The Problem of Innumeracy

The Problem of Innumeracy

Podcast Transcript Over the last several centuries, there has been a concerted effort to raise literacy rates around the world.  For the most part, although there is still work to be done, we’ve done a pretty good job. The vast majority of people on the planet know how to read and write. While literacy has …

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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Lithium

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Lithium

Podcast Transcript With an atomic number of three, Lithium is the third lightest element on the periodic table and the lightest solid at room temperature and pressure.  For almost two centuries after its discovery, Lithium didn’t have much in the way of practical uses. However, in the last few decades, its status changed, and it …

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The Siege of Masada

The Siege of Masada

Podcast Transcript Around the year 36 BC, the King of Judea, Herod the Great, built a fortress in the Judean desert overlooking the Dead Sea. Almost 100 years later, that fortress became the scene for what was one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the Jewish people.  It was the final act …

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The Gunfight at the OK Corral

The Gunfight at the OK Corral

Podcast Transcript On October 26, 1881, one of the most defining moments in the history of the American west took place.  A shootout between nine men defined the popular perception of what the old west was about, even though it was actually a very atypical event.  Since then, the gunfight has become legendary, having been …

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The Aurochs: The Once and Future King of Cattle

The Aurochs: The Once and Future King of Cattle

Podcast Transcript Tens of thousands of years ago, early paleolithic humans painted on cave walls the most important things to them and with which their entire lives revolved. One of the most prominent images which have been preserved are animals that look like an enormous bull. That animal has gone extinct, but while it was …

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White Feather Girls

White Feather Girls

Podcast Transcript The First World War wasn’t just fought on the fields of France and Belgium. There were lesser battles fought on the homefronts of the nations which were fighting.  In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries, this battle was fought on the streets of cities and towns between men who didn’t wear a …

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Everything is Made of Atoms: A History of Atomic Theory

Everything is Made of Atoms: A History of Atomic Theory

Podcast Transcript The Great Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman was once asked to convey, in a single sentence, the most important scientific knowledge that humans possessed.  His answer was short and simple: “Everything is made of atoms.” Believe it or not, this was believed to be the case over 2000 years ago in ancient …

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The History of Champagne

The History of Champagne

Podcast Transcript Located in Northern France is one of the most well-known wine-producing regions on Earth. In fact, it is so well known that it has legally protected the name of its signature product around the world.  It is the preferred drink for both royalty and rappers, and you will find it at nightclubs and …

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Did Marie Antoinette Really Say, “Let Them Eat Cake”?

Did Marie Antoinette Really Say,

Podcast Transcript Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France prior to the French Revolution. She and her husband Louis XVI were executed by guillotine during the Regin of Terror, which soon followed.  Over the years, she has been vilified as a woman who was out of touch with the common folk and was famously …

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