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Interchangeable parts

The manufacturing revolution that started with a gun

• 10 mins

Canned food

The surprising lessons lurking under the lid

• 9 mins

Interface Message Processor

The big metal box that made the internet possible

• 10 mins

Prohibition

How much does it cost to outlaw something?

• 10 mins

Bonsack machine

Why did a machine for making cigarettes transform the advertising industry?

• 9 mins

GPS

What would happen if GPS stopped working?

• 9 mins

Vickrey turnstile

How did an invention that was never built help make the modern world?

• 9 mins

Glasses

A vital aid for many, but billions don't know they need them

• 10 mins

Wedgwood

What does the fashion industry owe to an 18th-century potter?

• 9 mins

SWIFT

A system that solved big problems is now facing its greatest challenge

• 10 mins

Fundraising appeal

What's the best way to get people to give to charity?

• 9 mins

Stock option

An incentive for good performance, or another way to boost executives' pay?

• 10 mins

Hollerith punch card

The machine that turned data into money

• 9 mins

Sewing machine

A device that changed women's lives was designed to make a man very rich

• 9 mins

Santa

Why does Father Christmas wear red and white?

• 16 mins

Retirement

How should we treat our elders?

• 10 mins

CCTV

How do we feel about being watched?

• 9 mins

Fast food franchise

How a milkshake-mixer salesman turned a burger restaurant into a global giant

• 9 mins

Wardian case

How miniature greenhouses were a powerful tool for British colonisers

• 9 mins

Sanitary towel

Selling a product that some people found too embarrassing to mention

• 9 mins

Tulips

Did colourful flowers really cause a financial bubble?

• 10 mins

Dams

The benefits they bring can be huge - but so can the problems

• 9 mins

Auctions

Are things only worth what people are willing to pay for them?

• 9 mins

Chess algorithms

What chess reveals about the power of computers

• 9 mins

Slot machines

Spinning wheels, flashing lights, and the business of addiction

• 9 mins

Gutenberg press

A revolutionary technology - so why did its inventor struggle to make money from it?

• 10 mins

Introducing 13 Minutes to the Moon Season 2

Jump on-board a doomed mission to the Moon. Apollo 13: the extraordinary story

• 3 mins

Introducing: Season 2 of 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter

How animals make us smarter – we thought you might like to hear our brand new episode

• 18 mins