"From the New York Times-bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From and Everything Bad Is Good for You, a new look at the power and legacy of great ideas. In this illustrated volume, Steven Johnson explores the history of innovation over centuries, tracing facets of modern life (refrigeration, clocks, and eyeglass lenses, to name a few) from their creation by hobbyists, amateurs, and entrepreneurs to their unintended historical consequences....

"Vaclav Smil's mission is to make facts matter. An environmental scientist, policy analyst, and a hugely prolific author, he is Bill Gates' go-to guy for making sense of our world. In Numbers Don't Lie, Smil answers questions such as: What's worse for the environment--your car or your phone? How much do the world's cows weigh (and what does it matter)? And what makes people happy?"-- Provided by publisher.

This STEM book for ages seven and up looks at ten inventions and their inventors from throughout history.

Friedman discusses how the key to understanding the 21st century is understanding that the planet's three largest forces -- Moore's law (technology), the market (globalization) and Mother Nature (climate change and biodiversity loos) -- are accelerating all at once. And these accelerations are transforming the five key realms: the workplace, politics, geopolitics, ethics, and community. Friedman posits that we should purposely "be late" -- we should...

The invention of "waves" - as in radio waves or electromagnetic fields - has led to many great inventions. This program examines how the ability to transmit music, conversations, pictures, or data invisibly through the air, over thousands of miles, has changed our lives. Whether we are talking about cell phones, microwave ovens, TVs, RADAR systems, or any one of the thousands of other wireless technologies, all of them use radio waves to communicate....

Eighth-grader Emily Lemon wakes up and discovers that none of the gadgets around her house are working properly, and the computers at her middle school seem to have a mind of their own--but when the scoreboard in the gym displays the words "the revolution has begun, down with humanity" she realizes that humanity has lost control and civilization as we know it is in serious trouble.

Thirty years ago Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about climate change. Now he broadens the warning: the entire human game, he suggests, has begun to play itself out. Bill McKibben's groundbreaking book The End of Nature -- issued in dozens of languages and long regarded as a classic -- was the first book to alert us to global warming. But the danger is broader than that: even as climate change shrinks the space where our civilization...

Few substances in history have had as profound an effect on mankind as gunpowder. And yet its discovery was probably an accident - a big bang, for one. This program examines the invention and history of gunpowder, as well as its surprising ingredients. As you can imagine, making gunpowder takes some effort. Gunpowder once needed saltpeter, and saltpeter needed poop. It turns out that secretions have such an explosive character due to microscopic bacteria,...

Throughout the history of mankind, the business of curing, understanding, and treating disease has taken a rather peculiar path. Some procedures have proven to be very efficient while other methods could only have made things worse for the patient. This program traces the history of bacteria and antibiotics. From Alexander Fleming to "super drugs" for superbugs, have these cures led to bacteria becoming more resistant and harder to kill? What else...

USERS begins with a mother’s question–will my children love the perfect machines more than they love me, their imperfect mother? She pushes the button and a smart crib lulls her crying baby to sleep, flawlessly every time. This question guides her inquiry into the intimate relationship we have with technology that is increasingly driving all aspects of our society. We explore the unintended and often dehumanizing consequences of our society's...