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The Lightbulb Moment
The Lightbulb Moment

The Lightbulb Moment

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

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Record to watch 7 episodes in the next two weeks

    Streaming: The Invention That Revolutionized Streaming Video
    Florida: How Real Estate Rogues Invented Florida as We Know It
    Mauve: The Fake Color That Made Our Modern World
    Vanilla: The Bean That Shaped the Future of Food
    The Hollywood Actress That Laid the Groundwork for WiFi
    Interstate: How the Interstate Connected and Divided America
    Edison: How Edison Reinvented Invention
  • Streaming: The Invention That Revolutionized Streaming Video

    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.
    Upcoming
  • Florida: How Real Estate Rogues Invented Florida as We Know It

    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.
    Upcoming
  • Mauve: The Fake Color That Made Our Modern World

    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.
    Upcoming
  • Vanilla: The Bean That Shaped the Future of Food

    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.
    Upcoming
  • The Hollywood Actress That Laid the Groundwork for WiFi

    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.
    Upcoming
  • Interstate: How the Interstate Connected and Divided America

    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.
    Upcoming

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The Lightbulb Moment

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

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