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How 1800s Parties Discovered Anesthesia

Following those often jaw-dropping (and sometimes hilarious fails) through time to today, host Maren Hunsberger asks: "What's next?". By talking to today's innovative young scientists, engineers, artists, and other big thinkers, we see how the mistakes of the past are leading us into the science of tomorrow...and toward a better future.

How 1800s Parties Discovered Anesthesia

Season 1 Episode 2 | 18m 51s | CC

Before general anesthesia, surgery was a gruesome affair. The only reason we now have the pain relief we do is because of...parties. Maren Hunsberger follows the story of anesthetic gasses from the Old Operating Theatre in London through to today's science of modern anesthesia.

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Funding for FASCINATING FAILS is provided by the National Science Foundation.