Podcast Transcript On April 4, 1949, representatives of 11 North American and European countries assembled in Washington DC to sign a treaty of mutual defense. That treaty, and the organization which it spawned, has served as the basis for defense policy for Western Europe and North America for almost 75 years. Over that time, the …
Podcast Transcript All three of the holy books from great monotheistic faiths share a similar story about a Queen from a land in the south who traveled to Jerusalem to meet King Solomon. This queen, who is said to have come from a land called Sheba, held not only the fascination of Solomon but of …
Podcast Transcript For ages, people have tried to categorize humans by intelligence. However, it wasn’t until the early 20th century that attempts were made to provide an actual quantifiable measure of intelligence. In 1912, a German psychologist by the name of William Stern dubbed a method of scoring intelligence tests called an intelligence quotient. Every …
Podcast Transcript In the year 60 BC, a very unlikely alliance was formed between three of Rome’s most powerful men. Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, and Marcus Licinius Crassus agreed to put aside their differences for mutual gain. For many years the alliance worked, and the three men were able to run the Roman …
Podcast Transcript In the year 1162, in the Khentii Mountains of what is today Northeastern Mongolia, a baby by the name of Temüjin was born. He would go on to become the world’s single greatest conqueror and establish the largest contiguous empire in history. His empire would reverberate throughout history and is still being felt …
Podcast Transcript You have probably heard the old saying that there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. There are several reasons why statistics are often misinterpreted. One of the biggest is the confusion between the two concepts of correlation and causation. This confusion is not only made by laypeople but also by members of the …
Podcast Transcript In the 18th century, the French writer and philosopher Voltaire said, ??”This body which was called, and which still calls itself, the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” Since then, some variation of this quote has found itself into history classes around the world. So what …
Podcast Transcript For thousands of years, rice has been one of the most important agricultural crops in the world. It has fed billions of people, has been crossbred into tens of thousands of variants, and is now grown in every continent except Antarctica. The importance of rice has not diminished over time and in fact, …
Podcast Transcript In the early 20th century, a Soviet agronomist named Trofim Lysenko developed some unique theories of biology and genetics. He rose to the top of the Soviet hierarchy in his field, and Stalin himself endorsed his theories. The result of the implementation of his ideas was nothing short of disastrous. Learn more about …