Space Heist! (Or, How to Steal a Planet)
Endless Thread18 Feb 2022

Space Heist! (Or, How to Steal a Planet)

On December 28, 2004, CalTech astronomer Mike Brown and his colleagues found an unnamed dwarf planet drifting through the far reaches of the solar system. But before they could go public with their finding — as they were dotting their scientific i’s — a little-known team of Spanish astronomers beat them to the punch. José Luis Ortiz Moreno and Pablo Santo-Sanz announced the discovery of what turned out to be the same dwarf planet. Something seemed off, though. Users of an online astronomical message board started to ask: How could two teams on opposite sides of the world simultaneously find the same tiny rock? What they found sparked a philosophical debate that questioned the way science is done and may — or may not — have revealed one of the greatest robberies in modern-day astronomy.

Episoder(443)

Hot (and not) fruit takes

Hot (and not) fruit takes

What temperature do you like your fruit? What is the correct way to peel a banana? This week on Endless Thread, Ben and Amory cherry pick a couple of the hottest fruit debates taking place on Reddit. ...

30 Jan 20min

The Alpha Male Myth

The Alpha Male Myth

In 1970, a young biologist named David Mech published what could be the most consequential book on wolves ever written. At the time, The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species, was th...

23 Jan 26min

The Anvillain

The Anvillain

Fast-and-cheap shipping is now foundational to the American way of life, thanks in large part to Amazon Prime. Still, when producer Grace Tatter sees a video of a man claiming that he's continuously o...

16 Jan 28min

Algospeak

Algospeak

Adam Aleksic's Roman Empire is language, particularly how algorithms are changing the way we all use words. This week, Endless Thread gets algospeak-pilled and learns how "unalive" spread from a kids'...

9 Jan 25min

Rewind: Today You, Tomorrow Me: Why A Decade-Old Reddit Comment Still Resonates Today

Rewind: Today You, Tomorrow Me: Why A Decade-Old Reddit Comment Still Resonates Today

10 years ago, Justin found himself on the side of the road with a blown out tire. Hours went by and no one stopped to help. But just as he was about to give up, something happened that changed Justin ...

2 Jan 23min

Encore: Never Gonna Give You Up

Encore: Never Gonna Give You Up

Who gets credit for starting a meme? Usually... nobody — they're made too quickly and organically. In the case of one of the most famous bait-and-switch memes of all time, the "Rick Roll," we may be l...

26 Des 202543min

Lost Without You

Lost Without You

2025 marks 20 years of Google Maps — a tool that many of us would be, quite literally, lost without. We hear from New Orleanians who used Google Maps/Google Earth in its inaugural year to survey the ...

19 Des 202533min

Ukraine's expanding drone web

Ukraine's expanding drone web

There's a lot of drone warfare footage on the internet from Ukraine and Russia. But over the last year, a surprising change has emerged, via photos from the battlefront posted online. It has become cl...

12 Des 202538min

Populært innen Teknologi

lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
romkapsel
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
teknisk-sett
energi-og-klima
nasjonal-sikkerhetsmyndighet-nsm
shifter
smart-forklart
rss-ki-praten
rss-impressions-2
pedagogisk-intelligens
elektropodden
rss-ai-forklart
rss-polypod
hans-petter-og-co
rss-alt-vi-kan
rss-for-alarmen-gar
rss-anleggspraten
rss-teknologioptimistene-energibransjens-it-podcast
rss-alt-som-gar-pa-strom