Podcast Episodes

The Sunflower Movement

Between 18 March and 10 April 2014, more than 500,000 people in Taipei, Taiwan, protested against a new trade deal with China.

It was one of the large…

1 year, 4 months ago

'Robocops’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo

After the death of her brother, engineer Thérèse Izay Kirongozi got to work handmaking huge robots to direct traffic and save lives.

In 2013 they wer…

1 year, 5 months ago

How the QR code was invented

In 1994, bar codes were in widespread use in businesses around the world, but the Japanese car component company, Denso Wave, wanted something quicke…

1 year, 5 months ago

The world's first general purpose electronic computer

In 1946, one of the world’s first electronic computers was unveiled in Philadelphia, in the USA.

It was called the Electronic Numerical Integrator an…

1 year, 5 months ago

WABOT-1: The first humanoid robot

Scientists at Waseda University in Japan built the world's first humanoid robot in 1973. They called it the 'WABOT', the Waseda robot. It could see, …

1 year, 5 months ago

Eliza: When chatbots started

Eliza is the name of a 1966 invention by German born scientist, Joseph Weizenbaum, that is said to be the first chatbot.

Eliza worked by someone typin…

1 year, 5 months ago

The longest plane hijacking in Latin America

In 1973, two men pretending to be Colombian guerrillas took a plane and flew across Latin America for 60 hours. It was the longest hijacking of an ai…

1 year, 5 months ago

The speech that inspired the Law of the Sea

In November 1967, the Maltese diplomat, Arvid Pardo, addressed the United Nations with a remarkable speech that shaped the laws governing the sea.

Par…

1 year, 5 months ago

South Africa’s nuclear weapons

In 1989, South Africa became the first, and only country to make and then dismantle nuclear weapons.

The project was conducted at Kentron Circle, a se…

1 year, 5 months ago

Cambodia war crimes

In 2009, a UN-backed war crimes tribunal opened in Cambodia to try the senior Khmer Rouge commanders responsible for genocide.

An estimated two millio…

1 year, 5 months ago