700 --> 00:13:21,460
After a long day of ruling the Roman empire,

275
00:13:21,460 --> 00:13:23,790
Julius Caesar has some honeyed apricots,

276
00:13:23,790 --> 00:13:27,760
drinks a little wine, takes off his toupee and goes to bed.

277
00:13:29,060 --> 00:13:32,550
Caesar was one of millions, possibly billions of people

278
00:13:32,550 --> 00:13:37,550
affected by hair loss and hiding it with a signature wreath.

279
00:13:37,630 --> 00:13:38,960
Turn left.
Dwayne look back

280
00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:40,100
to the left.
Show us that smile

281
00:13:40,100 --> 00:13:41,410
there, Dwayne.

282
00:13:41,410 --> 00:13:44,730
Nowadays, a hairless head is quite cool.

283
00:13:44,730 --> 00:13:47,720
Maybe that's because we now have a choice,

284
00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:51,530
a proven chemical formula that can keep hair on your head.

285
00:13:51,530 --> 00:13:52,990
But the road to that solution

286
00:13:52,990 --> 00:13:55,310
has been a long, twisted and naughty one.

287
00:13:58,830 --> 00:14:00,570
The most common type of hair loss

288
00:14:00,570 --> 00:14:02,360
is male-pattern baldness.

289
00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:05,450
95% of people who start to lose their hair,

290
00:14:05,450 --> 00:14:07,670
they have this kind of hair loss.

291
00:14:08,710 --> 00:14:11,780
It's caused by a combination of genetics, hormones,

292
00:14:11,780 --> 00:14:14,770
and environmental factors like stress.

293
00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:18,690
It took almost 2,000 years after Caesar

294
00:14:18,690 --> 00:14:20,590
for us to find a chemical cure.

295
00:14:21,430 --> 00:14:23,250
But to understand how it works,

296
00:14:23,250 --> 00:14:25,990
you need to know why we go bald in the first place.

297
00:14:27,950 --> 00:14:32,180
Every day around 10% of the testosterone in a male body

298
00:14:32,180 --> 00:14:35,760
is converted into a hormone known as DHT.

299
00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,910
But when too much of this DHT is produced,

300
00:14:38,910 --> 00:14:41,900
it can cause hair follicles to become smaller,

301
00:14:41,900 --> 00:14:44,910
which then causes the hairs that are growing from them

302
00:14:44,910 --> 00:14:47,140
to become shorter and thinner.

303
00:14:47,140 --> 00:14:50,120
Eventually the follicles can shrink completely

304
00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:52,030
and stop producing hair.

305
00:14:53,380 --> 00:14:56,380
Women who also have testosterone in their bodies

306
00:14:56,380 --> 00:14:57,860
can also be affected.

307
00:14:57,860 --> 00:15:02,290
In fact, it's thought that 70% of men and 40% of women

308
00:15:02,290 --> 00:15:04,930
will experience hair loss in their lifetime.

309
00:15:06,980 --> 00:15:08,350
People have lost hair

310
00:15:08,350 --> 00:15:11,840
and tried to find ways to keep it throughout history.

311
00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,200
(eerie music)

312
00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:16,850
Now, according to one ancient Egyptian document,

313
00:15:16,850 --> 00:15:21,510
the Ebers Papyrus that dates back to 1150 BC,

314
00:15:21,510 --> 00:15:24,980
the best way to cure baldness is to use fat

315
00:15:24,980 --> 00:15:29,700
from either a lion or a serpent or an ibex

316
00:15:29,700 --> 00:15:31,540
or better still, a hippopotamus.

317
00:15:31,540 --> 00:15:34,520
(hippopotamus grunts)

318
00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:38,000
It's thought that these remedies came from ancient advice

319
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,800
thousands of years before they were even written down.

320
00:15:41,830 --> 00:15:43,810
It might seem strange to fight against

321
00:15:43,810 --> 00:15:46,630
such a natural process for so long,

322
00:15:46,630 --> 00:15:49,420
but for many religions and cultures across the world,

323
00:15:49,420 --> 00:15:51,590
hair has deep significance.

324
00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:56,550
Sikhism is the world's fifth leading religion

325
00:15:56,550 --> 00:15:59,180
with about 25 million followers.

326
00:15:59,180 --> 00:16:02,280
And many Sikhs don't cut their hair.

327
00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:04,430
They let it grow long, very long

328
00:16:04,430 --> 00:16:07,670
as a sign of respect for God's creation.

329
00:16:07,670 --> 00:16:09,190
(upbeat music)

330
00:16:09,190 --> 00:16:11,650
Much of Native American culture centers around

331
00:16:11,650 --> 00:16:15,180
nature and the earth, with some traditions saying that

332
00:16:15,180 --> 00:16:19,240
long hair is kinda symbolic connecting them to Mother Earth

333
00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:22,190
who's hair is long grasses.

334
00:16:23,030 --> 00:16:26,370
I like that idea of the long swaying grasses

335
00:16:26,370 --> 00:16:28,490
being the hair of Mother Earth.

336
00:16:29,650 --> 00:16:31,470
(upbeat music)

337
00:16:31,470 --> 00:16:34,610
Away from religion, hair still carries meaning.

338
00:16:34,610 --> 00:16:37,280
It was such a big deal in 17th century Europe,

339
00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:38,850
that wigs became fashionable

340
00:16:38,850 --> 00:16:41,300
even for those with a luxurious barnet.

341
00:16:43,170 --> 00:16:46,690
King Louis XIV of France, he was extremely vain.

342
00:16:46,690 --> 00:16:50,740
I mean he commissioned 300 portraits of himself,

343
00:16:50,740 --> 00:16:52,610
which is like the modern equivalent

344
00:16:52,610 --> 00:16:55,560
of taking a ton of selfies.

345
00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:57,060
Man, that's self-absorbed.

346
00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:01,190
But Poor King Louis had a problem with his crown.

347
00:17:02,140 --> 00:17:05,910
He had started to go bald at the age of 17

348
00:17:05,910 --> 00:17:09,890
and he felt like it was not appropriate for the king,

349
00:17:09,890 --> 00:17:11,730
a king to be balding.

350
00:17:11,730 --> 00:17:14,850
So he hired 48 wig makers to create

351
00:17:14,850 --> 00:17:17,710
a wonderful selection of hair pieces.

352
00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,020
Louis's new updo starts a fashion trend

353
00:17:22,020 --> 00:17:24,070
on the other side of the English channel.

354
00:17:25,010 --> 00:17:28,880
King Charles II had spent a long period of exile in France

355
00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:31,600
while Cromwell was running England.

356
00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:34,710
And he picked up this French taste for wigs,

357
00:17:34,710 --> 00:17:37,110
not at least because his own hair was graying.

358
00:17:37,110 --> 00:17:40,510
So when he came back to England, as the Merry Monarch,

359
00:17:40,510 --> 00:17:41,910
you see in his portraits

360
00:17:41,910 --> 00:17:44,880
he's there with this beautiful long brown wig.

361
00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:46,050
Wow.

362
00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:49,820
Whatever the king does, everybody else had to do.

363
00:17:49,820 --> 00:17:53,460
The king and the queen were the leaders of fashion.

364
00:17:53,460 --> 00:17:56,320
So when Charles starts to wear a wig,

365
00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:59,150
everybody else has to wear big, long wigs.

366
00:17:59,150 --> 00:18:00,890
Thing away.

367
00:18:00,890 --> 00:18:04,470
(dramatic music)

368
00:18:04,470 --> 00:18:06,990
That continues into the 20th century.

369
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:09,070
It's a scalp treatment

370
00:18:09,070 --> 00:18:11,020
that female collaborationists have been getting

371
00:18:11,020 --> 00:18:15,210
in many countries: Norway, Denmark, Corsica, and now France.

372
00:18:16,430 --> 00:18:19,400
(upbeat country music)

373
00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:22,660
Let's fast forward to 1950s America,

374
00:18:22,660 --> 00:18:24,010
there's another king around

375
00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:26,950
and an accidental cure for baldness

376
00:18:26,950 --> 00:18:28,250
is just around the corner.

377
00:18:30,260 --> 00:18:33,130
Upjohn is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies

378
00:18:33,130 --> 00:18:35,270
in America in the 1950s.

379
00:18:35,270 --> 00:18:38,720
Now it's developed a new drug to treat ulcers,

380
00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:40,760
but it's a complete flunk.

381
00:18:42,690 --> 00:18:45,320
During animal trials the researchers find

382
00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,490
that the compound didn't actually cure ulcers,

383
00:18:48,490 --> 00:18:51,440
but they did however notice a side effect

384
00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:53,730
which could prove very interesting.

385
00:18:53,730 --> 00:18:55,800
The drug appears to lower blood pressure.

386
00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,690
And hypertension is really common.

387
00:18:58,690 --> 00:19:01,820
If you can address that, you can make a lot of money.

388
00:19:03,770 --> 00:19:07,640
So Upjohn creates 200 variants of this new drug,

389
00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:10,170
each slightly different from the next.

390
00:19:10,170 --> 00:19:12,150
They're trying to find an effective treatment

391
00:19:12,150 --> 00:19:14,580
for hypertension, that is blood pressure

392
00:19:14,580 --> 00:19:17,150
that if left untreated will cause heart disease.

393
00:19:19,570 --> 00:19:22,530
Among variations is one called minoxidil.

394
00:19:22,530 --> 00:19:25,770
During the trials at a medical school in Colorado,

395
00:19:25,770 --> 00:19:30,340
two dermatologists are called in: Dr. Kahn and Dr. Grant,

396
00:19:30,340 --> 00:19:32,000
because one of the patients

397
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,200
is having a rather strange side effect.

398
00:19:35,180 --> 00:19:36,430
(man exclaims in astonishment)

399
00:19:36,430 --> 00:19:39,160
So they walk in to meet a woman in her mid-40s

400
00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:40,550
who is perfectly normal,

401
00:19:40,550 --> 00:19:44,440
except she's like the hairiest woman they've ever seen.

402
00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,230
And this poor woman has hair all over her face.

403
00:19:48,230 --> 00:19:51,280
This heart drug has an unforeseen side effect,

404
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,110
a very noticeable unforeseen side effect.

405
00:19:54,110 --> 00:19:55,700
It promotes hair growth.

406
00:19:55,700 --> 00:20:00,030
The patient is distraught, but the doctors are delighted.

407
00:20:00,030 --> 00:20:03,910
Dr. Kahn and Dr. Grant are well aware of how hard humans

408
00:20:03,910 --> 00:20:06,970
have tried to find a treatment for balding.

409
00:20:06,970 --> 00:20:08,940
But it seems that is exactly

410
00:20:08,940 --> 00:20:11,040
what they've stumbled upon.

411
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:13,200
They instantly know that, hey, if they can create

412
00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,120
the right formula that you can just apply to the skin,

413
00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:17,770
man, they're gonna make it big.

414
00:20:17,770 --> 00:20:19,530
They're gonna hit that jackpot.

415
00:20:21,190 --> 00:20:24,250
They get to work testing minoxidil immediately.

416
00:20:27,550 --> 00:20:29,260
Woo-hoo.

417
00:20:29,260 --> 00:20:30,930
Grant starts applying this stuff

418
00:20:30,930 --> 00:20:34,300
to the skin on his forearm every day for months

419
00:20:34,300 --> 00:20:38,690
trying different combinations of liquids and concentrations.

420
00:20:41,570 --> 00:20:43,950
One day he looks at a section of his arm

421
00:20:43,950 --> 00:20:45,760
where he's been applying the lotion

422
00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:49,930
and it's grown new thick hairs, and he's ecstatic.

423
00:20:50,890 --> 00:20:53,800
Well, he does look quite pleased.

424
00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,420
Sure enough, there's an unmistakable one-inch square

425
00:20:57,420 --> 00:20:59,790
of new hairs growing on his forearm.

426
00:21:00,770 --> 00:21:03,680
So how has this failed hypertension drug

427
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:05,980
suddenly made growing back hair a possibility?

428
00:21:07,230 --> 00:21:10,240
Minoxidil is a vasodilator, which means that it causes

429
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:12,460
the veins in the body to expand,

430
00:21:12,460 --> 00:21:15,080
allowing more blood to flow more freely.

431
00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:16,750
(blood gurgling)

432
00:21:16,750 --> 00:21:19,630
By increasing the blood flow around the hair follicles,

433
00:21:19,630 --> 00:21:22,560
Dr. Grant is able to increase the amount of oxygen

434
00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:23,910
and the amount of nutrients

435
00:21:23,910 --> 00:21:25,500
that are getting to the hair follicle,

436
00:21:25,500 --> 00:21:30,200
and that encourages the hair to grow thicker and faster.

437
00:21:31,770 --> 00:21:33,560
The two of them, Grant and Kahn,

438
00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,390
go back to the Upjohn pharmaceutical company

439
00:21:36,390 --> 00:21:38,840
and declare, "We've got a gold mine."

440
00:21:40,790 --> 00:21:41,940
And they were right.

441
00:21:41,940 --> 00:21:45,060
Within a few years, doctors are prescribing minoxidil,

442
00:21:45,060 --> 00:21:48,530
now trademarked as Rogaine, to their bald patients,

443
00:21:48,530 --> 00:21:50,370
and the money starts pouring in.

444
00:21:52,550 --> 00:21:53,580
The medication can help

445
00:21:53,580 --> 00:21:56,860
some people with hair loss to grow new hair.

446
00:21:56,860 --> 00:21:58,870
We now know that minoxidil works

447
00:21:58,870 --> 00:22:01,560
on somewhere between 40 and 60% of men.

448
00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,400
So this accidental discovery could potentially benefit

449
00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:08,310
around 2.2 billion people worldwide.

450
00:22:10,260 --> 00:22:12,790
The Rogaine revolution has changed people's lives

451
00:22:12,790 --> 00:22:14,980
just by giving them a thatch up top.

452
00:22:14,980 --> 00:22:16,690
And it's also of course a drug

453
00:22:16,690 --> 00:22:19,320
that you can buy over the counter.

454
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,400
You don't use it every day

455
00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,080
then you're gonna see a drop in the effect.

456
00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:26,230
If you quit using it, you can pretty well plan

457
00:22:26,230 --> 00:22:27,930
that whatever hair you've gained

458
00:22:27,930 --> 00:22:30,320
over time you're gonna lose again.

459
00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:32,300
Currently the value of the minoxidil market

460
00:22:32,300 --> 00:22:33,930
is $880 million,

461
00:22:34,910 --> 00:22:37,850
and it's expected to rise by a third by 2024.

462
00:22:38,950 --> 00:22:41,360
Researchers believe that the number of people going bald

463
00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:43,010
is going to increase over the years

464
00:22:43,010 --> 00:22:46,290
because of lifestyle factors like smoking more

465
00:22:46,290 --> 00:22:49,040
or drinking more or stress.

466
00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,230
On top of that, the fact that in many countries

467
00:22:51,230 --> 00:22:53,980
we have aging populations, means that more people

468
00:22:53,980 --> 00:22:56,610
are going to be using such products for longer,

469
00:22:56,610 --> 00:23:00,510
which means that the market's only going one way, up.

470
00:23:00,510 --> 00:23:02,700
(upbeat music)

471
00:23:02,700 --> 00:23:05,620
There's no doubt that hair loss is a journey,

472
00:23:05,620 --> 00:23:06,910
and it's either a journey

473
00:23:06,910 --> 00:23:10,780
to the sunny uplands of bearded bald glory,

474
00:23:10,780 --> 00:23:13,770
or it's a dissent into hell for some people.

475
00:23:14,750 --> 00:23:16,010
They want to reverse it.

476
00:23:16,010 --> 00:23:20,100
It can even affect their career, their relationships.

477
00:23:20,100 --> 00:23:22,930
Luckily for me, over the last 20 years,

478
00:23:22,930 --> 00:23:24,930
it's actually become reasonably fashionable

479
00:23:24,930 --> 00:23:26,990
to be bold and bearded.

480
00:23:26,990 --> 00:23:27,900
(cartoon laughing)

481
00:23:27,900 --> 00:23:31,730
If I'd been born 20, 30, 40, 100 years earlier,

482
00:23:31,730 --> 00:23:33,900
yes, it might have been a grim experience.

483
00:23:35,190 --> 00:23:37,820
So it's thanks to a faulty drug trial

484
00:23:37,820 --> 00:23:40,170
and an unexpectedly hairy woman

485
00:23:40,170 --> 00:23:42,400
that millions of people now have the option

486
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:46,860
to stop baldness in its tracks, that is if they want to.

487
00:23:47,870 --> 00:23:51,080
For men in particular, I think you kinda have to decide

488
00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,250
what kind of a person are you going to be

489
00:23:53,250 --> 00:23:54,650
going into middle age?

490
00:23:54,650 --> 00:23:56,840
Are you relaxed about it, chilled?

491
00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:59,500
Do you like that kind of distinguished, bold look

492
00:23:59,500 --> 00:24:00,520
like I have?

493
00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:02,600
Or do you decide you're gonna fight it,

494
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:04,550
that you wanna keep your youthfulness?

495
00:24:04,550 --> 00:24:07,030
It's really a statement about you,

496
00:24:07,030 --> 00:24:10,250
whether or not you walk into the chemist and buy Rogaine.

497
00:24:14,460 --> 00:24:17,550
(joyful theme music)

498
00:24:19,350 --> 00:24:20,540
Coming up.

499
00:24:20,540 --> 00:24:24,690
How a child's toy has changed the face of communications.

500
00:24:24,690 --> 00:24:28,130
It's really the next stage of satellites.

501
00:24:29,380 --> 00:24:30,630
But first this.

502
00:24:32,790 --> 00:24:36,060
It's hot,
(bells jingling)

503
00:24:36,060 --> 00:24:36,890
too hot.

504
00:24:38,820 --> 00:24:40,080
The air is dry.

505
00:24:42,950 --> 00:24:44,850
The sun is beating down.

506
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,620
It feels almost too much to bear, until.

507
00:24:54,150 --> 00:24:56,640
(water splashing)
(David sighs in relief)

508
00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,460
You know the refreshing feeling when it's just so hot out,

509
00:24:59,460 --> 00:25:02,040
but then you get instant relief from say,

510
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,630
like jumping in a pool or drinking a cold drink?

511
00:25:04,630 --> 00:25:06,830
Yeah, that is the best feeling in the world.

512
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,460
For centuries, humans have been searching

513
00:25:10,460 --> 00:25:11,770
for relief from the heat,

514
00:25:12,870 --> 00:25:16,260
but the journey to air conditioning is a long one.

515
00:25:16,260 --> 00:25:20,050
Even in ancient Egypt, people had ways of dealing with it.

516
00:25:20,050 --> 00:25:22,870
They would take a mat or a piece of clothing,

517
00:25:22,870 --> 00:25:25,550
dip it in water, hang it on the doorway

518
00:25:25,550 --> 00:25:30,060
so that when a breeze came this air, this cooled air

519
00:25:30,060 --> 00:25:32,330
would come towards them and cool them down.

520
00:25:34,140 --> 00:25:36,620
It was a sort of early air conditioning

521
00:25:36,620 --> 00:25:38,290
and the Egyptians weren't the only ones

522
00:25:38,290 --> 00:25:39,910
to try and find a solution.

523
00:25:41,630 --> 00:25:44,840
One of the madder more megalomaniac emperors

524
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:46,630
of the Roman empire, Elagabalus,

525
00:25:46,630 --> 00:25:49,410
would order slaves up into the mountains

526
00:25:49,410 --> 00:25:52,970
to go and collect loads of snow, which were then piled up.

527
00:25:52,970 --> 00:25:54,720
And as the snow melted,

528
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,670
it carried cool air through the palace rooms.

529
00:25:58,670 --> 00:26:01,690
That doesn't sound crazy, just labor intensive.

530
00:26:01,690 --> 00:26:04,440
(crowd cheering)

531
00:26:05,340 --> 00:26:07,770
2,000 miles east in Persepolis,

532
00:26:07,770 --> 00:26:10,650
they'd found a much more accessible way of keeping cool.

533
00:26:12,650 --> 00:26:15,160
So let's go back two and a half thousand years,

534
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:19,060
and the Persian empire is ruling the Middle East,

535
00:26:19,060 --> 00:26:20,370
but they've got a problem.

536
00:26:20,370 --> 00:26:23,780
A lot of the empire is far away from the sea,

537
00:26:23,780 --> 00:26:26,850
far away from sources of cooling wind.

538
00:26:26,850 --> 00:26:29,050
And so they have to address this.

539
00:26:29,050 --> 00:26:31,920
They have to find a way to make life bearable

540
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:32,850
for their people.

541
00:26:34,070 --> 00:26:35,980
The Persians come up with an ingenious,

542
00:26:35,980 --> 00:26:37,530
technological innovation.

543
00:26:38,690 --> 00:26:43,430
They construct these tall and broad wind towers

544
00:26:43,430 --> 00:26:47,290
on buildings that captures air at a higher level

545
00:26:47,290 --> 00:26:51,010
and channels it down through the building,

546
00:26:51,010 --> 00:26:55,560
and it runs down over underground channels of cooling water

547
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,950
and then cools the rooms above.

548
00:26:58,950 --> 00:27:00,980
Like I said, ingenious.

549
00:27:00,980 --> 00:27:04,090
But this is the story of how we got modern air conditioning,

550
00:27:04,090 --> 00:27:05,790
so let's hit the fast forward button.

551
00:27:05,790 --> 00:27:07,940
(cassette tape winding up)

552
00:27:07,940 --> 00:27:10,360
(country music)

553
00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:12,690
Whoa-whoa-whoa, far too far.

554
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,460
(cassette tape winding up)
That's better.

555
00:27:16,460 --> 00:27:20,910
So it's 1902 in the United States, and for several decades

556
00:27:20,910 --> 00:27:23,580
there's been an industrial revolution in that country

557
00:27:23,580 --> 00:27:26,130
with factories opening everywhere,

558
00:27:26,130 --> 00:27:27,720
making all sorts of things.

559
00:27:30,130 --> 00:27:33,320
It's Midsummer in Brooklyn and it's sticky.

560
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:36,180
(upbeat music)

561
00:27:36,180 --> 00:27:40,820
Now there's a printing press making a top selling magazine

562
00:27:40,820 --> 00:27:45,000
and they've got a problem because the ink is running,

563
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,260
the workers are sweating and the paper is curling.

564
00:27:49,140 --> 00:27:50,990
It's not the heat that's the problem,

565
00:27:50,990 --> 00:27:52,120
it's the moisture.

566
00:27:53,010 --> 00:27:55,040
(celestial music)

567
00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,740
Enter Willis Haviland Carrier.

568
00:27:57,740 --> 00:28:01,190
He's just graduated Cornell with a masters in engineering.

569
00:28:01,190 --> 00:28:02,340
Clever chap.

570
00:28:02,340 --> 00:28:04,370
Willis now gets an opportunity

571
00:28:04,370 --> 00:28:06,160
to work in the printing room.

572
00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:08,680
He is hired to try and come up with a solution

573
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:11,410
for the humidity that is causing so many problems

574
00:28:11,410 --> 00:28:13,350
in the printing press.

575
00:28:13,350 --> 00:28:15,140
"How does he do this?" You ask.

576
00:28:15,140 --> 00:28:19,210
Well, weirdly enough, it all starts on a train platform.

577
00:28:21,390 --> 00:28:23,250
(upbeat dramatic music)

578
00:28:23,250 --> 00:28:26,170
So Willis Carrier is standing on a train station

579
00:28:26,170 --> 00:28:30,090
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he sees this fog.

580
00:28:32,210 --> 00:28:34,120
Willis on seeing the fog thinks,

581
00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:36,350
"What if I can make the water vapor in the air

582
00:28:36,350 --> 00:28:38,200
"condense to become a liquid,

583
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,450
"that way I can make the air dryer

584
00:28:40,450 --> 00:28:43,130
"and stop those newspaper presses from smudging?"

585
00:28:44,940 --> 00:28:46,890
When there's water molecules zooming through the air

586
00:28:46,890 --> 00:28:49,150
like on a humid day and they come in contact

587
00:28:49,150 --> 00:28:50,790
with a cold glass of water,

588
00:28:50,790 --> 00:28:53,800
they lose energy and go into their liquid form,

589
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,630
hence causing the condensation on your glass of water.

590
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:01,910
Willis creates a mechanism of coils

591
00:29:01,910 --> 00:29:03,900
that mimics what we are gonna call

592
00:29:03,900 --> 00:29:06,620
the cold glass of water on a hot day effect.

593
00:29:06,620 --> 00:29:08,910
And then passes air over them.

594
00:29:10,620 --> 00:29:15,190
And what happens is in turn the air that was humid

595
00:29:15,190 --> 00:29:17,210
now starts to become dry

596
00:29:17,210 --> 00:29:20,160
because the moisture is attracted to the coils

597
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:24,120
and the air all around it is now becoming dry and less damp.

598
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,190
(upbeat jazz music)

599
00:29:27,190 --> 00:29:30,540
His dehumidifying machine is a success.

600
00:29:30,540 --> 00:29:33,970
Willis' system of chilled coils maintains a constant

601
00:29:33,970 --> 00:29:37,660
and comfortable humidity of 55%.

602
00:29:37,660 --> 00:29:40,700
This solves the problem of smudged ink and curling paper.

603
00:29:41,570 --> 00:29:44,550
But the machine also has a pleasant side effect.

604
00:29:45,580 --> 00:29:49,240
As well as drying the air, it also cools it.

605
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,900
So Willis has invented the first modern air conditioning,

606
00:29:53,900 --> 00:29:55,230
but let's be clear about this,

607
00:29:55,230 --> 00:29:57,200
factory bosses weren't putting it in

608
00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:58,810
for love of the workers.

609
00:29:58,810 --> 00:30:01,350
They were putting it in to protect their product

610
00:30:01,350 --> 00:30:03,260
and to be more efficient.

611
00:30:04,250 --> 00:30:05,510
While Carrier's machine

612
00:30:05,510 --> 00:30:07,790
keeps the workers cool at work,

613
00:30:07,790 --> 00:30:10,530
a sweltering shack still a awaits them back at home.

614
00:30:12,490 --> 00:30:15,400
So what happens ironically is that workers

615
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:17,820
want to spend more time in the workplace,

616
00:30:17,820 --> 00:30:19,580
which is great news for bosses.

617
00:30:22,370 --> 00:30:24,900
Thanks to air conditioning, factories and offices

618
00:30:24,900 --> 00:30:27,840
can remain at a constant cool temperature,

619
00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:31,450
thereby increasing productivity and profit.

620
00:30:31,450 --> 00:30:32,840
(upbeat music)

621
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,100
"Who's this?" I hear you ask.

622
00:30:35,100 --> 00:30:37,090
This is Margaret Ingels

623
00:30:37,090 --> 00:30:40,000
and she plays a crucial role in Willis' company.

624
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:43,200
Margaret Ingels was no ordinary woman.

625
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,770
At a time that few women attended university at all,

626
00:30:46,770 --> 00:30:49,260
she graduated from the University of Kentucky

627
00:30:49,260 --> 00:30:51,140
with an engineering degree.

628
00:30:51,140 --> 00:30:54,190
The second woman in the entire United States to do so.

629
00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,030
Willis and Margaret worked together

630
00:30:59,030 --> 00:31:01,080
to develop the air con machine,

631
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:03,310
making it smaller and more powerful.

632
00:31:04,290 --> 00:31:07,610
Soon comfort air conditioning is turning up in theaters

633
00:31:07,610 --> 00:31:11,050
department stores and banks, not to make them drier,

634
00:31:11,050 --> 00:31:13,160
but exclusively to make them cooler.

635
00:31:14,380 --> 00:31:16,830
Margaret crisscrosses the country

636
00:31:16,830 --> 00:31:19,860
installing the virtues of the air conditioner

637
00:31:19,860 --> 00:31:21,860
and making clear that it's not just something

638
00:31:21,860 --> 00:31:23,780
that big factories should have.

639
00:31:23,780 --> 00:31:26,410
It's something that the ordinary American

640
00:31:26,410 --> 00:31:27,700
could have in their home.

641
00:31:27,700 --> 00:31:29,130
Do you know what this is?

642
00:31:29,130 --> 00:31:30,410
An air conditioner.

643
00:31:30,410 --> 00:31:31,240
That's right.

644
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,450
Air con became a signifier of social mobility

645
00:31:34,450 --> 00:31:35,650
pretty early on.

646
00:31:35,650 --> 00:31:38,700
And you get a crazy situation where motorists

647
00:31:38,700 --> 00:31:41,850
in the United States would keep their windows rolled up

648
00:31:41,850 --> 00:31:44,920
to pretend they had air con in their vehicles,

649
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:46,820
that they were rich enough to have it.

650
00:31:48,460 --> 00:31:50,830
Air conditioners changed America.

651
00:31:50,830 --> 00:31:53,000
Now you could buy chocolate in June

652
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:55,740
or sit comfortably inside a cinema in August.

653
00:31:56,590 --> 00:31:59,620
Right around this time, public perception begins to shift.

654
00:31:59,620 --> 00:32:02,590
And it goes from being this sort of luxury item

655
00:32:02,590 --> 00:32:05,480
to being almost a must have in homes.

656
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:09,240
In 1938, only about one in every 400 homes

657
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:11,260
had an air conditioning unit.

658
00:32:11,260 --> 00:32:14,480
And today it's closer to nine out of 10.

659
00:32:16,500 --> 00:32:18,910
This popularity results in the US using

660
00:32:18,910 --> 00:32:21,970
as much electricity for air conditioning alone each year

661
00:32:21,970 --> 00:32:24,570
as the United Kingdom uses in total.

662
00:32:24,570 --> 00:32:27,030
It's sadly one of the ironies of life today

663
00:32:27,030 --> 00:32:28,850
that with global warming, of course,

664
00:32:28,850 --> 00:32:31,380
there's more and more demand for air conditioners.

665
00:32:31,380 --> 00:32:33,480
There's about a billion of them out there.

666
00:32:34,730 --> 00:32:36,880
Willis' accidental cooling machine

667
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:38,510
has impacted people's lives

668
00:32:38,510 --> 00:32:40,680
in ways that he could never have imagined.

669
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:43,050
(upbeat music)

670
00:32:43,050 --> 00:32:45,890
There was a time in America if you walked down the street,

671
00:32:45,890 --> 00:32:47,900
the chatter was on the porches,

672
00:32:47,900 --> 00:32:50,480
people were sitting outside their homes

673
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:52,070
in order to keep cool.

674
00:32:52,070 --> 00:32:55,050
But with air con from the 1950s onwards,

675
00:32:55,050 --> 00:32:57,430
the chatter moved indoors.

676
00:32:57,430 --> 00:32:59,850
People in a way became more private.

677
00:33:01,580 --> 00:33:03,770
The impact doesn't stop there.

678
00:33:03,770 --> 00:33:06,440
Air conditioning causes a huge population shift

679
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:10,260
across America in a way that will change politics forever.

680
00:33:12,250 --> 00:33:15,670
(upbeat dramatic music)

681
00:33:18,550 --> 00:33:21,070
In the early 1900s most people were located

682
00:33:21,070 --> 00:33:23,230
in more Northern states of the US,

683
00:33:23,230 --> 00:33:25,520
such as New York and other areas,

684
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:27,440
mainly because of the temperature.

685
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:28,660
It was a lot cooler

686
00:33:28,660 --> 00:33:31,380
and where the Southern states were just really hot.

687
00:33:31,380 --> 00:33:34,160
With the air conditioner that completely changed

688
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:35,260
where people lived.

689
00:33:35,260 --> 00:33:37,740
More people started moving further South.

690
00:33:37,740 --> 00:33:41,580
Within 10 years of air cons becoming really popular,

691
00:33:41,580 --> 00:33:46,070
Tucson, sees a boost in its population by about 400%.

692
00:33:46,070 --> 00:33:48,850
Phoenix by about 300%.

693
00:33:48,850 --> 00:33:50,940
And other cities in the Midwest

694
00:33:50,940 --> 00:33:53,560
and the deep South grow massively.

695
00:33:54,940 --> 00:33:56,550
The sun belt is born.

696
00:33:56,550 --> 00:33:59,800
First coined as a term in the early 1970s.

697
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:03,550
In just 50 years, the US population concentrated there

698
00:34:03,550 --> 00:34:07,070
increases from 28% to 40%.

699
00:34:09,100 --> 00:34:11,080
The population shifts in the deep South

700
00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:13,830
caused by air conditioning, means that anybody running

701
00:34:13,830 --> 00:34:15,810
for president in the United States

702
00:34:15,810 --> 00:34:17,990
has to get those Southern states.

703
00:34:17,990 --> 00:34:21,630
And the first president who did that was Ronald Reagan.

704
00:34:21,630 --> 00:34:25,740
He turned the whole of the South red Republican.

705
00:34:25,740 --> 00:34:28,530
Wow, so air conditioning affected politics.

706
00:34:28,530 --> 00:34:29,430
I never knew that.

707
00:34:30,350 --> 00:34:32,380
(upbeat undulating music)

708
00:34:32,380 --> 00:34:35,390
But what I do know is that this accidental invention

709
00:34:35,390 --> 00:34:36,690
has changed our world.

710
00:34:38,010 --> 00:34:41,480
We wouldn't have cities like Las Vegas or Dubai.

711
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,610
And Singapore's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew,

712
00:34:44,610 --> 00:34:47,390
has said that air conditioning was the most important

713
00:34:47,390 --> 00:34:49,390
innovation in his country's development.

714
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:53,870
Singapore is a beautiful country

715
00:34:53,870 --> 00:34:56,480
within 100 miles of the equator,

716
00:34:56,480 --> 00:35:00,090
with amazing food and a mix of cultures,

717
00:35:00,090 --> 00:35:04,090
but temperatures do regularly hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

718
00:35:05,150 --> 00:35:07,590
Shops couldn't stay open long in Singapore

719
00:35:07,590 --> 00:35:08,720
because of the heat.

720
00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:11,040
In fact, they would close at around 11:30 AM

721
00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:14,270
just so people could go shelter from that heat.

722
00:35:14,270 --> 00:35:17,240
So most of the time you can only work during dawn and dusk.

723
00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:20,260
As well as allowing workers

724
00:35:20,260 --> 00:35:23,570
to work longer hours through the day,

725
00:35:23,570 --> 00:35:26,410
air conditioning also allowed businesses

726
00:35:26,410 --> 00:35:29,440
to put in place big, super computers.

727
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:31,940
(eerie music)

728
00:35:31,940 --> 00:35:34,070
And it's big powerful computers

729
00:35:34,070 --> 00:35:36,240
that can do the kind of financial trading

730
00:35:36,240 --> 00:35:38,620
that Singapore is famous for today.

731
00:35:38,620 --> 00:35:40,220
(crowd rumbling)

732
00:35:40,220 --> 00:35:43,430
Share trading can be a pretty heated business as it is,

733
00:35:43,430 --> 00:35:46,010
but you don't want your computers to overheat.

734
00:35:46,010 --> 00:35:49,020
And air con is what you need to keep them cool.

735
00:35:50,350 --> 00:35:53,240
Today, Singapore is a global center

736
00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:54,480
for financial trading.

737
00:35:55,610 --> 00:35:57,850
Singapore is the wealthiest country in Asia

738
00:35:57,850 --> 00:36:01,730
with a per capita income of $54,000.

739
00:36:01,730 --> 00:36:04,820
And it also ranks highly in terms of health,

740
00:36:04,820 --> 00:36:07,730
education, social welfare.

741
00:36:07,730 --> 00:36:11,500
And also of course it has very fast internet connection.

742
00:36:11,500 --> 00:36:13,860
And you can thank air con for a lot of that.

743
00:36:14,820 --> 00:36:17,440
Standing on that train platform in Pittsburgh

744
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:19,650
Willis could never have imagined that his invention

745
00:36:19,650 --> 00:36:21,840
for drying out newspaper printing presses

746
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,000
would cool the world, shift a political landscape

747
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,830
and even transform entire economies.

748
00:36:31,430 --> 00:36:36,430
(logo exploding)
(joyful theme music)

749
00:36:40,690 --> 00:36:42,150
You might be surprised to learn

750
00:36:42,150 --> 00:36:44,780
that some of our favorite childhood toys

751
00:36:44,780 --> 00:36:47,230
were not actually designed with children in mind.

752
00:36:48,700 --> 00:36:53,520
December, 1941, Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii.

753
00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:56,850
(plane engine whirling)

754
00:37:01,310 --> 00:37:03,590
Since the unprovoked

755
00:37:04,670 --> 00:37:09,060
and dastardly attack by Japan,

756
00:37:09,060 --> 00:37:11,030
a state of war

757
00:37:12,090 --> 00:37:16,340
has existed between the United States

758
00:37:17,220 --> 00:37:18,990
and the Japanese empire.

759
00:37:23,590 --> 00:37:25,990
Life in the Navy is tough.

760
00:37:25,990 --> 00:37:29,750
The crew have to keep looking out for enemy ships,

761
00:37:29,750 --> 00:37:34,280
but that's really hard to do when the sea is surging,

762
00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:37,860
gales raging, waves crashing.

763
00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:44,750
You're practically walking on the walls

764
00:37:44,750 --> 00:37:47,480
because everything's so topsy-turvy,

765
00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:50,350
and nothing's pinned so everything's moving about.

766
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:54,870
This problem consumes

767
00:37:54,870 --> 00:37:56,880
naval engineer, Richard James.

768
00:37:59,570 --> 00:38:02,070
Sensitive instruments are constantly breaking

769
00:38:02,070 --> 00:38:03,300
in the swelling seas.

770
00:38:04,710 --> 00:38:07,740
And by 1943, he's convinced that suspending them

771
00:38:07,740 --> 00:38:09,730
with torsion springs is the answer.

772
00:38:11,540 --> 00:38:13,900
Richard is working away in his lab

773
00:38:13,900 --> 00:38:16,080
when he has a little bit of a clumsy moment

774
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:18,770
and knocks one of his springs off a bench.

775
00:38:22,690 --> 00:38:25,150
But rather than it just flumping on the floor,

776
00:38:25,150 --> 00:38:27,070
it did something slightly different.

777
00:38:30,350 --> 00:38:32,840
It ends up stepping over itself in arches,

778
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,190
where it goes from the books to the table

779
00:38:35,190 --> 00:38:36,390
to eventually the floor.

780
00:38:37,460 --> 00:38:40,420
Richard is surprised by what the spring does,

781
00:38:41,710 --> 00:38:45,620
and like any good inventor, he uses his lateral thinking

782
00:38:45,620 --> 00:38:48,080
to see whether there may be a different use

783
00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:51,020
for this kind of spring and its weird behavior.

784
00:38:52,970 --> 00:38:55,200
But who would possibly be interested

785
00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:58,490
in a weird spring with no practical uses?

786
00:38:58,490 --> 00:39:02,170
♪ It's Slinky, it's Slinky, how fun it's a wonderful toy ♪

787
00:39:02,170 --> 00:39:05,810
♪ It's Slinky, it's Slinky, it's fun for a girl and a boy ♪

788
00:39:05,810 --> 00:39:07,710
♪ Everyone wants a Slinky ♪

789
00:39:07,710 --> 00:39:11,290
♪ You have to get the Slinky ♪

790
00:39:11,290 --> 00:39:12,190
Kids, of course.

791
00:39:14,740 --> 00:39:16,870
♪ What walks downstairs, alone or in pairs ♪

792
00:39:16,870 --> 00:39:18,980
♪ And makes a slinkedy sound ♪

793
00:39:18,980 --> 00:39:21,300
♪ A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing ♪

794
00:39:21,300 --> 00:39:23,440
♪ Everyone knows it's Slinky ♪

795
00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:27,010
♪ It's Slinky, it's Slinky ♪

796
00:39:27,010 --> 00:39:29,380
Richard and his wife, Betty,

797
00:39:29,380 --> 00:39:30,750
are convinced that this silly spring

798
00:39:30,750 --> 00:39:32,170
will be a hit with children.

799
00:39:33,810 --> 00:39:36,240
They get a $500 loan to make 400 units,

800
00:39:39,050 --> 00:39:40,400
and they sell none of them.

801
00:39:43,610 --> 00:39:46,380
But they manage to convince a leading department store

802
00:39:46,380 --> 00:39:49,840
to let them do an in-store Christmas demonstration.

803
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:52,840
(Christmas jingles)

804
00:39:56,700 --> 00:39:58,780
Richard and Betty built a ramp

805
00:39:58,780 --> 00:40:00,810
and set the Slinky on its Merry way,

806
00:40:00,810 --> 00:40:03,360
much to the delight of onlooking customers.

807
00:40:04,300 --> 00:40:07,270
What was a disaster becomes a sensation.

808
00:40:08,290 --> 00:40:11,820
They were able to sell 400 in just two hours.

809
00:40:13,540 --> 00:40:15,790
And that is a sign of things to come in.

810
00:40:15,790 --> 00:40:19,020
In just two years, they sell 100 million toys.

811
00:40:21,790 --> 00:40:24,920
There were so many children in 50s, in the 60s,

812
00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:27,120
in the 70s, even in the 80s

813
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:29,810
who had a Slinky or wanted a Slinky.

814
00:40:32,530 --> 00:40:35,580
I still remember getting my first Slinky.

815
00:40:35,580 --> 00:40:38,600
It was from a gift shop of the Science Museum in London,

816
00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:40,450
and I was thrilled.

817
00:40:40,450 --> 00:40:42,600
I spent days, if not weeks,

818
00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:45,010
trying to get that thing to walk down the stairs

819
00:40:45,010 --> 00:40:46,830
in one uninterrupted go.

820
00:40:52,180 --> 00:40:53,910
♪ What walks the stair without a care ♪

821
00:40:53,910 --> 00:40:55,780
♪ And makes the happiest sound ♪

822
00:40:55,780 --> 00:40:57,680
♪ Up, up and down just like a cloud ♪

823
00:40:57,680 --> 00:40:59,740
♪ Everyone knows it's Slinky ♪

824
00:40:59,740 --> 00:41:02,780
The company creates a really popular jingle

825
00:41:02,780 --> 00:41:05,260
for this incredibly popular toy.

826
00:41:05,260 --> 00:41:07,910
In fact, it's so enduring that it's actually

827
00:41:07,910 --> 00:41:11,280
the longest running jingle in advertising history.

828
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:12,860
♪ It's Slinky, it's Slinky ♪

829
00:41:12,860 --> 00:41:16,610
The catchy song first airs in 1962.

830
00:41:16,610 --> 00:41:21,610
28 years later, 90% of American adults knew the jingle.

831
00:41:21,620 --> 00:41:23,730
Part of its appeal at the time was the fact that

832
00:41:23,730 --> 00:41:27,060
Slinky could be advertised to boys and girls.

833
00:41:27,060 --> 00:41:29,610
♪ It's Slinky, how fun it's a wonderful toy ♪

834
00:41:29,610 --> 00:41:31,120
♪ It's Slinky, it's Slinky ♪

835
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:33,810
Not many toys can stand the test of time,

836
00:41:33,810 --> 00:41:36,500
but the Slinky remains a firm family favorite

837
00:41:36,500 --> 00:41:39,830
all over the world for around 75 years.

838
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:43,670
Giving the company a profit of $3 billion.

839
00:41:45,470 --> 00:41:47,030
But away from the playground,

840
00:41:47,030 --> 00:41:48,820
the Slinky found another role,

841
00:41:50,100 --> 00:41:52,020
one that was much closer to its roots,

842
00:41:53,100 --> 00:41:54,280
back in war.

843
00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:57,450
(helicopter whirling)

844
00:42:07,220 --> 00:42:08,430
During the Vietnam War,

845
00:42:08,430 --> 00:42:10,980
soldiers were fighting through the jungle,

846
00:42:10,980 --> 00:42:12,970
so communication here was key.

847
00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:16,510
But getting a signal in the middle of the jungle

848
00:42:16,510 --> 00:42:18,790
before the invention of the mobile phone

849
00:42:18,790 --> 00:42:21,230
is just as hard as it sounds.

850
00:42:21,230 --> 00:42:22,500
Soldiers would have to carry

851
00:42:22,500 --> 00:42:25,720
a huge communications unit on their back.

852
00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:28,560
The radio system weighed 54 pounds

853
00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,630
and had a huge antenna sticking out of the back.

854
00:42:31,630 --> 00:42:33,560
We'll have to go down and see if we can stake out

855
00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:35,050
this VC village down here.

856
00:42:35,050 --> 00:42:37,540
A lot of booby traps in there, a lot of underbrush.

857
00:42:37,540 --> 00:42:38,840
It's good concealment for these booby traps.

858
00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:41,860
You wanna keep your eyes open, keep spread out.

859
00:42:41,860 --> 00:42:43,030
Any questions?

860
00:42:43,030 --> 00:42:44,870
Okay, men, let's move out.

861
00:42:44,870 --> 00:42:46,930
To get a signal in to communicate,

862
00:42:46,930 --> 00:42:48,340
they'd have to go up a hill

863
00:42:48,340 --> 00:42:51,440
and raise a 10-foot radio antenna.

864
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,880
(upbeat dramatic music)

865
00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:57,460
Now, of course, this is a bit like waving a flag

866
00:42:57,460 --> 00:42:59,680
to your enemies because the enemy could see

867
00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:01,430
exactly where they were.

868
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,530
The soldiers come up with a brilliant solution.

869
00:43:07,830 --> 00:43:10,130
Rather than having a really big, heavy backpack

870
00:43:10,130 --> 00:43:13,090
with a long antenna to communicate with one another,

871
00:43:13,090 --> 00:43:16,030
you can actually use a Slinky which is super compressed

872
00:43:16,030 --> 00:43:18,830
and you can throw it over a branch, which would extend it

873
00:43:18,830 --> 00:43:21,110
and make it basically like an antenna.

874
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:24,620
(bombs exploding)

875
00:43:24,620 --> 00:43:27,020
They were able to get reception through the canopy

876
00:43:27,020 --> 00:43:29,130
and able to communicate from the jungle.

877
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:39,580
George Juliet, this is Iron Head Two, roger out.

878
00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:44,120
I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Slinky

879
00:43:44,120 --> 00:43:46,700
played a huge part in the war.

880
00:43:46,700 --> 00:43:49,700
It certainly massively improved communications.

881
00:43:53,270 --> 00:43:56,020
(bomb exploding)

882
00:43:57,810 --> 00:44:00,870
As America fights the Vietnam War,

883
00:44:00,870 --> 00:44:03,800
across the globe in Hungary, a curious professor

884
00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:06,410
peacefully tinkers away with some blocks,

885
00:44:06,410 --> 00:44:09,280
unaware that he's about to accidentally invent

886
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:10,820
another childhood favorite.

887
00:44:14,350 --> 00:44:17,110
Rubik is a professor on interior design in Hungary,

888
00:44:17,110 --> 00:44:19,960
and he wants to find a way to explain 3D modeling

889
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:22,250
and geometric design to his students.

890
00:44:24,930 --> 00:44:26,450
He wants to create a structure

891
00:44:26,450 --> 00:44:29,300
through which each individual block can be moved

892
00:44:29,300 --> 00:44:31,430
without the whole structure falling apart.

893
00:44:33,500 --> 00:44:36,770
He's messing around with wooden blocks and rubber bands

894
00:44:36,770 --> 00:44:38,970
and paperclips to try and create this structure

895
00:44:38,970 --> 00:44:41,340
until finally he creates something that he calls

896
00:44:41,340 --> 00:44:42,330
the Magic Cube.

897
00:44:44,310 --> 00:44:45,630
He's thrilled because he finds

898
00:44:45,630 --> 00:44:48,240
the geometry of the cube very exciting,

899
00:44:48,240 --> 00:44:50,380
but it's not until he scrambles the blocks

900
00:44:50,380 --> 00:44:52,720
that he realizes he stumbled upon something

901
00:44:52,720 --> 00:44:54,580
far more magical than he imagined.

902
00:44:57,760 --> 00:44:59,440
After he rearranges it a few times,

903
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:00,670
he finds it quite difficult

904
00:45:00,670 --> 00:45:03,030
to get it back to how it first started.

905
00:45:03,950 --> 00:45:05,540
Quite difficult?

906
00:45:05,540 --> 00:45:08,850
In fact, it took him over a month to solve it.

907
00:45:08,850 --> 00:45:10,970
His reason for taking so long,

908
00:45:10,970 --> 00:45:14,320
"Because I was the first to try it," he said,

909
00:45:14,320 --> 00:45:15,910
which is fair enough.

910
00:45:15,910 --> 00:45:17,070
This is when he realized

911
00:45:17,070 --> 00:45:19,260
that he's created a puzzle.

912
00:45:19,260 --> 00:45:21,720
And not just any puzzle.

913
00:45:21,720 --> 00:45:23,470
It's a very difficult puzzle.

914
00:45:23,470 --> 00:45:26,220
It's very hard to overstate its difficulty.

915
00:45:26,220 --> 00:45:29,280
In fact, the difficulty probably adds to the fascination.

916
00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:31,460
I was just about ready to

917
00:45:31,460 --> 00:45:32,990
throw it through the window or something,

918
00:45:32,990 --> 00:45:36,270
and they really are just addictive.

919
00:45:36,270 --> 00:45:40,480
The Rubik's Cube has 43 quintillion different combinations

920
00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:44,040
all aiming to get back to one very special configuration.

921
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:47,460
So no wonder people get addicted to the challenge of it.

922
00:45:47,460 --> 00:45:50,830
(upbeat drum music)

923
00:45:50,830 --> 00:45:54,520
It does not succumb to wishful thinking,

924
00:45:54,520 --> 00:45:56,410
trying hard or intuition.

925
00:45:56,410 --> 00:45:58,720
It did take me four and a half hours the first time.

926
00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:02,260
My hands were so tired I couldn't write afterwards.

927
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:05,880
Much like the Slinky,

928
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:08,340
it takes a while for the toy to take off.

929
00:46:08,340 --> 00:46:12,520
In 1980 sales of Rubik's Magic Cube are pretty modest,

930
00:46:13,700 --> 00:46:15,670
but all that is about to change.

931
00:46:16,750 --> 00:46:20,500
Erno Rubik licenses the cube to an American toy company

932
00:46:20,500 --> 00:46:24,390
and they actually name it after him, the Rubik's Cube.

933
00:46:24,390 --> 00:46:26,760
Yeah, I think we got that.

934
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:29,430
(upbeat music)

935
00:46:30,790 --> 00:46:34,820
A successful ad campaign puts it into everyone's minds.

936
00:46:34,820 --> 00:46:38,090
The toy wins awards in Europe and in the USA,

937
00:46:38,090 --> 00:46:41,530
and all of this kick starts the 1980s craze.

938
00:46:43,260 --> 00:46:47,740
The Rubik's Cube becomes the best selling toy in history.

939
00:46:47,740 --> 00:46:50,830
By the mid-80s, it's thought that as many as

940
00:46:50,830 --> 00:46:53,500
one in five people on the planet

941
00:46:53,500 --> 00:46:56,200
have played with the toy themselves.

942
00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:59,610
If I give the cube to anybody anywhere

943
00:46:59,610 --> 00:47:01,590
speaking on any languages,

944
00:47:03,250 --> 00:47:05,230
he understands what to do.

945
00:47:06,190 --> 00:47:07,650
Since Rubik invented it,

946
00:47:07,650 --> 00:47:11,040
it's sold about 450 million worldwide.

947
00:47:12,750 --> 00:47:15,100
While the 80s craze has passed,

948
00:47:15,100 --> 00:47:17,270
it's had such an impact on our lives

949
00:47:17,270 --> 00:47:20,490
that it's entered into every aspect of popular culture.

950
00:47:22,580 --> 00:47:25,310
It's appeared in tons of music videos.

951
00:47:25,310 --> 00:47:26,900
It's inspired hundreds of artists

952
00:47:26,900 --> 00:47:29,850
for paintings and sculptures.

953
00:47:29,850 --> 00:47:31,790
There are even buildings across the world

954
00:47:31,790 --> 00:47:34,320
that have been inspired by the Rubik's Cube.

955
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:36,990
(upbeat music)

956
00:47:39,690 --> 00:47:42,590
Cubing competitions have also become a big deal.

957
00:47:45,200 --> 00:47:49,170
Speed cubing becomes an incredibly popular competition

958
00:47:49,170 --> 00:47:51,500
where people try and solve the Rubik's Cube

959
00:47:51,500 --> 00:47:53,460
in the quickest possible time.

960
00:47:57,640 --> 00:47:58,720
Oh!

961
00:47:59,870 --> 00:48:03,600
The World Cube Organization holds 700 competitions

962
00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:05,800
across the world each year,

963
00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:09,430
everywhere from Guatemala to Algeria to Mongolia.

964
00:48:10,690 --> 00:48:12,020
The current world record

965
00:48:12,020 --> 00:48:15,800
for solving a Rubik's Cube is less than four seconds.

966
00:48:18,190 --> 00:48:21,060
That's roughly one month faster than it took Erno.

967
00:48:22,460 --> 00:48:24,620
The youngest person to solve a Rubik's Cube

968
00:48:24,620 --> 00:48:26,260
was three years old.

969
00:48:26,260 --> 00:48:27,590
Let's see what you got.

970
00:48:28,730 --> 00:48:30,010
Are you ready?

971
00:48:30,010 --> 00:48:32,390
Three, two, one, go.

972
00:48:32,390 --> 00:48:35,200
(Suze screeches)
(joyful jingles)

973
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:36,460
Solving it with two hands

974
00:48:36,460 --> 00:48:38,010
while sat in a comfortable chair

975
00:48:38,010 --> 00:48:39,670
is almost cheating these days.

976
00:48:41,920 --> 00:48:44,790
Now there's blind cubing, juggling,

977
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:47,890
robots that can solve the puzzle,

978
00:48:47,890 --> 00:48:49,670
and even extreme cubing.

979
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:55,500
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, yes.

980
00:48:55,500 --> 00:48:58,210
But the Rubik's Cube could be so much more

981
00:48:58,210 --> 00:48:59,820
than an idle distraction.

982
00:49:02,110 --> 00:49:04,040
The Rubik's Cube has played a huge part

983
00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:07,410
in managing mental health issues like ADHD.

984
00:49:07,410 --> 00:49:10,350
There's something very tactile about the sensory feedback

985
00:49:10,350 --> 00:49:12,390
that you get when playing with one of these,

986
00:49:12,390 --> 00:49:14,270
the clicking and the spinning.

987
00:49:14,270 --> 00:49:16,320
A little bit like a fidget spinner.

988
00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:19,820
The sensory stimulation can be used to help with anxiety

989
00:49:19,820 --> 00:49:22,110
and other disorders.

990
00:49:22,110 --> 00:49:23,520
So what does the future hold

991
00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:24,920
for the humble Rubik's Cube?

992
00:49:26,270 --> 00:49:29,180
(engines whirling)

993
00:49:33,780 --> 00:49:34,610
Space?

994
00:49:36,610 --> 00:49:39,810
Satellites play a big part in our everyday lives,

995
00:49:39,810 --> 00:49:43,090
helping us communicate, helping us find our way,

996
00:49:43,090 --> 00:49:44,020
and so much more.

997
00:49:44,020 --> 00:49:46,810
You're missing one fantastic site.

998
00:49:46,810 --> 00:49:49,400
Satellites can weigh as much as a school bus

999
00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:51,190
or maybe sometimes even more.

1000
00:49:53,340 --> 00:49:55,790
And so that makes it pretty heavy and expensive

1001
00:49:55,790 --> 00:49:57,050
to launch to space.

1002
00:49:57,050 --> 00:49:59,450
I guess, being some kind of rookie-

1003
00:49:59,450 --> 00:50:01,160
Enter the CubeSat

1004
00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:04,170
inspired by none other than Erno's Magic Cube.

1005
00:50:05,250 --> 00:50:07,180
CubeSats are cube satellites.

1006
00:50:07,180 --> 00:50:10,660
They're a lot smaller, only about 20 pounds,

1007
00:50:10,660 --> 00:50:14,800
and they can be about the size of say the Rubik's Cube here.

1008
00:50:15,710 --> 00:50:18,710
These tiny satellites are made up of multiple

1009
00:50:18,710 --> 00:50:20,880
cubic modules that can open up in orbit.

1010
00:50:22,340 --> 00:50:25,580
Their tiny size makes them a thousand times cheaper

1011
00:50:25,580 --> 00:50:27,610
than a traditional larger satellite.

1012
00:50:28,950 --> 00:50:32,680
So far more than 1,600 have been put into orbit.

1013
00:50:34,050 --> 00:50:38,050
It's really the next stage of satellites.

1014
00:50:39,840 --> 00:50:41,470
From communications in the jungle

1015
00:50:41,470 --> 00:50:44,160
to reaching out to outer space,

1016
00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:46,790
the Slinky and Rubik's Cube

1017
00:50:46,790 --> 00:50:49,220
show how even the most playful inventions

1018
00:50:49,220 --> 00:50:51,160
can have a far-reaching impact.

1019
00:50:53,620 --> 00:50:57,430
So just looking at a wide range of toys in general,

1020
00:50:57,430 --> 00:51:00,300
they have made such a huge impact on human history,

1021
00:51:00,300 --> 00:51:03,870
on our life, on science, and of course our childhood.

1022
00:51:05,930 --> 00:51:07,080
I give up (laughing).

1023
00:51:08,420 --> 00:51:11,500
(joyful theme music)

1024
00:51:39,110 --> 00:51:41,860
(logo whooshing)