Poop • 2020 • episode "S1E2" • Connected - The Hidden Science of Everything

79:14

Tells the epic story of the first transatlantic communications cable laid between Valentia Island, County Kerry, and Newfoundland, Canada. The first transmission via undersea cable on 16th of August 1858 signalled a new age of modern communication and laid the foundation of modern Ireland's technology industry, with impacts still being felt today. Prior to this technological advancement, messages took at least ten days to travel by ship. Today, 99% of all internet and mobile communications are powered by undersea cable, not by not by satellite. In the digital age, undersea cable remains the cheapest and most efficient communications method, with all major global tech companies utilising and investing in them across the world. The two communities at the centre of this story, Valentia Island and Heart's Content, share a vision of securing UNESCO World Heritage status. It is hoped that the cable houses and communities that helped change the course of communication history and globalisation will be recognised in the coming years.

2024 • Technology

58:58

Apple is the most valuable brand on the planet, making products that everyone wants - but how are its workers treated when the world isn't looking? Panorama goes undercover in China to show what life is like for the workers making the iPhone 6. And it's not just the factories. Reporter Richard Bilton travels to Indonesia to find children working in some of the most dangerous mines in the world. But is the tin they dig out by hand finding its way into Apple's products?

2015 • Technology

59:00

Mike Wooldridge examines real-life neurons in action and explains how artificial neural networks are inspired by neural structures in the brain. To demonstrate how AI learns, we watch drones as they are trained to recognise and fly through structures in the lecture theatre autonomously. AI exploded into the public consciousness in 2022 with the release of ChatGPT and boasts around 100 million monthly users. Mike unravels the mystery of how large language models like ChatGPT work, and he finds out if one day this technology - along with a whole suite of different AI tools - will allow us to understand the animals we share this planet with. The Christmas Lectures are the most prestigious event in the Royal Institution calendar, dating from 1825, when Michael Faraday founded the series. They are the world's longest running science television series and always promise to inspire and amaze each year through explosive demonstrations and interactive experiments with the live theatre audience.

S1E1 • BBC Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: The Truth about AI • 2023 • Technology

51:53

A clumsy lab worker leads to the invention of superglue. And the accidents behind neuroscience, beer, and chemical hair relaxant.

S1E6 • Oops, I Changed the World • 2022 • Technology

74:14

The inside story of the tech entrepreneurs who created the social media app Twitter. At first the site grew on the back of celebrities who realised it offered them a direct way to communicate with fans. After going global, it seemed to be fulfilling the founders' dream of a digital utopia where all voices would be heard. But as hate speech and misinformation flooded the platform, the founders faced growing problems to control it - and the sale to Elon Musk in 2022 represented the end of their dream.

2025 • Technology

45:33

By 2065, the waters surrounding the island where Singapore lays may be dramatically impacted. Under such circumstances, living on the sea in floating communities would be commonplace while growing massive crops of food and generating power would become crucial to the city’s survival.

S1E2 • Futuropolis: Mapping the City of Tomorrow • 2018 • Technology