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 2491: Mitch Miller and the Gang
June 02, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.69 MBEpisode: 2491 Mitch Miller and the Gang: A Look at American Pop Culture in the Late 1950s. Today, we follow the bouncing ball.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1884: Avery’s Turbine
June 01, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1884 Avery's turbine: Important, but little-known, nineteenth-century precursor.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1885: Hurricane & Spitfire
May 31, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.78 MBEpisode: 1885 Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire: plowshares become swords. Today, we beat a plowshare into a sword.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1882: Quieting the Conversation
May 29, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 1882 In which we need just enough noise to drown out the conversation. Today, we try to quiet a conversation.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2485: Jean LeRond d’Alembert
May 28, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 2485 Jean Le Rond d'Alembert: Controversial Mathematician of the Enlightenment. Today, who won that race?
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2408: Roman Political Invective
May 27, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2408 Roman Political Invective. Today, a look at Roman mudslinging.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3235: Verna Fields, “Mother Cutter”
May 26, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.87 MBEpisode: 3235 Gender, labor history, and the devaluation of film editing. Today, the mother of all film editors.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1880: Clark and Bronowski
May 25, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1880 Kenneth Clark and Jacob Bronowski: a convergence. Today, Kenneth Clark and Jacob Bronowski.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1879: Right Now
May 24, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1879 Living in the present: an impossible goal. Today, we look for Right Now.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1878: Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier
May 22, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1878 Fourier, Egypt, and modern applied mathematics. Today, Joseph Fourier.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3053: Music and the Brain
May 21, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.81 MBEpisode: 3053 Music and the Brain. Today, this is your brain on music.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2382: The Invention of the Paperboy
May 20, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2382 The Invention of the American Paperboy during the Great Depression. Today, the invention of the paperboy.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2480: Stephanie Kwolek and Kevlar
May 19, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 2480 Stephanie Kwolek: Inventor of Kevlar. Today, not-so-shining armor.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1876: Bayesian Statistics
May 18, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1876 In which Thomas Bayes mixes prior knowledge with a priori deduction. Today, we learn how to hedge bets.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1877: Ötzi’s Death
May 17, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1877 Ötzi's death: 5300-year-old forensic evidence brings ancient technology to life. Today, Ötzi's death.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1875: Inventing Modern
May 15, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1875 Inventing Modern: In which a book instructs its author. Today, history repeated.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3051: Rhetoric
May 14, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 3051 The Art of Rhetoric. Today, do facts speak for themselves?
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2246: Into the Wind
May 13, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2246 Sailing into the wind: vectors, language, and a fine summer's day. Today, our guest, chaplain and sailor John Price, heads into the wind.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3234: The Moving Sofa Problem
May 12, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 3234 The Moving Sofa Problem. Today, we talk about the mathematics of moving a couch.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1874: Jana River
May 11, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1874 Implications of a 30,000-year-old culture at Siberia's Jana River. Today, old spears, by the cold Jana River.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1873: Mozart at Eight
May 10, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1873 Mozart at eight: a contemporary view. Today, when Mozart was eight.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1872: Reliving 1953
May 08, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1872 Art and revolution: reliving 1953. Today, this is not a movie review, but ...
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3049: Charcoal Briquettes
May 07, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 3049 Charcoal Briquettes. Today, we barbeque.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3047: Thinking Machines
May 05, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.77 MBEpisode: 3047 How to Think About Machines that Think. Today, thinking machines.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1870: Tyndall as Teacher
May 04, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1870 John Tyndall as teacher: the metaphor of the mountain. Today, ice and snow -- mountains and learning.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1871: PBY Catalina
May 03, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1871 The PBY Catalina, a very special old airplane. Today, the last great seaplane.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1866: The Charlotte Dundas
May 01, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1866 Another first steamboat, the Charlote Dundas. Today, another first steamboat.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3045: The Pneumatic Tire
April 30, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 3045 The Pneumatic Tire. Today, a better wheel.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2373: Two German Phrasebooks
April 29, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2373 The Phrasebook: A Dangerous Invention. Today, UH scholar, Richard Armstrong tells us about German phrasebooks.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3043: Captcha
April 28, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 3043 Are You Human? The Story Behind Captcha. Today, are you human?
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1865: The Kinzua Viaduct
April 27, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1865 Octave Chanute and the Kinzua Viaduct: bridging two centuries. Today, a story of railroads and airplanes.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1864: Philip and Edmund Gosse
April 26, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1864 Philip and Edmund Gosse, reaching out across a great divide. Today, a Victorian naturalist.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1862: Fine Press Incunabula
April 24, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1862 The most beautiful book. But handsome is as handsome does. Today, the most beautiful book -- but so what?
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3042: System Dynamics
April 23, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 3042 System Dynamics. Today, the sum of the parts.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2951: Going to Sea
April 22, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 2951 Scurvy, Vitamin C, and the Origins of the Modern Clinical Trial. Today, we go to sea.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3041: Consciousness
April 21, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 3041 Consciousness and Strong Artificial Intelligence. Today, are you conscious?
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1860: Mass, Length, and Time
April 20, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1860 Trying to shed the albatross of pounds and inches. Today, the albatross of pounds and inches.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1863: Alexis Carrel
April 19, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1863 Alexis Carrel, the murky pioneer of organ transplants. Today, a president killed, and a Nobel Prize given.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1858: Johann Josef Loschmidt
April 17, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.79 MBEpisode: 1858 Josef Loschmidt, invisible cornerstone of 19th-C science. Today, Jimmy Doolittle's first airplane.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3039: Computer Animation
April 16, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 3039 Computer Animation. Today, taking it down a dimension.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2143: Emma Lazarus
April 15, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.78 MBEpisode: 2143 In which Emma Lazarus reinvents the Statue of Liberty. Today, UH scholar Dorothy Baker tells us about Emma Lazarus.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3233: Toad Story
April 14, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.88 MBEpisode: 3233 What the Toad Thought. Today, an existential moment.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1857: Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and Quiet
April 13, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1857 Anne Morrow Lindbergh, gliding, and the quest for quiet. Today, a glider pilot seeks quiet.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1854: Rocking Boats
April 12, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 1854 Why boats rock -- or capsize, depending on the metacenter. Today, we watch boats rocking.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1852: Doolittle’s First Airplane
April 10, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 1852 Popular Mechanics and Jimmy Doolittle's first airplane. Today, Jimmy Doolittle's first airplane.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3038: The Video Game Crash of 1983
April 09, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.77 MBEpisode: 3038 The Video Game Crash of 1983. Today, a video game.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2075: Rudolph Ackerman
April 08, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 2075 Rudolph Ackerman and his amazing chronicles of 19th-century art and technology. Today, architectural historian Margaret Culbertson tells us about a great chronicler of technology and art.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3035: Light Emitting Diodes
April 07, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 3035 Light Emitting Diodes. Today, we get the LED out.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1849: Music and News
April 06, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1849 Music and news: Our radios in our lives. Today, music and news.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1853: The Beat Generation
April 05, 2020 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 1853 The Beat Generation, revolution's precursor. Today, the Beat Generation.