How animals make us smarter – we thought you might like to hear our brand new episode
Published on Thursday, 22nd July 2021.
Jump on-board a doomed mission to the Moon. Apollo 13: the extraordinary story
Published on Monday, 9th March 2020.
A revolutionary technology - so why did its inventor struggle to make money from it?
Published on Monday, 2nd March 2020.
Spinning wheels, flashing lights, and the business of addiction
Published on Monday, 24th February 2020.
What chess reveals about the power of computers
Published on Monday, 17th February 2020.
Are things only worth what people are willing to pay for them?
Published on Monday, 10th February 2020.
The benefits they bring can be huge - but so can the problems
Published on Monday, 3rd February 2020.
Did colourful flowers really cause a financial bubble?
Published on Monday, 27th January 2020.
Selling a product that some people found too embarrassing to mention
Published on Monday, 20th January 2020.
How miniature greenhouses were a powerful tool for British colonisers
Published on Monday, 13th January 2020.
How a milkshake-mixer salesman turned a burger restaurant into a global giant
Published on Monday, 6th January 2020.
How do we feel about being watched?
Published on Monday, 30th December 2019.
How should we treat our elders?
Published on Monday, 23rd December 2019.
Why does Father Christmas wear red and white?
Published on Monday, 16th December 2019.
A device that changed women's lives was designed to make a man very rich
Published on Monday, 9th December 2019.
The machine that turned data into money
Published on Monday, 2nd December 2019.
An incentive for good performance, or another way to boost executives' pay?
Published on Monday, 25th November 2019.
What's the best way to get people to give to charity?
Published on Monday, 18th November 2019.
A system that solved big problems is now facing its greatest challenge
Published on Monday, 11th November 2019.
What does the fashion industry owe to an 18th-century potter?
Published on Monday, 4th November 2019.
A vital aid for many, but billions don't know they need them
Published on Monday, 28th October 2019.
How did an invention that was never built help make the modern world?
Published on Monday, 21st October 2019.
What would happen if GPS stopped working?
Published on Monday, 14th October 2019.
Why did a machine for making cigarettes transform the advertising industry?
Published on Monday, 7th October 2019.
How much does it cost to outlaw something?
Published on Monday, 30th September 2019.
The big metal box that made the internet possible
Published on Monday, 23rd September 2019.
The surprising lessons lurking under the lid
Published on Monday, 16th September 2019.
The manufacturing revolution that started with a gun
Published on Monday, 9th September 2019.
How did the price of oil become so important?
Published on Monday, 2nd September 2019.
Can a computer convince you that it's human?
Published on Monday, 26th August 2019.
How important is solar power to the future of the planet?
Published on Monday, 19th August 2019.
A toxic plant that sheds light on hidden social forces
Published on Monday, 12th August 2019.
Does the story of economics really begin with a spark?
Published on Monday, 5th August 2019.
Radio frequency identification is the foundation of many contactless technologies
Published on Monday, 29th July 2019.
How a disgruntled customer revolutionised the postal service
Published on Monday, 22nd July 2019.
An everyday substance with a bloody past
Published on Monday, 15th July 2019.
How a student engineering challenge has changed the way we use space
Published on Monday, 8th July 2019.
Have factories made workers' lives better?
Published on Saturday, 29th June 2019.
How powerful could the technology behind Bitcoin be?
Published on Monday, 24th June 2019.
Is the pencil underrated?
Published on Monday, 17th June 2019.
Are we addicted to getting 'likes' on social media?
Published on Monday, 10th June 2019.
Feeding a hungry world – how Norman Borlaug used genetics to tackle predicted famines
Published on Monday, 3rd June 2019.
Did pornography help develop the internet?
Published on Monday, 27th May 2019.
Could recycling save cash, as well as the planet?
Published on Monday, 20th May 2019.
How a grid on a computer screen gives us a glimpse of the future of automation
Published on Monday, 13th May 2019.
The humble brick has housed us for thousands of years - will it endure?
Published on Monday, 6th May 2019.
How the Montgomery Ward shopping catalogue transformed the middle-class way of life
Published on Monday, 29th April 2019.
Has the bicycle had its day, or is it a technology whose best years lie ahead?
Published on Monday, 22nd April 2019.
From the early typewriters, the QWERTY keyboard layout has stood the test of time
Published on Monday, 15th April 2019.
The last bonus ep of #30Animals. For more, search for 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter
The gyroscope: a remarkable device used to guide everything from submarines to satellites
Published on Monday, 8th April 2019.
Episode 3 of our new podcast: the blood-sucking pest and a pain-free surgical needle
Cellophane transformed how consumers purchased food, as well as how producers sold it
Published on Monday, 1st April 2019.
Episode 2 of our new podcast, 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter
The Langstroth Hive: a wooden box that made the industrialisation of the bee possible
Published on Monday, 25th March 2019.
Introducing our new podcast about innovation, technology and the animal kingdom
Fifty more things are on their way! Tim Harford returns with season two on 25 March 2019
Published on Sunday, 17th March 2019.
Warren Buffett is one of the world’s great investors. His advice? Invest in an index fund
Published on Thursday, 17th January 2019.
Why does Father Christmas wear red and white? It is not for the reason you may think
Published on Monday, 17th December 2018.
Revealed – the winning 51st Thing! Which “thing” won the vote to be added to our list?
Published on Saturday, 28th October 2017.
The plough kick-started civilisation – and ultimately made our modern economy possible
Published on Saturday, 21st October 2017.
Refrigeration revolutionised the food industry, and other industries too
Published on Saturday, 14th October 2017.
Do welfare states boost economic growth, or stunt it? It’s not an easy question to answer
Published on Saturday, 7th October 2017.
Property rights for the world's poor could unlock trillions in ‘dead capital’
Published on Saturday, 30th September 2017.
The extra “thing” – what should it be?
Published on Saturday, 23rd September 2017.
If managers often have a bad reputation, what about those who tell them how to manage?
Published on Saturday, 16th September 2017.
Renaissance man Luca Pacioli wrote the definitive book on double-entry bookkeeping
Published on Saturday, 9th September 2017.
The S-bend was a pipe with a curve in it, an invention that led to public sanitation
Published on Saturday, 2nd September 2017.
A high-tech ‘death ray’ capable of zapping sheep led to the invention of radar
Published on Saturday, 26th August 2017.
Market research marked a shift from a producer-led to consumer-led approach to business
Published on Saturday, 19th August 2017.
We make so much plastic these days that it takes about eight percent of oil production
Published on Saturday, 12th August 2017.
Without seller feedback, companies like eBay might not have grown as they have
Published on Saturday, 5th August 2017.
Currency derives value from trust in the government which issues it
Published on Saturday, 29th July 2017.
How some legal creativity has created vast wealth down the centuries
Published on Saturday, 22nd July 2017.
The big story behind the way dynamos made electricity useful
Published on Saturday, 15th July 2017.
When lead was added to petrol it made cars more powerful – but it also poisoned people
Published on Saturday, 8th July 2017.
Harry Selfridge pioneered a whole new retail experience with his London department store
Published on Saturday, 1st July 2017.
“Lighter than air, stronger than whiskey” – barbed wire wreaked huge changes in America
Published on Saturday, 24th June 2017.
Gabriel Zucman invented an ingenious way to estimate how much wealth is hidden offshore
Published on Saturday, 17th June 2017.
For many new mothers who want, or need, to get back to work, infant formula is a godsend
Published on Saturday, 10th June 2017.
The tally stick shows us what money really is: a kind of debt that can be traded freely
Published on Saturday, 27th May 2017.
If anyone could work anywhere, some economists think global economic output would double
Published on Monday, 22nd May 2017.
Intellectual property reflects an economic trade off when it comes to innovation
Published on Saturday, 13th May 2017.
From Spacewar to Pokemon Go, video games have shaped the modern economy in surprising ways
Published on Saturday, 6th May 2017.
Cuneiform, the earliest known script, was used to create the world’s first accounts
Published on Saturday, 29th April 2017.
Invented for the printing industry, air conditioning now influences where and how we live
Published on Saturday, 22nd April 2017.
The safety elevator is a mass transit system that has changed the shape of our cities
Published on Saturday, 15th April 2017.
The pill wasn’t just socially revolutionary, it also sparked an economic revolution
Published on Saturday, 8th April 2017.
The TV dinner, and other inventions from the same era, made a lasting economic impression
Published on Saturday, 1st April 2017.
"Superstar” economics – the story of how the gramophone led to a winner-take-all market
Published on Saturday, 25th March 2017.
The story of the battery begins inside a dead murderer. It’s a tale that’s far from over
Published on Saturday, 18th March 2017.
Geeks versus government – the story of public key cryptography
Published on Saturday, 11th March 2017.
Robots threaten the human workforce, but they are crucial to the modern economy
Published on Saturday, 4th March 2017.
King Camp Gillette created the disposable razor. But his influence extends beyond shaving
Published on Saturday, 25th February 2017.
The clock was invented in 1656 and has become an essential part of the modern economy.
Published on Saturday, 18th February 2017.
The words 'clever' and 'death' crop up less often than 'Google' in conversation
Published on Saturday, 11th February 2017.
Insurance is as old as gambling, but it’s fundamental to the way the modern economy works
Published on Saturday, 4th February 2017.
The Gutenberg press changed the world – but it could not have done so without paper
Published on Saturday, 28th January 2017.
The tale of antibiotics is a cautionary one, and economic incentives are often to blame
Published on Friday, 20th January 2017.
Low cost, functional and brilliantly efficient, one is produced every three seconds
Published on Saturday, 14th January 2017.
Installing Windows might take 5,000 years without it
Published on Saturday, 7th January 2017.
Transferring money by text message is far safer and more convenient than cash
Published on Saturday, 31st December 2016.
Once too precious to use, light is now too cheap to notice
Published on Saturday, 24th December 2016.
Warrior monks, crusaders and the mysterious origins of modern banking
Published on Saturday, 17th December 2016.
How vast mega-stores emerged with the help of a design originally drawn in the sand
Published on Saturday, 10th December 2016.
How Uncle Sam played an essential role in the creation and development of the iPhone.
Published on Saturday, 3rd December 2016.
It's improved health, school attendance, agricultural productivity and farm worker wages
Published on Saturday, 26th November 2016.
The boom in global trade was caused by a simple steel box
Published on Saturday, 19th November 2016.
Saving lives with thin air - by taking nitrogen from the air to make fertiliser
Published on Monday, 14th November 2016.
Rudolf Diesel died in strange circumstances after changing the world with his engine
Published on Saturday, 5th November 2016.
