1. Surveillance

While surveillance technology raises real privacy concerns, some of it is being used in positive ways, especially when it comes to our animal friends.

2. Poop

Sure, it's smelly and gross but excrement is more complex than we think. It holds many secrets, many problems, and—potentially—many solutions.

3. Dust

A speck of dust seems insignificant, but a swarm of it can do everything from generating oxygen to tempering hurricanes to fertilizing the rainforest.

5. Clouds

A 19th-century shipwreck led to weather forecasting as we know it, and laid the groundwork for other predictive models as well as ... well, the cloud.

6. Nukes

They may be our worst creations. But Latif uncovers how nuclear bombs did some surprising good and visits those who ensure that they stop blowing up.