
The Greatest Nobel Prize Snubs
As of the recording of this episode, 1,012 people have been awarded Nobel Prizes across every category. This episode is not about any of them. This episode is about the people who didn’t win a Nobe...
10 Apr 202515min

A History of Lead (Encore)
Sometime around eight to nine thousand years ago, ancient people in Asia Minor found a very dull grey metal that turned out to be easy to manipulate when it was heated. For thousands of years, it was...
9 Apr 202513min

The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud
The Solar System is a pretty big place. When most people think of our Solar System, they probably think of the Sun, the planets, and all their moons. However, the solar system is much larger than mo...
8 Apr 202516min

The History of the Guitar
One of the most popular instruments in the world is the guitar. The guitar is the primary instrument in many popular forms of music today. Yet, this wasn’t always the case. The guitar is related t...
7 Apr 202515min

The Reign of Terror
For a 10-month period from September 1793 to July 1794, the nation of France went through a period which could only be called insanity. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, a small group of ra...
6 Apr 202516min

Open Source Software
Computer software seems to be everywhere. No matter what kind of computer you use or where you use it, all computers use software. That is the entire point of a computer. However, not all software...
5 Apr 202516min

The History of Pasta (Encore)
There is a very good chance that many of you listening have had pasta, maybe within the last week. Pasta is a simple, affordable food that comes in a wide variety of forms. It can be served with alm...
4 Apr 202513min

Mass Extinction Events
We like to think of the Earth as a very stable place. While there might be seasonal variation in the weather, things don’t really change that much within our lifetimes. However, if you take a longer...
3 Apr 202516min






















