The Exclamation Point (!) • 2018 • episode "S1E10" Explained

Category: Design

The story of the exclamation point. How it came to be and are we overusing it today?

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Explained • 2018 - 2021 • 41 episodes •

The Racial Wealth Gap

Cory Booker and others discuss how slavery, housing discrimination and centuries of inequality have compounded to create a racial wealth gap.

2018 • Economics

Monogamy

What do biology, human history and the promiscuity of bonobos reveal about monogamy? Experts and everyday couples weigh in on shifting cultural norms.

2018 • People

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency has made people billionaires, but is digital cash the next revolution? Learn about this anonymous currency and why it's so coveted.

2018 • Economics

Why Diets Fail

Explained examines why diets are often unsuccessful. It looks at the science that suggests that low carb, low fat, and body type diets as well as supplements and detoxification regimes simple do not work in helping most people lose weight. While the diet industry pushes us to avoid calories the food industry encourage us to eat more of them.

2018 • Health

The Stock Market

Does the stock market accurately reflect the status of the economy? Finance specialists discuss market history, valuations and CEO incentives.

2018 • Economics

eSports

The term eSports is short for "electronic sports". It is introduced to describe competitive video gaming. What's competitive video gaming? It's basically just people playing video games in some form of competition.

2018 • Technology

Extraterrestrial Life

Explained examines the possibility of extraterrestrial life and looks at why we have not yet found evidence for its existence despite efforts to look for it. It considers the Fermi paradox which suggests that given the vastness of the universe that there should be a great deal of extraterrestrial life in our galaxy. It also consider conspiracy theories about U.F.O.

2018 • Astronomy

The Exclamation Point (!)

The story of the exclamation point. How it came to be and are we overusing it today?

2018 • Design

Cricket

Explained looks at the popular English sport of cricket. First developed in the mid-1800s, cricket has grown into one of the most popular sports in the world. It looks at the complicated and confusing rules behind the game and examines how the British Empire exported the game to its colonies including the West Indies and India. It also looks at different forms of the game including test cricket and Twenty20 cricket.

2018 • People

Weed

Marijuana experts discuss the rise of potent "sexually frustrated" cannabis plants, the quest for consistency in weed strains and the history of hemp.

2018 • Nature

Tattoos

They've been used to command respect, punish criminals and mark achievements. Tattooists speak about the origins of tattoo traditions and rituals.

2018 • Design

Astrology

Do zodiac signs prescribe your fate? Or do horoscopes' accuracy lie in the placebo effect? Take a look at the science, history and lure of astrology.

2018 • Science

Can We Live Forever?

Scientists are working to understand and even slow the aging process.

2018 • Health

The Female Orgasm

The female orgasm is more elusive when a man is involved. Discover the reasons why -- and how women are embracing hands-on solutions.

2018 • Health

Political Correctness

Political correctness can sometimes feel like a tug-of-war between inclusivity and free speech. Experts discuss the concepts behind the fraught term.

2018 • People

Why Women Are Paid Less

Hillary Clinton and Anne-Marie Slaughter discuss the cultural norms at the center of the worldwide gender pay gap, including the "motherhood penalty"

2018 • Economics

Music

When does sound become music? Why are humans so uniquely able to master musicality? Researches talk rhythm, octaves, and the magic of song and dance.

2018 • Music

The World's Water Crisis

The global water crisis is at an inflection point. How do we price our most valuable resource, while also ensuring access to it as a human right?

2018 • Environment

Cults

How do cults lure people in and exert control? Learn a cult’s telltale signs, and how loneliness and life online makes indoctrination easier than ever.

2019 • People

Billionaires

There are more billionaires than ever. But how does this vast accumulation of wealth affect the world?

2019 • Economics

Animal Intelligence

What goes on inside an animal's mind? Figuring out how they think and feel might just be the key to understanding our own place in the world.

2019 • Nature

Athleisure

It began with bloomers. Then came spandex. Now we sport leggings and other activewear everywhere. How did comfy, casual clothing go mainstream?

2019 • Lifehack

Pirates

In pop culture, pirates are often depicted as booty-looting rogues, but their history is far more complicated. See how they became enemies of humanity.

2019 • History

The Next Pandemic

(This episode is from before the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic) - In this episode from 2019, experts including Bill Gates discuss the history of pandemics, how they spread and what could be done to contain them.

2019 • Health

The Future of Meat

The planet's current rate of meat consumption is unprecedented -- and becoming unsustainable. In the future, will meat alternatives be the answer?

2019 • Health

Beauty

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but what exactly makes things such as art and architecture aesthetically pleasing, and why do we like looking?

2019 • Lifehack

Diamonds

A diamond is forever. But why is that? Dig into how these mined pieces of carbon became both a status symbol and a sparkly sign of everlasting love.

2019 • People

Sugar

Once crucial for survival, sugar now poses a health risk. Is there a way to satisfy our primeval craving for sweetness in a healthy, balanced way?

2021 • Health

Royalty

How do monarchies survive when they no longer wield power? By presenting a royal fairy tale that may not reflect the reality of the past - or present.

2021 • People

Flags

A flag can unite, divide and terrorize. Explore how a piece of cloth transformed into a powerful symbol of both love and hate, freedom and oppression.

2021 • People

Dogs

Who's a good dog? They all are. From puppy-dog eyes to feats of heroism, see how canines evolved into humankind's best friends and sources of pure love.

2021 • Nature

The End of Oil

Oil led to huge advancements - and vast inequities. As the planet warms, why is it so hard to turn away from fossil fuels, and can it be done in time?

2021 • Environment

Chess

For centuries, chess has captured hearts and minds - and pawns - and it's more popular than ever. What makes this ever-changing board game so special?

2021 • Brain

Your Skin

Don't panic, but our skin plays host to trillions of bacteria, fungi, mites and other microscopic guests. Go beyond skin-deep with our largest organ.

2021 • Health

Apologies

Apologizing is tough, and in this era of public mea culpas, forgiveness isn't guaranteed. What makes for a good apology, and why does it hold such power?

2021 • Lifehack

Hurricanes

As the planet warms, hurricanes could become even more dangerous and destructive. What can be done to survive and minimize the threat of these storms?

2021 • Nature

Plastic Surgery

The Instagram face. A shapely posterior. Cosmetic surgery can make the latest beauty trends a reality. Explore its origins and effects, inside and out.

2021 • Health

Dance Crazes

From the waltz to voguing, dance crazes have connected people throughout history. But when a dance catches on, who gets the credit - and compensation?

2021 • Music

Time

Time flies - sometimes. Its passage can seem to speed up and slow down. Why do we experience time the way we do, and how do we take back some control?

2021 • Physics

Country Music

Dirt roads. Pickup trucks. Hip-hop? As the borders around country music shift, who decides what defines the popular genre, and who gets to be a star?

2021 • Music

Fairy Tales

Fairy tales have survived thousands of years for a reason. Explore their far-flung history and how the stories speak to fundamental human concerns.

2021 • Creativity

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Bauhaus Rules with Vic Reeves

Presented by Jim Moir, aka Vic Reeves, Bauhaus Rules brings the radical principles of the Bauhaus to a new generation, to discover if the school’s groundbreaking approach to training artists still holds its power 100 years on. Over the course of a week, six Central St Martins graduates - across fine art, fashion, graphic design and architecture - are challenged each day to create a new work of art, design or performance, sticking strictly to rules inspired by the artists who taught at the Bauhaus.

2019 • Design

Tattoos

They've been used to command respect, punish criminals and mark achievements. Tattooists speak about the origins of tattoo traditions and rituals.

S1E13Explained • 2018 • Design

The Art of the Impossible

Professor Sir Roger Penrose is more than just a fan of MC Escher's mind-bending art. During the course of a long creative collaboration, the British mathematician and the Dutch artist exchanged ideas and inspirations. Some of Escher's most iconic images have their origin in Penrose's mathematical sketches - while the artist's work has served as a starting point for the professor's own explorations of new scientific ideas. To coincide with the first ever Escher retrospective in the UK, Penrose takes us on a personal journey through Escher's greatest masterpieces - marvelling at his intuitive brilliance and the penetrating light it still sheds on complex mathematical concepts.

2015 • Design

Forest

Architect Piers Taylor and actress Caroline Quentin explore unusual homes built in or near areas of forest. After trips to properties near Madrid and the Catskill Mountains in New York State, they arrive in Piha, New Zealand, to a house built within an indigenous forest of pohutukawa trees. Navigating very strict environmental laws, this wooden-cladded and glass-roofed property mimics the branches of the surrounding trees, while its huge sliding glass walls open up to allow the surrounding forest to become an intrinsic part of the house itself.

S1E2The World's Most Extraordinary Homes • 2017 • Design

Norway

Piers and Caroline travel to Norway to see a charming family cottage, a summer house built around a rock, a daring concrete home and a rugged retreat.

S2E7The World's Most Extraordinary Homes • 2019 • Design

Teaching to See

This [film] is about patient and dedicated teaching, about learning to look and visualize in order to design, about the importance of drawing. It is one designer’s personal experience of issues that face all designers, expressed with sympathy and encouragement, and illustrated with examples of Inge [Druckrey]’s own work and that of grateful generations of her students. There are simple phrases that give insights into complex matters, for example that letterforms are ‘memories of motion.’ Above all, it is characteristic of Inge that in this examination of basic principles the word “beautiful” is used several times.”

2012 • Design