The Night the Stars Fell Down
In the early morning of November 13, 1833, one of the greatest astronomical spectacles in recorded history took place. It was seen by millions of people, and no one was sure what was happening. Some t...
9 Jun 202311min
England, Britain, and the United Kingdom: What's the Difference?
Located off the Northwestern Coast of continental Europe lies an archipelago of islands that most of you are familiar with. The thing is, the name of the islands and the names of the places that make...
8 Jun 202313min
Bell Labs (Encore)
What do lasers, photovoltaic cells, the transistor, digital cameras, cell phone technology, the communication satellite, computer networking, radio astronomy, and the UNIX operating system have in com...
7 Jun 20239min
The Cadaver Synod
In January 897, something unprecedented took place in Rome. Pope Formosa, the leader of the Catholic Church, was put on trial. What made this unprecedented wasn’t that the pope was on trial, althoug...
6 Jun 202312min
How The Secret to Silk Was Smuggled Out of China
There was no product more important to the economy of the ancient world than silk. Silk was transported thousands of miles to be purchased by people so far away from its source that they had no clue ...
5 Jun 202312min
The Town That Forgot It Was Part of the United States
International borders can be very strange things. Sometimes they measured down to the millimeter and a heavily marked and fortified. Other times they run through desolate areas where hardly anyone p...
4 Jun 202311min
Questions and Answers: Volume 7
In June of every year, the sun has its solstice. In the north, the days are long; in the south, the days are short, and we can plan our calendars around this event. Just as certain as the sun follows...
3 Jun 202314min
The East African Rift
There is a giant rift in East Africa today. It is a rift that literally tearing countries apart. This rift isn’t cultural, political, or economic, it is geologic. Africa is quite literally being torn...
2 Jun 202313min
