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 2269: James David Forbes
July 23, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2269 James David Forbes and the contradiction of fire and ice. Today, a story of heat and ice.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2805: Gottlob Frege
July 21, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 2805 Gottlob Frege and Formal Logic. Today, a man of logic.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3130: A War of Concrete
July 20, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.77 MBEpisode: 3130 A War of Concrete: The Mulberry Harbors and the Invasion of Normandy. Today, a portable port saves the day.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3279: The Shadow of an Idea
July 19, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.77 MBEpisode: 3279 The machine as the physical shadow of the idea. Today, the shadow of an idea.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2265: The Books of Timbuktu
July 18, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 2265 Timbuktu: The romance and reality of a Renaissance intellectual center. Today, we finally reach Timbuktu.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2267: Thomas Harriot
July 17, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2267 Thomas Harriot, England's Galileo. Today, England's Galileo.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2264: The Mary D. Hume
July 16, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2264 The Mary D. Hume and history being forgotten. Today, history put aside.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2263: Deslandes’ Glass
July 15, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2263 Delaunay Deslandes misses the Industrial Revolution. Today, we're left behind by the revolution.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2804: Keynes and Newton
July 14, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2804 John Maynard Keynes and Sir Isaac Newton. Today, Newton, the man.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2899: Vanishing Sextant
July 13, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2899 The Rise and Fall of Celestial Navigation As Seen Through the Development of the Sextant. Today, the Vanishing Sextant.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3278: Pedestrianism
July 12, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.77 MBEpisode: 3278 Pedestrianism: How an old sport mutated into a new one. Today, an odd old sporting event lingers on.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 1478: Statue of Liberty, 1885
July 11, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.72 MBEpisode: 1478 A sneak preview of the Statue of Liberty. Today, a sneak preview of the Statue of Liberty.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2261: Muscle Shoals
July 10, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2261 Ford's dream of a 75-mile city along Muscle Shoals. Today, a 75-mile city.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2260: When Metals Grow Tired
July 09, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.77 MBEpisode: 2260 When metal grows tired: Trying to predict fatigue failures. Today, metal grows tired.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2259: Etaoin and Shrdlu
July 08, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2259 ETAOIN, SHRDLU, QWERTYOP and the printed word. Today, we learn about Etaoin Shrdlu.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2803: Fourier Music
July 07, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBEpisode: 2803 Fourier, the Fourier Transform, and Music. Today, music in translation.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2802: One Track Mind
July 05, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.66 MBEpisode: 2802 One Track Mind: the central processing unit of a computer. Today, a one track mind.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3277: Small Countries
July 04, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.79 MBEpisode: 3277 Microstates, Micronations, and the impulse to create small countries. Today, Very small countries.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2258: Continuous Saws
July 03, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2258 Sawing without back-and-forth motion: a conceptual leap. Today, let's saw wood.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2258: Continuous Saws
July 03, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2258 Sawing without back-and-forth motion: a conceptual leap. Today, let's saw wood.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2257: Pumping Blood
July 02, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.81 MBEpisode: 2257 Pumping our blood, when our hearts fail us. Today, we pump blood.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3276: Airplane Engines
July 01, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.8 MBEpisode: 3276 Should airplane engines be cooled by liquid or air? Today, a design might go either way.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2799: Dither
June 30, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2799 Dither and Digital Media. Today, let's get digital.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3209: Net of Life
June 29, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.78 MBEpisode: 3209 Net of Life: Can Technology Protect Us from Ourselves? Today, a net of life.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3275: A Sister in Science
June 28, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.83 MBEpisode: 3275 Katherine Boyle Jones, a Sister of the Scientific Revolution. Today, a sister of the Scientific Revolution.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2256: Darwin and Emotion
June 27, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2256 Darwin uses emotional expression to explain our kinship with animals. Today, we smile with our animal cousins.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2255: A Perfect Morning
June 26, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.78 MBEpisode: 2255 From a bad beginning to a perfect morning. Today, a perfect morning.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2254: Prussian Blue Paint
June 25, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2254 Prussian Blue and the House of Berger. Today, Prussian Blue.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2253: The Commons Revisited
June 24, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2253 Revisiting the Commons in a rapidly changing world. Today, we visit the commons.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2794: Laser Printer
June 23, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2794 Birth of the Laser Printer. Today, tenacity.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3109: Aumann’s Theorem
June 22, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 3109 Mathematics says that we should never disagree, but we still do. Today, let's talk about what I know that you know.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3274: Newcomb’s Paradox
June 21, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.93 MBEpisode: 3274 Newcomb's Paradox. Today, a paradox that puts into question free will.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2252: Erwin S Ferry
June 20, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2252 Ervin S. Ferry and the persistence of illumination. Today, the persistence of light.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2251: Englisch Für Ingenieure
June 19, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2251 Engine: Englisch Für Ingenieure -- in which I better learn my own language. Today, I learn English.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2250: Sir Michael James Lighthill
June 18, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2250 Sir Michael James Lighthill, the man who could do everything. Today, greatness swims by me.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2248: The Light Electric
June 17, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2248 Arc lights, glow lamps, incandescent bulbs -- Edison's in there somewhere. Today, light bulbs in 1886.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2791: The Death of the Floppy
June 16, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2791 The death of the floppy disk. Today, floppy, but never a flop.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3129: What Went Wrong on D-Day
June 15, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 3129 What Went Wrong on D-Day: The Paradox of the Allies' Greatest Campaign. Today, when things go terribly wrong.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3273: The P vs NP Problem
June 14, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.92 MBEpisode: 3273 The biggest unsolved question in computer science. Today, questions with answers that are hard to find, but easy to check.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2247: Harmony
June 13, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2247 The Voyageurs: sailors, monks, and chain gangs -- in harmony. Today, we look for harmony.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2245: Old Soggy No. 1
June 12, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2245 Slats Rodgers' Old Soggy No. 1, the first Texas-Built aeroplane to fly. Today, Texas' first aeroplane.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2244: The Gentleman Traveler
June 11, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2244 The Gentleman traveler: Victorian polymath, Francis Galton. Today, we travel the wilds with the highborn.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2242: The Flying Circus of Physics
June 10, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2242 The Flying Circus of Physics: Of questions and answers. Today, a book of questions.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2789: Impact Printers
June 09, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2789 The evolution from impact to non-impact printers. Today, we don’t make an impact.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3080: The First Marathon
June 08, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 3080 The First Marathon and the Athens Olympics of 1896. Today, we run through the history of the marathon.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 3272: Bad Torpedoes
June 07, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 3272 The Terrible Failure Rate of WWII Torpedoes. Today, A total Dud...
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2241: Otto Brunfels
June 06, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2241 Otto Brunfels and the two reformations: religion and representation. Today, two reformations.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2239: Last Places on Earth
June 05, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBEpisode: 2239 Last places on Earth -- a new way to look at things. Today, we look for last occurrences.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2238: Cecilia Payne-Gospochkin
June 04, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBEpisode: 2238 Cecilia Payne-Gospochkin and the Golden Apples of the Sun. Today, we ask what the sun's made of.
Engines of Our Ingenuity 2236: Industrial Design
June 03, 2022 05:01 - 3 minutes - 1.75 MBEpisode: 2236 Industrial Design: Showing us how function is art. Today, another look at form and function.