Episode – 1279 : Questions and Answers: Volume 14 Podcast Transcript The month of January was named after the Roman god Janus who had two faces, one on each side […]
Episode – 1256 : Copper
Episode – 1256 : Copper Podcast Transcript When humans first learned how to work with metal, the very first metal they used was copper. Copper was easy to shape, easy […]
Episode – 1246 : The History of Farming
Episode – 1246 : The History of Farming Podcast Transcript Over 10,000 years ago, humans began to cultivate and raise crops. Back then, a single farm could maybe grow enough […]
Episode – 1231 : The Element Mercury
Episode – 1231 : The Element Mercury Podcast Transcript Since the dawn of human history, humans have been aware of a seemingly miraculous substance. It was a substance that had […]
Episode – 1228 : Parachutes
Episode – 1228 : Parachutes Podcast Transcript Centuries ago, someone decided jumping from a great height and trying to land without being injured would be a good idea. …and in […]
Episode – 1224 : Eponymous Laws: Part 2
Episode – 1224 : Eponymous Laws: Part 2 Podcast Transcript In a previous episode, I went through a list of eponymous laws. These were laws, general rules, or sometimes even […]
Episode – 1218 : A Brief History of Digital Audio
Episode – 1218 : A Brief History of Digital Audio Podcast Transcript Right now, you are listening to the sound of my voice on some sort of digital audio device. […]
Episode – 1209 : What is Calculus?
Episode – 1209 : What is Calculus? Podcast Transcript As early as 2400 years ago, Greek philosophers were coming up with paradoxes that seemingly had no solution. Early mathematicians came […]
Episode – 1205 : A Brief History of Microscopy
Episode – 1205 : A Brief History of Microscopy Podcast Transcript Ever since humans could see, we’ve been able to look up at the night sky and see things lightyears […]
Episode – 1196 : The Speed of Sound
Episode – 1196 : The Speed of Sound Podcast Transcript Sound travels fast. Very fast. However, it is not so fast that we can’t recognize that it has a finite […]
Episode – 1193 : The World’s Oldest Things
Episode – 1193 : The World’s Oldest Things Podcast Transcript People are fascinated by extremes. We are interested in the biggest, strongest, fastest, and tallest. I’m certainly no exception. One […]
Episode – 1180 : Nitrogen
Episode – 1180 : Nitrogen Podcast Transcript If aliens were to look at the Earth through a telescope from far away and analyze our atmosphere, they would find that the […]
Episode – 1177 : How Blockchains Work
Episode – 1177 : How Blockchains Work One of the biggest innovations in computing over the last several years has been the blockchain. There have been a host of companies […]
Episode – 1147 : Bricks
Episode – 1147 : Bricks Podcast Transcript There is a good chance that every day, you encounter bricks. You might drive on them, walk on them, and live inside them, […]
Episode – 1136 : Antimatter
Episode – 1136 : Antimatter Podcast Transcript It is the most expensive substance in the world by a wide margin. When it was first proposed, it was actually proposed in […]
Episode – 1134 : Project Orion
Episode – 1134 : Project Orion Podcast Transcript In the years immediately following the end of the Second World War, several of the scientists who took part in the Manhattan […]
Episode – 1121 : Space Elevators
Episode – 1121 : Space Elevators Podcast Transcript You’ve probably seen footage of a rocket launch. There is a bunch of smoke and fire as the rocket lifts off to […]
Episode – 1119 : Betamax vs. VHS
Episode – 1119 : Betamax vs. VHS Podcast Transcript In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a war erupted in the world of video technology.Two competing video tape formats fought […]
Episode – 1104 : Titanium
Episode – 1104 : Titanium Podcast Transcript Titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. However, titanium is not even remotely close to the ninth most common […]
Episode – 1083 : The Large Hadron Collider
Episode – 1083 : The Large Hadron Collider Podcast Transcript Straddling the border of Switzerland and France is the largest scientific instrument ever created. It sits in a tunnel 27 […]