These days, biologists believe all living things come from other living things. But for a long time, people believed that life would, from time to time, spontaneously pop into existence more often—and not just that one time at the base of the evolutionary tree. Even the likes of Aristotle believed in the “spontaneous generation” of life until Louis Pasteur debunked the theory—or so the story goes.
The Nod - Lady Sings the Blues w/ Bassey Ikpi
This week, Brittany gets personal as she sits down with author and poet Bassey Ikpi to talk about her new book, I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying. In the book Bassey re-examines her life through the lens of her mental health and diagnosis of bipolar II.*
This episode of The Nod contains mentions of suicide and serious mental health issues, and may not be suitable for all of our listeners.
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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Sewing machine
Women's lives were transformed by sewing machines, which made a "never-ending, ever-beginning task" far less arduous and time-consuming. But Isaac Singer, who made his fortune from these devices, was far from a champion of women's rights. Tim Harford tells a story of how self-interest can sometimes be a powerful driver for social change.
Undiscovered - Into The Ether
In 1880, scientist Albert Michelson set out to build a device to measure something every 19th century physicist knew just had to be there. The “luminiferous ether” was invisible and pervaded all of space. It helped explain how light traveled, and how electromagnetic waves waved. Ether theory even underpinned Maxwell’s famous equations! One problem: When Alfred Michaelson ran his machine, the ether wasn’t there.
Science historian David Kaiser walks Annie and Science Friday host Ira Flatow through Michaelson’s famous experiment, and explains how a wrong idea led to some very real scientific breakthroughs.
This story first aired on Science Friday.
GUEST
David Kaiser, Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science, Professor of Physics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
FOOTNOTES
Find out more about the Michelson-Morley experiment on APS Physics.
Read an archival article from the New York Times about the physicists’ experimental “failure.”
CREDITS
This episode of Undiscovered was produced by Annie Minoff and Christopher Intagliata. Our theme music is by I Am Robot And Proud.
Agnus: The Late Antique, Medieval, and Byzantine Podcast - Glenn McDorman on Bishops During the Fall of Rome
Glenn shares a little of his own research this episode.
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Check out Elder Sign: A Weird Fiction Podcast for the exciting adventures of scholars saving the universe from scary monsters.
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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Hollerith punch card
Data is a hugely profitable commodity - if you know how to process it. Tim Harford tells the story of Herman Hollerith, and how his 19th-century machine for processing census data laid the foundations for some of the world's most valuable companies.
Undiscovered - Planet Of The Killer Apes
In Apartheid-era South Africa, a scientist uncovered a cracked, proto-human jawbone. That humble fossil would go on to inspire one of the most blood-spattered theories in all of paleontology: the “Killer Ape” theory.
According to the Killer Ape theory, humans are killers—unique among the apes for our capacity for bloodthirsty murder and violence. And at a particularly violent moment in U.S. history, the idea stuck! It even made its way into one of the most iconic scenes in film history. Until a female chimp named Passion showed the world that we might not be so special after all.
The Anthropocene Reviewed - Notes App and Sports Rivalries
John Green reviews the Notes app and the strange phenomenon of sports rivalries.
Land of the Giants - Amazon’s Middlewomen
Why do so many Amazon packages take a pitstop in the small town of Roundup, Montana? Find out in this episode of Reset, the new tech podcast from Recode and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Jason Del Rey and Reset host Arielle Duhaime-Ross discuss how Amazon's Marketplace has created some very unusual business opportunities.
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Reset for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or your favorite podcast app to get new episodes every week.
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The City - A New Reno | S2 E6
As old Reno disappears around them, Kamy, Stephanie, and Velma all try to find their bearings.
For bonus and behind-the-scenes content for Episode 6, visit thecitypodcast.com. Or follow us:
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