Name: Oops, I Changed the World | Conditioned
Uploaded: 2022-09-07
Duration: 51 min 52 s
Description: Pavlov’s investigations into dog digestion lead to phone addiction. A failed quest to find a safer refrigerant creates Teflon. A damaged delivery crate is instrumental in the invention of dynamite. And a chance encounter with a composer leads Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr to invent the basis for wifi.

Oops I Changed The World! tells the fascinating stories of accidental and surprise inventions that have transformed our lives.

Pavlov’s investigations into dog digestion lead to phone addiction. A failed quest to find a safer refrigerant creates Teflon. A damaged delivery crate is instrumental in the invention of dynamite. And a chance encounter with a composer leads Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr to invent the basis for wifi.

Conditioned

The failed experiment and the world’s greatest crime-fighting tool. A clumsily dressed cut leads to the invention of plastics. How chance conversation and sausage poison changed the face of Hollywood. And a broken thermometer sets in motion a chain of events that frees a country from colonialism.

Blue Genes

Clumsy gesticulation throws a sample onto a stove, accidentally inventing vulcanized rubber. Grabbing the wrong resistor leads to the pacemaker. Up a failed experiment ignites- discovering a safe way to create flame on demand. A search for new galaxies leads to our best hope of contacting aliens.

The Beat Goes On

Fumes from a broken thermometer cause the invention of photography. Radar parts and a melting snack bar lead to the microwave. Spilling a beaker of experimental chemicals gives rise to Scotchgard. And a routine trial of heart drug has a much more pronounced effect on another organ- becoming Viagra.

Flash Of Success

A dirty laboratory and a vacation lead to the discovery of our first real weapon against bacteria: penicillin. A scientist's determination to test the 'wrong' solution gives us Kevlar. Unwashed hands and some unexpectedly sweet bread is to thank for Saccharin. A failed laser becomes the LED light.

Sweet Success

A swiss chemist’s attempts to make a lung drug results in LSD. The son of enslaved parents tires to reverse the fortunes of sharecroppers and inadvertently gives rise to PB&J. A failed dye becomes TNT. And a prison camp doctor and a fridge full of urine lead to improve mental healthcare.

Acid Test

A failed blood pressure medicine and an unexpectedly hairy woman lead to a cure for baldness. How messing around with a scientific toy gave us the x-ray. An attempt to stop the paper curling in a newspaper printer becomes air conditioning. And why war is responsible for the slinky.

Hair Raising Science

A clumsy lab worker leads to the invention of superglue. And the accidents behind neuroscience, beer, and chemical hair relaxant.

Discovering Drink

A misguided attempt to make plastic wallpaper results in bubble wrap. The precursor to a blood clotting drug becomes rave favorite, MDMA. A mopped-up kitchen spill brings us smokeless explosive guncotton. A defective satellite lens leads to a new way to identify breast cancer.

Bigger Bang

The accidents behind the inventions of post-it notes, Ex-lax, Graphene and the way a walk in the snow almost leads to nuclear Armageddon.

Laxative Lunacy

A failed metal designed for gun barrels, becomes kitchen favourite: surgical steel. Messing around in a spectacle maker’s shop leads to the telescope. A bag of dirt from a remote island contains a bacteria that helps stop aging. Pulling burrs off his dog’s coat leads to the invention of Velcro.

Get A Grip

The search for an artificial form of quinine accidently creates the first artificial dye, Mauvine. A failed dry-cleaning fluid results in Saran Wrap. An attempt to grow bacteria in the lab leads to a cancer killing drug. And how nurses on the Western front invented sanitary towels.

How Saran Wrap Saved D-Day

How a party drug from the 19th Century, and a banged knee, lead to the invention of anaesthetics. Electrotherapy and the true story behind the invention of telephone. A dropped experiment shatters resulting in material of the future; smart dust. And an ancient attempt to make cheese gave us tofu.

Sleeping On the Job

The unexpected stories behind the inventions of the teabag, the gin & tonic, Disulfiram, and American female politicians.

Teas & Tipple

How a failed poison gas detector results in the invention of the smoke detector. A Russian genius tries to measure gas density, but ends up with musical instrument; the Theremin. A dropped beaker eventually leads to bulletproof glass. And the search for a new gunpowder that gives us iodine.