Rise of the Supergammer • 2015

42:32

The rise of colossal towers across the planet coincided with the surge of cutting-edge design, but just as these monoliths began breaking world records, new threats were on the horizon.

S1E4 • Skyscrapers Engineering the Future • 2019 • Technology

50:00

Food- human life can't exist without it. It's a city's most important source of energy. In New York alone, 8 million people consume 10,000 tonnes of food every day. Without new supplies, cities will run out of fresh food in a matter of days.

S1E2 • How Cities Work • 2013 • Technology

59:12

This episode reveals the fascinating chain of events that made quick and safe travel possible even across the greatest distances a possibility. From the Rolls Royce aero-engine factory in Derby, Michael Mosley, Prof Mark Miodownik and Dr Cassie Newland tell the amazing story of three more of the greatest and most transformative inventions of all time, the steam locomotive, the internal combustion engine and the jet engine. Our experts explain how these inventions came about by sparks of inventive genius and steady incremental improvements hammered out in workshops. They separate myth from reality in the lives of the great inventors and celebrate some of the most remarkable stories in British history.

Part 2 • The Genius of Invention • 2013 • Technology

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

42:06

Two brilliant minds, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, do battle and, in the process, revolutionize lives.

S1E1 • American Genius • 2015 • Technology

58:35

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 3: Ceramic) Professor Mark Miodownik traces the story of ceramics. He looks at how we started with simple clay, sand and rock and changed them into pottery, glass and concrete - materials that would allow us to build cities, transform the way we view our world and communicate at the speed of light. Deep within their inner structure Mark discovers some of ceramics' most intriguing secrets. He reveals why glass can be utterly transparent, why concrete continues to harden for hundreds of years and how cooling ceramics could transform the way we power cities of the future.

S1E3 • How It Works • 2012 • Technology