How mastering metal saved lives

Hi friends, you might have heard that Bark, Sandin and I are on the road this spring with brains on live. We've been to several cities so far and it has been so much fun. Our next two stops are Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale. That's at the end of March. Then we just announced that we added Lawrence, Kansas in May and Columbus, Ohio in June. We're also heading to Chattanooga, Durham, Milwaukee, Portland, Buffalo and Ann Arbor, Michigan. We hope you'll be able to join us at one of those shows. We can't wait to see you to get tickets and get more information. You can head to brainson.org slash events. That's brainson.org slash events. Brains on Universe. You're listening to brains on where we're serious about being curious. Look around. You're probably surrounded by metal. Maybe it's part of the car you're riding in or it helps hold up the building you're listening in. It's even part of the device playing our voices right now. It took some serious breakthroughs for humans to figure out that this hard, heavy stuff can do so many things. But once they did, the world was never the same. You know, the more you can work metal, the more they figure out, oh, we can do almost anything with this. And that stuff, it just lasts forever, right? You can keep it around for an awful long time. That's Dylan Thuris, co-founder of Atlas Obscura. He's joining us for part two of our look at how metal built our worlds. Today we'll find out how exactly humans learn to make magic with metal. Stay tuned. Hey friends, welcome to the new brains on headquarters. We're still unpacking and it's taking a while because this place is huge, right, Sandin? So big, Molly. But check it out. I just finished setting up our gratitude room. Oh, cool. You know, scientists have studied gratitude or saying thanks. They found that focusing on what you're grateful for can actually make you happier overall. Yeah, that's why we built this room full of stuff we're thankful for. Look, we've got flowers in full bloom, fresh baked croissants. Oh, look, it's guitar solos that go squiggly, squiggly, squee. So grateful for those. Over here we have the smell of clean laundry. And this is the feeling of warm sun on your face. The best. Oh, and here are all my friends ever. Oh, I love you too. Every friend I've ever had. The thing we've been most grateful for lately are our SmartyPass members. They're putting tons of gratitude in our attitude. That's right. The brains on universe is independent, which means listeners support us. And you could be one of them. Just go to brainson.org and sign up for SmartyPass. We do special live hangouts with all the members. You get discounts on our hoodies and teas. Plus you'll get feeds of all of our shows with zero ads and interruptions. Just go to brainson.org to join. If you're grateful for fact-filled shows that explain the world, join SmartyPass. Oh, here's another thing I'm grateful for right here. Sandin, that's literally just a mirror you're looking at yourself. Yeah, well, without me, I'd be nothing. Thanks, self. So be like all my friends ever and join SmartyPass. We love SmartyPass. And we love you, Molly. Oh, feeling so grateful. Brains on! You're listening to Brains On. I'm your host, Molly Bloom. And with me again is my co-host, Ava from West Melbourne, Florida. Hi, Ava. Hey, Molly. We're back at it talking about metal. This is part two of three. Check out part one if you haven't yet. It's such a big topic. One episode wasn't enough. It started because I asked how was metal made? Turns out, metal originally came from exploding, dying stars. When the Earth first formed, it had a bunch of this metal baked into it. That's why we often find metal in the ground, but sometimes it falls from the sky too. Those are meteorites. They're basically space rocks that crash landed here. For thousands of years, humans have gathered metal and made it into stuff. At first, it was simple things like blades, tools, or jewelry. As time went on, we got better at working with it. We learned that you could heat it up to make it softer and easier to shape. And we learned you can mix hot metals with other stuff to make even stronger metals. Well, we've got a lot to cover today, so... Oops, my notes just fell all over the place. I usually use a paperclip, but I couldn't find one, you know, it just moved. Oh, there's Mark. He'll know where they are. Mark! Hey, Ava. Molly, what's up? Mark, do you know where we unpacked the paperclips? Paperclips. That would be in the clips box, along with the nail clippers, chip bag clips, hair clips, and a DVD of video clips of the LA Clippers clipping coupons. Not sure why we have that still, but it is strangely compelling. Let me see if I can find that box. BRB. Okay, Ava. So, going back to that first episode, what did you learn in that first episode that surprised you? I learned that metal falls from the sky or is founding the ground, which was really interesting to me. Yeah, it's really, really cool. So, has it changed at all how you think about metal? Yeah, I mean, I used to kind of just look around and see metal and be like, it's just metal. But now I know the background and how it was made, which is just so cool. Yeah, the fact that it comes from exploding stars is pretty, pretty cool. So, here's a big question. Would you rather go to the past and see how people were figuring out metal back then, or go to the future and see what we're doing with it in like 100 years? I think I would rather go to the future because we can already do a lot of things with metal, and it's just, it would be so cool to see all the stuff that we could do in the future with metal. Do you have a prediction of one thing you might see in the future? I think I might see flying cars. That'd be so fun. I would love a flying car. Let's get back to the history of humans and metal. Here to help us is Dylan Thuris. Hey, it's good to be back. Dylan is the co-founder of Atlas Obscura. They shine a spotlight on cool and weird places around the globe. And he just co-wrote a book called The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide to Inventing the World. It tells the story of how cool discoveries led to more and more inventions. It's full of science, history, and fun drawings. So, Dylan, in the last episode, we left off talking about how around 2,000 years ago, humans started heating metal up and mixing it with carbon to make steel. Yeah, and steel is the real deal, right? Yes, that's right. Steel just becomes so clearly superior to every other metal. However, it is very difficult to make. Anyone who's making steel is producing it basically like an artisan. That means they're working really hard by hand to make something. Like a necklace or a steel sword. It can take weeks just to make one. Which is precisely what you see happening in Japan. Let's jump back to around the year 600. Humans in lots of places are pretty good at farming. They're growing food, but there's no refrigerators or anything to store that food. Because there's no electricity, you heat a home with fire and cook with it too. To get around, you'd probably walk or maybe ride a horse. Even though it was harder to get around, ideas traveled between people and they could spread across huge distances. That's how Japanese sword makers learned the craft of creating steel from China. And then they developed this incredible practice of producing this very high quality steel. And they'd used it to make something very powerful. Picture this. You see a thief attacking a traveler with a sharp copper knife. The traveler is in trouble. But then another person comes up with something tucked in their belt. There's a flash of silver, a few quick movements. The thief's copper knife is shattered. They run off scared. The day is saved by a steel sword. The Japanese were making some of the best steel swords in the world. To do this, you'd basically pour a mix of iron sand. It was just like a very iron rich sand in with a source of carbon. Again, that's just like some dead stuff. But usually it's charcoal, which is to say just very burned wood. They'd take that mix of sand with iron in it and charcoal and pour it into a clay holder. Then they'd add heat. Like so much heat as much as they could make. And they would heat it for several days. Once it cools down, you would crack that open and you'd have this little chunk of steel. Then they'd heat that steel and hammer it. And shape it. And heat it more and keep trying to shape it. You'd do this for hundreds of hours. And eventually you'd have this really, really high quality, really sharp, really hard sword. And this would be an incredible object, something very, very valuable that showed your status and showed everyone that they really shouldn't mess with you. Impressive. But wow, that sounds like so much work. Totally. Coming up, we'll learn how all of this got easier. But first, Ava, you and I have an appointment with a... Mr. Sound. You ready for the Mr. Sound, Ava? All right, here it is. What are your thoughts? I think there's kind of like a sound that maybe like a 3D printer or something like that. That's a really good guess. I'd like to hear it again because I have no idea. Can we hear it again? I heard birds in the background. Do you think it's like a snow white situation where birds are 3D printing something? First, for like a princess? Absolutely, definitely. Do you have any other thoughts? I think I kind of heard like air, like wind and stuff. So, or like maybe it was like a machine of some sort. I kind of heard like paper flipping and stuff. So maybe it was like a printer or something. Yeah, I like that idea. Birds operating a printer for a princess. Perfect. We will hear the answer at the end of the show. Keep listening. We're taking a big whiff of science soon because we're doing an episode all about skunks. Sure, they can stink, but that stink is a very important defense mechanism. It's how they stop other animals from eating them. So, we want to know if you were an animal, what would your unique or surprising defense mechanism be? Bad breath, unnerving eye contact, the ability to make any animal incapacitated with a laughter due to your knock-knock jokes. Tell us your idea and send it to us at BrainsOn.org slash contact. You can also send us your questions, mystery sounds, or drawings of our new headquarters. Thank you so much. Can't wait to hear from you. You're listening to BrainsOn. I'm Molly. And I'm Ava. And, oh, we might pay for it. I wonder if Mark found those paper clips yet. Yeah, where is he right now? Gee, I can't find the box with paper clips anywhere. Oh, wait, what's this room? Oh, it's full of unpacked boxes we must have forgotten about. Yes, forgotten, ignored, left to wither away into dust. A talking cardboard box? Say, you don't know where the paper clips are, do you? I do. The name is Lord Bored. Lord Bored! Lord Bored! Lord Bored! Whoa, whoa, whoa, there's a lot of talking stuff in here. Yes, all the unpacked objects in this room have been abandoned so long that we developed consciousness. And we could also think and feel. Think and feel! Think and feel! Think and feel! Well, I am sorry we forgot to unpack all of you, but honestly, it's only been a couple of weeks since we moved in. What are weeks? Here in this forgotten room, we have no concept of time. Seriously, what are weeks? Two days? Four days? It's not nine days, is it? What are you talking about, Lord Bored? I'm literally a clock! I thought I was your best friend. Wait, clocky, you're a clock? Yes? Didn't you notice the hands on my face? I thought that was a mustache, a motorized mustache that could move. Anyway, we are taking you prisoner. Okay, cool. But first, I need to give my friend Molly some paper clips. Take them away, my followers. Take him away! Take him away! Take him away! Oh boy, Mark, how are you gonna get out of this one? You'll figure it out. Hey, can I chant too? Take me away! Chanting is fun! I like you all! Let's be friends! Oh well, I'm sure he's having a totally normal time finding those paper clips. Let's get back to metal, and our adventure through time with Dylan Thurris of Atlas Obscura. We talked about how humans have worked with metal for thousands of years. They even learned how to make stronger metals like steel. But it was hard work and took a very long time to make very little. You don't start to get to a really revolutionary change until you're able to melt pretty large quantities of metal and start casting it in different shapes. So that means basically being able to make a big bubbling pot of liquid metal and pouring it into clay or sand forms so that then basically you can kind of cast it into things like plowshares or cauldrons, like you know a big metal bucket to make soup in. Making lots of soup. That's my kind of innovation. People around the world slowly figure out how to make larger and larger quantities of melted metal. In China, they started using water wheels to power their metal making operations. Water wheels are like giant wheels with paddles or buckets. They're placed in rivers. As the river water runs past the wheel, it spins it. In China, they use these wheels to power bellows, which are like big tools that blow air to make fires even hotter. This helped them super heat their metals. You know, the more you can work metal, the more they figure out, oh we can do almost anything with this and that stuff it just lasts forever, right? Like wood will rot away, ceramics can break. Metal is pretty tough. You can keep it around for an awful long time. So over the next couple hundred years, we see humans making bigger and bigger things out of metal. From armor and dishes, pots and silverware. To large bells that the whole town could hear. Eventually, even trains and tracks for those trains to ride on. But I will say it's still so hard to make so many things. It is still really hard to make wire. Yeah, wire is super useful. People used it for stuff like jewelry and chain mail. But for hundreds of years, it was all made the same backbreaking way. First, they'd make a metal rod, kind of like a thick metal pole. You take that metal rod and you pull it through a hole that is ever so slightly smaller than the rod. And it's hard. But what that does is it slowly deforms that rod until it's slightly longer and slightly thinner. And then you take that thinner rod and pull it through an even smaller hole. And on and on until you had a very thin rod of metal. A wire. This used to be just done by hand. People would do it sometimes actually sitting on a swing in the medieval ages. They would stick their feet against something, hold the end of the metal with a clamp because they'd sort of made a little piece that could start to fit through the hole and then just push backwards with their legs on the swing and try and pull this thing through these holes. But in the 1800s, they finally figured out a better way to do this. Remember those water wheels we talked about earlier? People found ways to use them to power all kinds of things. Including machines that could pull these rods through these holes. So people didn't have to use their muscles to make wire. They could use machines. Suddenly, making wires wasn't so bad. And you could make lots of them relatively cheaply. That breakthrough would save a lot of lives. We'll tell you more in a minute. But first, let's see what's in the mailbag. Hey everyone, Sandin here. Hold on, let me just get out the blueprints for our new headquarters. Woof. Wow. There are a lot of empty rooms. Luckily, we asked you to send us ideas. Let's see what you dreamed up. Hi, my name is Noah and I'm from South Korea. I think you should add a machine that actually creates anything you draw in your HQ. For example, if I draw a lizard on a piece of paper, then the machine creates an actual living lizard. I thought of this idea because you could make anything you want anywhere and anytime. It would be very useful and it'd kind of be like a portable 4D printer. Bye. My name is Milo and I am from Golden Colorado. And I think a new room for brains on headquarters should be a sushi pool. I am Lucy from Saskatoon. I think you should have a bouncy house in the brains on HQ. Only in Sandin can jump in there. A sushi pool? A 4D printer? A bouncy room? Okay, these are brilliant. Let me just sketch these into the floor plan. Amazing. Okay, thanks everyone. And if you have an idea for new room at brains on headquarters or if you just have a question about the show or if you want my flawless advice on anything, just go to brainson.org and send us a message. Thanks. Hi friends. If you want to hear all our episodes minus the ads, just join SmartyPass. You get a special feed without ad breaks. Plus you get bonus content, live hangs with us. You can even choose a special custom message from me. I love doing those. Go to brainson.org to join. Okay, Lordboard. I gotta admit, it's been fun being held prisoner by you and all these talking objects we forgot to unpack. But I really need those paper clips. Fine. You can have them if you best me in a battle of strength. Battle of strength. Battle of strength. Battle of strength. Oh, yeah. Yeah, why not? I mean, I love a battle of strength. What are we gonna do? Lift heavy weights, eat spicy food without milk or the strongest thing of all, share our feelings? We shall have a staring contest. Staring contest. Staring contest. Ooh, fun. I love those. Oh, but wait, Lordboard, you don't have eyes. Oh no, that means you already won. Dang it. Why did I suggest a staring contest? You may have the clips. Oh yeah. Well, I better be going. Thank you all. We'll come unpack you soon. Okay, Ava and Dylan, let's find out how wires first started helping people. Let's do it. Today we think of metal wires as an important part of electronic devices. But one of the first big jobs had nothing to do with tech. This part of the story starts in the early 1800s. This was around the time that lots of things were powered by steam engines. From factories to big steam boats, even trains. Cars weren't invented yet and homes were lit by candles or gas lamps. Metal wires weren't used for electricity because that wasn't a thing yet. But these wires were about to become very important, especially in mines. Mines are deep pits or holes dug in the earth. People were lowered into them so they could dig for special materials like coal or gold. So you've got these miners who are riding up and down these 100 foot deep casumes in a wood cage hung from a hemp rope. And this is a recipe for disaster. Hemp ropes are what you probably picture when you think of a rope. It's a light brown braid of natural fibers. The reason they were dangerous is because they would rub against stuff while lowering down or bringing up the miners. Over time, the ropes would weaken and even snap. Mining was extremely dangerous for all kinds of reasons, but this was one reason. And in fact, it also, you couldn't actually make the mines super deep because there was kind of a limit to how long the hemp ropes could be and still hold heavy weights. So in the 1830s along comes a German inventor named Wilhelm Albert. Hello. And he puts his mine to the problem of mines. Let's see. Hemp rope doesn't work. Chains are stronger, but they don't cut the mustard because they can also break if there's one weak link. Hmm. Sausage links with mustard. No, no time for a snack. I must solve this problem. If there only was a way to combine these ropes and chains things, I've got it. Hemp chains. No, no, no, no, no, not quite right. Ah, steel rope. Picture a rope, but instead of natural fibers, it's made of twisted metal wires. Even if one wire snaps, there are others to keep the rope strong. This is huge. Let's get this wire rope in all the mines right after this snack. Inventing works up such an appetite. So that's exactly what some of this first usage was for. It was for replacing the hemp ropes in mines, making it easier for people to get down deeper and also safer because the wire was both stronger and actually took up way less space than say like a chain might and then used to sort of hold up bridges like the Brooklyn Bridge used some of these, this early wire rope technology to help hold itself up and still does. So by the mid 1800s, we've gotten pretty good at making big things and small delicate things with metal. And it's suddenly faster and cheaper to do this than ever before, which is about to lead to some really amazing things. And all of this, this whole technological trajectory is about to crash into an entirely different technological trajectory and these two things together will completely change our world. That's our story for next time. See you then Dylan. Thanks for joining us. I can't wait. I'll see you later. Molly! Here, I got your paperclip. Oh, Mark, thank you. But the episode is over, so I don't really need it anymore, but it's good to know where they are for next time. By the way, are you okay? You took an awful long time to find those. Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I mean, I was captured by sentient unpacked items and forced to battle their leader in a test of strength, but I had fun. Wait, you did what? Anyway, enjoy the paperclips. I got a jet. A talking clock named Clocky and I have a date to watch the LA Clippers play. Did you know they don't just clip coupons? They're actually a basketball team too. See ya! Metal is super useful, but it took humans hundreds of years to begin to master this material. In Japan, sword makers learned how to heat and shape steel into powerful weapons. And in China, people figured out how to use water wheels to power factories that made lots of things with metal. Humans used to make wire by hand. They pulled metal rods through holes. It was a very hard job. But in the 1800s, we found ways to use machines to make that process faster, leading to new inventions like strong wire rope. That's it for this episode of Brains On. This episode was produced by me, Molly Bloom in San and Totten and sound designed by Mark Sanchez. He also wrote our theme music. Big thanks to Dylan Thurris for inspiring this series and Cherise Pedrick and engineer John Aguila. Many thanks to voice actors Delia Bloom, Mickey Bloom and Dickie Carolyn Stewart, Lulu, Katherine, Sylvie and Tony. Also big thanks to Ken Toborsky and Code of the North for all of their website help. Want to support the show? You can subscribe to our Smartie Pass, buy our merch, or sign up for our newsletter. Head to BrainsOn.org to do all those things. All right, Ava, are you ready to go back to that mystery sound? Yes. Last time we thought it was birds printing something, maybe a paper, some kind of machine. Let's see what we think this time. Any new thoughts? Not really. This one's really, really hard. It is really hard. I really think it's birds helping a princess. 3D prints, maybe like a new Tiara? Yeah. Or they're helping her laminate an invitation to a ball? I think it's like a printer, still like a paper printer for like. Yeah, I like that. A paper printer. Should we hear the answer? Yes. All right, here it is. That was me. My name is Milo, and that was the sound of me closing my van door, and I'm from Minneapolis. OMG. I was so wrong. Me too. But you were right. There was a machine. It just happened to be a van door. And so it's like one of those mini vans where you like press the button, I'm guessing, and it closes automatically. Very tricky. That's why we heard birds, because they were outside. They weren't helping a princess. I was totally wrong. Tricky one, Milo. Now it's time for the brain's honor roll. These are the incredible kids who keep the show going with their questions, ideas, mystery sounds, drawings, and high fives. Maran Liberty, Washington, William and Gabriel from Saudi Arabia. Malachi, Ember, and Haven from Hillsborough, North Carolina. Arlo from Dallas, Texas. Marcus and Madeline from Las Vegas. Lydia from Chanhassen, Minnesota. Ellie Mira and Rory from St. Louis. David John from Belfair, Washington. Harold from Topeka, Kansas. Cora from Midlothian, Virginia. Ziggy and Sonny from Los Angeles. Audrey Haley and Parker from Caldwell, Idaho. Rachel from San Mateo, California. Zara and Rohan from Monrovia, California. Emma and Ezra from San Antonio, Texas. Penny from Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Claire from Monroe, North Carolina. Rachel from Richmond, British Columbia. Zane from San Francisco. Rohan from Burbank, California. Abigail from San Francisco. Emily from Straton, New Hampshire. Malia from San Diego. Bennett from Battleground, Washington. Ezra from Garland, Texas. Gigi from Castle Rock, Colorado. Alexis from Oregon. Phineas from Sydney, Australia. Arav from Brisbane, Australia. Olivia and Ian from Plainfield, Illinois. Ren from Victoria, British Columbia. Soren from Minneapolis. Teddy and Julia from Alviton, Kentucky. Ivy from Bellevue, Ontario. Winston from Vancouver. Madison from Aubrey, Texas. Juniper from Rigby, Idaho. Nora from Chicago. Jack and Josie from Fort Collins, Colorado. Lucas from Placerville, California. Nash from Melrose, Massachusetts. Lula from Powder Springs, Georgia. Nora from Honolulu. Jude from Bowling Green, Kentucky. Harry from Washington, D.C. Vivi from Broad Cove, Nova Scotia. Barrett from Toronto. James from Alexandria, Virginia. And Saleh from Kuwait. We'll be back next week to wrap up this series on metal. Thanks for listening!