CuriosityStream

The unexpected stories behind the inventions of the teabag, the gin & tonic, Disulfiram, and American female politicians.

The burst of the enormous tulip bubble in 1637 Netherlands serves as reminder of how quickly financial holdings and futures can rise or drop.

When first presented with the like button Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg worried that a quick thumbs up or down would discourage more meaningful online interaction but eventually his team changed his mind and transformed the world.

The Cubicle was originally designed to set workers free; a futuristic designer named Robert Propst dreamed up the cubicle as a groovy 1960s workplace utopia that would unleash the modern knowledge worker's vast untapped potential.

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.

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 the likes of which America had never seen before.

In 1856, a chemistry student accidentally created a strange substance with a rich purple hue; Mauve takes over the fashion industry, make food look more appetizing, and enable stunning advances in medicine.

In 1841 on the small island of Réunion, a 12-year-old slave did something no one had done before; the vanilla bean takes the world by storm, sparking the artificial flavor revolution and forever changing how we eat.

During WWII, Actress Hedy Lamarr, deemed the world's most beautiful woman, invented a technology that laid the groundwork for the wireless internet of today.

The early days of online video were plagued by low resolution, stamp-sized video, and unbearable buffering times but that changed when a breakthrough technology revolutionized streaming video and set the foundation for the era of Netflix.

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, but it also ended up deepening the divide between rich and poor.

Edison pioneered the world's first research and development center in Menlo Park and worked with a group of experimenters to methodically zero in on the holy grail of electric light.

The burst of the enormous tulip bubble in 1637 Netherlands serves as reminder of how quickly financial holdings and futures can rise or drop.

When first presented with the like button Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg worried that a quick thumbs up or down would discourage more meaningful online interaction but eventually his team changed his mind and transformed the world.

The Cubicle was originally designed to set workers free; a futuristic designer named Robert Propst dreamed up the cubicle as a groovy 1960s workplace utopia that would unleash the modern knowledge worker's vast untapped potential.

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.

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 the likes of which America had never seen before.

In 1856, a chemistry student accidentally created a strange substance with a rich purple hue; Mauve takes over the fashion industry, make food look more appetizing, and enable stunning advances in medicine.

In 1841 on the small island of Réunion, a 12-year-old slave did something no one had done before; the vanilla bean takes the world by storm, sparking the artificial flavor revolution and forever changing how we eat.

During WWII, Actress Hedy Lamarr, deemed the world's most beautiful woman, invented a technology that laid the groundwork for the wireless internet of today.

The early days of online video were plagued by low resolution, stamp-sized video, and unbearable buffering times but that changed when a breakthrough technology revolutionized streaming video and set the foundation for the era of Netflix.

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, but it also ended up deepening the divide between rich and poor.

Edison pioneered the world's first research and development center in Menlo Park and worked with a group of experimenters to methodically zero in on the holy grail of electric light.

The burst of the enormous tulip bubble in 1637 Netherlands serves as reminder of how quickly financial holdings and futures can rise or drop.

When first presented with the like button Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg worried that a quick thumbs up or down would discourage more meaningful online interaction but eventually his team changed his mind and transformed the world.

The Cubicle was originally designed to set workers free; a futuristic designer named Robert Propst dreamed up the cubicle as a groovy 1960s workplace utopia that would unleash the modern knowledge worker's vast untapped potential.

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.

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 the likes of which America had never seen before.

In 1856, a chemistry student accidentally created a strange substance with a rich purple hue; Mauve takes over the fashion industry, make food look more appetizing, and enable stunning advances in medicine.

In 1841 on the small island of Réunion, a 12-year-old slave did something no one had done before; the vanilla bean takes the world by storm, sparking the artificial flavor revolution and forever changing how we eat.

During WWII, Actress Hedy Lamarr, deemed the world's most beautiful woman, invented a technology that laid the groundwork for the wireless internet of today.

The early days of online video were plagued by low resolution, stamp-sized video, and unbearable buffering times but that changed when a breakthrough technology revolutionized streaming video and set the foundation for the era of Netflix.

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, but it also ended up deepening the divide between rich and poor.

Edison pioneered the world's first research and development center in Menlo Park and worked with a group of experimenters to methodically zero in on the holy grail of electric light.

The burst of the enormous tulip bubble in 1637 Netherlands serves as reminder of how quickly financial holdings and futures can rise or drop.

When first presented with the like button Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg worried that a quick thumbs up or down would discourage more meaningful online interaction but eventually his team changed his mind and transformed the world.

The Cubicle was originally designed to set workers free; a futuristic designer named Robert Propst dreamed up the cubicle as a groovy 1960s workplace utopia that would unleash the modern knowledge worker's vast untapped potential.

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.

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 the likes of which America had never seen before.

In 1856, a chemistry student accidentally created a strange substance with a rich purple hue; Mauve takes over the fashion industry, make food look more appetizing, and enable stunning advances in medicine.

In 1841 on the small island of Réunion, a 12-year-old slave did something no one had done before; the vanilla bean takes the world by storm, sparking the artificial flavor revolution and forever changing how we eat.

During WWII, Actress Hedy Lamarr, deemed the world's most beautiful woman, invented a technology that laid the groundwork for the wireless internet of today.

The early days of online video were plagued by low resolution, stamp-sized video, and unbearable buffering times but that changed when a breakthrough technology revolutionized streaming video and set the foundation for the era of Netflix.

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, but it also ended up deepening the divide between rich and poor.

Edison pioneered the world's first research and development center in Menlo Park and worked with a group of experimenters to methodically zero in on the holy grail of electric light.

How a journey that began thousands of years ago with the Inca and the potato connects to a mad scientist in a castle and German beer; the brink of a future with clean, limitless energy.

James opens a cabinet of curiosities to discover how the French Revolution, wallpaper and NORAD brought about the rise of big data; a world where humans finally merge with the internet.

A cup of coffee in the 18th century takes James to the pioneering woman who discovered the structure of DNA and a future with genetically engineered people.

Dog pee, the Polaroid camera and rocket fuel lead to a future where AI is indistinguishable from human intelligence.

James connects the dots between Napoleon's toothpick and the Nielsen TV ratings to see how scientists have built the quantum computer, a data-processing machine so powerful that it can predict the future.

James jumps in the sensory deprivation tank with a man who took LSD with dolphins to discover how syphilis in the French aristocracy kicked off a journey to the nanofabricator, a machine that can build anything, molecule by molecule, for free.

How a journey that began thousands of years ago with the Inca and the potato connects to a mad scientist in a castle and German beer; the brink of a future with clean, limitless energy.

James opens a cabinet of curiosities to discover how the French Revolution, wallpaper and NORAD brought about the rise of big data; a world where humans finally merge with the internet.

A cup of coffee in the 18th century takes James to the pioneering woman who discovered the structure of DNA and a future with genetically engineered people.

Dog pee, the Polaroid camera and rocket fuel lead to a future where AI is indistinguishable from human intelligence.

James connects the dots between Napoleon's toothpick and the Nielsen TV ratings to see how scientists have built the quantum computer, a data-processing machine so powerful that it can predict the future.

James jumps in the sensory deprivation tank with a man who took LSD with dolphins to discover how syphilis in the French aristocracy kicked off a journey to the nanofabricator, a machine that can build anything, molecule by molecule, for free.

How a journey that began thousands of years ago with the Inca and the potato connects to a mad scientist in a castle and German beer; the brink of a future with clean, limitless energy.

James opens a cabinet of curiosities to discover how the French Revolution, wallpaper and NORAD brought about the rise of big data; a world where humans finally merge with the internet.

A cup of coffee in the 18th century takes James to the pioneering woman who discovered the structure of DNA and a future with genetically engineered people.

Dog pee, the Polaroid camera and rocket fuel lead to a future where AI is indistinguishable from human intelligence.

James connects the dots between Napoleon's toothpick and the Nielsen TV ratings to see how scientists have built the quantum computer, a data-processing machine so powerful that it can predict the future.

James jumps in the sensory deprivation tank with a man who took LSD with dolphins to discover how syphilis in the French aristocracy kicked off a journey to the nanofabricator, a machine that can build anything, molecule by molecule, for free.

How a journey that began thousands of years ago with the Inca and the potato connects to a mad scientist in a castle and German beer; the brink of a future with clean, limitless energy.

James opens a cabinet of curiosities to discover how the French Revolution, wallpaper and NORAD brought about the rise of big data; a world where humans finally merge with the internet.

A cup of coffee in the 18th century takes James to the pioneering woman who discovered the structure of DNA and a future with genetically engineered people.

Dog pee, the Polaroid camera and rocket fuel lead to a future where AI is indistinguishable from human intelligence.

James connects the dots between Napoleon's toothpick and the Nielsen TV ratings to see how scientists have built the quantum computer, a data-processing machine so powerful that it can predict the future.

James jumps in the sensory deprivation tank with a man who took LSD with dolphins to discover how syphilis in the French aristocracy kicked off a journey to the nanofabricator, a machine that can build anything, molecule by molecule, for free.

How a journey that began thousands of years ago with the Inca and the potato connects to a mad scientist in a castle and German beer; the brink of a future with clean, limitless energy.

James opens a cabinet of curiosities to discover how the French Revolution, wallpaper and NORAD brought about the rise of big data; a world where humans finally merge with the internet.

A cup of coffee in the 18th century takes James to the pioneering woman who discovered the structure of DNA and a future with genetically engineered people.

Dog pee, the Polaroid camera and rocket fuel lead to a future where AI is indistinguishable from human intelligence.

James connects the dots between Napoleon's toothpick and the Nielsen TV ratings to see how scientists have built the quantum computer, a data-processing machine so powerful that it can predict the future.

Tracing film music from live pre-talkie scores to modern epics, this guide explores decades of soundtracks and legendary composers, highlighting milestones in the history of soundtrack music.

The surprising impact of less-celebrated inventions and the moments of inspiration that made them possible.

The surprising impact of less-celebrated inventions and the moments of inspiration that made them possible.

The surprising impact of less-celebrated inventions and the moments of inspiration that made them possible.

The surprising impact of less-celebrated inventions and the moments of inspiration that made them possible.

Big movements of change that have often started with tiny events or personal decisions, and ended up affecting history.

Big movements of change that have often started with tiny events or personal decisions, and ended up affecting history.

Big movements of change that have often started with tiny events or personal decisions, and ended up affecting history.

Big movements of change that have often started with tiny events or personal decisions, and ended up affecting history.