The Inventor Who Almost Ended the World

Playing board games and spending too much money are time-honored Christmas traditions, so to mark the festive season, Tim is joined by the creator of Magic: The Gathering - Richard Garfield - for a special Q&A about economics and game design.How should you go about building the p ...  Afficher plus

A megaplant near the small village of Flixborough, England, is busy churning out a key ingredient of nylon 6, a material used in everything from stockings to toothbrushes to electronics. When a reactor vessel fails, the engineers improvise a quick-fix workaround, so the plant can ...  Afficher plus

Midgley was a deeply respected researcher and chemist who received multiple awards. He also developed both leaded gas and freon, two substances banned around the world now because they are very bad for the environment and public health.

Research:

How far would you go to fly? It's a question many inventors have asked themselves over the ages and, tragically, for every successful breakthrough it seems there were also dozens of failures, flops and -- sometimes -- fatal crashes. In part two of Flyin' or Dyin', Ben, Noel and M ...  Afficher plus

How long do humans have left on Earth? As species go, humanity has had a brief, incredibly transformative run here on Earth. We've mined resources, farmed food, hunted animals, built cities and polluted ecosystems across the globe. There's no denying we've also made tremendous ...

How long do humans have left on Earth? As species go, humanity has had a brief, incredibly transformative run here on Earth. We've mined resources, farmed food, hunted animals, built cities and polluted ecosystems across the globe. There's no denying we've also made tremendous te ...  Afficher plus