Innovation Hub

Americans absolutely adore chocolate. The average American consumes 11 pounds of the stuff per year. But when did this love affair with chocolate start? Back in the 19th century, sugar was a luxury good, and chocolate was mostly for the rich. Milton Hershey, and his Hershey bar, changed all that. Historian Nancy Koehn, author of “Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times,” has written about Hershey’s life and company. She walks us through who he was, and how he gave America a taste for chocolate.

If you could talk to some folks who attended the 1964 World’s Fair, they might be a little disgruntled. After all, they were promised jetpacks, flying cars, and vacations to Mars in the near future. Alas, we have none of those things, and yet we still expect transformative technologies like self-driving cars to be part of our lives soon. This week, we talk with robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks about the art of predicting when new technology will go mainstream.

First: We ask UCLA history professor Katherine Benton-Cohen how America transformed from a country with open borders to one - by the 1920s - with a strict quota system.

Next: Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains the science behind how childhood trauma permanently impacts children’s mental and physical health.

Then: Remember that whole “all men are created equal” thing? We investigate how the end of the 18th century brought about a new discussion of human rights - one that forever changed history.

It might seem like America’s massive immigration system has always been around. But it hasn’t. Indeed, up until the early 20th century, America’s immigration system was so different it would be unrecognizable from a modern perspective. For the backstory of how the U.S. has approached immigration, we talk with Katherine Benton-Cohen, an associate professor at Georgetown and author of “Inventing the Immigration Problem: The Dillingham Commission and Its Legacy.”

In May and June, the United States separated more than 2,000 children from their families at the southern border. Caving to pressure, President Trump signed an executive order stopping the policy. But, experts say the damage has already been done. Nadine Burke Harris is the CEO of San Francisco’s Center for Youth Wellness and the author of the new book “The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity.” She says these experiences can lead to serious mental and physical health problems through the rest of these children’s lives.

We all know Thomas Jefferson’s famous words immortalized in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” But when did the world start thinking about equality?

Lynn Hunt a distinguished research professor at UCLA, and author of the book “Inventing Human Rights,” says we haven’t always recognized basic human rights, and the very concept wasn’t spoken much about until the end of the 1700s. We explore its origins.

First: How do America’s child welfare services respond to a call about a child who could be in trouble? We look at the inner workings of the system and how algorithms might help.

Next: People often yearn for a simpler time. That nostalgia isn’t uncommon, and depending on the scenario, it could be healthy. Le Moyne College psychology professor Krystine Batcho explains why.

Then: Local news outlets are struggling financially, and national outlets are losing people’s trust. How do we restore journalism? The answer might be at your local library.

When a call comes in to a child welfare hotline, how should the call-taker react? Is the complaint significant enough to merit an investigation? Should caseworkers be sent to the child’s home? Or is the call frivolous? And would the stress of an investigation do more harm than good?

These are tough questions and ones that counties and states throughout the country are trying their best to answer. One of them, Allegheny County, which surrounds Pittsburgh, has turned to an algorithm for help.

Playing hide-and-go-seek with your best friend. Opening up fresh supplies on the first day of school. Going on your first date. People get nostalgic about the personal relationships they’ve had, and the experiences they can’t get back. But that doesn’t mean they’re living in the past. Nostalgia can, in fact, be a good thing. We talk with Le Moyne College psychology professor Krystine Batcho about how our perspective on bygone days actually affects our present.

It’s a rough moment for journalism. Newspapers across the country have been closing at an alarming rate. And many of the media outlets that remain are under attack for allegedly peddling fake news. It’s a problem that journalists alone cannot fix. Luckily for them, local libraries are pushing to restore people’s faith in the media —  and sometimes even picking up the slack in places where news coverage is hard to come by. Innovation Hub producer Marc Filippino reports on how libraries are gradually changing the face of journalism.