Cotton Gin and Eli Whitney - HISTORY

Eli Whitney's idea for interchangeable parts led to the second wave of industrialization across the United States. Find out more about his life (and his cotton gin) in this video.

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The ambitious Albert Einstein challenges centuries of scientific thought with his new controversial idea, the General Theory of Relativity.

In this video clip of Modern Marvels - Toilet Tech, find out the history the toilet. See how toilets were invented during the Roman Empire and then slowly progressed into the chamber pot and then the outhouse. Also, learn how present day toilet makers are making the toilets much more water efficient to help save the environment.

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R. Lee Ermey answers a question from Ken of Phoenix, Arizona, who wonders how the military is going to train the soldier of tomorrow. Ermey gives us a look inside the University of Southern Californias Institute of Creative Technology for the answer, which happens to be video games. Here, researchers are working on advanced simulators equipped with artificial intelligence; unlike tank or fighter jet trainers which focus on coordination, this next generation of simulators test decision-making abilities. The artificial characters will answer the trainees questions and respond to his or her commands. The military loves these simulators for if the trainees learn from their mistakes now, then maybe they wont make the same ones out in the field.

In a History of the Holidays video, discover the origins of the assembly line in honor of our workers holiday, Labor Day. Learn who created the assembly line and what it was originally created for. In 1910, Henry Ford established the first power-driven assembly line for his Model T Fords. Without the assembly line, the cars took sixteen hours to make; they took half that time once this type of machine was created. The only issue with the assembly line was that it made workers jobs very repetitive. Many, many years later, a digital factory has been created where robots perform the jobs that people used to do and people oversee the robots progress.

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