For well over a century, schoolchildren across the United States learned the story of John Henry. According to the legend, John was a formerly enslaved man who found work with a railroad after the Civil War. Widely known as the best steel driver in the area, John wins a Phyrric v ...Show more
From Slaves to Superpower: The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Janissaries
While often forgotten by the global West, the Ottoman Empire was an absolute superpower in its heyday. As the Empire expanded across three separate continents, they also practiced mass enslavement -- and used it to power their army. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore t ...Show more
While the toilet is not THE most important invention, it's certainly hard to imagine life without one -- and the advantages of modern flushing toilets go far beyond mere convivence. In this Invention two-parter, Robert Lamb and Joe McCormick explore the ancient origins of the toi ...Show more
Ruth lifts the lid on the surprising history of toilets. A cesspit proves deadly for a noble assembly in 12th-century Germany. Pigs form an unlikely part of the sewage system in ancient China. And the world’s first flushing toilet is invented… four and a half thousand years ago… ...Show more
While the toilet is not THE most important invention, it's certainly hard to imagine life without one -- and the advantages of modern flushing toilets go far beyond mere convenience. In this Invention two-parter, Robert Lamb and Joe McCormick explore the ancient origins of the to ...Show more
David Musgrove takes a tour of the historic water closet to uncover how our toilets habits have changed over the centuries From Roman latrines and medieval communal privies to modern flushing cisterns, the toilet has been completely transformed over the past two millennia. In th ...Show more