Engines of Our Ingenuity

Episode: 1637 In which science and magic struggle to become separate pursuits.  Today, let's practice Natural Magic.

Episode: 1636 Of books and learning in nineteenth-century America.  Today, thoughts on books and learning.

Episode: 2643 P ≠ NP (or is it?): an important problem in complexity theory.  Today, an educated guess.

Episode: 3413 Finishing a pilot's story.  Today, finishing a pilot's story.

Episode: 3412 In which we humans (and birds) depend upon being unstable – and thinking unstably.  Today, we walk on two legs.

Episode: 3411 Roland Garros: Airplane pioneer, inventor, and almost combat air ace.  Today, meet Roland Garros.

Episode: 1635 At the Sign of the Barber Pole: of barbers and barber-surgeons.  Today, reflections in a barbershop.

Episode: 1635 At the Sign of the Barber Pole: of barbers and barber-surgeons.  Today, reflections in a barbershop.

Episode: 1634 Flying the Aegean Sea in Daedalus' slipstream.  Today, we mix a magic drink for Daedalus and Icarus.

Episode: 1633 In which a Cambridge don doubts his own calculus teaching.  Today, a mathematician misses the point.

Episode: 2642 The Importance of Structuring Data.  Today, putting it all together.

Episode: 3092 Descriptions of Arts and Crafts.  Today, saving arts and crafts.

Episode: 3410 Some thoughts on how history must get written with vastly incomplete information.  Today, fragile history.

Episode: 3409 We trace the long life of a silly helmet.  Today, a puzzling headpiece.

Episode: 1632 Rediscovering the sunken Union Monitor.  Today, we find the first modern warship -- on the ocean floor.

Episode: 1631 Learning to subtract 49 from 62: more than meets the eye.  Today, what is 49 from 62?

Episode: 1630 In which we ponder a very subjective notion of reality.  Today, nature changes before our eyes.

Episode: 2460 In praise of the City: A fine piece of the natural world.  Today, another look at form and function.

Episode: 2955 The Friendship Paradox: Why Your Friends Are More Popular Than You Are.  Today, let's talk about your friends.

Episode: 3408 When Molecules Bump.  Today, a historical injustice.

Episode: 3407 In which we forget that John Jacob Niles gave us some of our best-loved music. Today, who wrote the song?

Episode: 1629 An old book tells about textile engineering and conservatism.  Today, we resist change.

Episode: 1628 The first red cross ambulance.  Today, we care for wounded soldiers.

Episode: 1627 A shocking look at medications in 1892 shows us how far we've come.  Today, we measure how far we've come.

Episode: 2639 The Seattle World's Fair and the Space Needle.  Today, a landmark in the clouds.

Episode: 2927 Dual Inheritance Theory: How our Genes and our Culture are co-evolving.  Today, let's talk about cultural complexity.

Episode: 2999 Hannibal's Grand Strategy: Genius or Failure?  Today, Hannibal at the gates.

Episode: 3406 About the Short Subjects that we see, and that we once saw, before the movie we came to see.  Today, short subjects.

Episode: 1626 Using China's Yellow River to contemplate a flood.  Today, a look at flooding.

Episode: 1625 Telephone inventor Elisha Gray talks about miracles.  Today, a telephone inventor talks about miracles.

Episode: 1624 Garrett A. Morgan: Black American inventor.  Today, thoughts about traffic lights, gas masks, and hair straighteners.

Episode: 2636 Admiral Michael Mullen and Mathematics.  Today, leading the charge.

Episode: 2851 The Lake Breeze Fan: Unplanned Obsolescence.  Today, invention and obsolescence.

Episode: 3404 The rise and fall of ICS, The International Correspondence School.  Today, International Correspondence Schools.

Episode: 1623 The textbooks of J. Dorman and Esther Steele.  Today, we meet two very special teachers.

Episode: 1622 Fingerprints, crime detection, and identification.  Today, I ask, "Who are you?"

Episode: 1621 Motherland: The Stalingrad Memorial.  Today, we visit a really big statue

Episode: 2753 Henry Laurence Gantt.  Today, we chart new territory.

Episode: 2641 Niagara Falls and the development of hydroelectric power.  Today, ghosts of Niagara.

Episode: 2977 Thomas Jefferson, the Maison Carrée, and the Virginia State Capitol.  Today, Thomas Jefferson in love.

Episode: 3403 An old book about telephones reminds of a time before our technologies were not “black boxed.”  Today, we look under the hood.

Episode: 1620 The Indian canoe -- another perfected technology.  Today, birch-bark canoes.