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 2995: Tube Trains
November 26, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.78 MBEpisode: 2995 Very High Speed Tube Trains. Today, we go tubular.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1784: A Priority Allegory
November 25, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1784 The folly of finding the first doughnut, or airplane. Today, doughnuts and priority.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1787: What’s a Life Worth?
November 24, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.77 MBEpisode: 1787 A price on your head, but how much? Today, what's a life worth?
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1782: Human Energy
November 22, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1782 Thoughts about energy and the human motor. Today, human energy.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2992: Algae
November 21, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2992 Algae. Today, scum of the earth.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2341: Wagner’s Tuba
November 20, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.99 MBEpisode: 2341 Richard Wagner conceives a sound, then invents an instrument to create it. Today, horn player Roger Kaza tells us about the tuba Wagner built.
Copy of – Engines of Our Ingenuity 1789: Farbenlehre
November 19, 2019 21:58 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 1789 Goethe's Farbenlehre: science and Romanticism. Today, light and color.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2990: The Minnesota Bump
November 19, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode 2990 The Minnesota Bump. Today, a bump.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1781: Flora Loughead and Her Sons
November 18, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.71 MBEpisode: 1781 Flora Haines Loughead, social change and airplanes. Today, airplanes and Flora Loughead.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1783: What Did the Ancients Eat?
November 17, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1783 What did the ancients eat? Today, what did the ancients eat?
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1780: Radio Days
November 15, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.71 MBEpisode: 1780 Radio Days -- a tribute to early radio. Today, listen, with me, to an old radio.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2988: Milton Humason
November 14, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2988 Milton Humason's Quiet Persistence. Today, quiet persistence.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2696: Winged Words
November 13, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 2696 Winged Words: The Homeric Epics as Oral Poetry. Today, classicist Casey Dué listens to the Homeric epics.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3215: Avocado Seeds
November 12, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.77 MBEpisode: 3215 What eats avocado seeds? Today, we see through a seed.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1779: Romance and Reality
November 11, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1779 Good engineering: Romance and Reality in the High Middle Ages. Today, romance, reality, and engineering design.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1777: An Un-Panama Canal
November 10, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 1777 Instead of the Panama Canal, ships on trains over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Today, an Un-Panama Canal.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1778: What’s Reasonable?
November 08, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1778 On being unreasonable: a repudiation of common sense. Today, we expect to be surprised.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2987: Gravity
November 07, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2987 Gravity is Magic. Today, we let go.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2768: Cooking By Radio
November 06, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 2768 Percy Spencer and the microwave oven. Today, our guest, NASA engineer Fitz Walker considers the Microwave Oven.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3214: Pumpkin Viruses
November 05, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.77 MBEpisode: 3214 Pumpkins and the discovery of viruses. Today, viruses make warts and horns.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1775: The Book, Then and Now
November 04, 2019 06:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1775 The book -- as seen in 1897 and 1978. Today, the book, eighty-one years later.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1772: Camera Obscura
November 03, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1772 Vermeer and the camera obscura: waiting for film. Today, cameras without film.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2986: The Rise of Decimal Currency
October 31, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2986 Simon Stevin and The Rise of Decimal Currency. Today, we get the point.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1660: Simple Gifts
October 30, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1660 Simplicity, complexity, and Shakespeare (with guest Megan Cole). Today, a treat. I have a guest commentator. Seattle Actor Megan Cole is here to talk about complexity, simplicity, and Shakespeare.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2984: When Engines are Too Quiet
October 29, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2984 Making Noise: When Car Engines Are Too Quiet. Today, it’s time to make some noise.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1769: Niels Finsen
October 28, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1769 Niels Finsen: A Nobel Prize for Photo Therapy. Today, light and healing.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1768: On the Cutting-Room Floor
October 27, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1768 On the cutting room floor -- When we don't have the rest of the story. Today, let us pick up some loose ends.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1765: The Speed of Gravity
October 25, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1765 In which it takes time for gravity to reach us. Today, the speed of gravity.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2983: In Defense of Quadratic Equations
October 24, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2983 Parliament Speaks in Defense of Quadratic Equations. Today, the British Parliament speaks out.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2502: Computer Proofs
October 23, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2502 Computer assisted proofs: How machines extend our mind's reach. Today, let’s ask how computers help us see mathematical truths.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1764: Temperature
October 21, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.71 MBEpisode: 1764 In which we wonder just what our thermometer measures. Today, we ask what temperature is.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1767: Lewis and Clark
October 20, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 1767 Weighing the near and far wake of Lewis and Clark. Today, after Lewis and Clark.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1763: Child Labor
October 18, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1763 Child labor, dangerous companion of economic emergence. Today, let's talk about child labor.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2981: A Catalyst for Change
October 17, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2981 Catalytic Converters: A Catalyst For Change. Today, we don’t go up in smoke.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2934: Molecules of Life
October 16, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 2934 Reading the Molecules of Life. Today, we read the molecules of life.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2980: The Saint Petersburg Paradox
October 15, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 2980 The Saint Petersburg Paradox. Today, a paradox for the generations.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1761: John Baskerville
October 14, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1761 John Baskerville, fine type, and the hound of heaven. Today, the hound and the Baskerville.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1762: Camp Cooking
October 13, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1762 Camp Cooking and the Savage Boy Inventor. Today, camp cooking and modern times.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1759: Raymond Loewy
October 11, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 1759 Raymond Loewy, the man who made Modern. Today, finally, a design style for modern America.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2979: J.J.C. Bradfield
October 10, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2979 J.J.C Bradfield and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Today, facing the future.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2975: Lightbulb
October 08, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2975 Light Bulb Technology. Today, a light bulb goes off.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1758: Sinking the Bismarck
October 07, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1758 Sinking the Bismarck: What is important in history? Today, we wonder how the Bismarck was sunk.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1757: One Generation’s Change
October 06, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1757 A reflection on the invisibility of technological change. Today, we need to chase invisible change.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1756: The Death of Bigfoot
October 04, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1756 The Death of Bigfoot. Today, a requiem for a beast.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2972: Erlang
October 03, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2972 Anger Erlang and Queing Theory. Today, we’re put on hold.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2356: College Yiddish vs Living Hebrew
October 02, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2356 Hebrew and Yiddish struggle for ascendancy after WW-II. Today, scholar Richard Armstrong considers the world of language textbooks.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2970: The Ever Changing Train
October 01, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2970 The ever changing train: Cars and crew. Today, a story of change.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1755: A Consumer Report
September 30, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1755 A consumer report: lowbrow means to a better life. Today, a consumer report.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1753: Vannevar Bush
September 29, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 1753 In which Vannevar Bush cannot cross his Jordan River. Today, Moses at the riverbank.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1751: Robert Hooke
September 27, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 1751 Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton, and science in transition. Today, conflict as science changes form.