Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchBoaty McBoatface: The Joke-Named Sub That Changed Climate Models
Episode 12488
In spring 2016 the UK's Natural Environment Research Council opened an online poll to name its new 200 million pound polar research ship, then being …
3 days, 5 hours ago
America's Cup: A Bottomless 1848 Ewer, a 132-Year Streak, and Foils
Episode 12487
The oldest continuous trophy in international sport is a bottomless sterling silver ewer made by Garrard & Co. in London in 1848. Henry William Paget…
3 days, 5 hours ago
Bartolomeu Dias: The Blind Atlantic Turn That Rounded Southern Africa
Episode 12486
Bartolomeu Dias was born around 1450 into a Portuguese seafaring family: his ancestor Dinis Dias had reached the Cape Verde peninsula in the 1440s. R…
3 days, 5 hours ago
Auguste Piccard: Sealed Spheres from the Stratosphere to the Abyss
Episode 12485
Auguste Piccard, born in Basel, Switzerland in 1884 alongside his twin brother Jean-Félix, studied at the ETH in Zurich, became a physics professor a…
3 days, 5 hours ago
Vendée Globe: Surviving Alone, Nonstop, and Unassisted Around Antarctica
Episode 12484
The Vendée Globe is a solo, nonstop, unassisted race around the world over roughly 44,000 kilometers, about 24,000 nautical miles. It was created as …
3 days, 5 hours ago
Abel Tasman's 1642 Voyage: First Sight of New Zealand, Then Benched
Episode 12483
Abel Tasman gave his name to a sea, an island state, a national park, a glacier, and a bridge, yet his employer judged his career a failure. Born aro…
3 days, 5 hours ago
The Macchiato Decoded: A Waiter's Foam Marker to Perth's Long Mac
Episode 12482
Macchiato means stained or spotted, and the name began as a workflow fix. In busy mid 20th century Italian espresso bars, a plain espresso and one wi…
4 days, 3 hours ago
The Doppio Standard: Lever Arm Limits, Phantom Shots, and Caffeine Swings
Episode 12481
Doppio simply means double, and a standard doppio yields 60 milliliters, about 2.0 US fluid ounces, brewed from twice the ground coffee in a larger p…
4 days, 3 hours ago
The Café Wall Illusion: Münsterberg's 1894 Find and a Bristol Cafe
Episode 12480
The café wall illusion makes perfectly parallel rows of bricks look tilted into wedges. The recipe is exact: alternating dark and light bricks, rows …
4 days, 3 hours ago
Ristretto Explained: Half the Water, Sweeter Shot, Less Caffeine
Episode 12479
Ristretto means shortened in Italian, and the French call it café serré. A standard double espresso uses 14 to 18 grams of finely ground coffee extra…
4 days, 3 hours ago