The material world
Decoding the stuff of civilisation by analysing materials and substances used in our everyday lives with Mark Miodownik, engineer and materials scientist and director of the Institute of Making at UCL
How laboratory-grown organs will transform our lives
With people living longer than ever, being able to replace bits of the human body as they wear out has become a new frontier in medicine
Wood 2.0 reaches for the skies as digital techniques give it a new lease of life
From skyscrapers to houses and furniture, plywood is ideal for all kinds of design
Stainless steel revolutionised eating after centuries of a bad taste in the mouth
It took thousands of years to find cheap metal cutlery that didn’t react disagreeably with food
3D knitting: after 8,000 years a new dimension in weaving and spinning
In the 20th century mass production revolutionised how we made clothes from fabric. Now new technology is taking textiles into new fields of medicine, architecture and sport
How looking through glass made us view the world in a different light
From Galileo’s discoveries to modern biology and the glasses we wear, we owe a debt to medieval European glassmakers
Concrete: solid, dependable, obstinate – and self-healing
Concrete is the single most used material on the planet – but not many fancy cementing the relationship
Don’t write-off paper – it’s got human knowledge all wrapped up
Don’t write-off paper – it’s got human knowledge all wrapped us, says Mark Miodownik
Superalloys to the rescue: the marvellous metals that take us to the skies
Able to stand the heat where other metals fail, flight would be the sole preserve of the rich without these impressive nickel alloys
The magic of rubber: irreverent, sexy, sporty, revolutionary … indispensable
Without it, there would be no football, no Jeremy Clarkson, no latex dresses, no Tour de France, no condoms, no space travel. How its discovery changed the world
Perfectly imperfect silicon chips: the electronic brains that run the world
The 20th-century invention flies planes, does your washing and runs your mobile with more computer power than a Moon rocket
