How DNA Solves Crimes
For most of human history, identifying the person responsible for a crime depended on witnesses, confessions, fingerprints, and sometimes little more than suspicion. Then, in the late 20th century, s...
21 Sep 15min
The Never-Ending Voyager Missions (Encore)
In 1977, NASA took advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime alignment of the planets to send two probes to the outermost reaches of the solar system. They sent back the best images and data available at th...
20 Sep 15min
The Rise and Fall of Vaudeville
Before radio, television, and the internet, Americans packed theaters to see comedians, singers, dancers, acrobats, magicians, animal acts, and just about anything else that could hold an audience’s a...
19 Sep 15min
The History of Whaling (Encore)
Whaling is something that humans have engaged in for thousands of years. For most of that time, indigenous groups conducted it on a small scale for subsistence purposes. Over time, whaling became co...
18 Sep 15min
A Brief History of Algeria
For thousands of years, one country has stood at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Sahara. It has been ruled by Numidian kings, Romans, Arabs, Ottomans, and European. Its modern...
17 Sep 15min
Fluorine: The Most Reactive Element
There is an element so reactive that it was one of the last to be isolated, and chemists were injured or even killed trying to obtain it. Yet once tamed, it became essential to everything from alumi...
16 Sep 16min
The Avignon Papacy
For centuries, the pope was one of Europe's most powerful figures, ruling the Church from Rome and challenging kings and emperors alike. Then, in the early 14th century, a bitter struggle with the F...
15 Sep 16min
Cod: The Fish That Shaped History
For centuries, one seemingly ordinary fish helped feed armies, sustain empires, launch fishing fleets across the Atlantic, and shape the economies of entire nations. It could be preserved for months...
14 Sep 14min
