James May's Things You Need To Know backdrop

TV season

Season 2

2012-08-13

Episodes

Episode 1

about Einstein

2012-08-13 • 30 min

So you think you know Albert Einstein? Clever guy, crazy hair, had a few ideas about space and time - that's the one. Well, James May thought he knew him pretty well too, until he started asking some really tough questions. How did a man falling off a roof change our universe? What does E=mc2 actually mean? Who wanted Einstein for president? And furthermore, what happened to his brain? To help James find out, he will enter a universe of bizarre animation and motion graphics, where atom bombs and speeding trains collide with photons and monkeys' earwax. Along the way, he uncovers a world of facts that will surprise, amaze and entertain you - and you don't have to be a genius to enjoy it!

Episode 2

about Brains

2012-08-20 • 30 min

Do you really know what is happening inside your head? James May does and it turns out there is a lot more than you would imagine. With the aid of some mind-boggling animation and motion graphics, he cranks open your cranium to get the answers from 100 billion whizzing neurons on questions like why men don't ask for directions, why your memory is so bad and what love has in common with class A drugs. Packed full of brain-bending science that is sure to blow your mind - you will never think of your grey matter in the same way again!

Episode 3

about Evolution

2012-08-27 • 30 min

You might relish cabbage about as much as a two month bout of chickenpox, but would you consider it as a leafy long lost relative? James May does, thanks to the genius of a man who changed the world, Charles Darwin. But exactly how does Darwin's famous theory of natural selection explain why we are all mutants and what war is actually good for? James treks off into the wilderness with the natural advantage of fantastic motion graphics and vivid animation, to show us just how.

Episode 4

about Speed

2012-09-03 • 30 min

You may feel the need for speed, but do you really understand it properly? James May does. In this fast-moving mix of animation and motion graphics he tries to figure out how you can catch speeding bullets in your teeth, why the Moon doesn't fall out of the sky, why his cat knows more about terminal velocity than he does and why a six-ton chicken cannot run. So, if you want to know what's the fastest way around the world, how you can dodge a hurricane and whether you should run home in the rain, let James bring you up to speed

Episode 5

about Engineering

2012-09-10 • 30 min

How have smart guys with spanners managed to change the world? James May finds out by asking things like: What did steam ever do for us? What is the smartest machine? And … When can I move to Mars? Through a weird and wonderful world of animation and motion graphics James will reveal all the answers and along the way find out who has been building skyscrapers for millions of years, what a football has to do with nanotechnology and how a 180mph chicken gun and foul tasting tea help keep you safe on a plane. James uncovers fascinating facts, super science and a wealth of downright wackiness, giving you the real ‘nuts & bolts’ account of how things really work, from the wheel to the Saturn V rocket.

Episode 6

about Chemistry

2012-09-17 • 30 min

Have you ever wondered if certain chemicals can make you irresistible to the opposite sex? Well James May certainly has, and with a little help from his motion graphic friends, he’ll distill the sensuous secrets and explain how our world is really just one big laboratory. Along the way he’ll reveal that what you flush down your toilet could actually be making you money, how the booze in your bottle could power a jet and why the elements in the periodic table are just like us – they don’t all get along! Join James as he discovers what sorcerers and scientists have wondered for centuries, whether we can turn lead into gold - and if you’re lucky, he just might share chemistry’s secret to eternal life.