Oops I Changed the World

Episode 2

Blue Genes

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.

Episode 3

The Beat Goes On

A clumsy movement throws a sample onto a stove invents vulcanized rubber. The wrong resistor leads to the pacemaker. A failed experiment results in a safe way to create fire. A search for new galaxies leads to hope of extraterrestrials.

Episode 4

Flash of Success

Broken thermometer fumes cause the invention of photography. Radar parts and a melting snack bar lead to the microwave. Spilled chemicals result in Scotchgard. A trial heart drug works better on another organ and becomes Viagra.

Episode 5

Sweet 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.

Episode 6

Acid Test

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.

Episode 7

Hair Raising Science

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.

Episode 8

Discovering Drink

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

Episode 9

Bigger Bang

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.

Episode 10

Laxative Lunacy

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.

Episode 11

Get a Grip

A failed metal gun barrel recipe 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.

Episode 12

How Saran Wrap Saved D-Day

The search for artificial quinine creates the first artificial dye, Mauvine. A failed dry-cleaning fluid results in Saran Wrap. An attempt to grow bacteria leads to a cancer killing drug, and Western Front nurses invented sanitary towels.

Episode 13

Sleeping on the Job

A 19th Century party drug and a banged knee lead to the invention of anaesthetics. The story behind the invention of telephone. A shattered experiment results in smart dust, and an ancient attempt to make cheese gave us tofu.

Episode 14

Teas & Tipple

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

Episode 15

Lenin to Lady Gaga

A failed poison gas detector results in the smoke detector. An experiment to measure gas density produces the Theremin musical instrument. A broken beaker leads to bulletproof glass, and a search for a new gunpowder gives us iodine.