Superconductivity
In 1911, a Dutch physicist named Heike Kamerlingh Onnes was experimenting with ultra low-temperature metals. He was measuring the electrical resistance of mercury to find out what would happen What he...
13 Nov 20219min
The Fall of Constantinople
History is full of battles and conflicts. Most of them are forgotten over time as they don’t really impact history. Whether one king or another wins a battle usually doesn’t matter in the big scheme o...
12 Nov 202112min
The Treaty of Versailles
On November 11th, 1918, the first world war came to an end. Or to be more precise, the fighting stopped. For the next eight months, a final peace treaty was hammered out, and hanging over the negotiat...
11 Nov 20219min
Shibboleths
Have you ever met someone who couldn’t pronounce the name nearby town, or they just spoke different enough that you could tell that they were from somewhere else? If so, you have probably learned abou...
10 Nov 202110min
The Suez Canal
Africa is big. Really big. And for thousands of years, people have dreamed of a way to cut through the narrowest part of the Siani Peninsula to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. In the 19...
9 Nov 202112min
Tokyo Rose and Axis Sally
During World War II, allied soldiers would often spend their time listening to the radio. They could, at least for a little while, be transported back home by listening to popular music with the sooth...
8 Nov 202113min
Paradoxes
2,500 years ago, the Greek philosopher Zeno posed a question. If you want wanted to travel from one place to another, you first have to go half the distance, then you have to go half the distance agai...
7 Nov 202112min
Skunkworks
62 miles north of Los Angeles in the city of Palmdale, California, lies one of the most secretive aircraft design and production centers in the world: Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Program. F...
6 Nov 202110min
