Origin of Everything

Did you know Martin Luther King Jr Day wasn’t celebrated in all 50 states until 2000? And that in order to create the holiday honoring the civil rights leader we needed help from Stevie Wonder and the National Football League. Why was this the case? Well MLK Jr, wasn’t beloved by everyone during his life and winning the battle to create a holiday in his honor took a lot of work. How did it all happen? Watch the episode to find out.

“Go To Your Room!” might be the most well known parental demand in America, but why do kids have their own sleeping area at all? It's a good question. Because while a bedroom might just seem like a “normal” thing for people who can afford a certain amount of living space, the history of separate sleeping spaces is actually the weird result of European colonialism, standardized clocks, Victorian modesty and post-war Suburban expansion.

A psychiatrist holding up an inky blob and saying “what does this look like?” might be the most famous psycholigical test of all time. Originally developed by Hermann Rorschach as means of detecting schizophrenia, this little known and abstract test went on to become a pop culture staple featured in everything from The Golden Girls to Armegeddon. But why? And more importantly, can those weird little blobs actually reveal anything about your personality?

Pink for Boys and Blue for Girls might seem strange to modern eyes and sensibilities, but up until the 1940’s a lot of people thought pink was the more masculine color and blue was clearly more feminine. So how did we end up in a world where it’s 100% confirmed that pink is the marker of all things girly and blue denotes boyhood? Well it’s a long strange story, so watch the episode to find out!

We all know Rosa Parks as the tired old lady on a bus who unknowingly sparked a civil rights firestorm by refusing to give up her seat in Montgomery, Alabama. But is that true? Not entirely. Rosa Parks was in fact a radical, civil right activist who spent years fighting for justice and she knew exactly what she was doing. In fact, she wasn’t even the first black woman to refuse to give up her seat. So why do we all know a misleading story about Rosa Parks? Watch the episode to find out.

Whether it’s a chocolate in heart shaped box, an emoji with hearts for eyes, iconic design such as I ❤️ NY or even liking an image on Instagram, the heart symbol is about as ubiquitous as it comes. But have you ever wondered why the ❤️ looks the way it does, considering it’s almost nothing like what an anatomically correct heart actually looks like? Well watch the episode to find out.

We all know that washing your hands it’s one of the best ways to prevent germs from spreading. But until relatively recently hand washing was something relegated primarily to religious rituals and cultural ceremonies. And the first person to suggest that doctors wash their hands before surgery was put in a mental hospital! Why? Watch the episode to find out.

Did you know marrying for love is a pretty recent development in human history? A couple in love at a wedding may seem like the most natural thing in the world, but for most of human history this was not the principal motivation for the union of two people. Marriage has traditionally been about alliances, gaining in-laws, and expanding the family labor force. So how did love conquer marriage? Watch the episode to find out.

Would You Have Joined The American Revolution? It may seem obvious, but only 40-45% of colonists supported the cause. It's not as simple as it may appear!

Could Muslim forces have conquered Europe during the Middle Ages? Well if the Battle of Tours in 732, where Frankish King Charles Martel defeated the army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by 'Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, had the opposite outcome it’s very possible European history could have been wildly different. How so? Watch the episode to find out.

Do you believe that your race correlates to your skin tone? Because that wasn’t always the case. So how did Americans come to believe that race equals certain visible physical characteristics such as skin color and hair? And why is it that certain ethnic groups that were once considered “non-white” became reclassified as “white”? Watch the episode to find out.

Everybody hates paying taxes, but what if no one had to pay them? As strange as this may seem to modern Americans, until the 16th amendment, the USA didn’t have a permanent federal income tax. So how would America be different if federal income taxes had never been made into law? Watch the episode to find out.

We’ve all heard that Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but where does that idea come from? And is it true? On today’s episode, Vanessa Hill joins us to uncover the history of breakfast and whether or not we can truly determine if it is the day’s most important meal.

What ever happened to the “well-regulated militia?” When we talk about the 2nd amendment today, we talk almost exclusively about the “right to bear arms” and individual gun ownership. But whatever happened to a “well-regulated militia?” In today’s episode we dive deep into the Supreme Court cases that shaped our understanding the 2nd amm and frames the way we still talk about the meaning and limits of “gun control.”

When you think of high heels, your first thoughts almost certainly center around women. But for much of their history high heels were seen as a marker of an epic masculinity, worn by warriors, kings and noblemen as a sign of strength and virility. Which is bit awkward for the modern mind. So how did this style of shoe go from being for manly men to a fashion accessory exclusively for women? Watch the episode to find out.

Do standardized test help or harm students? And is the US actually over testing students when compared with other nations? In this episode of Origin of Everything, we ask the big question about why do some American students take an average 112 standardized tests between Kindergarten & Grade 12?

The word “GAY” has a long history in the English language, but why did “GAY” stop meaning “happy” and start referring “same sex relationships?” Watch this week’s episode of Origin of Everything to find out.

Jesus’ name in Hebrew was “Yeshua” which translates to English as Joshua. So how did we get the name “Jesus”? And is “Christ” a last name? Watch the episode to find out!

For nearly 100 years it was illegal to be “ugly” in America. Of course, “ugly” wasn’t actually about physical attractiveness, it was a way to criminalize disability and disfigurement and it lead to the rise of the freak show. So how did we put an end to these ridiculous laws? Watch the episode to find out.

The word Oriental is hundred of years old, so why do Americans no longer use the word “Oriental”? And how did the word “Asian American” take its place? Watch this week’s Origin of Everything to find out.

What do World War I, a 16th Century Italian Doctor, Coca-Cola, and a Chicago sausage maker have to do with Birth Control? Well, let’s just say the history of birth control is a very long and very odd.

Why do women shave their legs and armpit hair, but men don’t? And what does World War II have to do with it?

Why were most slaves in America from West Africa? Slavery has existed throughout history in various forms across the globe, but who became enslaved was almost always based on military conquest. So why did Europeans travel thousands of miles to enslave people from a particular geographic region? Watch the episode to find out.

Why do all strip malls look the same, even across different states? And what do zoning laws, tax breaks, and a guy from Vienna have to do with it?

Money isn’t actually valuable. It’s just pieces of metal, pieces of paper, or more recently, computer code. So how did money come to be such a driving force of modern life?

Clothing is ultimately just fabric designed to cover our bodies. So why was it illegal for women to wear men’s clothing and for men to wear women’s clothing? And why is it still illegal in some parts of the world?

Why do we eat popcorn at the movies? And what does the Great Depression and farm subsidies have to do with it?

68% of American families have a pet friend living with them. But why did humans start domesticating animals as pets and not livestock?

Why do we think there are only two genders? Because there are cultures that believe there are many more than two genders. And what’s the difference between sex and gender?

The Minimum Wage is a wildly important and contentious aspect of modern economic life. But whether you believe it needs to go up or be eliminated altogether there’s an important question to ask, why does it exist at all?

When did tattoos shift from counterculture to mainstream? Are they okay? At what point is your tattoo considered cultural appropriation? Explore these questions and more as Danielle dives into the origin of tattoos around the world.

When did makeup ads become less about beauty and more about science? And is that science even legitimate? Or is it just another ploy by the $445 billion cosmetics industry to get you to buy more products? This week Danielle digs into the history of makeup advertising to find out.

Hijabs, yarmulkes, habits, and dastars — why do so many religions have rules about hair? The practice of covering hair is common across many faiths, so today we're talking about various types of head coverings, their significance, and their use throughout history.

Did Thomas Edison pave the way for today's EduTubers? Danielle tracks the path from Edison's Christmas light demonstrations in the late 19th century all the way to the science explainer videos of today.

Why does the government care about race? If we're all more than our race, why is the federal government keeping track of it?