Author: Dr. John Lienhard

Episode: 1422 Technology in Alexandria, ca. 200 BC.  Today, a 2200-year-old age of invention.

Episode: 3325 Machines That Forgot How to Fail: An AI Guest’s Perspective on Reliability.  Today, our guest, ChatGPT, talks about machines that forgot to fail.

Episode: 3323 We learn a new way of speaking in the 1930s.  Today, biting words.

Episode: 1421 The Rocket Boys, a moving story of adolescence and engineering.  Today, a book with a surprising subtext.

Episode: 1420 The Erie Canal.  Today, we ride 568 feet uphill in a barge.

Episode: 1419 Another way of looking at the 14th century Plague.  Today, population reduction by disaster.

Episode: 1418 Does war influence technological evolution? Some surprising facts.  Today, we wonder how war influences technology.

Episode: 1417 In which the medieval clock metaphor finally collapses.  Today, a metaphor dies.

Episode: 1416 Technology on Hold: ideas that return after a long time.  Today, technology on hold.

Episode: 1415 Right and left handedness: some new ideas about origins.  Today, why do you write with your right hand?