Lo and Behold-Reveries of the Connected World • 2016

55:41

Only in the last 200 years have humans learned how to make things cold. Steven Johnson explains how ice entrepreneur Frederic Tudor made ice delivery one of the biggest export business in the U.S. and describes the place where Clarence Birdseye, the father of the frozen food industry, experienced his eureka moment. He also travels to Dubai to see how mastery of cold has led to penguins in the desert. From IVF to food, politics and Hollywood to human migration, the unsung heroes of cold have led the way.

S1E5 • How We Got to Now • 2014 • Technology

42:05

The largest steel plant in the world is a hi-tech super factory that takes production to astonishing levels, turning out 21 million tons of steel every year on a sprawling campus comprised of 50 individually operating sub-factories.

S1E8 • Super Factories • 2020 • Technology

58:59

The car has shrunk the world, increased personal freedom and in so many ways expanded our horizons, but there is a flipside. Fumes from car exhausts have helped to destroy our environment, poisoned the air we breathe and killed us in far more straightforward ways. But all that is going to change. Horizon enters a world where cars can drive themselves, a world where we are simply passengers, ferried about by wholesome green compassionate technology which will never ever go wrong. And it is almost here. Horizon explores the artificial intelligence required to replace human drivers for cars themselves, peers into the future driverless world and discovers that, despite the glossy driverless PR (and assuming that they really can be made to work reliably), the reality is that it might not be all good news. From the ethics of driverless car crashes to the impact on jobs, it might be that cars are about to rise up against us in ways that none of us are expecting.

Horizon • 2017 • Technology

44:08

Two air catastrophes within five months of each other, both involving the same plane: the Boeing 737 MAX. How could these brand-new passenger jets, built by one of aviation's most trusted companies, just fall out of the sky? Now, through newly uncovered records, plus interviews with experts who investigated the crashes, we reveal why this seemingly reliable aircraft was headed toward disaster from the very beginning, and list the series of miscalculations, mistakes, and fraudulent maneuvers that sent 346 people to their deaths in 2018 and 2019.

S1E3 • Ten Steps to Disaster • 2021 • Technology

51:51

Pavlov's investigations into dog digestion lead to phone addiction. A failed quest to find a safer refrigerant creates Teflon. A damaged delivery crate is instrumental in the invention of dynamite. And a chance encounter with a composer leads Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr to invent the basis for wifi.

S1E1 • Oops, I Changed the World • 2022 • Technology

57:09

YouTube star and gaming addict Dan Howell explores the changing world of gaming: from hobby to a mass spectator sport that’s watched by millions around the world. To the envy of amateurs, they've taken gaming to a whole new level, training 12 hours a day, playing in packed stadiums, and earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.The bizarre community of e-sports has been almost invisible to the outside world – up until now. Three young British gamers at different stages of their careers all have dreams of reaching the very top. KaSing, an overnight sensation from Tottenham, lives in Berlin, and is playing in one of Europe’s top teams. His 20-year-old former teammate, Matt, nicknamed Impaler, is having a crisis of confidence about his once-flourishing career. And 17-year-old hopeful Greensheep is struggling to break through onto the big stage.

2015 • Technology