For the first 150 years of American history, American citizens were plagued by gastrointestinal issues. Diarrhea, gastritis and dysentery were pretty much a way of life. Indigestion was such an immense problem, the poet Walt Whitman called it “the Great American Evil.”
All these stomach issues were thanks, in part, to breakfast—which looked very different ... Show More
Sep 2019
Skylab: NASA’s Best-Kept Secret| Apollo’s Leftovers | S20-E1
<p>Fifty years ago, America’s space program achieved its greatest triumph, when Apollo Eleven put the first men on the moon.</p><p>The Apollo program was a remarkable success story. But as NASA was sending men to the moon, they were engaged in another, less celebrated project — o ... Show More
39m 2s
Oct 2019
Electric Chair | War of the Currents | S21-E1
<p>On August 6, 1890, a prisoner named William Kemmler became the first man executed in the electric chair. It was designed to be a more humane form of execution, but the gruesome scene in the death chamber that day revealed the device to be anything but. </p><p>Still, the c ... Show More
44m 52s
Nov 2019
The Modern Ambulance | S22-E1
<p>Today, if you or someone you know experiences a medical emergency, you dial 9-1-1 and a squad of trained medical professionals arrives at your door. But just 55 years ago, that was not the case.</p><p>Emergency calls were generally dispatched to funeral homes simply becau ... Show More
43m 17s
Jul 2019
Cereal Wars - A Divine Mission | 1
<p>It’s the late 1800s and America is in the grip of a bellyache epidemic. But, thanks to a divine revelation, help is on the way in the form of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. In his quest to calm the nation’s bowels, Dr. Kellogg is feeding ... Show More
24m 27s
Jul 2019
Cereal Wars - Going Soggy | 6
<p>It’s the year 2000 and, for the first time in almost a century, Kellogg’s is no longer America's top cereal maker. Now a new CEO is in the driving seat, and he’s on a mission to win back the cereal crown from General Mills.</p><p>But even as the two rivals slug it out for numb ... Show More
24m 58s
Jul 2019
Cereal Wars - Breakfast of Champions | 2
<p>It’s 1904 and Quaker Oats is about to make an, ahem, explosive entry into the cold cereal business. With the Kellogg brothers at risk of being left behind, Will Kellogg finally decides it’s time to stand up to his brother. He cuts ties and brings the original corn flakes to ma ... Show More
25m 15s
Mar 2024
160.2 - How Cereal Became The Number One Breakfast Food in the U.S.
You've seen it, right? The long cereal aisles in a U.S. supermarket? Crammed from top to bottom with colorful boxes? I bet you have. Cereal arouses a sense of nostalgia in a lot of the Americans that I know; it brings about memories of childhood, simpler times, family breakfasts. ... Show More
32m 4s
Sep 2023
How Corn Took Over America
The US is a corn superpower. Over the past few decades, corn has infiltrated all sorts of things, from soda pop and snacks to your own gas tank. But how did it get this way? In tonight's episode, Ben, Matt and Noel dive deep into the strange world of agribusiness conspiracies in ... Show More
1h 15m
Jan 2021
Agriculture and Complex Societies in the Americas, 4000-1500 BC
<p>Agriculture was invented in no fewer than three, and probably four, places in the Americas. It went along with sedentary living and complex societies, but in complicated ways: fishing villages along the Andean coast grew into the cities of Norte Chico, but hunter-gatherers pro ... Show More
47m 22s
Jul 2020
McDonald's vs Burger King - Frénésie de consommation | 3
Au milieu des années 60, les Américains ont développé un goût pour la nourriture rapide, délicieuse et abordable — et ils en demandent davantage. Les franchises américaines de restauration rapide — McDonald's, Burger King et Burger Chef — savent que si elles veulent nourrir l'Amé ... Show More
22m 41s