Even the most ordinary objects have extraordinary stories to tell. Explore the past, present and future of the everyday things in your home with host Nihal Arthanayake.
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The podcast is hosted by BBC Radio 5 Live’s Nihal Arthanayake and filled with fascinating stories about the ordinary objects around you. The podcast has inspired a new book, also called A Brief History of Stuff, which is available from the Science Museum shop.
Each episode explores the past, present and future of an everyday object in your home, from bath toys to sticky tape and vacuum cleaners to the microwave oven, revealing how they changed science—and our world.
Join Nihal, experts and enthusiasts—from air traffic controllers to beachcombers and our curators—to hear remarkable stories about the stuff around you, all inspired by incredible items from the Science Museum Group Collection.
To help others discover our podcast, we’d love it if you could rate A Brief History of Stuff wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Episodes
Dive into the story of what happened when 30,000 bath toys washed overboard during a storm in 1992 and how these cute plastic critters helped scientists uncover the mysteries behind ocean currents.
In this episode, curator Alex Rose from the Science Museum reveals the epic ocean voyage take by ordinary bath toys, while beachcomber Tracey Williams shares stories of her interesting finds on the Cornish coast. You’ll hear stories of flotsam and the global beachcomber network and discover more about the ocean and the impact of our desire to consume ever more stuff.
The wonder material graphene can be found in any pencil, but for years scientists couldn’t isolate its incredibly thin layers. Listen along with our host Nihal Arthanayake to the story of how graphene’s layers were first peeled away and uncover how its remarkable properties might transform our world.
Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov won the Nobel Prize in 2010 for isolating graphene at last, using little more than their curiosity and sticky tape.
In this episode, Science and Industry Museum curator Sarah Baines reveals how that everyday sticky tape, thinking outside the box and making a frog levitate helped scientists isolate the thinnest and strongest material ever discovered, while, luxury gift wrapper Rebekah Chol shares her advice on the best ways to wrap your gifts.
Microphones have changed the way we hear the world. They are all around us, often so small that we don’t even notice them. But turning a voice into an electrical signal was a tricky problem for inventors and engineers until the late 19th century.
From the experiments of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Alva Edison, through the birth of rock and roll to the explosion of podcasts and video conferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic, microphones have become integral to both work and entertainment—and technological innovation continues today.
In this episode, National Science and Media Museum curator Annie Jamieson takes us on a journey through the surprising story of the microphone, while host Nihal Arthanayake and air traffic controller Adam Spink reveal how microphones are essential to their working lives.
Listen and discover how microphones changed the direction of pop music and amplified political voices, why smaller is not always better, and how spider silk might be used in the microphones of the future.
Our incredible collection contains more than 7 million items which illustrate the impact of science, technology, engineering and medicine on all our lives.
Household chores are an unavoidable part of everyday life. For thousands of years a broom was enough, but by using the humble vacuum cleaner we changed our homes forever.
In this episode, carpet sweeper expert Laura Humphreys takes us on a journey through the remarkable history of the vacuum cleaner, while conservator Kate Perks describes the care taken to clean delicate items on display at the Science Museum.
Hear how the first vacuum cleaner was invented, why we should call them Spanglers not Hoovers, how the spring clean began and what housework can tell us about the world around us.
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This episode was inspired by Booth’s red trolley vacuum cleaner in the Science Museum Group Collection. The episode also features the Hoover constellation. Our incredible collection contains more than 7 million items which illustrate the impact of science, technology, engineering and medicine on all our lives.
Around 800 million people across the world are menstruating right now, using a variety of products and methods to deal with their blood. But accessing these products can be a challenge, even today.
In this episode, host Nihal Arthanayake speaks to curator Rebecca Raven about the fascinating stories behind the menstruation products many of us use today, while Dr Suba Thiyagalingam discusses period poverty, taboos and why we should talk more about periods.
From the Roman empire to the first world war and sanitary belts to modern mooncups, you’ll learn how people dealt with periods in the past, discover the impact of disposable products on the environment and hear about the possibilities of a more sustainable future.
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This episode was inspired by a mooncup and tampons in the Science Museum Group Collection. Our incredible collection contains more than 7 million items which illustrate the impact of science, technology, engineering and medicine on all our lives. You can discover more stories about the everyday objects around you, including menstruation products on our website.
“Food has been a really important part of our socializing as humans. It’s when we enjoy food together, we tell the stories and sit around a fire as our ancient ancestors would have done. And we like to do that as well, on the space station.”
In this episode, host Nihal Arthanayake speaks to British astronaut Tim Peake about what food is really like in space, while Science Museum curator Helen Peavitt discusses the history of food preservation.
Hear how tin cans have helped or hindered Antarctic explorers, what meals might involve on an expedition to Mars, and why it’s probably not a good idea to eat baked beans in space…
This episode was inspired by tinned space food in the Science Museum Group Collection which was made in collaboration with Heston Blumenthal for Tim Peake’s journey to the International Space Station in 2015.
They quietly whir and ping away in our kitchens, heating up food and the odd cold cup of tea—but behind these unassuming boxes of plastic and metal lies a remarkable story.
In this episode, host Nihal Arthanayake is joined by food stylist and recipe writer Mima Sinclair to explore the rise of the mug cake, and curator Liz Bruton who reveals how the origins of the microwave are not so innocent…
In the final episode, host Nihal Arthanayake is joined by Senior Production Manager at Ordnance Survey, Jim Goldsmith, and Copy Services Assistant at the National Railway Museum, Chris Valkoinen, to explore the long history of the ruler.
Journey to ancient Sumer where you’ll find the oldest surviving ruler, explore how measurements were a point of conflict in the French Revolution, and discover the role of Alexander Hamilton (from the musical!) in bringing technical drawing skills to Britain.
This episode was inspired by rulers in the Science Museum Group Collection
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Our incredible collection contains more than 7 million items which illustrate the impact of science, technology, engineering and medicine on all our lives. You can discover more stories about the everyday objects around you in our Everyday Technology series, and find out why the kilogram was redefined in 2019 in this blog post.
