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The Wild Story of What Happened to Pablo Escobar’s Hungry, Hungry Hippos
Season 1 Episode 24
Four decades ago, Pablo Escobar brought to his Medellín hideaway four hippopotamuses, the centerpieces of a menagerie that included llamas, cheetahs, lions, tigers, ostriches and other exotic fauna. …
Published on 1 year, 2 months ago
‘The Crime of the Century,’ a Century Later
Season 1 Episode 23
The past hundred years have seen more than one high-profile prosecution branded as the “crime of the century.” The shocking 1924 crime that was among the first to carry the title turned out to be a h…
Published on 1 year, 3 months ago
America’s Best New Restaurant Celebrates the Flavors of West Africa
Season 1 Episode 22
African cuisine has always been well represented in the United States, particularly in dishes characterized as “Southern” in origin, like gumbo or hoppin’ john. But even before chef Serigne Mbaye’s N…
Published on 1 year, 3 months ago
How Americans Got Hooked on Counting Calories More Than A Century Ago
Season 1 Episode 21
In 1918, Lulu Hunt Peters—one of the first women in America to earn a medical doctorate—published the best seller Diet and Health With Key to the Calories, making a name for herself as an apostle for…
Published on 1 year, 4 months ago
ENCORE: Those Orcas (Still) Aren't Doing What You Think
Season 1 Episode 20
Last summer, news reports of orcas deliberately tearing the propellers off of yachts in the Strait of Gibraltar thrilled observers who were eager to cast these intelligent and social pack hunters as …
Published on 1 year, 4 months ago
How Artificial Intelligence Is Making 2,000-Year-Old Scrolls Readable Again
Season 1 Episode 19
When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E., it covered the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum under tons of ash. Millennia later, in the mid-18th century, archeologists began to unearth the city, …
Published on 1 year, 5 months ago
Roads Scholars
Season 1 Episode 18
As highways encroach ever further into animal habitats, drivers and wildlife are in greater danger than ever. And off the beaten path, decaying old forest roads are inflicting damage as well. “Roads …
Published on 1 year, 5 months ago
Why We Love Eclipses
Season 1 Episode 17
Eclipses have been a subject of fascination throughout human history, and the fact that we now have a clearer understanding of what they actually are—at least in the celestial mechanics sense—than we…
Published on 1 year, 6 months ago
The Man Behind "Manhunt"
Season 1 Episode 16
Before it was even published in 2006, historian James Swanson’s book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer attracted the notice of Hollywood. After several prior attempts to adapt the nonfic…
Published on 1 year, 6 months ago
Before Beyoncé and Taylor Swift Ran the World, There Was Joan Baez
Season 1 Episode 15
Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have achieved a degree of power in the music industry that singer/songwriters of earlier eras like Joan Baez—as the folk icon tells us—never even contemplated. Six decades ag…
Published on 1 year, 7 months ago