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Fifty-four Forty or Fight!
Episode 1391
By the early 19th century, the United States and Great Britain had already fought two wars with each other.
Those two wars were not enough to resolve…
2 years, 3 months ago
The 1854 Broad Street Cholera Outbreak (Encore)
Episode 1390
In 1854 an unusually severe outbreak of cholera occurred in London.
While cholera was not an uncommon disease, physicians at the time weren’t sure wh…
2 years, 3 months ago
Qin Shi Huang: China's First Emperor
Episode 1389
In 259 BC, a boy named Ying Zheng was born in the state of Qin in modern-day China.
He was born into the royal family of the kingdom and ascended to …
2 years, 3 months ago
Central Park
Episode 1388
In the 19th century, New York City was one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.
However, it was still a very young city, and as such, the city…
2 years, 3 months ago
Concorde: The World’s Fastest Passenger Airplane
Episode 1387
Almost as soon as Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947, people began thinking of ways to transport passengers at supersonic speeds.
However, …
2 years, 3 months ago
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (Encore)
Episode 1386
Today in Western Europe, there is a line that divides speakers of Germanic languages and speakers of Romance languages. While that line has shifted o…
2 years, 3 months ago
The Largest Known Things in the Universe
Episode 1385
The universe is big. Really, really big. So big that it is hard to intuitively grasp its size because we have nothing in our lives that we could comp…
2 years, 3 months ago
The Origin of Words and Phrases: Military
Episode 1387
The English language has evolved organically, gathering words and phrases from different languages, countries, and communities.
It should come as no …
2 years, 3 months ago
Batteries
Episode 1383
The odds are quite good that somewhere around you right now as you listen to me speak these words, is a battery.
Whether it is in your smartphone, ea…
2 years, 3 months ago
A Brief History of Belgium
Episode 1382
Located in Northern Europe, along the Atlantic coast, is the relatively small nation of Belgium.
Belgium is like other countries in most ways, but it…
2 years, 3 months ago