Engines of Our Ingenuity
1,199 episodes - English - Latest episode: 13 days ago - ★★★★★ - 165 ratingsThe 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.
This content is in service of Houston Public Media’s education mission and is sponsored by the University of Houston. It is not a product of our news team.
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Episodes
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1207: Balustrades
June 30, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.67 MBEpisode: 1207 In which a balustrade shows us that laws were made to be broken. Today, we see how laws were made to be broken.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1206: Harriet Beecher Stowe
June 29, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.64 MBEpisode: 1206 Harriet Beecher Stowe: "No talent, only genius." Today, a woman turns slavery from theoretical wrong into personal evil.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1205: Henry Chapman Mercer
June 28, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.64 MBEpisode: 1205 Henry Chapman Mercer: An aristocrat redirects anthropology. Today, a shy aristocrat redirects anthropology.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2234: Spherical Horses & Frictionless Wheels
June 27, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2234 Spherical horses and frictionless wheels -- When are we close enough to reality? Today, guest scientist Andrew Boyd asks, "What makes a good Model?"
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2858: Hearing Pictures
June 26, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 2858 Hearing Pictures: Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Today, hearing pictures.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2722: Voyaging
June 25, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2722 Gathering of Materials and Methods to Craft Sailing and Space-faring Vessels. Today, voyaging at the edge of technology.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1204: Baron von Humboldt
June 24, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.66 MBEpisode: 1204 Baron von Humboldt's remarkable exploration of Meso-America. Today, a nearly forgotten hero.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1200: London’s Secret Museums
June 23, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.64 MBEpisode: 1200 London's secret museums. Today, we visit London's secret museums.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1199: Gallup Poll
June 22, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.64 MBEpisode: 1199 Gallup Poll: spawn of intellect with some saving imperfection. Today, we try to foretell how you plan to vote.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1198: The Gates of Hell
June 21, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.64 MBEpisode: 1198 In which Virgil visits a theme park and writes the Aeneid. Today, we pass through the Gates of Hell.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2150: Scotty
June 20, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.7 MBEpisode: 2150 Scotty on Starship Enterprise: an image of an engineer. Today, we beam up with guest scientist Andrew Boyd.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3054: Electioneering in Ancient Rome
June 19, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 3054 Electioneering in Ancient Rome: the Commentariolum Petitionis Attributed to Cicero's Brother. Today, how to get elected in ancient Rome.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3162: Charge With My Jacket
June 18, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 3162 A Jacket With Embedded Flexible Thin-Film Batteries That Can Charge a Device. Today, a wonderful technology.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1196: Batting 400
June 17, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.66 MBEpisode: 1196 Reflections on batting 400, evolution, economics, and diversity. Today, what do batting averages, evolution, and the economy have in common?
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1195: Dhouda
June 16, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.65 MBEpisode: 1195 Dhuoda writes to her son in Ninth Century France. Today, a remarkable woman opens a window on another age.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1194: Self-Deception
June 15, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.61 MBEpisode: 1194 A scientifically illiterate people goes bankrupt on health care. Today, thoughts on medicine, self-deception, and scientific literacy.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1193: West with the Night
June 14, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.64 MBEpisode: 1193 Beryl Markham flies out of Africa, and across the Atlantic. Today, a daring flight and an unlikely book.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2117: The Internet of Tubes
June 13, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 2117 The Internet of Tubes: In which a gaffe evokes the history of communication. Today, guest scientist Andrew Boyd and the Internet of Tubes.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3018: Compressed Sensing
June 12, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 3018 Compressed Sensing. Today, let's talk about getting something from nothing.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2833: Kykkos Monastery
June 11, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2833 Kykkos Monastery, Cyprus, and the origins of Western monasticism. Today, monks and hermits.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1192: Black Sea
June 10, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.65 MBEpisode: 1192 In which a deluge transforms the Black Sea -- and farming. Today, let's ride the wake of an old old flood.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1190: Mustard Gas
June 09, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.63 MBEpisode: 1190 The only mustard gas attack in WWII yields new medicine. Today, a story about cancer and a WW-II mustard gas attack.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1189: Theodore Pachelbel
June 08, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.6 MBEpisode: 1189 The other Pachelbel brings music to Colonial America. Today, the first "recorded" concert in America.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1188: William Billings
June 07, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.79 MBEpisode: 1188 William Billings, Colonial composer and American original. Today, we meet America's first significant composer.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2094: The Box
June 06, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 2094 Thinking inside the box: the invention of containerization. Today, guest scientist Andrew Boyd discusses The Box.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2710: Thomas Selfridge
June 05, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2710 The First Fatality in Powered Flight Awakens the World to the Dangers of Aviation. Today, the first powered aviation fatality.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3298: Optic Yellow
June 04, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 3.51 MBEpisode: 3298 Gender, Color, and Dichotomy in Tennis. Today, we take sides in tennis.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1187: Good/Bad : People/Machines
June 03, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.63 MBEpisode: 1187 Good people make good machines: Bad people make bad machines. Today, we try to construct an aphorism.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1186: Bach and Handel
June 02, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.64 MBEpisode: 1186 Bach, Handel, and their charlatan eye doctor. Today, an odd connection between Bach and Handel.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1185: Adam Smith
June 01, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.66 MBEpisode: 1185 Adam Smith: of economics and natural law. Today, a bright Scot looks to natural law for an economic model.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1184: Mirror
May 31, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.66 MBEpisode: 1184 The mirror: something that looks far more obvious than it is. Today, we look in the mirror and find something strange.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2062: The Just Price
May 30, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 2062 How much may I justly charge for my widget? Today, guest scientist Andrew Boyd asks "what's it worth?"
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3095: Making a Revolution
May 29, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.65 MBEpisode: 3095 Making a Revolution. Today, the Maker revolution.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3297: Modeling the World
May 28, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 3.36 MBEpisode: 3297 Modeling the future of human civilization. Today, modeling the future of human civilization.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1183: Leonardo and Leda
May 27, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.67 MBEpisode: 1183 Leda and swan Zeus: Leonardo contemplates life. Today, we watch as myth drives science.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1181: Edith Humphrey
May 26, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.61 MBEpisode: 1181 In which Edith Humphry doesn't quite receive the Nobel Prize. Today, a woman doesn't quite get the Nobel Prize.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1180: Lardner and Energy
May 25, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.59 MBEpisode: 1180 Dionysius Lardner looks at early steam power technology. Today, a contemporary look at power technology, 170 years ago.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1179: How Aspirin Finds the Headache
May 24, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.63 MBEpisode: 1179 How does Aspirin find your headache? (More Feldman questions). Today, aspirin looks for your headache.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2053: John Cage
May 23, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2053 A reflection on John Cage and his silences. Today, guest scientist Andrew Boyd goes silent.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2973: And Then There Were None
May 22, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2973 The Lady of Mysteries Agatha Christie; The Famous Detectives Miss Marple and Hercule Piorot. Today, the lady of mysteries.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3092: Description of Arts and Crafts
May 21, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 3092 Descriptions of Arts and Crafts. Today, saving arts and crafts.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1178: Aeronautics 1897-1910
May 20, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.63 MBEpisode: 1178 The Encyclopaedia Britannica before/after the Wright Brothers. Today, we see what happens when an old goal is reached.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1177: Thomas Watson
May 19, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.64 MBEpisode: 1177 Thomas Watson, the man on the other end of Bell's telephone. Today, we meet the man on the other end of Bell's new telephone.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1176: Ilizarov Surgery
May 18, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.64 MBEpisode: 1176 Ilizarov orthopedic surgery: growing new bones. Today, we straighten crooked bones.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1175: The Elizabethans
May 17, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.62 MBEpisode: 1175 The collapse of the Elizabethan renaissance. Today, we visit a 400-year-old revolution.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2040: The Envelope Game
May 16, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2040 The envelope game: a common-sense-defying selection problem. Today, guest scientist Andrew Boyd defies common sense.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1947: Psychological Synchronicity
May 15, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1947 Physiological Synchronicity: mirroring emotions. Today, actor Megan Cole talks about faces and feelings.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3048: Juba II
May 14, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 3.57 MBEpisode: 3048 Juba II. Today, a scholar king of Africa.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1174: An Intellectual Legacy
May 13, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.66 MBEpisode: 1174 Nature or nurture, explaining intellectual dynasties. Today, more on the matter of heredity or environment.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1173: A Sinking Automobile
May 12, 2024 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.57 MBEpisode: 1173 A sinking Automobile. Today, thoughts about thinking while I'm drowning.