True or false:
1. Chewing gum stays in your stomach for seven years.
Yep. That's false.
2. In a pinch, you can use gum instead of hair gel.
Uh, no.
3. The flavor “bubblegum” is actually no flavor at all.
Hey, that's actually true!

Turns out bubblegum taste is just the blend of synthetic chemicals used to make it. Mmmm. In 1928, the first flavorless glob of what we now call bubblegum was stumbled upon (or maybe I should say stepped in) by Walter Diemer, an accountant at the Fleer Chewing Gum company in Philadelphia. He took a break from crunching numbers to play around with the company's stretchy product (something he did every now and then) and ended up with a brand new concoction. It was super stretchy, not too sticky, and a lot of fun. Diemer dyed his five pounds of unusual goo pink (the only color he had on hand) and carried it to a local grocery store- where it sold out in a single afternoon. Fleer Company’s president dubbed it “Dubble Bubble” and introduced bubblegum to kids nationwide. The race was on to see who could blow the biggest bubble. The current record, by the way? A 23-inch whopper, blown by Susan Williams from Fresno in 1996. No word if it quickly became hair gel after it popped…

Illuminating Moments in American History
From the accidental invention of the microwave to the love story of rubber gloves, these 68 animated video shorts (shadow puppet style!) chronicle the history of unexpected American innovation.

Produced, written, and directed by Nathan Marsh. Art and Animation by Joel West and Isaac Windham. Sound by Scott Sprague. Narration by Carol Munse.