Season 1
15 episodes · 2022
1Conditioned
Pavlov's investigations into dog digestion lead to phone addiction. A failed quest to find a safer refrigerant creates Teflon. A damaged delivery crate is instrumental in the invention of dynamite. And a chance encounter with a composer leads Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr to invent the basis for wifi.
2Blue Genes
The failed experiment and the world's greatest crime-fighting tool. A clumsily dressed cut leads to the invention of plastics. How chance conversation and sausage poison changed the face of Hollywood. And a broken thermometer sets in motion a chain of events that frees a country from colonialism.
3The Beat Goes On
A clumsy movement throws a sample onto a stove invents vulcanized rubber. The wrong resistor leads to the pacemaker. A failed experiment results in a safe way to create fire. A search for new galaxies leads to hope of extraterrestrials.
4Flash of Success
Broken thermometer fumes cause the invention of photography. Radar parts and a melting snack bar lead to the microwave. Spilled chemicals result in Scotchgard. A trial heart drug works better on another organ and becomes Viagra.
5Sweet Success
A dirty laboratory and a vacation lead to the discovery of our first real weapon against bacteria: penicillin. A scientist's determination to test the ‘wrong' solution gives us Kevlar. Unwashed hands and some unexpectedly sweet bread is to thank for Saccharin. A failed laser becomes the LED light.
6Acid Test
A swiss chemist's attempts to make a lung drug results in LSD. The son of enslaved parents tires to reverse the fortunes of sharecroppers and inadvertently gives rise to PB&J. A failed dye becomes TNT. And a prison camp doctor and a fridge full of urine lead to improve mental healthcare.
7Hair Raising Science
A failed blood pressure medicine and an unexpectedly hairy woman lead to a cure for baldness. How messing around with a scientific toy gave us the x-ray. An attempt to stop the paper curling in a newspaper printer becomes air conditioning. And why war is responsible for the slinky.
8Discovering Drink
A clumsy lab worker leads to the invention of superglue. And the accidents behind neuroscience, beer, and chemical hair relaxant.
9Bigger Bang
A misguided attempt to make plastic wallpaper results in bubble wrap. The precursor to a blood clotting drug becomes rave favorite, MDMA. A mopped-up kitchen spill brings us smokeless explosive guncotton. A defective satellite lens leads to a new way to identify breast cancer.
10Laxative Lunacy
The accidents behind the inventions of post-it notes, Ex-lax, Graphene and the way a walk in the snow almost leads to nuclear Armageddon.
11Get a Grip
A failed metal gun barrel recipe becomes kitchen favourite: surgical steel. Messing around in a spectacle maker's shop leads to the telescope. A bag of dirt from a remote island contains a bacteria that helps stop aging.
12How Saran Wrap Saved D-Day
The search for artificial quinine creates the first artificial dye, Mauvine. A failed dry-cleaning fluid results in Saran Wrap. An attempt to grow bacteria leads to a cancer killing drug, and Western Front nurses invented sanitary towels.
13Sleeping on the Job
A 19th Century party drug and a banged knee lead to the invention of anaesthetics. The story behind the invention of telephone. A shattered experiment results in smart dust, and an ancient attempt to make cheese gave us tofu.
14Teas & Tipple
The unexpected stories behind the inventions of the teabag the gin and tonic Disulfiram and American female politicians.
15Lenin to Lady Gagafinale
A failed poison gas detector results in the smoke detector. An experiment to measure gas density produces the Theremin musical instrument. A broken beaker leads to bulletproof glass, and a search for a new gunpowder gives us iodine.
