The Secret Genius of Modern Life
TV Show · Documentary

Mathematician and television presenter Hannah Fry hosts a series revealing the miraculous technologies that define the modern world. Seemingly ordinary inventions, like the bank card, have fascinating stories to tell about their origins, proliferation, and their role in shaping the world as we know it today. While celebrating the convenience these objects often bring into our lives, Hannah also casts a critical eye to their less savoury real-world impacts, asking whether all this technology can come without a deeper cost to society.

2022 · 59m
Starring Hannah Fry

Season 1

  • Bank Card
    EPISODE 1
    Bank Card
    Hannah Fry takes a look at the bank card, the digital key to accessing cash, and finds out how its extraordinary innovations have some surprising and sinister origins.
    50 min
  • Food Delivery App
    EPISODE 2
    Food Delivery App
    Hannah Fry tucks into the tech behind food delivery apps, which are now used by 24 million people in the UK. Hannah finds out how pizza made us fall in love with the internet.
    49 min
  • Virtual Assistant
    EPISODE 3
    Virtual Assistant
    Hannah Fry delves into the inner workings of virtual assistants, such as Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri, which are now found in almost half of all UK homes.
    49 min
  • Electric Car
    EPISODE 4
    Electric Car
    Hannah Fry discovers why innovations in meat packing almost derailed the electric car revolution and how a breakthrough in camcorder batteries led to Elon Musk's electric empire.
    45 min
  • Fitness Tracker
    EPISODE 5
    Fitness Tracker
    Hannah Fry finds out how 1970s car crashes helped us to count our steps, why WWII dog-fights led to a crucial health monitor and how fitness trackers are even being used to catch killers.
    49 min
  • Trainer
    EPISODE 6
    Trainer
    Hannah Fry visits Ebay's Authentication Centre where they're waging war against fake high value trainers. She discovers how American breakfast waffles transformed our trainer soles, that a family feud created two of the world's biggest trainer brands and how an 18th century tea set led to the use of celebrity endorsement.
    50 min

Related

  • Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry's Mysterious World of Maths
  • Engineering the Future
  • Solar System
  • Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
  • Power Trip: The Story of Energy
  • Mars Rising
  • Tech Effect - Unlocking Tomorrow Today
  • Great Heroes and Discoveries of Astronomy
  • FASTER!

Cast & Crew

  • Hannah Fry
    Host
  • E‌I
    Eileen Inkson
    Producer
  • P‌O
    Paul Overton
    Producer

About

The Secret Genius of Modern Life

Documentary

Mathematician and television presenter Hannah Fry hosts a series revealing the miraculous technologies that define the modern world. Seemingly ordinary inventions, like the bank card, have fascinating stories to tell about their origins, proliferation, and their role in shaping the world as we know it today. While celebrating the convenience these objects often bring into our lives, Hannah also casts a critical eye to their less savoury real-world impacts, asking whether all this technology can come without a deeper cost to society.

Information

Studio
BBC Studios Productions
Released
2022
Region of Origin
United Kingdom
© 2022 BBC

Languages

Original Audio
English (United Kingdom)
Subtitles

English (CC)

Accessibility

Closed captions refer to subtitles in available languages with the addition of relevant non-dialogue information.
Audio descriptions (AD) refer to a narration track describing what is happening on screen to provide context for those who are blind or have low vision.
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Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bahrain
  • Botswana
  • Brunei Darussalam
  • Cape Verde
  • Egypt
  • Eswatini
  • Gambia
  • Ghana
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • India
  • Israel
  • Jordan
  • Lebanon
  • Mauritius
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Niger (English)
  • Oman
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • South Africa
  • Sri Lanka
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkmenistan
  • Uganda
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Zimbabwe

Asia Pacific

  • Australia
  • Cambodia
  • Fiji
  • 香港 (廣東話–繁體)
  • Indonesia (English)
  • 日本
  • Lao People's Democratic Republic
  • 澳門 (廣東話–繁體)
  • Malaysia (English)
  • Micronesia, Federated States of
  • Mongolia
  • New Zealand
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • 대한민국
  • 台灣
  • Thailand
  • Turkmenistan
  • Vietnam

Europe

  • Armenia
  • Österreich
  • Belarus
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Cyprus
  • Czechia
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France (Français)
  • Deutschland
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Ireland
  • Italia
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg (English)
  • Malta
  • Moldova, Republic Of
  • Nederland
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal (Português)
  • Россия
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • España
  • Sverige
  • Schweiz
  • Türkiye (English)
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Anguilla
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Argentina (Español)
  • Bahamas
  • Belize
  • Bermuda
  • Bolivia (Español)
  • Brasil
  • Virgin Islands, British
  • Cayman Islands
  • Chile (Español)
  • Colombia (Español)
  • Costa Rica (Español)
  • Dominica
  • República Dominicana
  • Ecuador (Español)
  • El Salvador (Español)
  • Grenada
  • Guatemala (Español)
  • Honduras (Español)
  • México
  • Nicaragua (Español)
  • Panamá
  • Paraguay (Español)
  • Perú
  • St. Kitts and Nevis
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Venezuela (Español)

The United States and Canada

  • Canada (English)
  • Canada (Français)
  • United States
  • Estados Unidos (Español México)