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S01E10 - "EDISON | How Edison Reinvented Invention"
Aired on Feb 18, 2021, 5:00 PM
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Episodes (1 Season · 10 Episodes)
LIKE BUTTON | The Unintended Consequences of the Facebook Like Button
When first presented with the like button (then dubbed "the awesome button") Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had a simple response: "No." He worried that a quick thumbs up or down would discourage more meaningful online interaction. Eventually, his team changed his mind and transformed the world.
Feb 18, 2021
22 min
CUBICLE | How the Cubicle Became Universally Hated
The Cubicle was originally designed to set workers free. A futuristic designer named Robert Propst dreamed up "The Action Office" as a groovy 1960s workplace utopia that would unleash the modern knowledge worker's vast untapped potential. This is how it all went so wrong.
Feb 18, 2021
24 min
BARCODE | How The Barcode Shaped Our Modern Economy
Barcodes have radically changed global commerce, helping fuel the rise of everything from massive companies like Walmart to world powers like China. And it all started with a man daydreaming on a beach in 1949.
Feb 18, 2021
22 min
FLORIDA | How Real Estate Rogues Invented Florida As We Know It
Florida wasn't always the Sunshine State. In the 1920s, an army of real estate boosters set out to redefine Florida from an economic backwater to a ritzy vacation destination, sparking a land boom–and bust–the likes of which America had never seen before.
Feb 18, 2021
24 min
MAUVE | The Fake Color That Made Our Modern World
In 1856, a chemistry student accidentally created a strange substance with a rich purple hue -- the world's first synthetic dye. In just a few years, â€ÂMauve' would take over the fashion industry, make food look more appetizing, and enable stunning advances in medicine.
Feb 18, 2021
22 min
VANILLA | The Bean That Shaped the Future of Food
In 1841 on the small island of RĂ©union, a 12-year-old slave did something no one had done before; artificially pollinate the vanilla plant. The vanilla bean took the world by storm, sparking the artificial flavor revolution and forever changing how we eat.
Feb 18, 2021
23 min
WIFI | The Woman Who Laid the Groundwork for Wi-Fi
Actress Hedy Lamarr, "the world's most beautiful woman," had a knack for inventing. During WWII, in an effort to help the Allies, she devised a technology designed to intercept Axis communications – and created the foundation of wireless internet.
Feb 18, 2021
23 min
STREAMING | The Invention That Revolutionized Streaming Video
The early days of online video were plagued by low resolution, stamp-sized video, and unbearable buffering times. But one day that all changed. In the late 90s, a breakthrough technology revolutionized streaming video, setting the foundation for the era of Netflix.
Feb 18, 2021
23 min
INTERSTATE | How The Interstate Connected and Divided America
Dwight Eisenhower's interstate highway system was the biggest infrastructure project of its time, a bold plan to connect all corners of America and boost the post-war economy. So how did it end up dividing the nation, and deepening the divide between rich and poor?
Feb 18, 2021
22 min
EDISON | How Edison Reinvented Invention
Edison pioneered the world's first research and development center in Menlo Park, New Jersey, working with a group of experimenters to methodically zero in on the holy grail of electric light. In the process, he transformed invention from a solo to a communal activity.
Feb 18, 2021
27 min
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