Social Studies

In 1906 in America it was first discovered that humans could transmit typhoid fever. This is a dramatization of the outbreak and a profile of Irish cook Mary Mallon, known as 'Typhoid Mary'. Quarantined against her will, the story reveals the newfound power of health officials to protect the masses, often at the expense of personal liberties

On April 25, 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published their groundbreaking discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, the molecule essential for passing on our genes and the ''secret of life.'' But their crucial breakthrough depended on the pioneering work of another biologist–Rosalind Franklin.

Radicals. Agitators. Troublemakers. Liberators. Called many names, the abolitionists tore the nation apart in order to create a more perfect union. Men and women, black and white, Northerners and Southerners, poor and wealthy--these passionate anti-slavery activists fought body and soul in the most important civil rights crusade in American history.

Within a single generation, the Web and digital media have remade nearly every aspect of modern culture, transforming the way we work, learn and socialize in ways that we are only beginning to understand.