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The Works

Season 1 2008
TV-PG

  • 2008-07-11T02:00:00Z on History
  • 45m
  • 7h 30m (10 episodes)
  • United States
  • Documentary
The Works is a History Channel show hosted by Daniel H. Wilson, a Carnegie educated robotics engineer and American writer. The program reveals the unseen secrets and history of everyday life using real scientific experiments and interviews with experts. Each episode focuses on uncovering the complex systems behind commonplace things, tracing a path from where it has come to where it is today and where it can go in the future. Topics range from common garbage, beer, sneakers or tattoo removal to armored plating and robots. The Works takes the viewer from a basic understanding of a product or service to a fascinating level of behind the scenes knowledge. The viewers become privy to industry trade secrets and interesting historical facts, often presented by top representatives of each perspective field. Scientific, historical and social significance are given equal weight. The Works shows audiences a broad, vibrant and surprising picture of everyday objects and industries.

10 episodes

Series Premiere

2008-07-11T02:00:00Z

1x01 Garbage

Series Premiere

1x01 Garbage

  • 2008-07-11T02:00:00Z45m

The average person tosses 102 tons of garbage away in their lifetime. Every year we use enough plastic film to cover food to shrink-wrap the state of Texas. So how do we get rid our trash? Witness first hand how NYC takes trash from your door to its final resting place as a landfill park. But decades of plastic dumping have already created a swirling vortex of trash in the Pacific Ocean the size of California. Is their any hope? We track down the latest applications of recycling, to explore energy conversion and beyond. Join host Daniel Wilson as he takes us on a transformative journey that reveals the extraordinary in everyday things.

2008-07-18T02:00:00Z

1x02 Steel

1x02 Steel

  • 2008-07-18T02:00:00Z45m

Host Daniel Wilson takes us on a transformative journey that reveals the extraordinary in everyday things. Wilson delves into steel, the lightest, toughest, most flexible inexpensive material on earth. It is in our buildings, our weapons, our roads, even in our bodies. What is the secret that makes more than 3,500 types of steel possible? Explore its cutting edge as a weapon in law enforcement; its application to music; and its role in monumental art.

2008-07-25T02:00:00Z

1x03 Power Tools

1x03 Power Tools

  • 2008-07-25T02:00:00Z45m

Since the Egyptians invented them three thousand years ago, power tools have transformed the face of the earth. As we trace their evolution, we find out their hidden commonalities: from power tools that slice mountains in half to new breakthroughs in nanotechnology that enable them to literally split hairs. Follow the life of a power tool as it goes from an idea to our garage shelf as we discover how they're being used in surprising ways in sports, medicine and art.

2008-08-01T02:00:00Z

1x04 Beer

1x04 Beer

  • 2008-08-01T02:00:00Z45m

It's the most popular beverage on the planet - mankind's first recipe carved in stone ten thousand years ago, and today, the brewski still rules. Join host Daniel Wilson as he sets out to find the timeless secret to beer's mystique - how its made, how its marketed to us, how new beers are invented and tested and how the giants jockey for global supremacy. Wilson even uncovers an ecological time bomb - a beerdemic threatening to make beer an endangered species!

2008-08-08T02:00:00Z

1x05 Sneakers

1x05 Sneakers

  • 2008-08-08T02:00:00Z45m

They're everywhere, we take them for granted, but why are sneakers so essential to modern existence? We find out that some scientists believe sneakers may represent the next step in human evolution, see how biomechanical engineers perfect new designs as we uncover the story of a multi-billion dollar global industry that inspires music, movies & has its own subculture.

2008-08-15T02:00:00Z

1x06 Guns and Ammo

1x06 Guns and Ammo

  • 2008-08-15T02:00:00Z45m

A history of guns and ammunition. Included: the story of gunpowder; and future technology involving plasma, compressed gas and light-powered guns.

2008-08-22T02:00:00Z

1x07 Tattoos

1x07 Tattoos

  • 2008-08-22T02:00:00Z45m

Daniel Wilson goes beneath the skin's surface to reveal the history and meaning behind tattoos.

2008-08-29T02:00:00Z

1x08 Motorcycles

1x08 Motorcycles

  • 2008-08-29T02:00:00Z45m

Nothing combines human engineering with the tactile thrill of speed and power like the motorcycle. Daniel Wilson uncovers the basic physics of the machine

2008-09-20T02:00:00Z

1x09 Skydiving

1x09 Skydiving

  • 2008-09-20T02:00:00Z45m

Daniel Wilson takes the sport of skydiving to new heights by diving into the science behind it.

2008-09-26T02:00:00Z

1x10 Robots

1x10 Robots

  • 2008-09-26T02:00:00Z45m

Robots can be as large as a six-story building or as small as a hair and have the ability to sense, think and act to get any given job done.

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