Podcast Transcript A thousand years ago, the world was a radically different place. Europe was fragmented and struggling, while China and the Islamic world stood at the height of their power and innovation. Great empires rose and fell, religions spread across continents, and trade routes quietly began stitching distant civilizations together. It was a world …
Podcast Transcript The African Great Lakes are some of the largest bodies of freshwater on Earth, yet they weren’t carved by ice, but by a continent literally tearing itself apart. These lakes are older, deeper, and more biologically diverse than almost any others on the planet, home to thousands of unique species and tens of …
Podcast Transcript Long before modern democracies, before constitutions or elections as we know them, a society of Viking settlers gathered in a windswept valley to create laws, settle disputes, and govern themselves without a monarch. Against the odds, this institution endured for over a thousand years, in various forms, shaping a nation and influencing ideas …
Podcast Transcript In the early 20th century, a glowing new element promised progress, prosperity, and even health. It lit watch dials, captivated the public, and symbolized the cutting edge of science. But behind that glow was a hidden danger that slowly poisoned the very workers who brought it to life. Their suffering would expose corporate …
Transcript When we think of what made human beings into human beings, one of the first things which come up is the discovery of fire. The control and use of fire is one of the earliest things which our ancestors did, which separated us from other apes and began us on the path to becoming …
Transcript In the course of doing research for shows, I often come across interesting facts that wouldn’t really make for an entire episode. They are really interesting, but I’m not sure how I could turn it into even a short daily podcast like this one. So, the solution was to create an episode where I …
This episode is the story of a man, who if you don’t know his name, you probably should: Joe Medicine Crow. Joe Medicine Crow was a scholar, an author, a historian, a spokesperson, and a warrior. In fact, he was the last person to have earned the title of War Chief in the Crow Nation, …
Transcript Bluffing is one of the most important aspects of playing poker. In any strategic game, in fact, deception can be critical to success. Warfare is no different. Deceiving an enemy can often mean the difference between winning and losing. Between life and death. During WWII, the allied forces unleashed the largest and most complicated …
Transcript This episode is about nothing. Not in the sense that Seinfield was a TV show about nothing, but rather this is literally about nothing. It is about the number zero. A number that few people bother to give much thought to, yet without it, modern mathematics wouldn’t exist, and neither would any of the …