Explain that Stuff

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?

Science seems our best hope for making sense of the world - and ourselves - but what makes it a better bet than, say, art or religion. What exactly *is* science, anyway? What makes a scientific theory and how do you prove or disprove one? How did science evolve through the ages and where's it heading next?

From Galileo to Henry Cavendish and Robert Millikan to Ernest Rutherford, here are 10 of the greatest physics experiments - and why they mattered.

Ocean waves contain surprising amounts of energy - which is why surfing is such a cool sport. This week, a quick look at just how much energy there is in waves... and what we can do with it.

How exactly does a hearing aid work? Why is it so much more effective than simply shouting louder? Do the latest digital aids really work better than old-fashioned analog ones?

Friction brakes are brilliantly simple, but they're a huge waste of energy. How can different vehicles - from trucks and trains to bikes and elevators - work more efficiently with energy-saving regenerative brakes?

With thousands of fossil-fuel power plants dotted round the world, we're locked into burning huge amounts of carbon for decades to come. Can carbon capture and storage help us get around the problem and slow the effects of climate change?

What's the difference between an old-style Hoover and a new-style Dyson? This week, we take a quick look at the technology that gets your rugs and carpets clean...

From the alphabet to the Internet, enjoy a 10,000-year, whistle-stop tour through the whole history of human communication!

Old-style telephones are giving way to Internet phones - or Skype-style VoIP. What is it and how exactly does it work?

The Ancient Greeks knew about static electricity but, surprisingly enough, 2600 years later, we still don't understand it completely. What really causes it, how can it help us, and how can we keep dangerous static properly in check?

Noble gases used to be called "inert gases" because people thought they were so un-reactive and boring. In this week's episode, we discover how they provide the secret atomic power behind neon lamps, xenon lamps, and the brightest lights in our otherwise dark and dingy world!

Why can't you blow all the dust off a bookshelf? Why are wind turbines so high? Why does coffee spill when you pour it and barges bang together? Find the answers in our easy-to-understand intro to aerodynamics!

Are electronic books (ebooks) really the future? For those of you who've yet to discover them, here's a quick guide to ebook readers, ebooks, eink - and how all that stuff works.

What are earthquakes and why do they cause so much destruction? Following the offshore quake and tsunami warning in northern California a few days ago, here's a timely 15-minute introduction!

If you're tired of all those Windows worms and malware scares, maybe it's time you switched to Linux. What is it and how does it work?