Podcast Transcript If you were to pick a single visible icon to represent the 20th century, it would probably be the skyscraper. Skyscrapers didn’t really even exist before the 20th century, but by the end of the century, they became ubiquitous in major cities around the world. The skyscraper didn’t just appear out of nowhere. …
Podcast Transcript About 384,000 km or 239,000 miles above the surface of the Earth is our planet’s only natural satellite, The Moon. Every culture and civilization on the planet has had the moon play a role in its legends, and they have also used the moon to keep track of time, plant, and harvest. Scientists …
Podcast Transcript From 1969 through 1972 six Apollo missions landed on the moon and returned a total of 840 pounds of moon rocks to the Earth. Geologists were able to study them and learned an enormous amount about the composition and formation of the moon. However, those same rocks have been the center of several …
Podcast Transcript Alexander the Great was one of the most famous people from the ancient world. He defeated a vastly larger Persian Empire and conquered everything from Egypt to India. Yet, what Alexander achieved wouldn’t have been possible without his father. In fact, if Alexander hadn’t accomplished what he did, his father would probably be …
Podcast Transcript Located in Central and Eastern Europe is one of the continent’s longest and most important rivers: the Danube. For thousands of years, the Danube has been a vital river for commerce and agriculture, and it has served as a natural boundary for empires and kingdoms. Today, it is still vitally important to the …
Podcast Transcript It is one of the most important inventions in history. Almost everyone listening to this has one. You use one almost every day, and if we didn’t have them, the world would be a very different place. I am talking about toilets. It isn’t something we like to talk about in public, but …
Podcast Transcript The Philippines is one of the largest countries in the world. With a population of 115 million people, it is the 14th largest country on Earth in terms of population. However, for a period of 48 years, it was a colony of the United States. That half-century was one of the most important …
Podcast Transcript Books are one of the foundational tools of civilization. They allow us to pass knowledge and information between people who don’t know each other, and their compact form allows knowledge to be transported across vast distances. Their permanence allows information to be sent across time such that centuries might separate a writer from …
Podcast Transcript In the 19th century, several American universities began to compete with each other in several sporting events in friendly intercollegiate competitions. Fast forward over a hundred years, and college sports in the United States is a multibillion-dollar business. How did institutes of higher education become some of the biggest sports organizations in the …