The Rise of China • 2020 • episode "S1E3" • History 101

Category: Economics | Subtitle:

In the 21st century, China has become a global economic powerhouse. Why was the rest of the world so slow to notice its rise to the top?

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History 101 • 2000 - 2022 • 20 episodes •

Fast Food

Cheap, quick and tasty, fast food became a culinary craze in the 1950s. But has our quest for convenience created an irreversible health crisis?

2020 • Health

The Space Race

Fifteen international agencies spend $62 billion every year on space travel. What's fueling our costly - and dangerous - drive to explore the universe?

2020 • Astronomy

The Rise of China

The Rise of China

In the 21st century, China has become a global economic powerhouse. Why was the rest of the world so slow to notice its rise to the top?

2020 • Economics

Plastics

Plastics have transformed how we live, but progress comes at a high price: 7.8 billion tons of waste. Are plastics a miracle or a catastrophe?

2000 • Environment

Oil and the Middle East

Oil and the Middle East

Oil has brought great wealth to the Middle East and ignited major wars. Is it a blessing or a curse for the region, as well as the rest of the world?

2020 • Economics

Robots

We share the planet with an estimated 9 million robots, from self-driving cars to surgical arms. Could they one day completely replace humans?

2020 • Technology

Feminism

Feminism has ushered in sweeping changes to society, securing rights for women around the world. How much further do we have to go?

2020 • People

Nuclear Power

Over 10% of the world's electricity comes from nuclear power. But with radioactive waste and the threat of nuclear meltdown, are we playing with fire?

2020 • Economics

AIDS

Nearly 40 million people are living with HIV. After decades of research and activism, how far have we come in finding a cure and battling the stigma?

2020 • Health

Genetics

DNA analysis has given us the tools to map disease, solve crimes and more. But in our rush to decode DNA, are we leaping before we look?

2020 • Science

GPS

Today, GPS is guiding - and following - pretty much anything that moves, all around the world. It's so accurate it can track you down to the head of a pin. But where is GPS leading us? Is it helping us find the way, or lose it?

2022 • Technology

MP3s

MP3s transformed how we listen to music - and spawned digital piracy. Streaming helped the industry recover, but how can artists get their fair share?

2022 • Technology

Credit Cards

Credit cards changed the global economy and attitudes about personal spending, but record levels of consumer debt beg the question: Just who's in charge?

2022 • Technology

Psychedelics

Growing evidence suggests that psychedelic drugs could treat brain injuries and psychological problems. But can we get past their controversial history?

2022 • Brain

Bottled Water

Bottled water is a big business, selling itself as a tastier and healthier alternative to the tap variety. Is there truth behind the claims?

2022 • Economics

Dating Apps

Thanks to dating apps, finding love is easier than ever. But are we now so focused on playing the game that we're missing out on real connection?

2022 • Technology

Lasers

They're used for everything from entertainment to medicine - and now for weapons straight out of science fiction. Have lasers become too hot to handle?

2022 • Science

Home Workouts

The home fitness revolution has exploded into a multibillion-dollar industry. Are home workouts a healthy habit - or just hype?

2022 • Health

IVF

A groundbreaking medical reproductive procedure has made parenthood possible for millions around the world - but at what cost?

2022 • Health

High Fructose Corn Syrup

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Sweet deal or bitter pill? High fructose corn syrup rose up to dominate supermarket shelves, but what is it doing to our health?

2022 • Health

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Making the Rich Pay (1921-1946)

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The millionaires' paradise was destroyed by the crash of 1929, which plunged the country into the Great Depression and mass unemployment. Enraged by greed and tax evasion, Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, reelected in 1936, advocated controlled capitalism.

S1E2 • American Capitalism – The Cult of Wealth • 2023 • Economics

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FRONTLINE’s three-part series The Power of Big Oil examines the fossil fuel industry’s history of denying climate change by delaying action and casting doubt on scientific research. As leading climate scientists issue new warnings, this third part of the series examines tactics used by the fossil fuel industry to delay the transition to renewable energy sources — including the promotion of natural gas as a cleaner alternative.

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Jacques reveals how the lessons learned from selling to children were used to make childlike consumers of us all. From the rise of product-driven kids’ TV in the 80s, to the man who designed cars that appealed to children, and the contemporary creators of games that hook adults, Jacques asks how spending turned into a game – one that we can’t stop playing.

S1E3 • The Men Who Made Us Spend • 2014 • Economics

Controversially 1986: That Was the Year that Was

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Controversies, scandals and surprises from the year, with Grange Hill tackling the issue of heroin addiction and EastEnders introducing a gay couple to Albert Square. Screenwriter Dennis Potter's drama The Singing Detective won over the critics, but its sex scenes and nudity upset moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse, while cricketer Ian Botham caused a storm after confessing that he'd smoked marijuana. Narrated by Jan Leeming, with contributions from Mark Little, Nick Ferrari, Cheryl Baker, Nick Hewer, Danny John-Jules and Nina Wadia.

S1E3 • Controversially: That Was the Year that Was • 2023 • Economics

Part 2

In the second of this three-part series, Jacques reveals how fear remains one of the most powerful drivers of our spending. Visiting a neuroscience lab, Jacques hears from a consumer psychologist about how our brains are much more responsive to negative than to positive stimuli. He also meets some experts who have turned this knowledge into an art form, helping manufacturers make billions from our anxieties and insecurities. At the remote chateau of French anthropologist Clotaire Rapaille, Jacques learns how our sense of fear drives us in ways many of us do not understand - and how Rapaille's insights have helped companies sell us everything from SUVs to cigarettes. At the Beverley Hills pad of multimillionaire marketer Rohan Oza, he hears how Oza's connections to celebrities helped propel VitaminWater into the soft drink stratosphere, despite the fact that the product's health claims have been called into question. Jacques also confronts the men who say they are combating our most deep-seated fear - of age and decline. In Las Vegas, he mingles with the doctors and businessmen attending a global conference aimed at selling us ways to stay young and healthy, challenging them to justify their claims for the anti-aging business that has made them rich.

S1E2 • The Men Who Made Us Spend • 2014 • Economics

Climate Wars

From the moment we first drilled for oil, we opened a Pandora's box that changed the world forever. It transformed the way we lived our lives, spawned foreign wars and turned a simple natural resource into the most powerful political weapon the world has ever known. But when exactly did geology turn into such a high-stakes game?

S1E1 • Planet Oil • Economics