Genie: The Feral Child

Genie: The Feral Child

Transcript In October 1970, a blind woman accidentally entered into a Los Angeles County welfare office with a child in tow.  The staff in the office immediately noticed the odd girl with the woman. She walked funny, was emaciated, drooling, didn’t make a sound, and when asked, the woman mentioned that the girl was 13.  …

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Unratified Constitutional Amendments

Unratified Constitutional Amendments

Transcript The United States Constitution spells out a very specific process for how to amend the document. First, Congress must vote to approve the amendment. Then the amendment is sent to the state legislatures for ratification.  Most amendments never make it through congress. But what happens when an amendment makes it through congress but then …

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The Iditarod

The Iditarod

Transcript In 1973, 34 mushers and their dog teams lined to take part in a race that recreated a 1925 event where medicine was delivered by dog sled to the remote town of Nome, Alaska. Since then, the race has become a global phenomenon and is the best-known dog sled race in the world.  Learn …

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Space Junk

Space Junk

Transcript In 1957, Sputnik was launched into orbit as the world’s first artificial satellite.  Today, 64 years later, there are more than 1,000,000 objects larger than 1 centimeter floating around the Earth.  Almost all of those objects in orbit were not put there intentionally. Learn more about space junk, the problem, and possible solutions, on …

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The Monty Hall Problem

The Monty Hall Problem

Transcript For over 30 years, Monty Hall was the host of the game show Let’s Make A Deal.  In the show, they played a very simple game where you would choose one of three doors. This game has led to one of the most controversial and public kerfuffles amongst mathematicians, which caused many distinguished mathematicians …

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The Highly Improbable Flight of Mathias Rust

The Highly Improbable Flight of Mathias Rust

Podcast Transcript In 1987, a German teenager and novice pilot named Mathias Rust set out on a two-week flight where he visited several countries in Europe.  What was remarkable about the flight wasn’t the age of the pilot or the distance he traveled. The reason people still remember it is where he ended up.  Learn …

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A Human History of Ice

A Human History of Ice

Podcast Transcript Humans have been aware of ice for as long as there have been humans and ice. However, using ice outside of winter has always been a huge challenge, but that didn’t stop people from trying to harness and use ice even when it was well out of season.  It wasn’t until relatively recently, …

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Planet Nine

Planet Nine

Podcast Transcript The planet Neptune was discovered in 1846.  Ever since then, astronomers have felt there had to be another planet beyond the orbit of Neptune. Everyone assumed they found it with the discovery of Pluto in 1930, however, something still wasn’t quite right.  90 years later, the mystery planet hasn’t been found, but astronomers …

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Who Were the Pilgrims?

Who Were the Pilgrims?

Podcast Transcript If you are an American, you probably grew up hearing the story of Thanksgiving. How the pilgrims came to America to escape religious persecution to establish a new life. But who were the pilgrims really? Were they really persecuted? Why did they decide to cross the ocean? And how did they end up …

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