Out of Africa
Several hundred thousand years ago, human beings walked out of Africa. What has been a subject of debate amongst anthropologists is why it happened, how it happened, and how many times it happened. ...
4 Mars 202311min
Rosie the Riveter
On December 29, 1940, a year before the United States entered the Second World War, President Franklin Roosevelt declared the United States to be an arsenal of democracy. When the US did finally enter...
3 Mars 202312min
Lysenkoism (Encore)
In the early 20th century, a Soviet agronomist named Trofim Lysenko developed some unique theories of biology and genetics. He rose to the top of the Soviet hierarchy in his field, and Stalin himself...
2 Mars 202311min
All About Air
Right now, as you are listening to the sound of my voice, you are breathing air. Air is all around you all the time. When humans go into space or beneath the surface of the ocean, the one thing you a...
1 Mars 202312min
Perpetual Motion
Imagine a device that could supply an unlimited amount of energy. It would solve many of the world’s problems in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, such a device is impossible to build, but that hasn’t s...
28 Feb 202311min
The Most Important Supermarket Visit in History
The cold war was the defining event of the second half of the 20th century. When exactly it ended has been subject to debate. Was it the fall of the Berlin Wall? Was the day the Soviet Union was diss...
27 Feb 202311min
Proscription Lists
The movie The Purge depicts a fictitious world where one night a year, there is a war of all against all. If you look back in history, you will find a time when something similar happened. Except it...
26 Feb 202311min
Nanotechnology
In Greek, the word for dwarf is “nanos.” The International Bureau of Weights and Measures adopted the prefix ‘nano’ to mean one billionth. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, and it is the scal...
25 Feb 202312min
