Rock'N'Roll Inventions

Explore mind-bending developments in basic science and math research. Quanta Magazine is an award-winning, editorially independent magazine published by the Simons Foundation.

How We Invented the World is the ultimate action-packed, hi-energy, landmark series that examines the four inventions that define the modern world - mobiles, cars, planes and skyscrapers -celebrating the people and connections that made them possible. Each playing a crucial role in where we are now in the 21st Century - able to travel the globe, to talk to one another at any time at the push of a button, to live in huge cities, to commute, to capture the world we live in, making the fantasies we create come to life. This four part series lifts the lid on how these iconic inventions came to be. Showcasing the people who have shaped our lives in ways that they could have never imagined or anticipated, this series reveals stories of human ingenuity, extraordinary connections, unprecedented experimentation and jaw dropping accidents that created the world as we know it.

Extinct for millions of years, dinosaurs continue to fascinate as scientists struggle to understand the creatures that went from domination to extinction seemingly overnight. This four-part documentary series attempts to provide some answers. From the badlands to the Yucatán Peninsula, paleontologists scour the earth to learn about the predatory habits of carnivorous dinosaurs, the land area required to feed a large sauropod and much more.

Join Stephen Hawking and other renowned thinkers as they explore the revolutionary new ideas that have evolved since the publication of his blockbuster book. Besides interviews, this stimulating documentary uses computer graphics and simple, easy-to-understand demonstrations to explain complex concepts. Topics include black holes, string theory, supersymmetry, dimensions beyond our perception, and the mysterious M force; all potential keys to unlocking the elusive "theory of everything" that seems so tantalizingly close.

Hawking gives us the ultimate guide to the universe, a ripping yarn based on real science, spanning the whole of space and time -- from the nature of the universe itself, to the chances of alien life, and the real possibility of time travel.