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Rubber

An everyday substance with a bloody past

• 9 mins

Postage stamp

How a disgruntled customer revolutionised the postal service

• 10 mins

RFID: The tech you’ve never heard of – but use every day

Radio frequency identification is the foundation of many contactless technologies

• 10 mins

Fire

Does the story of economics really begin with a spark?

• 9 mins

Cassava

A toxic plant that sheds light on hidden social forces

• 9 mins

Solar PV

How important is solar power to the future of the planet?

• 9 mins

Chatbot

Can a computer convince you that it's human?

• 10 mins

Oil

How did the price of oil become so important?

• 8 mins

Interchangeable parts

The manufacturing revolution that started with a gun

• 10 mins

Canned food

The surprising lessons lurking under the lid

• 9 mins

Interface Message Processor

The big metal box that made the internet possible

• 10 mins

Prohibition

How much does it cost to outlaw something?

• 10 mins

Bonsack machine

Why did a machine for making cigarettes transform the advertising industry?

• 9 mins

GPS

What would happen if GPS stopped working?

• 9 mins

Vickrey turnstile

How did an invention that was never built help make the modern world?

• 9 mins

Glasses

A vital aid for many, but billions don't know they need them

• 10 mins

Wedgwood

What does the fashion industry owe to an 18th-century potter?

• 9 mins

SWIFT

A system that solved big problems is now facing its greatest challenge

• 10 mins

Fundraising appeal

What's the best way to get people to give to charity?

• 9 mins

Stock option

An incentive for good performance, or another way to boost executives' pay?

• 10 mins

Hollerith punch card

The machine that turned data into money

• 9 mins

Sewing machine

A device that changed women's lives was designed to make a man very rich

• 9 mins

Santa

Why does Father Christmas wear red and white?

• 16 mins

Retirement

How should we treat our elders?

• 10 mins

CCTV

How do we feel about being watched?

• 9 mins

Fast food franchise

How a milkshake-mixer salesman turned a burger restaurant into a global giant

• 9 mins

Wardian case

How miniature greenhouses were a powerful tool for British colonisers

• 9 mins

Sanitary towel

Selling a product that some people found too embarrassing to mention

• 9 mins

Tulips

Did colourful flowers really cause a financial bubble?

• 10 mins

Dams

The benefits they bring can be huge - but so can the problems

• 9 mins