All language subtitles for How.Tech.Works.S02E02.WEBRip.x264-ION10

[narrator] On this episode of
How Tech Works,

well hear the sweet sounds...

of home appliances!

It's the world's first orchestra

comprised of blenders, razors

and washing machines

and, we'll learn the secret link

between an athlete's
peak performance

and jet lag.

[intro music]

Hi there, and welcome
to How Tech Works.

My name is Dr Basil Singer

and we have a bunch
of incredible stories

from around the world of tech.

This week features
some unique individuals

who are...

there's no
other way to put it...

obsessed.

[narrator] We'll meet someone
obsessed with feet

but not human feet

I'm talking tarantula feet!

We'll also meet a man
whose obsession with toothpicks

has fueled his dream hobby...

for the past 35 years!

But first,

the person in this story

is equally obsessed
with his craft

and his passion is music

but not music made
from traditional instruments.

Oh, no.

This garage guru

takes 'getting the most
out of your appliances,'

to a whole new level!

[narrator] In Hamburg's
Saint Pauli neighborhood...

you'll find a huge bunker
left over from the war.

[soft vibrant music]
Today it's a studio space...

for artists and musicians...

like Michael Petermann.

[Michael Petermann] I am a
classically trained

orchestra conductor and know

about the technical side
of musical instruments.

[narrator] Michael loves
to play the harpsichord.

[harpsichord music ends]

[narrator] He also plays...

[razors buzzing rhythmically]

electric razors...

[blades spinning]

blenders...

[sucking noises]

vacuum cleaners...

[electric motors]

and spin dryers.

[Michael] The spin dryers
are some of my favorites,

because they look so shiny.

I restored and renovated them.

[spin dryer overtone]

They would create overtones
and they make sounds

you would never expect
from a spin dryer.

[machines noises in rhythm]

[narrator] The appliances are
members of an ensemble

that Michael created.

He calls it
'The Stupid Orchestra'.

[motors spinning]

[Michael] It just
popped into my mind.

I thought of, well why not

take roughly a hundred
kitchen appliances,

vintage ones...

and put them together

on a computer-controlled device

and call it
the Stupid Orchestra.

[narrator] Today Michael and
assistant Malte Munster

are busy.

I'm in the midst
of a very tight timeline,

preparing the next exhibit of
the Stupid Orchestra

at the Technical Collections
in Dresden.

So I have two
and a half more weeks to go

to assemble everything,

to do proper wiring,

and connecting of
each single appliance,

test everything
and then of course

compose a new piece

which I have started
today with you.

So I would like
to hear them individually.

[buzzing]

A little bit distorted.

[high speed whine]

Malte, I need you again.

See, they are fighting
with each other!

[narrator] Malte can help now

but composing is something

Michael must do alone.

[electronic beat]

I compose in patterns and loops
that can be repeated

to begin with.

So I will find the
rhythm section mostly first

for those groovy pieces.

Once the rhythm is established,

I will use the
voltage controlled appliances

to find melodies that
can go with that.

[narrator]
Eventually the computer

will control the appliances.

[electronic whirring]

On a G sharp
and the second set,

on an A.

[sporadic noise]

[narrator] But right now
Michael is composing 'Hands On'

saving what he likes
for playback.

Quite vicious, don't you think?

[narrator] It might be
the Stupid Orchestra...

but putting it together
took a lot of brainpower.

[Michael] I had to do hundreds
of meters of wiring,

and putting
electronics together,

and redoing all the appliances.

They all had to be taken apart

into bits and renovated.
You can't just...

switch on
a 50 year old vacuum cleaner.

It might run for the time being,
but then it will break down.

[narrator] Malte changes
the capacitors in the appliances

so they run smoothly

on the power
that's being fed to them...

by a custom designed interface
created by Michael.

So...

the coffee machine did not
blow the fuse,

it just triggered
the circuit breaker.

[narrator]
It's got 128 channels.

Half of the channels
turn appliances on and off.

[spinning blade]

The other channels are
dimmer switches

that change voltage
to the motors.

In all, four and a half
tons of gear

are headed for Dresden.

[Michael] I collected all
of these appliances

over the last eight years,

so I was scanning flea markets,

friends of mine were scanning
on my behalf also,

then the internet
was of help of course.

[narrator] A little over
two weeks later

and the Stupid Orchestra
is ready to perform.

The half-hour long composition
is stored in Michael's laptop

The audience settles in.

A keystroke
starts the whole thing.

[key tap]

[ringing]

[blenders]

[scraping]

[whirring]

[buzzing]

[Michael] When the music starts,
people smile

at the way they see their

what I would say, beloved
household appliances being used.

It is a completely different way
of using those things

which makes them
laugh and smile.

[ringing]

I love it.

[clapping]

It's my way to look at art,
to look at music

with some humor...

and I still feel
quite serious about it.

[musical cacophony]

Our next story

involves putting an
animal on a treadmill,

a very fast animal.

As in: a thoroughbred race horse
at full gallop.

You see, researchers in
southwest England

have discovered a direct link
between jet-lag

and athletic performance
in humans

and they've done so
by studying our equine friends.

What they've learned
will definitely surprise you.

[narrator] In Southwest England

a racehorse is getting a workout
on a giant treadmill.

[hooves on rubber]

[upbeat music]

It's not a weight loss program.

It's research into
the effects of jet-lag.

Jet lag sucks.

You're wide awake in the
middle of the night.

And during the day

there isn't enough
coffee in Kenya

to keep you awake.

[man] It will
affect your wakefulness,

your digestive tract,

your cognitive performance,

and also your
physical performance.

[narrator] It can take days
sometimes more than a week,

to adjust to your new time zone.

[man] So when we fly across
time zones, our rhythm becomes

out of synchrony,

with a new solar time.

And that lack of synchronization

is the underlying
cause of jet lag.

[narrator]
Now, imagine you're a horse.

[bugle call]

Horses are the only athletes

apart from humans,

who are normally flown

across time zones
for competitions.

[narrator]
For high performance animals

flying across the
Atlantic to race

jet lag isn't just a
minor inconvenience

it's a multi-million
dollar problem.

Or is it?

Are you ready to go today?
Let's go, okay?

Let's go.

[narrator] Domingo Tortonese
started out expecting horses

would suffer from jet lag

the same way humans do.

But what he is finding could

change the entire
horse racing industry.

His research starts
in a lightbox.

[Domingo] A lightbox
is a light controlled room

where you manipulate
the amount of light and dark

the horse has every day.

[narrator] Domingo is putting
a series of horses through

a virtual trans-Atlantic flight.

At the flip of a switch the
hours of daylight and darkness

shift by seven hours.

Today's subject is Kusadasi.

Yesterday he was on
North American time,

but today his light-dark pattern
is set to a European time zone.

[Domingo] Exercise time.
Let's go to the walker.

[narrator] Everything else,
including his food

and exercise routine
has been kept constant.

[Domingo] So, we do 20 minutes.

[woman] Good, 20 minutes.

[narrator] Twenty minutes in an
equine sized merry-go-round

and Kusadasi is ready
for the treadmill.

[upbeat music]

There are many ways to judge
a horse's performance.

[woman] ECC electrodes.

[narrator] So before he runs,

Kusadasi wires up.

[woman] This is our
heart rate monitor.

And we use it to evaluate
the heart rate of the horses

at each speed step that we do.

Okay, let's go!

[Domingo] Let's go.

Fan's going on!

[narrator] Horses have four
distinct gaits.

Walk, trot, canter and gallop...

and Domingo plans to test
the horse at all four speeds.

We're ready for a trot.
Okay, let's go.

[narrator] At the start
Kusadasi's heart rate

was just 30 beats per minute.

But it's rising quickly.

[pounding on treadmill]

[Domingo] Now he's galloping.
This is the next gait.

This is a gallop.
Not a canter anymore.

And the heart rate is 180.

[narrator] That's six times
what he started at

but actually a little lower
than normal

for a horse at this speed.

That means he isn't working
as hard as expected.

Domingo also records the amount
of time a horse can gallop

full out before it's exhausted.

That's where the most shocking
results have come.

We found that not only jet lag

is not detrimental to a horse,

actually it helps the horse,

it improves the performance.

The horses were able to run

at full gallop,
at full speed

for an additional 25 seconds.

[narrator]
That's the difference

between first place prize money

and a trip back to the pasture.

You have to realize that if you
are surprised about the results,

so were we.

We were extremely surprised.

[narrator] Domingo believes
the cause

is an increased amount of
a hormone called Prolactin.

So there was more Prolactin in
the peripheral circulation

of the horse at the time

the performance tests
were conducted.

[narrator] Now protraction
is known to calm the mind.

Domingo believes the horses are
producing more of it

to deal with the stress
of time change.

He believes that since
the horses are calmer,

they perform better.

That's great news
for race horses

crossing the Atlantic to compete

but it doesn't really help
you to get back to normal

after your long flight home.

[upbeat music fades]

Don't go away there's lots more
coming up on How Tech Works.

[theme music]

Hello, and welcome back
to How Tech Works.

I am Basil Singer

and I'd say it's time for
a close-up look at a spider,

the tarantula.

Ooh, I hate spiders.

But not the whole tarantula
fortunately, just the feet!

A researcher from Newcastle

is making some
incredible discoveries

about how, when and why these
enormous spiders spin silk

from their feet.

[ominous music]

[narrator] Tarantulas!

They're big, hairy and scary!

But while most people try to get
as far away as possible,

Claire Rind wants to get close,

very close.

[Claire] I think I have
a curiosity.

You need it as a scientist.

A sort of a fascination with the
world around you.

[narrator] At her lab,
Claire's out to solve a mystery

about the world's largest
and heaviest spiders.

How do they climb glass?

It's occurred to a few people,

that something as big as a
tarantula might have difficulty

when they go
on vertical surfaces.

Because they are so heavy.

[light upbeat music]

[narrator] For smaller spiders,

their size makes
climbing a breeze.

Thousands of microscopic
hairs on their feet

help them cling to
vertical surfaces.

It really relies on the spider
not being very heavy.

[narrator] So how does
a giant tarantula do it?

[Claire] There was a report,

published in Nature, that
suggested that one particular

species of tarantula could
secrete silk from its feet.

[narrator] All spiders
can produce silk

from special glands
on their abdomens

but no foot silk has
ever been found.

Claire hopes to change that.

Step one, build a climbing wall.

Using microscope slides,

she lines one side
of a clear aquarium.

Step two, insert tarantula.

Step three, rig a video camera
to record the action.

Four, raise the
wall into position.

If the feet are producing
a sticky silk,

Claire should find traces of it

on the slides where the
tarantula's feet are gripping.

We took the slides, and...

looked at them under
the microscope,

and...

there was no silk.

[narrator] Time after time
she tries, but still nothing.

I didn't really think that
we would find anything.

[narrator] Time for a
slightly different approach.

[Claire] We placed the spider
on the microscope slides

and then raised it
up to the vertical.

But this time we shook
it up a little bit.

Not so much that the
spider fell off

but when we videoed it,
we could see,

in some instances,

the feet slipping down
the microscope slides.

[narrator] As Claire scrolls
across the empty-looking slide

something comes into view.

[Claire] Ahh!

[soft drumming music]

There we see the fine silk that
the spider has left

when it's begun to slip.

It was a real surprise

and shock that we had
actually found something.

And then the precision of it.

Whenever, the video showed
that there was a slip

in this position,
when we inspected

that there was 20
or 30 strands of silk.

[narrator] These ultra-fine
strands are the first ever proof

that these spiders can secrete
silk from their feet.

But Claire still
wants more answers.

We wanted to know,
what structures there were

on the feet, that could
be producing this silk.

[narrator] To dig even deeper,
Claire brings the University's

scanning electron microscope
onto the case.

[Claire] That view is looking
right down on the foot

-so that's the top of it?
-[woman] Right.

[narrator] Inspecting the foot
of a dead tarantula

they can blow the image up to
500,000 times its regular size.

At first, it looks like the same
as any other spider foot,

covered with a forest
of tiny hairs.

Then they spot something.
A different kind of hair

poking out far above the canopy.

It was amazing an amazing thing.

We saw these hairs, which in
many cases had little holes

at the ends and we did find
there were still some tiny

fibers of silk which we see
emerging from these hairs.

[narrator] With the puzzle
pieces in place,

Claire has finally solved the
case of the climbing tarantula.

But now, a new mystery awaits.

The fact is that there are only
seven sorts of spider silk known

and could
this be number eight?

[narrator] Pound for pound
spider silk is known to be

one of the strongest
materials on earth.

Could this foot silk
be even stronger?

That question should keep Claire
and her tarantulas

busy for a while.

Okay, so you think you're
dedicated to your craft?

You work late hours.

You've done it for
a number of years.

Well, we know catch up with an
artist in San Francisco

whose taken dedication
to new heights.

In fact he's spent nearly
a lifetime on his craft.

And his medium of choice?

Toothpicks.

Lots and lots
of toothpicks!

[upbeat music]

This toothpick is from Portugal.

This toothpick is from Bali.

These came from Morocco.

These toothpicks
are from Africa.

These came from the top
of Mount Kilimanjaro!

[narrator] Scott Weaver
likes toothpicks.

He likes them a lot.

[laughing]

Combine that with
his other love - San Francisco,

and the result is one of a kind.

The largest, interactive,
toothpick structure

in the world.

This is 'Rolling Thru The Bay'
Nine feet by eight feet,

thirty inches deep.

It has 104,387 toothpicks in it.

[narrator] Wow!
Scott has spent over 36 years,

and thousands of hours
working on it.

3,347 hours.

This week I've probably
put in 20 hours.

Just don't let my wife know.

[laughing]
She's at work.

[narrator] And if
that wasn't enough,

What makes it a unique
toothpick structure

is its ping-pong ball tours.

[upbeat music]

I've always said I'm gonna blow
people’s minds one day

with this thing!

So it kind of shocks them,
"What? It works?" you know,

as the balls tinker down.

[narrator] He's had close to 80
balls moving through it at once.

Why? Why not?

Over time, I thought
of just the main

classic landmarks of
San Francisco,

The Cole Tower,
Transamerica building,

[unintelligible]

Lombard street, cable cars.
The whole bit.

Those are classics.

[narrator] And yet the work
never seems to end.

These are actual
toothpicks from the 40s

that someone donated to me...

just recently!

[narrator] So into the
sculpture they go.

It's a sticky process.

I put a little glue on my hand

as my palette.

I dip...

glue...

touch.

As soon as you dip and touch
that toothpick,

you gotta let it sit
for 15 minutes.

I use my next
toothpick as a tool

to slide that one over
about 1/64 of an inch.

Toothpicks are my tools too!

On the palm trees,

I do what's called the
pressure technique.

I push in, and let it snap.

Only a little bit...

ten or 11 snaps and it has
a perfect arch to it.

People think I'm an
engineering genius.

[laughs]
It's mostly trial and error.

If it works, I let it work!

[narrator] But the structure
really started 'working'

when Scott batted around
the idea of ping pong balls.

It just came to me,
at some point.

I put a ball in it
and I saw it roll.

So I altered its path, I put
toothpicks going up

so the balls would
roll different ways...

and it gave it life.
And I wanted more life

so I kept building
bigger and bigger and bigger!

[narrator] The balls and Scott
are your tour guide,

as they roll through
the toothpick city.

It starts up at the
top of Colt Tower,

spirals down 10 times on
the inside of the tower.

Behind the Transamerica building

it has my face looking
up into my vision.

From the Cliff House they're now
coming down Lombard Street,

behind my grandmother's house,
518 12th avenue.

They come down into the
Palace of Fine Arts,

it has my heart that I left
in San Francisco in it.

It goes across
Golden Gate Bridge,

looking off the bridge you can
see Humphrey the famous humpback

whale splashing goodbye to us,

ending in Flyshacker Pool
at Ghirardelli Square,

which makes no geographical
sense whatsoever!

[narrator] Scott's structure
will be touring museums

across the U.S., but first, one
last check before it moves out.

[upbeat music]

[Scott] Five day trip
across the States

and this thing will
make it just fine.

I'm really proud that
it's getting out there.

The dream is coming true.

You've been watching
How Tech Works.

I'm Basil Singer and
I'll see you next time.

[ending music]