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How We Got to Now — Season 1

Episodes

  • E01 Clean

    Oct 8, 2014 · 1h

    Dirty water is transformed with a series of innovations - Chicago builds America's first sewer system, and Jersey City makes water safe for drinking (and bikinis). Manufacturing is transformed with the elimination of dust.

  • E02 Time

    Oct 15, 2014 · 1h

    With no natural light, submarines re-invent the workday. Frustrated with hundreds of local time zones, a railroad clerk fights to standardize time. Navigation, travel, and technology advances result from unrecognized contributions to time.

  • E03 Glass

    Oct 22, 2014 · 1h

    The invention of the mirror gives rise to the Renaissamce; glass lenses reveal worlds within worlds worlds; glass is essential; for communication in the deep ocean; glass lens allows millions to watch a man walk on the moon.

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    E04 Light

    Oct 29, 2014 · 1h

    The pioneers of light; Edison's light bulb; a French scientist accidentally discovers a neon light.

  • E05 Cold

    Nov 5, 2014 · 1h

    Ice delivery becomes big business, the father of frozen foods, Clarence Birdseye, and his vision for the future, and penguins who live in the desert.

  • E06 Sound

    Nov 12, 2014 · 1h

    30,000 year old traces of a desire to record sound are located in caves, how radio influenced the civil rights movement, the weapon that laid the ground work for today's mobile phones, and the role of the ultrasound in modern medicine.