Transcript In 1917, British Intelligence intercepted a diplomatic telegram between Germany and Mexico. The contents of the telegram contained information that had the potential to change the course of the First World War. Not only was it an important turning point in World War I, but it was also one of the first successful signal …
Transcript If you have ever traveled in Europe, odds are you have visited at least one major cathedral. These massive religious buildings were and still are, the architectural centerpieces in most cities. Yet, most visitors to a cathedral will usually walk around, gawking at lofty ceilings and old art without ever really knowing what they …
Transcript Copyright is what protects creators from having someone copy and make money off of their work without compensation. However, there are some things like directories or maps which have information that can be difficult to copyright. It’s just presenting information or data which exists out in the real world. Such creators of maps and …
Transcript Ever since humans looked up at the stars they noticed that a few of them were different from the others. They moved. These moving points of light were planets. One of those points of light was, of course, the planet Mars. This first observation of Mars by early humans slowly and inexorably lead to …
Transcript Early 19th century London was a dangerous, dirty, dingy place with tons of poverty and a lot of drinking. Alcoholism was common and excessive drinking, especially amongst lower-income people in London, was the norm, not the exception. All of that alcohol had to be produced, which meant lots of breweries and lots of beer. …
Transcript Every day we are constantly using measurements. We have ways of measuring distance, temperature, time, light, pressure, energy….everything. Yet, why do we measure everything the way we do? Why is a second, a second, and why is a meter, a meter? Learn more about why our units of measurement are the way they are …
Transcript On January 1, 1987, a paper was published in the journal Nature which rocked the world of anthropology. Researchers Allan Wilson, Mark Stoneking, and Rebecca Cann used the then-new science of genetic analysis to analyze the DNA in human mitochondria. What they found was evidence that humans on Earth can trace their ancestry back …
Transcript Some of the things we use every day were invented in the distant past. Other things were invented quite recently. However, there is a category of inventions that have been known forever, but no one ever had any practical use for it until recently. Learn more about the elevator, and how it helped create …
Transcript In 1957, Sputnik was launched into orbit as the world’s first artificial satellite. Today, 64 years later, there are more than 1,000,000 objects larger than 1 centimeter floating around the Earth. Almost all of those objects in orbit were not put there intentionally. Learn more about space junk, the problem, and possible solutions, on …