Did Lead Lead to the Fall of the Roman Empire?
Don't do lead, kids! Nowadays everyone knows the dangers this substance poses to humans -- especially children in their formative years -- but back in the day, lead was everywhere. Ancient Rome was ri...
31 Maalis 49min
CLASSIC: California Schoolchildren and the Great Squirrel War
In this week's Classic episode: In 1918, as the planet was consumed by World War I, the government of California found itself combating an unexpected and catastrophic enemy: Ground squirrels. The rode...
28 Maalis 28min
Don’t Be a Schmo Yo, Try a Yoyo!
Most people think of yo-yos as a fun, old-school toy for kids: a pretty simple, clever device leveraging physics with a string and a weight. Yet as Ben, Noel and Max discover in today's episode, the s...
26 Maalis 42min
The Ridiculous Secret of "Supreme" Pizza
The results are in: pretty much everyone loves pizza... but what doth a pizza make varies from place to place. Obsessed with a game-changing message from a former pizzaiolo on the inside, Ben, Noel an...
24 Maalis 48min
CLASSIC: When West Virginia Begged the USSR for Foreign Aid
In this week's Classic episode: Were it not for the coal mine, the town of Vulcan, West Virginia may well have never existed. As a rural and geographically isolated community, Vulcan relied on a singl...
21 Maalis 29min
Knitting as Espionage, Part Two: Legendary Spies -- and One Traitor
Espionage takes many forms. As Ben, Noel and Max learned in the first part of this two-part series, one of those forms was knitting. In today's episode, the guys explore the stories of phenomenal spie...
19 Maalis 33min
Knitting as Espionage, Part One: Secrets in the Stitch
For a lot of folks in the modern day, knitting is more a relaxing hobby than a household necessity. However, not too long ago, this needlecraft was a genuine -- and effective! -- tool for spies. In th...
17 Maalis 32min
CLASSIC: Idiomatic for the People II, Part II
Language is beautiful and, in many cases, continually evolving. As a result, we end up with hundreds of strange idioms and figures of speech that we use on a daily basis, with little to no understandi...
14 Maalis 38min
