Mini-docs
This selection of Retro Report videos are all under 5 minutes long.
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Video
Xenophobia in the Age of COVID-19
Scapegoating immigrant groups in times of disease outbreak has a long history.
health-medicine

Video
How Biden vs. Sanders Echoes a 1964 Republican Party Split
Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are the icons of an ideological split among today’s Democrats, echoing a similar split in the Republican party of 1964.
politics

Video
Our Appetite for Beef Is Growing. So Are Climate Worries.
Scientists warn that to slow climate change, we need to change how we farm and what we eat.
environment

Video
Coronavirus Quarantine: Are There Lessons From A Nurse Who Challenged One For Ebola?
Coronavirus has public health officials scrambling to put
quarantines into effect. The 2014 Ebola outbreak may have some lessons.
covid-19health-medicine
quarantines into effect. The 2014 Ebola outbreak may have some lessons.

Video
How Oscar Speeches Became So Political
Oscar night, long a showcase for Hollywood glamour, has also become a platform for film stars to pitch a rainbow of political causes.
popular-culturepolitics

Video
Political Memes: The Rise of the Political Meme in Politics Today
Political memes are being deployed to share opinions, similar to how editorial cartoons were used in the past – but with one important difference.
popular-culturepolitics

Video
Impeached: How Presidents Handled it -- Trump vs. Clinton.
How can a president continue to govern with an impeachment trial looming? President Clinton and President Trump adopted very different strategies.
politics

Video
Google Workers Walked Out Over Harassment. A Year Later, What’s Changed?
Sexual harassment. Discrimination. Workplace inequity. Google’s employees demonstrated against unfair practices. But has anything changed?
science-technologysex-gender

Video
"No" on Impeachment Unites Today's GOP. In the 1950s, a Renegade Dared to Break Ranks
Breaking with party unity can be costly. In the 1950’s, Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine faced backlash after she condemned Joseph McCarthy, a fellow Republican.
politics

Video
Boxers Confront Brain Injuries, Their Most Challenging Foe
For many boxers, once the punches stop, the real fight starts.
sports

Video
Can Driverless Cars Predict How Pedestrians Will Behave?
As self-driving cars move closer to becoming a reality on our streets and highways, can engineers create software able to predict human behavior and keep pedestrians safe?

Video
Trump, Measles, and a Study That Fueled Fear
President Donald Trump has long been a critic of childhood vaccines – but then he suddenly changed course, urging parents to vaccinate their children.
science-technologyhealth-medicine

Video
Life After Columbine
Sean Graves was told he would never walk again after being shot during the attack at Columbine High School. This is the story of what happened next.

Video
Columbine at 20: Media Attention and Copycat Killers
Twenty years after Columbine, we examine the impact the attack has had on today’s youths – and how the media has more recently shifted its coverage of school shootings.
criminal-justicemedia-criticism

Video
How Segregation Influenced Evangelical Political Activism
While abortion is often cited as the motivation behind evangelical Christians becoming politically active in the 1970s, there’s another little-known reason that involves the IRS and segregated schools.
educationpolitics

Video
How an Underground Abortion Network Got Started
It started with one request. A friend’s sister was pregnant and suicidal. Before long a clandestine group called Jane was created to help women in Chicago with illegal abortions.
health-medicinecivil-rights

Video
Anita Hill Testified in 1991. But How Much Has Changed?
Accusations by Professor Christine Blasey Ford against Judge Brett Kavanaugh in his Supreme Court confirmation hearing, have us looking back at Anita Hill’s 1991 testimony in the hearing of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.

Video
Surviving Heroin
After surviving four heroin overdoses, Heather Wetzel hopes she can stay clean for her daughter.
health-medicine

Video
Life as the World's First Test Tube Baby
On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown became the first ever so-called “test-tube baby.” Her birth was one of the biggest media stories of the 20th century, and she became famous just by being born.
health-medicinescience-technology

Video
Crumbling Bridges: US Infrastructure 10 Years After Minneapolis
A tragic bridge collapse in Miami echoes a similar event in Minnesota over a decade ago, one of the first signs of America’s growing infrastructure problem.
science-technology

Video
The Rise of SWAT: How Cops Became Soldiers
As police have become more militarized, the role of SWAT teams has morphed – from use in emergency situations to fighting the drug war.
law-policy

Video
Anorexia and Suicide: A Mother's Fight for Change
Kitty Westin shares the story of her daughter, Anna, who killed herself after struggling with anorexia for years.
health-medicine
Video
Louis Armstrong And The Black Celebrity's Dilemma
As America’s jazz icon, Louis Armstrong was seen as a smiling, easygoing entertainer. But in 1957, he invited controversy by speaking forcefully on behalf of his fellow African Americans, putting him in a position familiar to many Black athletes today.
sportscivil-rights

Video
Isolated Tribes
Today, there are approximately 100 tribes in the Amazon rainforest that have not interacted with the modern world. A hundred years ago, there were many more. Co-produced with PBS, American Experience, we look at the delicate situation these tribes find themselves in.

Video
What Jesse Owens's Story Tells Us About Sports and Politics
NFL players have been derided for injecting politics into the country’s favorite sport. But, when convenient, America has also celebrated black athletes for acting as political emissaries.
civil-rightssports

Video
Trump's Medicaid Positioning Echoes the Controversial Welfare Reform of the 90s
During his campaign, Donald Trump vowed not to cut to entitlements, but then reversed himself saying he would, and additionally would turn more control over to the states. We take a look at what happened to another entitlement, welfare, when the states took over.
law-policy

Video
The Back Story on Bad Forensic Science
With the Trump administration’s move to end a commission investigating flaws in forensic science, Retro Report looks at the history of one now-challenged method: hair analysis.
criminal-justice

Video
Mr. Pilates
Did you know, the origins of the Pilates workout stem from WWI? Learn more about the fitness regimen Joseph Pilates developed in a British internment camp in this collaboration with PBS, American Experience.
popular-culture

Video
Freeman Dyson
We’ve teamed with PBS’ American Experience to take a look back at Freeman Dyson, who explored whether interplanetary space travel could be made possible by harnessing the power of a nuclear bomb.
science-technology

Video
Signal Repair
“The equipment ranges from the early 1900s to up to date present time.” Our collaboration with PBS, American Experience takes a look at the Boston “T” – the oldest subway in America.

Video
Nikola Tesla Was a Hundred Years Ahead of His Time
Wireless power seems cutting edge, but it was actually pioneered more than 100 years ago by Nikola Tesla. We’ve teamed up with the American Experience to explore how Tesla’s technology is being used today.
science-technology

Video
Fair Housing
Has the government done enough to stop housing discrimination?
housingpoliticscivil-rights

Video
Life After Welfare
Twenty years ago, welfare reform was signed into law, promising needy families a path out of poverty. This is the story of Tianna Gaines-Turner, a former welfare recipient, who still struggles to make ends meet.
law-policy

Video
LSD and Cats
The early science of hallucinogens in the 1950s and ’60s was “kind of a Wild West free-for-all.” For more info on the science of spiders and drugs, visit www.drpeterwitt.com.
science-technologypopular-culture

Video
Growing up Gygax - The Son of D&D's Creator
Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax’s son explains what life was like in a household where D&D took center stage.
popular-culture

Video
Junot Díaz and the D&D Revolution
Why Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Junot Díaz says playing Dungeons and Dragons was a revolution.
popular-culture

Video
Remembering Kitty
More than 50 years after Kitty Genovese’s murder became a symbol of urban apathy, her partner, Mary Ann Zielonko remembers Kitty’s life and impact.
sex-gendercriminal-justice

Video
Teaching Robots to do Easy Stuff is Still Hard
The robotics team from M.I.T recovers from disaster at the robot Olympics.
science-technology

Video
Machine trains self to beat humans at world's hardest game
science-technology
Video
Hillary Clinton and the Superpredator
Wondering what the Hillary Clinton/superpredator brouhaha is all about? Here’s the cliff notes…
politics

Video
When Dreams Fly
More than 40 years ago, Pierre Sprey set out to build the ultimate fighter jet.
science-technology

Video
Bliss Point: How Food Companies Make Us Crave Their Products
How did food companies get us to crave their products? They discovered the “bliss point.”
popular-culture

Video
Is the Key to Obesity All in Your Gut?
Is there a hidden cause of obesity? A professor at Stanford thinks the answer might lie with the 100 trillion microbes living in our bodies.
science-technology

Video
The Unexpected Science of Exercise
Does exercise really make you lose weight? One scientist went to Africa and found an unexpected answer.
science-technology

Video
Being in the Bubble
The curious origin of a political metaphor.
popular-culturepolitics

Video
Leaving NFL Over CTE Concerns Made Chris Borland Football's Most Dangerous Man
He’s been called the most dangerous man in football. Not for what he’s doing on the field – but what he’s saying off of it. A new series of original Retro Report short docs produced for Facebook.
sports

Video
Legendary Cartoonist Al Jaffee Recalls Comic Book Censorship
Cartoonist Al Jaffee has been causing mischief at MAD Magazine for decades and at 94-years-old, he’s as irreverent as ever. A new series of Retro Report short docs produced for Facebook.
popular-culture

Video
When Politicians Blame Bad Behavior on Pop Culture
Every so often, Congress holds a hearing on the perils of pop culture. The “peril” has evolved from comic books, to rock and hip hop music, to violence in video games, but the proceedings follow a script.
popular-culture

Video
Why Pinball Was Banned for Decades
Pinball was illegal? Really?
popular-culture

Video
Separated from Parents as a Child, Argentine Man Finds his Family
The story of one man’s search for his identity after his parents disappeared during Argentina’s military dictatorship.
criminal-justice

Video
Sisters Search for Lost Brother Separated by Argentine Dictatorship
Flavia Battistiol has turned to social media in hopes of being reunited with the sibling who disappeared in 1977, when the military junta ruled Argentina.
criminal-justice

Video
The Doctor
The pediatric neurosurgeon who first identified shaken baby syndrome has a surprising take on the very syndrome he’s credited with discovering.
health-medicine

Video
The Lawyer
A mini-doc about the anatomy of a shaken baby case from the perspective of defense attorney Adele Bernhard.
criminal-justice

Video
Searching for Better Answers
On the heels of a national measles scare, Google announced that it is refining its search results for hundreds of medical conditions to show only vetted resources and web sites.