Chilli heat comes from capsaicinoid compounds, and in 1912 the pharmacist Wilbur Scoville measured it by diluting a dried pepper extract in sugar water until trained tasters could no longer feel the burn. The result, in Scoville heat units, gives a jalapeño 3,500 to 8,000 units and a habanero 100,000 to 350,000. Today chemists measure the compounds directly with liquid chromatography and convert them into Scoville units. Researchers have also argued that heat has several dimensions, including how fast it builds, how long it lasts, where in the mouth it is felt, and whether it is sharp or flat.

In 1909 D. W. Griffith made a 14-minute film about a speculator who corners the wheat market and doubles the price of bread. A farmer sows his field while a 'Wheat King' gambles in the Chicago wheat pit; bakers raise the loaf from five cents to ten and the poor line up for bread. Griffith cut back and forth between the farm, the feast and the breadline, a technique called parallel editing, so audiences saw both ends of the economy at once. The film drew on Frank Norris's stories and on a real scheme: months earlier Chicago financier James Patten had cornered wheat, sent bread prices up and made about $5 million, roughly $185 million today.