Big History (2013)
Explores many facets of epic moments in history from the past 13.7 billion years, from a Big History perspective.
Seasons & Episode
We all know that mankind can't live without air, food and water...the same is true of salt. The salt on your table is a key to unlocking the story of our planet and the cosmos. Big History reveals how this simple molecule underpins our civilization, launched wars, built monuments like the Great Wall of China, sparked revolutions from India to France...and it's even the substance that makes up our thoughts.
The horse has been a revolutionary animal in unexpected ways. It has changed how we speak, what we wear, and sets the hidden limit for the size of our most massive empires. It's a story that spans the cosmos, from the Big Bang, to the Sun, to a changing planet that turned the horse into man's best friend in the animal kingdom.
This episode asks why mankind is gold crazy, and discovers there's a hard-wired reason we lust after it, and a microscopic explanation for why it shines. We reveal how the science behind our favorite metal drives men across oceans and continents, and how a difference in the way it's used in each hemisphere leads to a clash of civilizations.
Flight takes more than wings. We need the right kind of air, the perfect materials cooked up over billions of years, and cosmic forces that are just right for us to leave the ground without tumbling off into space. Big History reveals how planet Earth is the perfect planet for flight.
Behind that cup of coffee or tea is a global story that goes back to the collision that created the Moon and the evolution of plant and animal life. The key is the molecule that gives your morning cup its kick: caffeine, the most popular drug in history. This is the story of how a plant poison became our drug of choice, and stimulated revolutions around the planet.
Humans have small teeth and no claws or armor, so how do we project our power? Warfare has defined traditional history, but Big History digs deeper to reveal how it all began. We see how bat poop and ancient trees shaped the history of weapons, and link the gun all the way back to a change in our bodies that turned us into throwing machines.
How does the cellphone in your pocket link to the Big Bang, the evolution of human memory, and even the Titanic disaster? Big History reveals how cosmic forces conspired to give us the tool that has revolutionized the planet. From the dial pad to the way we write phone numbers, there's a hidden science behind the cellphone.
Impacts from space have created our planet and just about everything in it. Like celestial supply ships, they brought in water, metal, and maybe even life. They made our moon and sculpted the geography of our planet, but just as they created everything we know, they will likely snuff it all out in a fiery burst of destruction.
Eating meat made us human...by giving us bigger brains, better tools, and spoken language. The human need for beef has driven history across the hemispheres, but how did we turn an ancient mega-beast into the cow we have today? Big History traces all the beef on earth back to a single prehistoric herd.
Water is the miracle molecule, and mankind has used its perfect properties to revolutionize our lives. It was our first superhighway, the lifeblood of civilization, and gives us 90% of all the power we use today. This episode reveals how the science behind water is the driving force behind history.
At critical moments in history, our second place metal was the most important metal on Earth. Big History reveals how silver's place in our minds was determined by the heat of exploding stars, and how this one metal saved democracy, gave us the dollar, and had a secret power to connect the world.
A two-hour special that caps off the 16-episode first season of H2's "Big History", the program illustrates the eight major "thresholds" or turning points that have made our universe and life on our planet possible.