Engines of Our Ingenuity

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The story of technological progress is one of drama and intrigue, sudden insight and plain hard work. Let’s explore technology’s spectacular failures and many magnificent success stories.

Houston Public Media

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    • Oct 1, 2023 LATEST EPISODE
    • daily NEW EPISODES
    • 3m AVG DURATION
    • 1,207 EPISODES

    4.8 from 140 ratings Listeners of Engines of Our Ingenuity that love the show mention: engines, invention, engineering, houston, literature, dr, science, bravo, art, subjects, history, short, human, program, every day, minutes, highly recommended, engaging, thank, interesting.



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    Latest episodes from Engines of Our Ingenuity

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2932: Snopes, Monopoly, and POWs

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2932 Monopoly games for POWs and the creation of myths.  Today, Monopoly games and mythology.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2929: Goodwin Sands

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2929 The treacherous Goodwin Sands give up the last Dornier-17.  Today, the Goodwin Sands.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2925: The Francis H Leggett

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2023 3:49


    Episode: 2925 The wreck of the Francis H. Leggett and the question: What makes history interesting?  Today, Oregon's worst shipwreck.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2940: Polio and Mathematics

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 28, 2023 3:52


    Episode: 2940 Polio and Mathematics.  Today, mathematicians ask, "should we rid the world of polio?"

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2831: Reading Cosmo

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 27, 2023 3:49


    Episode: 2831 Reading the Long History of Cosmopolitan Magazine.  Today, a great American magazine.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2765: The Mechanical Turk

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2765 The Mechanical Turk.  Today, the chess playing automaton.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2921: Airplane Genetics

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 25, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2921 The development of Italy's Reggiane 2005 fighter plane from the American P-35 as genetic analogy.  Today, airplane genetics.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2911: Quincy Mine Hoist

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2023 3:51


    Episode: 2911 A very big spool: The Quincy Mine No. 2 Shaft Hoist, the largest in the world.  Today, a very big spool.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2896: Nadezhda Popova

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2896 In which Nadezhda Popova beats off the Wehrmacht in a crop-duster.  Today, Nadia Popova.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2892: Steampunk

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 22, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2892 Steampunk: An exercise in writing science fiction without predicting the future.  Today, steampunk.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2939: Alternative Power Transmission

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2023 3:48


    Episode: 2939 Getting Power Inside: Alternative Power Transmission Systems.  Today, why electricity?

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2909: Renewable Energy

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2909 Hydrogen Fuel Cell Providing Renewable Energy, A Comparison of Hydrogen Fuel Cell and Lithium Ion Battery.  Today, a neat way to get energy.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2829: Cesare Lombroso

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2829 Cesare Lombroso and his Museum.  Today, a head in a jar.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2880: Glacier Bay

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 18, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2880 Glacier Bay as seen by John Muir before 1885 — different now.  Today, Glacier Bay, in another time.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2877: What Bees See

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2877 What do bees and other creatures see with their unimaginable eyes?  Today, technology, engineering, and art.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2876: The Scientists Speak

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2876 In which engineers and scientists assess their work in 1945.  Today, scientists speak as WW-II ends.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2874: The Ground Effect

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2874 The ground effect in the service of birds and human vehicles.  Today, the ground effect.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2938: The Gospel of Wealth

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2938 Andrew Carnegie's The Gospel of Wealth.  Today, the gospel of wealth.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2946: Man or Monster?

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2023 3:47


    Episode: 2946 Man or Monster? The Legend of the Golem and the Age of Technology.  Today, what can an old legend tell us about the future?

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2621: A Marriage of Sound and Space

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 12, 2023 3:45


    Episode: 2621 Giovanni Gabrieli and the Venetian School of Polychoral music at St. Mark's Basilica, Venice.  Today, a marriage of sound and space.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2871: Solar Power in 1884

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 11, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2871 In which Samuel P. Langley talks about solar powered engines in 1884.    Today, an idea, long before its time.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2867: Fresnel and Lighthouses

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2023 3:51


    Episode: 2867 Augustin Fresnel, light, and lighthouses: from the science of light to the saving of ships.  Today, Fresnel and his Lighthouses.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2866: How Many Wings or Strings?

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2866 How many wings on an aeroplane — How many strings on a violin? Thoughts on the maturation of technologies.  Today, How many wings or strings on an aeroplane or a violin?

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2849: Fern Andra

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 8, 2023 3:51


    Episode: 2849 Fern Andra and Lothar von Richthofen: One lived, one died.  Today, Fern and Lothar.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2936: Parker Brothers

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 7, 2023 3:49


    Episode: 2936 George S. Parker and the Parker Brothers.  Today, for the love of games.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2539: τέχνη, Tacit & Spoken

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 6, 2023 3:49


    Episode: 2539 Define technology? Why, it's as easy as riding a bike!  Today, medical historian Helen Valier offers us a new look at the language of technology.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2823: Hypnotic Crimes

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 5, 2023 3:51


    Episode: 2823 Gilles de la Tourette and Hypnotic Crimes.  Today, hypnotic crimes.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2827: Dimensionless Groups

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 4, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2827 Dimensionless groups, helping us to deal with the similarity of often very different situations.  Today, dimensionless groups.

    Engines of our Ingenuity 2825: Innumeracy

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2825 In which our lack of fluency with numbers (innumeracy) threatens our national well-being.  Today, innumeracy.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2812: Flying the Atlantic

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 2, 2023 3:49


    Episode: 2812 poised to begin transatlantic flight in 1938. How it came out in 1945.  Today, we fly the Atlantic.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2807: Downward Diffusion

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2807 3D printing provides the latest view of the downward diffusion of technology.  Today, technology keeps diffusing downward.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2933: Math and The Dreyfus Affair

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2023 3:49


    Episode: 2933 Math and The Dreyfus Affair.  Today, courtroom drama.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2905: The Gift of Imagination

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 30, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2905 Imagination's Contributions to Science and Technology, Developmental Psychology and Imagination.  Today, the gift of imagination.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2820: Remaking Ben-Hur

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 2820 A Spectacular Series of Spectaculars: Remaking Ben-Hur.  Today, remaking Ben-Hur.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2800: 2800 Years Ago

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 28, 2023 3:49


    Episode: 2800 Two information revolutions: 2800 years ago, and surrounding the 2800th Episode.  Today, 2800 years ago.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2788: Measuring Our Machines

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2023 3:49


    Episode: 2788 Measuring and testing our machines — not yet as electronic as it might seem.  Today, an old book on testing machines harbors a surprise.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2787: Doolittle’s Raid

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2023 3:48


    Episode: 2787 Doolittle's Tokyo raid: Much more than the mere gesture it seemed to be.  Today, a costly gesture that may've saved America.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2931: G. H. Hardy

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2023 3:49


    Episode: 2931 G. H. Hardy, mentor and apologist.  Today, a friendship and an apology.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2018: The Chamberlen Family Secret

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2023 3:48


    Episode: 2018 The Chamberlen family secret: the invention of forceps.  Today, guest historian Cathy Patterson reveals family secrets.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 2691: The Body at Vacuum

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2023 3:49


    Episode: 2691 What Happens to the Human Body When Exposed to Vacuum?  Today, the body at vacuum.

    Engines of Our Ingenuity 3290: Technology Engineering & Art

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2023 3:50


    Episode: 3290 In which Technology and Engineering reveal themselves as Liberal Arts.  Today, technology, engineering, and art.

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