The Secret Genius Of Modern Life
Catching up on The Secret Genius Of Modern Life?
Don't want to miss an episode anymore? Set up a free alarm and receive an email when new episodes are available. Handy!
Last episode
The Secret Genius Of Modern Life
Hannah goes behind the scenes to look at the technology behind the lift, entering a 246m high lift shaft to test everything from the brakes to her own fear of heights.
Headphones: these marvels of miniaturisation are worn by 30 million people in the UK. Hannah Fry visits Bose to find out how the teeny earbud tech works and meets the human testers with ‘golden ears’.
Hannah Fry discovers the hidden WWII radar technology that heats up baked beans and learns the legend of the melted candy bar in an engineer’s pocket that kick-started a kitchen revolution.
With rare access to electronics giant Samsung, Hannah uncovers the technological game changers that have made the smartphone a reality.
Hannah takes a look at the vacuum cleaner, going behind the scenes with Dyson and discovering how the motor in their latest vacuum spins nine times faster than that of a Formula One race car.
Hannah gains access to a top-secret site where anonymous staff and the latest tech work to make the British passport one of the most secure documents on the planet.
Series 1
Hannah Fry visits eBay’s authentication centre, where they are waging war against fake high-value trainers.
Hannah Fry finds out how 1970s car crashes helped us to count our steps, why WWII dog-fights led to a crucial health monitor and how fitness trackers are even being used to catch killers.
Hannah Fry discovers why innovations in meat packing almost derailed the electric car revolution and how a breakthrough in camcorder batteries led to Elon Musk’s electric empire.
Hannah Fry delves into the inner workings of virtual assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri, which are now found in almost half of all UK homes.
Hannah Fry tucks into the tech behind food delivery apps, which are now used by 24 million people in the UK. Hannah finds out how pizza made us fall in love with the internet.
Hannah Fry takes a look at the bank card, the digital key to accessing cash, and finds out how its extraordinary innovations have some surprising and sinister origins.