Refrigeration.

There are only a few shows that I miss without TV Nova is one of them. Not all of them are worthwhile but this one is great. Thank goodness for Hulu.

It comes down to this, we eat and live better because of refrigeration. If you are going to rebuild civilization learning to harness cold and not just fire is crucial.

I was amazed at how many names I remembered from college were involved with cold.

Growing up in New York I had heard about the Ice King, even if it was before my time, they had tried to demolish the last of the old ice warehouses but it was built so well of concrete that after breaking several wrecking balls and exploding lots of TNT they ended up having to go at it with jackhammers. The Ice Kinds made the same mistake lots of businesses made. They thought they were selling ice but really they were selling cold a very different product so when Carrier came out with the air conditioner and someone else the home sized electric refrigerator they were caught flat footed and died off quickly. But I didn't know that they had shipped ice all the way to India and China , that is awesome.

Thermodynamics, great stuff.

That reminds me plastics for safety devices is really important, too.