Ben Franklin Sparks Electricity (3:58)
After retiring from politics age 42, Ben Franklin became an innovator in the field of science through his study of electricity and his invention of the lightning rod.
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Ben Franklin Sparks Electricity
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After retiring from politics age 42, Ben Franklin became an innovator in the field of science through his study of electricity and his invention of the lightning rod.
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Written in Bone: Mid-19th Century Cast Iron Coffins
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During the Victorian Era we see a shift from coffins made by undertakers or cabinet makers to a casket. As we are told in this video clip from Save Our History: Written In Bone, these caskets were used by individuals of high status, who had money.
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Written in Bone: William Whites Family Tree
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Doug Owsley and his forensics team look for a mitochondrial DNA match to a body found at a construction site in Washington D.C. In this video clip from Save Our History: Written In Bone the body, a 15 year old Caucasian boy, could be William White.
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Written in Bone: Kennewick Man
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After the discovery of the Kennewick man, our understanding of the history of Native Americans has changed. From the History Channel TV series Save Our History, we hear that history books of ten years ago are not completely true.
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First Telephone Call Sent Around the World
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On April 15, 1935, in the Long Lines Building at 32 Sixth Avenue in New York City, W.S. Gifford and T.G. Miller of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company take part in a historic phone call. While they are speaking on the phone from offices just 50 feet apart, the call is transmitted over a telephone circuit that stretches approximately 23,000 miles around the world.
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Ford Phones Apollo Astronauts
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On July 17, 1975, President Gerald Ford speaks by telephone to the Apollo astronauts following their rendezvous and docking with the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. This was the first joint orbital mission between the two superpowers, and it helped pave the way for further cooperation in the exploration of space.
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First American Woman in Space
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Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space when the shuttle Challenger takes off on June 18, 1983. The historical moment is noted in communication just after liftoff.
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On April 12, 1981, NASA launched the world's first reusable manned spacecraft. In the minutes before takeoff, Kennedy Space Center launch control communicates with astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen as they prepare to take Columbia on its first test flight into space and back.
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Monkeys Travel to Space
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On May 28, 1959, in an experiment that would lead the way to manned space flight, the United States launched two monkeys to an altitude of 300 miles. A Voice of America news report details the travels of the two primates who survived the space flight and were the first in history to return safely to Earth.
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Radio Astronomy Points to Extraterrestrial Life
Radio Astronomy Points to Extraterrestrial LifeAudio Clip (4:21)
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In a 1960 broadcast, a Voice of America reporter interviews Dr. Campbell Wade of the National Radio Astronomical Observatory about his discoveries analyzing radio waves to see 1 billion light years into space and about the possibility of life on other planets.
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Study Shows Hope for Combating Viruses
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A 1965 weekly Voice of America science report discusses a new study on interferon, a natural substance produced in the body that defends cells against viruses. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health are experimenting with ways to trigger the production of interferon in order to treat and prevent disease.
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Salk's Polio Vaccine Becomes Obsolete
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In a report from the Voice of America at the 1959 International Scientific Congress at Georgetown University, Dr. Albert Sabin discusses the live poliovirus vaccine he developed and compares it to the inactivated, or “killed,” vaccine first developed by Dr. Jonas Salk seven years earlier.
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Voyager Spacecraft 30 Years Later
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