Podcast Episodes

Sweden’s shocking sugar experiment

In the 1940s, some vulnerable Swedish hospital patients were fed large amounts of sugary sweets as part of an experiment to see what it would do to their teeth.

Researchers considered the study a suc…

Published on 7 months, 1 week ago

Mexico’s soda tax: Confronting soft drink giants

In 2013, Mexico’s government approved a tax on sugary soft drinks. The country has one of the highest rates of fizzy drink consumption in the world.

Some rural homes do not have access to safe drinki…

Published on 7 months, 1 week ago

The founding of the Warsaw Pact

On 14 May 1955, the leader of the Soviet Union and leaders from seven European countries met to sign the Warsaw Pact.

In the years following World War Two, the Soviet Union and the United States star…

Published on 7 months, 1 week ago

Tesla and Edison: Electricity rivals

By 1915, the two great rivals, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison, had brought electricity to the world.

It was reported that they were set to share the Nobel Prize for Physics, but it never happened.

In…

Published on 7 months, 1 week ago

Intervision Song Contest

In 1980, Finnish singer Marion Rung won the Intervision Song Contest.

Born in the 1960s, Intervision was the Eastern Bloc’s answer to Eurovision. It ran until 1980, although in 2025 Russia’s Presiden…

Published on 7 months, 1 week ago

Rescuing Palmyra’s treasures from the Islamic State group

In May 2015, when the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria was about to fall to jihadist fighters, a group of men risked their lives to load centuries-old artefacts from the city’s museum onto trucks and…

Published on 7 months, 2 weeks ago

VE Day celebrations

The end of the Second World War in Europe came on 8 May 1945, after more than five years of conflict.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that people could allow themselves "a brief per…

Published on 7 months, 2 weeks ago

Sinking of the Lusitania

On 7 May 1915, the British ocean liner, the Lusitania, was sunk by a German submarine off the Irish coast, as it sailed from New York to Liverpool.

Thousands of passengers were onboard and 1,200 peopl…

Published on 7 months, 2 weeks ago

The invention of the automatic electric rice cooker

In 1955, entrepreneur and engineer Yoshitada Minami came up with a way to liberate women from two to three hours of housework a day.

When his water-heating business started losing sales, he was tasked…

Published on 7 months, 2 weeks ago

Conclave: How a new pope is chosen

In April 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI following the death of Pope John Paul II.

The new leader of the Catholic Church was elected after four ballots of the papal conclave. …

Published on 7 months, 2 weeks ago