100 Objects #2: 60-Degree Screw
29 May - 35 minsIn the early 20th century, nothing quite fit — fire hoses couldn't connect to one another, football teams played with different balls, traffic lights meant different things in different states. Then World War II exposed the deadly cost of incompatibility, and the US quietly imposed a single solution on production lines across the world: the 60-degree screw. Roman Mars and historian Daniel Immerwahr tell the story of a hidden industrial empire, built one standard at a time.
A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.
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Series Episodes
100 Objects #10: Nunchaku
In the early 1970s, Bruce Lee made nunchaku (nunchucks) cool, but the nunchucks craze coincided with something much bigger: the birth of a radical new Asian American identity.
36 mins
24 July Finished
The Original 100 Objects
Neil MacGregor reflects on creating the landmark series that changed how people think about history. Then, revisit the Rosetta Stone, the artifact that unlocked ancient Egypt.
44 mins
21 July Finished
100 Objects #9: Missing Children Milk Carton
In 1982, a twelve-year-old paperboy, Johnny Gosch, vanished from a quiet Iowa street and sparked an unlikely campaign: the faces of missing children printed on milk cartons by the billions.
33 mins
17 July Finished
If Mosquito Hawks Can Fly
A Louisiana man born into slavery designs an airship with hopes to take flight. Those plans are interrupted, but maybe not forever.
41 mins
14 July Finished
100 Objects #8: Billy Possum
The teddy bear was a huge hit, and sparked an idea…maybe every president from then on should have their own viral stuffed animal.
36 mins
10 July Finished
The Score
We keep score of everything these days. But what happens when the numbers start changing what we actually care about?
26 mins
7 July Finished
