TELEVISION

NOVA: Making Stuff - Season 2

Series: Nova
4.3
(19)
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Episodes
4
Rating
TVPG
Year
2013
Language
English
Publisher
PBS

About

Go with David Pogue on a fantastic journey through the revolutionary technologies that are making our lives better by working Faster, Safer, Colder, and Wilder. From quantum computers to maglev trains, and from increasing the speed of a stock transaction to decreasing the risk posed by an earthquake, emerging technologies are changing our world.

Related Subjects

Episodes

1 to 3 of 4

1. Making Stuff Faster

1h

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Are there physical limits to how fast humans can go? David Pogue wants to find out how much we can tweak physiology and engineering to move humans and machines even faster. He investigates everything from lightning-fast electric muscle cars to ultra-sleek sailboats to ultra-fast cameras and quantum teleportation. But faster is also about efficiency and the science of optimization: getting things done in less time. From the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to UPS headquarters and inside a packed 737, Pogue's quest for ultimate speed limits takes him to unexpected places where he comes face-to-face with the final frontiers of speed. NOVA also explores important questions: Is it possible to go too fast? Have we hit a point where innovation outpaces our ability to keep up?

2. Making Stuff Wilder

1h

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What happens when engineers open up nature's toolbox? David Pogue explores bold innovations inspired by the Earth's greatest inventor, life itself. From underwater wi-fi based on dolphin communication, to robotic "mules" and "cheetahs" for the military, to swarms of robotic bees, Pogue travels the world seeing the "wildest" ideas put into action in new inventions and technologies. It is a journey that sees today's bacteria turned into tomorrow's metallurgists, viruses building batteries, and even DNA, the Code of Life, put to work in "living" computers. Will the stuff of the future take on a life of its own?

3. Making Stuff Colder

1h

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Cold. For centuries we've fought it, shunned it and huddled against it. Cold has always been the enemy of life, but now it may hold the key to a new generation of science and technology that will improve our lives. David Pogue explores the frontiers of cold science, from saving the lives of severe trauma patients and cooling a warming planet to ultracold physics, where bizarre new properties of matter are the norm and the basis of new technologies like levitating trains and quantum computers. In this brave new world, cold isn't to be avoided. Cold is the new hot.

Extended Details

  • Closed CaptionsEnglish

Artists

Paula S. Apselldirector
David Pogueactor