Podcast Transcript In November 1989, the world changed when the Berlin Wall came down, marking the beginning of the unraveling of the Iron Curtain. Almost a month later, on December 16, 1989, Romania faced a sudden revolution that led to the fall of its central government in just over a week. While Romania was one …
Podcast Transcript Around 12,900 years ago, the last ice age was ending. Things were warming up, and the glaciers were starting to recede. …and then something happened. For about 1,200 years, the climate reversed and got colder again. When this cooling trend ended and the ice age was finally over, it also happened to coincide …
Podcast Transcript Almost everyone has had popcorn and some of you have even probably had some recently. Popcorn can be made at home, can be purchased pre packaged in stores, and has been tightly associated with movie theaters. Yet, despite seeming like a rather modern snack, popcorn has actually been around for thousands of years. …
Podcast Transcript One of the biggest advances in space flight right now is happening with the development of Starship. Starship is the largest rocket ever flown, but it is fundamentally different than all other rockets that have come before it. Its intent is to be fully reusable. This has the potential to completely revolutionize spaceflight …
Podcast Transcript In 1966, the People’s Republic of China entered what became one of the most tumultuous periods in its history. In a spasm of revolutionary upheaval primarily led by students, almost everyone in the country, including high-ranking communist officials, was a potential target for public humiliation, denunciations, torture, and hard labor. The result was …
Podcast Transcript In the mid-19th century, the French Emperor Napoleon III requested the creation of a product similar to butter but cheaper. The result was dubbed margarine. Over the years, the ingredients that made up margarine changed radically, all the while becoming closer to butter in both looks and consistency. However, it has faced resistance …
Podcast Transcript 1968 marked the beginning of one of the most infamous killing sprees in American history. For two years, Northern California was terrorized by a series of seemingly random murders. It wasn’t just the killings that terrorized people; it was the fact that the killer taunted the police and the media through a series …
Podcast Transcript On September 2, 31 BC, one of the most important battles in history took place off the coast of Greece. The forces of Octavian, the posthumously adopted son of Julius Caesar, squared off against the forces of Mark Antony, the former right-hand man of Julius Caesar. After having been partners in ruling Rome …
Podcast Transcript If you look at the grand sweep of human history, there are centuries where seemingly little happens, and there are decades where centuries take place. The first 25 years of the 20th century were one of the most intense periods of change in history. Empires fell, social norms were overturned, science and technology …