Living in a material world - a quick guide to materials science

What makes supercomputers millions of times better than the one on your desk? Here's our quick introduction to supercomputers and massively parallel processing...

Toilets are one invention we can't live without, though many people in the world unfortunately do. Do you know how your toilet really works, and how it differs from unusual varieties like macerating, vacuum, and eco-friendly composting toilets?

If you can play an electronic keyboard, you can play not just any instrument in the orchestra but any instrument you can possibly imagine. But how exactly do keyboards - music synthesizers - work?

There's enough heat energy in the oceans to meet our energy needs many times over, but can we harness it effectively? In this week's episode, we look at OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) - making electricity from temperature differences in the seas.

How did we get from the wild horse to the horseless carriage - in other words, the modern car - in about 5000 years? Here's a half-hour, whistle-stop tour of automobile history!

Nuclear power plants make about 10 percent of the world's energy by splitting atoms apart, but they have a very mixed history. So what about nuclear fusion, a better kind of nuclear power, that joins atoms together? We explain how it works... and look at whether it can deliver enough power to solve the energy crisis and climate change.

Why don't we build houses from leather or planes from glass? Many of life's problems boil down to putting the right material in the right place - which is what materials science and technology is all about.

A candle is an ingenious chemical factory that converts hydrocarbon molecules into light. Which part is hottest? Which is brightest? Can you burn a candle in space? Do candles make harmful pollution?

Today, a look at the science behind bullets - how do they work and how are they designed to do maximum damage when they hit the target?

It's just over a decade since The New York Times declared 3D TV "an expensive flop". How did it work, why didn't it catch on... and will it make a comeback in future?