Forever Ago

By American Public Media

Kids & Family

What's Forever Ago about?

Brains On presents Forever Ago®, a history show for the whole family! Every episode looks into the surprising and fascinating history of things we think are ordinary, but they’re not -- like ice cream flavors, video games, baths and more. We make learning about the past fun while teaching listeners to think critically about history.

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LAST EPISODE

Love is in the hair! A hist...

11.23.2022

Tag along with Joy, Amira and a magical bobblehead with the gift of gab on a road-trip while they explore the history of cornrow hair braiding! We’ll hear how cornrow braids made the leap from ancient tradition to the halls ...

Forever Ago episodes:

11.23.2022 Love is in the hair! A history of cornrow braids Tag along with Joy, Amira and a magical bobblehead with the gift of gab on a road-trip while they explore the history of cornrow hair braiding! We’ll hear how cornrow braids made the leap from ancient tradition to the halls ...
11.16.2022 Rocket women: How a secret program paved the way for female astronauts Get ready for an out-of-this-world episode! Joy and co-host Elsa are trapped in a black hole with a baby elephant and a mountain of old junk! They’ll explore the history of a super secret astronaut testing program for women called ...
11.09.2022 How pens rewrote history They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but how did it get that way? Join Joy and co-host Buddy as they head to the U-PEN college reunion (a whole university for pens!) and meet pen pals from throughout ...
11.02.2022 Tomb raiders: How Egypt’s treasures ended up all over the world There’s stuff from ancient Egypt in museums all over the world, from jewelry and statues to mummified bodies. But it turns out a lot of that stuff was stolen. Joy and co-host Hania learn how Europeans took control of so ...
10.31.2022 Introducing Smarty Pass: Your ticket to the Brains On! Universe Become a Smarty Pass subscriber today to access bonus episodes and ad-free episodes of Brains On!, Smash Boom Best, Moment of Um, and Forever Ago -- all right here in your favorite podcast player. Visit smartypass.org/foreverago to get your Smarty ...
10.26.2022 The lawn con: A history of grass Grab your hedge clippers and don’t forget to feed your plastic flamingos! Joy and cohost Max are exploring the surprising history—and even more surprising legacy—of the American lawn. The clean, green front lawn has been synonymous with the American Dream ...
10.19.2022 Guitar stars: Strumming through the ages Get ready to shred! Joy and cohost Buddy are building the most epic guitarchestra (aka guitar orchestra) in this week’s episode — so they’re auditioning some of history’s most notable guitar players. Jazz innovator Charlie Christian shows off his strumming ...
10.12.2022 The Bone Wars: A dino discovery duel! Looking for a story full of spies, sabotage, and feuding scientists? Get ready to dig into today’s episode all about the Bone Wars, a raging rivalry over discovering dinosaur bones and other fossils. Joy and her co-host Siddharth meet two ...
10.05.2022 Keeping it chill with air conditioning We’re back with a hot new episode on staying cool! We’re talking about the history of air conditioning, our favorite frosty invention. Joy and co-host Maeve meet a sassy talking ice unicorn who is trying to find a place to ...
09.28.2022 What do grown ups-do with all their money? Hey there Forever Friends! We’re coming back with new weekly episodes, starting next week. Until then, check out this cash-riffic show from our pals at Million Bazillion. If you add up all the money a grown-up makes in their lifetime, ...
07.20.2022 Pirates: More than peg legs and parrots Ahoy, matey! When you think of a pirate, you’re probably thinking of a white man with a beard and an eyepatch, maybe a pegleg, maybe a parrot on his shoulder. But we’re here to tell you that pirates didn’t usually ...
07.13.2022 Who was the first lifeguard? Whenever you go to a big pool or a public beach, you’ll always see lifeguards around: a person whose job it is to stand by the water and make sure everybody is safe. It’s a cool job, but did you ...
07.06.2022 The Joy of Swimming Everybody loves a nice dip in the pool when it’s hot outside… but if you never learned to swim, that pool can be pretty scary. Host Joy Dolo and co-host Brooklyn take us on a personal journey this week, exploring ...
06.29.2022 When baths met soap Scrub-a-dub-dub, it’s time for the tub! Or is it? You probably wash up with soap plenty of times throughout the week, but did you know that most people throughout history didn’t use soap for their bodies at all? Joy and ...
06.22.2022 Mac and Cheese: From 'What's in these?' to 'Yes, please!' You might think macaroni and cheese is just a quick and easy meal, or a special dish that comes to the holiday table. But Joy and her co-host Buddy are here to tell you that macaroni and cheese is actually ...
06.15.2022 The rise and fall of fancy men We can learn a lot about what a culture thinks is important through its fashion. These days, most men don’t wear makeup to work, or lace collars, or powdered wigs, but that wasn’t always the case! Joy and co-host Max ...
06.08.2022 Rubik’s Cube: The twists and turns of fads The Rubik’s Cube is a twisty toy that has 43 quintillion possible configurations — and it can also teach us something about trends and fads. Joy and this week’s co-host Buddy are visited by Rocky, of long lost Pet Rock ...
06.01.2022 Ice cream flavors: From whale poo to vanilla Forever Ago kicks off the new season with everybody’s summer favorite: ice cream! In this episode Joy and co-host Maeve explore the many flavors of this frozen treat. Historian Rosa Abreu tells us why classic vanilla is anything but boring. ...
05.18.2022 Forever Ago is back June 1! Forever Ago fans! The moment is finally here! Host Joy Dolo and team are back with new episodes June 1! Forever Ago is a history show for the whole family. Every episode looks into the surprising and fascinating history of ...
12.27.2018 Shoes: How French Royalty Became the Fashion Police The oldest known pair of shoes didn’t look like much, but foot fashion has come a long ways since prehistoric sandals. Joy Dolo and her co-host Daria lace up some matching footwear and take a hike through shoe history with ...
12.20.2018 Umbrellas: The Magic Invention of the Sculptress Umbrellas have been shielding us from the elements for thousands of years, but they haven’t always been in style. Time-traveling reporter Josie Huang takes Joy Dolo and co-host Bella on a bumpy ride through “brolly” history. We’ll meet the fashion-forward ...
12.13.2018 Emojis: The :-) That Changed Everything From simple smiley faces to sparkly unicorns, we have a lot of emoji options. But it wasn’t always this way. Joy Dolo and co-host Melissa search for the very first emoji with reporter Elyssa Dudley. They’ll meet the man behind ...
12.06.2018 Clocks: A Brief History of Telling Time Long before clocks, humans found creative ways to track time. From falling sand to burning incense, we tried it all. But it took a daydreaming astronomer and a whole lot of inventors to get us to the precise clocks we ...
11.29.2018 Sandwiches: A Hillel By Any Other Name It’s a simple recipe: bread, filling, bread. But sandwiches had to get their scrumptious start somewhere. Joy Dolo and co-host Ben travel back to a time when putting food between two slices of bread was a culinary revolution. Reporter Tracy ...
11.22.2018 Skateboards: When Roller Skates Met Surfboards The first skateboards didn’t come from a store. Kids had to make them from scratch! And they made for a bumpy ride… Joy Dolo and twelve-year-old pro skater Minna kickflip their way through history with reporter Chris Greenspon. We’ll get ...
11.15.2018 Cameras: From Pinholes to Perfect Selfies Did you know that the ancestor of our smartphone cameras was just a box with a tiny hole in it? This week, Joy Dolo and kid co-host Elena explore the wide world of cameras with the help of reporter Paulina ...
11.08.2018 Video Games: A Tale of Two Pongs Video games are a lot older than you probably realize, but it took a long time for them to catch on. Join host Joy Dolo and kid co-host Kai on an epic quest through history to figure out how video ...
10.24.2018 Season One: The Trailer Forever Ago is a history show for the whole family. Every episode explores the origin of one thing – like sandwiches, video games and clocks – while teaching listeners to think critically about the past. Hosted by Joy Dolo and ...

Forever Ago

What's Forever Ago about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Forever Ago episodes:

Love is in the hair! A history of cornrow braids

Rocket women: How a secret program paved the way for female astronauts

How pens rewrote history

Tomb raiders: How Egypt’s treasures ended up all over the world

Introducing Smarty Pass: Your ticket to the Brains On! Universe

The lawn con: A history of grass

Guitar stars: Strumming through the ages

The Bone Wars: A dino discovery duel!

Keeping it chill with air conditioning

What do grown ups-do with all their money?

Pirates: More than peg legs and parrots

Who was the first lifeguard?

The Joy of Swimming

When baths met soap

Mac and Cheese: From 'What's in these?' to 'Yes, please!'

The rise and fall of fancy men

Rubik’s Cube: The twists and turns of fads

Ice cream flavors: From whale poo to vanilla

Forever Ago is back June 1!

Shoes: How French Royalty Became the Fashion Police

Umbrellas: The Magic Invention of the Sculptress

Emojis: The :-) That Changed Everything

Clocks: A Brief History of Telling Time

Sandwiches: A Hillel By Any Other Name

Skateboards: When Roller Skates Met Surfboards

Cameras: From Pinholes to Perfect Selfies

Video Games: A Tale of Two Pongs

Season One: The Trailer

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