Podcast Transcript In the years immediately following the end of the Second World War, several of the scientists who took part in the Manhattan Project had an explosive idea. They wondered if we could harness the incredible power of atomic bombs and put them to use for peaceful purposes. In particular, what if we could …
Podcast Transcript One of the most popular board games in the world is Monopoly. Millions of copies of the game have been sold and thousands of different versions have been published. However, the origins of the game are not what most people think. In fact, the game was originally designed not as a way for …
Podcast transcript Gnaeus Pompeius was one of the most significant personalities during the late Roman Republic. He was considered a military wunderkind who, at an early age, was given great responsibilities and never failed to deliver victory. However, history remembers him not as the greatest Roman of his era but rather as a side player …
Podcast Transcript In 1944, several months before the D-Day invasion, a group of Allied prisoners of war hatched one of the most audacious prison escapes in military history. Their prison camp was thought to be escape-proof, yet for almost a year, prisoners worked on tunnels right under the noses of their German guards. Then on …
Podcast Transcript Sometimes over 3000 years ago, somewhere in Southwestern China, a leaf from the Camellia sinensis plant may have accidentally found its way into a pot of boiling water. Noticing that the leaf had turned the water a different color, some person unknown to history drank the concoction and found that it was good. …
Podcast Transcript On August 15, 1977, for a period of 72 seconds, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence had its greatest moment. A signal was received like none other before or since. However, in the over 45 years since the signal was recorded, astronomers have been unable to relocate it or even figure out what it …
Podcast Transcript As I do every month, I went to the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus to meet with the Augurs. I met an old priest, and I asked him, “Quo die est felicissimum?” He looked at a flock of birds that appeared to be flying in a circle. He saw a cloud float past the …
Podcast Transcript Located at the mouth of the Strait of Malacca, one of the most strategically important points on Earth is the nation of Singapore. Singapore is unlike most other countries in the world for a host of reasons, including how it was created and the fact that it is one of the few remaining …
Podcast Transcript Whenever there is a lottery, the odds of winning are given. If you go to a pizzeria, they might tell you the number of possible pizzas that can be made, given their toppings. If you have a combination lock, it is secured because of the number of different solutions that are possible. All …