Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from

Curiosity.com. I'm Cody Goff and I'm Ashley Hamer. Today you learn about how

treadmills were originally used as torture devices.

Then you'll learn about how biology is connected to subjects you might not expect,

with biologist and author Melanie Pfeffer.

Let's satisfy some curiosity.

If you've ever been on a treadmill Let's satisfy some curiosity.

If you've ever been on a treadmill and thought,

this is torture, you weren't too far off.

The treadmill has long reined is America's most popular piece of exercise equipment,

but its story didn't start with a quest for great glutes.

It was originally invented to rehabilitate British prisoners.

British prisons in the 19th century were pretty rough.

They were overcrowded, they were unsanitary, and they didn't even provide food or blankets to their prisoners.

Families actually bribed guards to sneak in supplies like that.

Petty thieves escaped death and exile,

often emerging from prison with a whole new network of accomplices

and a resume of criminal skills.

Prison administrators decided that hard labor would teach them a lesson.

So civil engineer Sir William Cubit designed a machine in 1818 that could deliver on all fronts.

Known as the Tread Wheel or Everlasting Staircase,

it was a horizontal paddle wheel that could accommodate dozens of prisoners at once.

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