Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
A Sea Worth its Salt
Episode 224
The largest body of water in California was formed by a mistake. In 1905, the California Development Company accidentally flooded a huge depression i…
10 years, 1 month ago
The Magic Bureaucrat
Episode 223
In 1996, President Bill Clinton and the Congress undertook a reform effort to redesign the welfare system from one that many believed trapped people …
10 years, 1 month ago
Combat Hearing Loss
Episode 222
The US military buys a lot of foam ear plugs. Visit any base and you’ll find them under the bleachers at the firing range, in the bottoms of washing …
10 years, 1 month ago
America’s Last Top Model
Episode 221
In 1943, the Army Corps of Engineers began construction on a scale model that could test flooding in all 1.25 million square miles of the Mississippi…
10 years, 2 months ago
The Mind of an Architect
Episode 220
In the late 1950s, the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research embarked on a mission to study the personalities of particularly creative sci…
10 years, 2 months ago
Unpleasant Design
Episode 219
Benches in parks, train stations, bus shelters and other public places are meant to offer seating, but only for a limited duration. Many elements of …
10 years, 2 months ago
Remembering Stonewall
Episode 218
It started with a place called the Stonewall Inn. Gay bars had been raided by police for decades. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people had …
10 years, 2 months ago
Home on Lagrange
Episode 217
In 1968, an Italian industrialist and a Scottish scientist started a club to address what they considered to be humankind’s greatest problems—issues …
10 years, 2 months ago
The Blazer Experiment
Episode 216
In 1968, the police department in Menlo Park, California hired a new police chief. His name was Victor Cizanckas and his main goal was to reform the …
10 years, 3 months ago
H-Day
Episode 215
September 3rd, 1967, also known as H-Day, is etched in the collective memory of Sweden. That morning, millions of Swedes switched from driving on the…
10 years, 3 months ago