Predicting the future is a fool's errand, but I tried it: talking about phones, lifelogging, and social changes. And on top of that: what do I think's coming in 2032.
The 1933 British penny is one of the most famous coins in the world. I'm not saying this is definitely a heist movie waiting to happen - but I do think someone should write it.
The International Cocoa Quarantine Centre, at the University of Reading, has an important job: stop pests and viruses from hitching a ride, as researchers try to breed better and hardier varieties of cocoa. Here's how they do it.
In the 1960s, America was running "Operation Plowshare": the idea that perhaps nuclear bombs could be used for peace, not war. At least some British scientists had similar ambitions, and it involved setting off a nuclear bomb under Wheeldale, in the North York Moors National Park.
Rochester, in the south-east of England, was a city for nearly 800 years. And then, in 1998, an administrative error took that city status away, likely forever. Here's the story.
In Fife, in the south-east of Scotland, there's the Elie Chain Walk: a footpath that's got a reputation for being dangerous. It isn't - as long as you're prepared, and as long as you watch out for the tide.
"Anderson's Piano" is a set of wires and signals at the Pass of Brander, near Falls of Cruachan in Scotland, that try to detect when there might be a boulder on the track. They're 140 years old, and so far no-one's been able to find a better solution - but they're working on it.
On Sunday, the South Terminal at London's Gatwick Airport will reopen for the first time since 2020. It turns out that mothballing an entire terminal isn't quite as easy as turning out the lights.
Deepstore doesn't let many people film in their massive facilities. So when the team at Laura Ashley invited me down into the mine to look at their archives, I jumped at the chance.
Did I need to get a radio controlled clock and travel to Anthorn to film this video? Absolutely not. But for a few minutes, that clock was really, really accurate.
"Daly's Bridge", in Cork, Ireland, is better known as the Shakey Bridge. Because it shakes. But what happens when a bridge like that has to be repaired and refurbished?
The Monte Toboggans, in Funchal on the island of Madeira, are wicker sofas: a bit like the gondolas of Venice, only you're going downhill in regular traffic.
Funchal Airport, on the island of Madeira, was too short for modern commercial airliners: but there was nowhere to extend to. The solution is one of the greatest civil engineering projects of our time.
The Chauvet cave, in the south of France, is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world, filled with art that's tens of millennia old. No-one's allowed in, for very good reasons: but just a few kilometres away, there's a near-exact copy. Is that enough?
The Wasserspiele of Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe are 300 years old, powered entirely by gravity, and entertaining tourists. As legacies for rich people go, there are far worse ones.
Monte Kaolino, in Bavaria, Germany, is 35 million tonnes of quartz sand, piled up over the years from a nearby kaolin mine. In the 1960s, one guy just turned up with skis, and now half a century later it's a theme-park destination for sandboarders and skiiers.
The team at Sparkmate asked if I had any ideas for things to build. And I realised that, yes, I had a question to answer: and it all goes back to an old kids' television show called "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons."
Royal FloraHolland's flower auction in Aalsmeer had a famous clock: a literal Dutch auction where the first person to press their button would win. But it's no more, and that's down to the internet.
There are only a few working Link Trainers left in the world: but before microprocessors, before display screens, half a million pilots learned the basics of instrument flying inside one.
On Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, there's a summer tradition: "mail jumping". It's a bit dangerous, a bit ridiculous, and would never be allowed to start today. But it's a tradition.
The Chicago and Sanitary Ship Canal is the path that invasive carp would take to reach the Great Lakes. So to stop them, the US Army Corps of Engineers has installed an electric barrier. Although for obvious reasons, I didn't get to see it close up.
The Royal Albert Hall is 150 years old; the roof is 600 tonnes of glass and steel. And it turns out that there's a terrifying technicians' trampoline, acoustic-dampening mushrooms, and a complete lack of connections.
The treadwheel crane, or treadmill crane, sounds like something from Astérix or the Flintstones. But at Guédelon in France, not only do they have one: they're using it to help build their brand new castle.
The Doppelmayr Garaventa Monorack is a decades-old product. I've no idea how I missed it before. But for the third video in the Monorail Trilogy, this isn't an advert: I'm just happy to be proved wrong.
At the Swiss Military Museum in Full, there's the last remaining example of a 1970s tank-driving simulator. But there's no virtual worlds here: it's connected to a real camera and a real miniature model.
The Headington Shark, in Oxford, UK, is a local icon: but it was protest art, put up without permission. Now, the local government wants to protect it.
There's a lot of articles written about how tap water in Warsaw is constantly tested by a small team of clams. It felt like a hoax to me: so I went to find out.
The Udbyhøj Cable Ferry across Randers Fjord in Denmark is electric-powered: but rather than batteries, it's plugged into mains electricity. Here's how it works.
Surely water simulation can be done with computers now? Well, not quite. At the University of Sherbrooke, there's an artificial research river, and I asked them to start it up.
TRIUMF's Rabbit Line, on the University of British Columbia campus, sends slightly radioactive material under the streets of Vancouver at 100km/h. Here's how and why.
