Podcast Transcript Once humans managed to put artificial satellites into orbit, the next question was, “what can we do with this?” One of the first applications of satellites, and still one of the biggest uses still today, has been for communications. Using satellites for communications requires cutting-edge technologies in space flight, solar power, radio engineering, …
Podcast Transcript Introduced in 1968, the Boeing 747 totally revolutionized commercial air transportation. It was more than twice the size of the next closest passenger plane, and it brought air travel to a much wider audience. Not only did it help democratize air travel, but the plane’s unique features also added a new element of …
Podcast Transcript At the end of the second world war, a Captain in the United States Navy had a radical idea about the future of the American fleet. He felt that the largest American naval vessels, especially submarines, could be powered by the newly discovered energy from nuclear fission. His ideas, and his personality, radically …
Podcast Transcript One of the most important inventions of early humanity was the compass. The compass has aided human navigation around the Earth for centuries. Despite being a critical technology in the development of transportation, it actually took centuries between the discovery of its underlying principles and its eventual use as a practical tool for …
Podcast Transcript Traveling to space is an inherently dangerous thing to do. In the first years of the space race, both the Soviet Union and the United States were fortunate in that none of their missions resulted in a loss of life. However, 1967 saw that luck run out for both countries. NASA saw the …
Podcast Transcript Ancient people around the world all made a rather similar discovery. In certain places, they could find a black stone in the ground which could burn. Coal. For the most part, this combustible black rock took a backseat to wood as a fuel source, but eventually, it replaced wood and was the fuel …
Podcast Transcript In the year 70, the Roman Emperor Vespasian commissioned what would become the world’s largest amphitheater. Approximately ten years later, it opened to great fanfare and 100 days of games. No greater amphitheater has ever been built in the nearly 2000 years since its construction. Learn more about the Flavian Amphitheater, aka the …
Podcast Transcript On December 29, 1170, the Archbishop of Canterbury was brutally murdered on the floor of the Canterbury Cathedral by four armed knights while preparing for his evening prayers. The ramifications of that incident shook the country of England, its king, and the Catholic Church. Over 850 years later, it is still remembered and …
Podcast Transcript It is the world’s largest island, has the closest point of land to the North Pole, and is the least densely populated political territory on the planet. 80% of it is covered by an ice mass that is second only to the Antarctic ice sheet. Beneath that ice might just lie the largest …