Podcast Transcript If you were to call someone a snake oil salesman, it usually means they are trying to defraud someone, and more specifically it often implies making false medical claims. But what exactly is snake oil, and why did it develop such a bad reputation, and why specifically do we use snake oil for …
Podcast Transcript There is an old saying that everything old is new again. This is certainly true with electric cars. The recent surge in popularity of electric vehicles is technically a resurgence, because believe it or not, there was a time when electric cars were more popular than cars with internal combustion engines. Learn more …
Podcast Transcript American politics has been called a two-party system. While there are two major parties today, and those two parties have been around a long time, they weren’t always the only two parties. In fact, there was a political party in the US that, took its name from a British political party, had four …
Podcast Transcript You’ve seen it in your science classroom, and there was probably a copy of it on the inside cover of your chemistry book. Maybe if you are a real nerd, you might even have your own personal copy. Yet its very creation was a revolutionary breakthrough that helped scientists and generations of students …
Podcast Transcript In 1949, a young inventor by the name of Norman Woodland was sitting on the beach in Florida. While drawing some lines in the sand, he had an idea that would revolutionize the world of retail and logistics. In fact, his invention might be found somewhere around you or on your person at …
Podcast Transcript At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the Great War, the war to end all wars, came to an end. In the preceding four years and four months, the world saw the greatest bloodletting history up until that point. Even after the announcement of the armistice, …
Podcast Transcript The biggest thing there is and the biggest thing there can be is infinity, right? It literally has no bounds. In fact, thinking about infinity can quickly give you a nosebleed because our finite minds can’t really grasp just how enormous it really is. However, what if I were to tell you that …
Transcript In 1598 the Dutch Empire acquired the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. There, they found a short, fat, flightless bird that was only found on that island. The bird had absolutely no fear of humans, but perhaps it should have. In 1662, just 64 years later, the last known bird was sighted, …
Transcript If you have ever traveled in Europe, odds are you have visited at least one major cathedral. These massive religious buildings were and still are, the architectural centerpieces in most cities. Yet, most visitors to a cathedral will usually walk around, gawking at lofty ceilings and old art without ever really knowing what they …