The Works (2008)

The average person tosses 102 tons of garbage away in their lifetime. Every year we use enough plastic film to cover food to shrink-wrap the state of Texas. So how do we get rid our trash? Witness first hand how NYC takes trash from your door to its final resting place as a landfill park. But decades of plastic dumping have already created a swirling vortex of trash in the Pacific Ocean the size of California. Is their any hope? We track down the latest applications of recycling, to explore energy conversion and beyond. Join host Daniel Wilson as he takes us on a transformative journey that reveals the extraordinary in everyday things.

Host Daniel Wilson takes us on a transformative journey that reveals the extraordinary in everyday things. Wilson delves into steel, the lightest, toughest, most flexible inexpensive material on earth. It is in our buildings, our weapons, our roads, even in our bodies. What is the secret that makes more than 3,500 types of steel possible? Explore its cutting edge as a weapon in law enforcement; its application to music; and its role in monumental art.

Since the Egyptians invented them three thousand years ago, power tools have transformed the face of the earth. As we trace their evolution, we find out their hidden commonalities: from power tools that slice mountains in half to new breakthroughs in nanotechnology that enable them to literally split hairs. Follow the life of a power tool as it goes from an idea to our garage shelf as we discover how they're being used in surprising ways in sports, medicine and art.

It's the most popular beverage on the planet - mankind's first recipe carved in stone ten thousand years ago, and today, the brewski still rules. Join host Daniel Wilson as he sets out to find the timeless secret to beer's mystique - how its made, how its marketed to us, how new beers are invented and tested and how the giants jockey for global supremacy.

They're everywhere, we take them for granted, but why are sneakers so essential to modern existence? We find out that some scientists believe sneakers may represent the next step in human evolution, see how biomechanical engineers perfect new designs as we uncover the story of a multi-billion dollar global industry that inspires music, movies & has its own subculture.

A history of guns and ammunition. Included: the story of gunpowder; and future technology involving plasma, compressed gas and light-powered guns.

Nothing combines human engineering with the tactile thrill of speed and power like the motorcycle.

Robotics and artificial intelligence are explored.