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Big History

Season 1
From the creators of "The Universe" and "Life After People", Big History puts a sci-fi spin on history, linking iconic events to our daily lives.
201315 episodes13+
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Episodes

  1. S1 E1 - Silver Supernova
    December 21, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    At critical moments in history, our second place metal was the most important metal on Earth.
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  2. S1 E2 - Rise of the Carnivores
    December 14, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    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.
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  3. S1 E3 - Decoded
    March 1, 2024
    22min
    TV-PG
    Secret codes run the world. The code of life, DNA, is the operating system for all organisms, which spawned intelligent life like us who eventually created codes of our own.
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  4. S1 E4 - Pocket Time Machine
    November 30, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    How does the cellphone in your pocket link to the Big Bang, the evolution of human memory, and even the Titanic disaster?
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  5. S1 E5 - The Big History Of Everything
    December 28, 2013
    1 h 28 min
    TV-PG
    This 2-hour special crisscrosses billions of years of time and space to show how everyone, and everything, is linked in one universal story. It weaves together science and history.
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  6. S1 E6 - H2O
    December 21, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    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.
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  7. S1 E7 - Deadly Meteors
    December 7, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    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.
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  8. S1 E8 - The Sun
    December 14, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    The Sun is our master and creator. It gives us our perception of time, controls our reality, and powers our lives.
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  9. S1 E9 - Mountain Machines
    November 30, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    From the creators of "The Universe" and "Life After People", Big History puts a sci-fi spin on history, linking iconic events to our daily lives.
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  10. S1 E10 - World of Weapons
    November 23, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    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.
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  11. S1 E11 - Defeating Gravity
    November 16, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    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.
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  12. S1 E12 - Gold Fever
    November 9, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    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.
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  13. S1 E13 - Horse Power Revolution
    November 2, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    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.
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  14. S1 E14 - The Superpower of Salt
    November 2, 2013
    21min
    TV-PG
    The salt on your table is a key to unlocking the story of our planet.
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  15. S1 E15 - Below Zero
    November 9, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    Reveals how cold has the power to turn men into Barbarians, spark history's longest running war, and create the concept of race.
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Details

More info

Content advisory
Violence
Audio languages
English
Subtitles
English [CC]
Directors
Gabriel Rotello
Producers
Kristen Burns
Cast
Bryan CranstonJonathan Markley
Studio
A+E Networks
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