How Much Ancient Knowledge Did We Lose in the Library of Alexandria?
For two thousand years the Library of Alexandria has stood in for everything humanity has ever lost. It's near the top of every list of history's great tragedies.Ask what was actually in it, though, a...
25 Aug 11min
Did Alexander Graham Bell Really Invent The Telephone? (Refresher)
Everybody learns the same fact in school. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. It's on the patent, it's in the textbooks, and it leaves quite a lot out.On the very same day Bell filed his pat...
24 Aug 11min
Where Do the Days of the Week Get Their Names?
Seven days, seven names. You say them constantly and have probably never once wondered where they came from. The trail runs through Roman planets and Norse gods, and some of the names sitting on your ...
21 Aug 9min
How Did We Figure Out That Germs Make Us Sick?
For most of human history, nobody knew what was making them sick. The leading theory blamed bad air, and it held for centuries. Then a few people started noticing things nobody else was looking at. A ...
18 Aug 10min
Why Are Car Dealerships Closed on Sundays? (Refresher)
Every other business in America wants your money seven days a week. Car dealerships, across most of the country, will not sell you a car on a Sunday.It isn't tradition, and it isn't dealers being gene...
16 Aug 9min
What Does E = mc² Actually Mean?
It's on t-shirts, on posters, and on the walls of coffee shops in the ‘90s. Everybody can recite it. Almost nobody can tell you what it means. Three letters and a number, written by a 26 year old pate...
14 Aug 11min
How Long Was The Shortest War In History? (Espresso)
Somewhere in the history books there's a war so short most people assume the number is a typo. Real warships, real casualties, two actual governments.It started with a sudden death, a palace, and a ma...
12 Aug 5min
Why Did Van Gogh Really Cut His Own Ear Off?
Everybody knows Van Gogh cut off his ear. Almost nobody knows why. The real answer starts about ten years earlier, with a man who had already failed at four careers and hadn't yet picked up a paintbru...
11 Aug 10min
