Artificial Sweeteners
In 1879, Constantin Fahlberg, a chemist at Johns Hopkins University, made an astonishing discovery. He was conducting experiments with coal tar when he forgot to wash his hands. When he started eatin...
18 Feb 202313min
The 27th Amendment (Encore)
The American constitution was written in 1787, but there was a mechanism built in to amend and change the document. Since 1787 the Constitution has been amended 27 times, most recently in 1992. The ...
17 Feb 20239min
The Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770, one of the major events leading up to the American Revolution occurred. A confrontation between Boston civilians and British soldiers resulted in the deaths of five Americans. Whil...
16 Feb 202313min
Magnetic Pole Reversal
Once every 450,000 years or so, the Earth undergoes a radical transformation. The planet’s magnetic field will literally flip. The north pole becomes the south pole and vice versa. Despite the fact ...
15 Feb 202311min
The Dunning-Kruger Effect
In 1999, two social psychologists, David Dunning and Justin Kruger, published a seminal paper on a cognitive bias that can affect nearly everyone. Since the paper was published, it has given a name t...
14 Feb 202311min
The Thirty Years’ War
17th-century Europe was witness to one of the longest and most brutal wars in human history. The conflict lasted over a generation and was responsible for the deaths of up to half the population in s...
13 Feb 202312min
The Super Bowl (Encore)
One day every year, the United States celebrates its biggest non-official holiday: Super Bowl Sunday. The championship game of the National Football League is almost always the biggest television aud...
12 Feb 202310min
Vitamin D
Of all the vitamins and nutrients which are required by the human body, there are 13 of which that are considered essential nutrients. That means they can’t be produced within our bodies. One of those...
11 Feb 202311min
