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 2971: Waiting
September 26, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2971 The Secret Behind Waiting. Today … we wait.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2776: Asimov and Energy Storage
September 25, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2776 Isaac Asimov's fantastic worlds, robots that roam among us, and energy storage methods. Today, our guest Haleh Ardebili talks about Isaac Asimov and Energy Storage.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3213: Saving Bambi
September 24, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.88 MBEpisode: 3213 How a Chinese immigrant helped make one of Disney's most beloved films. Today, we save Bambi.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1747: Sonya Kovalevsky
September 23, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1747 Sonya Corvin-Krukovsky Kovalevsky: mathematician and author. Today, strange wallpaper, and an unexpected mathematician.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1746: Evaporation
September 22, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 1746 In which a water glass lets me know that things are not as bad as they seem. Today, I learn from a water glass as I come out of sleep.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1744: Chinese Bombard
September 20, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1744 The Chinese origin of the European bombard. Today, a cannon that's two hundred years too old.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2969: Octane Rating
September 19, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2969 Regular or premium? Understanding octane rating. Today, regular or premium?
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1743: The First Cut
September 16, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1743 In which all surgery means making the first-ever incision into a human body. Today, we cut into a human body.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1745: Maglev Trains
September 15, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 1745 Maglev: Riding on air at half the speed of sound. Today, we ride a fast train.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1741: The Witch of Agnesi
September 13, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1741 The saintly Witch of Agnesi. Today, we meet the Witch of Agnesi.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2966: Mufflers
September 12, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.81 MBEpisode: 2966 Mufflers, Noisy Motorcycles, and Acoustics. Today, we pipe down.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2487: Von Neumann, Computers and Brains
September 11, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2487 John von Neumann's ideas on the similarities and differences of computers and brains. Today, UH math professor Krešo Josić talks about brains, computers and John von Neumann.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1740: Ed Wood and Revolution
September 09, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1740 Bela Lugosi proclaims the end of Modern. Today, a bad movie and radical change.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1739: Worsted Wool
September 06, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 1739 Woolgathering: Of weavers and worsted. Today, we think about worsted wool.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3212: Salmon Cannon
September 05, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.84 MBEpisode: 3212 Simple Technology Helps Migrating Fish. Today, ready, fire, whoosh!
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2882: Eliezer Ben Yehuda
September 04, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2882 Eliezer Ben Yehuda and the Revival of Hebrew. Today, the revival of an ancient language.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1738: Maxim’s Airplane
September 02, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1738 Maxim's airplane. Today, two early not-quite-airplanes.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1737: Airplanes and Krupp Guns
August 30, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1737 A Reflection airplanes, war, and the Krupp Works. Today, airplanes and Krupp guns.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1736: The Seashore Test
August 26, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1736 The Seashore test and the long road to Public Radio. Today, we hone our ears.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1735: Mousetraps and Paperclips
August 23, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1735 Mousetraps, paperclips, the Arts and Crafts movement, and invention. Today, a reflection on mousetraps and paperclips.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1983: Inventing the Newspaper
August 21, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1983 Inventing the newspaper in seventeenth-century England. Today, our guest, historian Cathy Patterson reports on the invention of the newspaper.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3211: Lion Man
August 20, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.95 MBEpisode: 3211 Lion Man and other human fictions. Today, Lion Man.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1732: E. M. Forster & Thermodynamics
August 19, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 1732 E. M. Forster thinks about Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and Thermodynamics. Today, E. M Forster, Voltaire, and thermodynamics.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1731: To Kill a City
August 16, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1731 Why bombs can't kill a city. Today, we try to kill a city.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2619: Space Medicine
August 14, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 2619 Practicing Medicine Off the Planet; A New Physiology. Today, Astronaut Michael Barratt talks about medicine in space.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1730: Aging Brain
August 12, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1730 Our aging brains, some surprising compensations. Today, our brains age.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1729: Looking Down From the Sky
August 09, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 1729 The wide angle lens: looking at earth from on high. Today, we look upon Earth from above.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2228: Ancient Explanations of Bird Migration
August 07, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2228 Ancient Explanations of Bird Migrations. Today, our guest, classicist Richard Armstrong, watches the ancients studying bird migrations.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1727: Flying Down to Rio
August 05, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 1727 Flying Down to Rio: Making flight safe; keeping flight dangerous. Today, we fly down to Rio.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1726: The Lunar Society
August 02, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.7 MBEpisode: 1726 The Lunar Society and eighteenth century revolution. Today, let's drop in on a remarkable gathering.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1725: Creative Collaboration
July 31, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.7 MBEpisode: 1725 The Hammond-Ashbery Collaboration and Charlie Brown. Today, an art exhibit explains collaboration.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1724: Nature as Teacher
July 29, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 1724 Looking to nature for our technology in 1906. Today, nature as teacher.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1723: Debunking
July 26, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.71 MBEpisode: 1723 Paul Revere, The Shroud of Turin, The Vinland Map, and the problem of debunking. Today, let's not fight about debunking.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1722: Evergreen Flight Museum
July 24, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1722 The Evergreen Flight Museum: Reclaiming an earlier mood of flight. Today, the Spruce Goose and river blindness.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1721: A New Look at Cooperation
July 22, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.69 MBEpisode: 1721 A new way to activate your pleasure center: Cooperate! Today, let's activate a pleasure center.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1720: The Silk Sea Lane
July 19, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.71 MBEpisode: 1720 The two Silk Roads: One by land, the other by sea. Today, the Silk Road goes to sea.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1719: Poe’s Cosmology
July 17, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.71 MBEpisode: 1719 Edgar Allen Poe's amazing cosmology. Today, gothic cosmology.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2933: Math and the Dreyfus Affair
July 16, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2933 Math and The Dreyfus Affair. Today, courtroom drama.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1718: Lardner’s Steam Engines
July 15, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.69 MBEpisode: 1718 The Rev. Dionysius Lardner: keeping up with a world in flux. Today, old books with a message for the present.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2931: G.H. Hardy
July 11, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2931 G. H. Hardy, mentor and apologist. Today, a friendship and an apology.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1715: Flying Around the World
July 10, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1715 The first flight around the world -- in 175 days. Today, we circle the earth.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1714: “Infinite Reservoire” of Space
July 08, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1714 The mischief, in space, of the "infinite reservoir" thought model. Today, let us fill infinity.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1713: Seldon’s Automobile
July 05, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.7 MBEpisode: 1713 George Seldon, Henry Ford, and Clyde Champion Barrow. Today, patents and public relations.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2930: Overhanging Books
July 04, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2930 Overhanging Books. Today, we stick out.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2928: 1 = 1/2 = 0
July 02, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 2928 When 1 = 1/2 = 0. Today, that can’t be, can it?
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1711: Melting Glaciers
July 01, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1711 In which melting glaciers open up the archaeological record. Today, we follow melting glaciers.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1710: Encyclopaedia Britannica
June 28, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 1710 Encyclopaedia Britannica. Today, a new look at an old encyclopaedia.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2926: The Etymology of “Nerd”
June 27, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.78 MBEpisode: 2926 Nerd Nite and the etymology of the word Nerd. Today, bazinga!
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1707: Virtual Temples
June 24, 2019 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1707 In which virtual reality is more real than we'd expected. Today, information, too dense to be objective.