How We Got to Now

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  1. Clean

  60m

  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.

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  2. Time

  60m

  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.

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  3. Glass

  60m

  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.

• 4. Light

  60m

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

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  5. Cold

  60m

  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.

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  6. Sound

  60m

  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.

Cast

Steven Johnson