Departure • 2016 • episode "Part 1" • City in the Sky

50:25

As the ability to blur the physical and digital worlds becomes a global phenomenon, Nonny de la Pena is harnessing that transformative ability to tell stories like never before. Learn how she uses the immersive power of VR to help people connect to important issues they might otherwise ignore.

S1E2 • Curiosity Retreats: 2016 Lectures • 2016 • Technology

59:00

They are constantly circling hundreds of miles above our heads, driving our daily lives - yet we barely give satellites a second thought. Satellite engineer Maggie Aderin Pocock wants to change all that. She wants to make us realise and appreciate what these unsung heroes of the modern world have done for us. Maggie reveals how satellites have revolutionised exploration, communication, location-finding and spying. She discovers how they have transformed not only the way we see our planet but our understanding of the dangers within it, like volcanoes and earthquakes. Plus, she discovers the jaw-dropping power of the technology used by satellites to make our lives run smoothly.

2012 • Technology

45:16

In 1976, the dream of supersonic commercial flight became a java: Concorde transported its first passengers. In the United States, Concorde awaits a new challenge: the competent service refuses to grant permission to land in New York. Over time, the White Bird becomes an aircraft of celebrities and important people. Three years after the tragic accident in 2000, Concorde was withdrawn from the service. Today NASA engineers in Ohio and Boom Supersonic experts in Denver reveal our latest research on supersonic flights of the future inspired by Concorde.

S1E2 • Concorde the Supersonic Race • 2017 • Technology

59:02

Professor Jim Al-Khalili looks at how we have created machines that can simulate, augment, and even outperform the human mind - and why we shouldn't let this spook us. He reveals the story of the pursuit of AI, the emergence of machine learning and the recent breakthroughs brought about by artificial neural networks. He shows how AI is not only changing our world but also challenging our very ideas of intelligence and consciousness. Along the way, we'll investigate spam filters, meet a cutting-edge chatbot, look at why a few altered pixels makes a computer think it's looking at a trombone rather than a dog and talk to Demis Hassabis, who heads DeepMind and whose stated mission is to 'solve intelligence, and then use that to solve everything else'. Stephen Hawking remarked 'AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilisation. Or the worst'. Jim argues that AI is a potent new tool that should enhance our lives, not replace us.

2018 • Technology

56:12

Tech billionaires launch a new generation of aerospace companies, setting their sights on colonizing Mars and exploring the universe.

S1E4 • Blue Sky Metropolis • 2020 • Technology

58:59

Hannah goes behind the scenes to look at the technology behind the lift, entering a 246m high lift shaft to test everything from the brakes to her own fear of heights.

S2E6 • The Secret Genius of Modern Life • 2023 • Technology