Transcript Many people have an idealized view of how science works. They think that someone makes a discovery or publishes a paper, then everyone acknowledges their discovery, and everyone moves on to the next thing. Science! However, that isn’t quite how things work in reality. The real advancement of science can be quite messy. One …
Transcript Every February 14, people around the world celebrate Valentine’s Day. It is a day for everything heart-shaped, flowers, jewelry, candy, and romance. Why is this day the day dedicated to romance? What’s with the hearts? And who or what is a valentine? Is this all a giant conspiracy of greeting card manufacturers? Learn more …
Transcript After the end of World War II, the newly created Central Intelligence Agency investigated anything and everything which could give the US an advantage in the Cold War. That included investigating UFO’s and levitation, as well as creating exploding cigars for Fidel Castro. One such idea was mind control. Learn more about Project MK …
Transcript The musical Brigadoon is about a Scottish village which appears for one day every 100 years. The village can be thought of as a metaphor for things that are fleeting, or why we must take advantage of opportunities when they appear. Brigadoon doesn’t exist in our world, but we do have the next best …
Transcript In the waning days of the 19th century, a passenger steamer crossing the Pacific Ocean en route from Canada to Australia did a particular thing, at a particular place, at a particular time. If it wasn’t for a last-second decision of the captain of the ship, we wouldn’t be talking about the ship today …
Podcast Transcript In 1965, the director of research at Fairchild Semiconductor, Gordon Moore, made a prediction about the future of semiconductors. He said that over the next ten years, the number of transistors on an integrated circuit would double every two years. His prediction didn’t just hold true for the next 10 years, but it …
Podcast Transcript In a previous episode, I spoke about the Drake equation and the odds of there being intelligent extraterrestrial life. Many people have used the Drake equation to argue that it is almost impossible for there not to be intelligent life in our galaxy. However, in the summer of 1950, physicist Enrico Fermi pushed …
Podcast Transcript Divided between Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian West Bank lies the lowest point on the surface of the Earth: The Dead Sea. Not only is it the lowest point on Earth, but the sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet. But how did this place come to exist, …
Podcast Transcript In the year 60, the Roman town of Lunduniam, modern-day London, was attacked and sacked by a group of native Celts. They lashed out at the Romans over years of poor treatment and abuse. When Romans lost Lunduniam, they were shocked and embarrassed, not just at the loss to a group of barbarians, …