Channel logo

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.
201317 episodes13+
Join Prime

Terms apply

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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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?
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  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.
    Join Prime
  16. S1 E16 - Megastructures
    November 15, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    From the Great Pyramid at Giza to the towering skyscrapers of today, humans have engineered massive constructions for at least 5,000 years.
    Join Prime
  17. S1 E17 - Brain Boost
    November 22, 2013
    22min
    TV-PG
    Behind that cup of coffee or tea is a global story that goes back to the collision that created the Moon and the evolution of plant and animal life.
    Join Prime

Details

More info

Content advisory
Violence
Subtitles
None available
Directors
Gabriel Rotello
Producers
Kristen Burns
Cast
Bryan CranstonJonathan Markley
Studio
A+E Networks
By clicking play, you agree to our Terms of Use.