Smartphones, skyscrapers, spacecraft.
Modern technology seems mind-bogglingly complex.
But beneath the surface, it can be beautifully simple.
In Nuts & Bolts, award-winning engineer and broadcaster
Roma Agrawal deconstructs our most complex feats of engineering into seven fundamental inventions: the nail, spring, wheel, lens,
magnet, string and pump. Each of these objects is itself a wonder of design, the result of many iterations and refinements. Together, they have enabled humanity to see the invisible, build the
spectacular, communicate across vast distances, and even escape our planet.
Tracing the surprising journeys of each invention through the millennia, Roma reveals how Roman nails led to modern skyscrapers, how the potter's wheel enabled space exploration, and how humble lenses helped her conceive a child against the odds.
She invites us to marvel at these small but perfectly formed inventions and the ways they've shaped our society and our politics.
Along the way, Roma shares the stories of the remarkable, and often unknown, scientists and engineers who made them possible.
The nuts and bolts that make up our world may be tiny but they've changed our lives in huge ways.