Equinox
78 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago -Dr. Robert Carter and producer Joseph Darnell explore the world from a Christian perspective. On our quest, we will discuss science, but a little history and philosophy as well.
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Episodes
25: The A Bomb
August 19, 2020 22:37 - 51 minutes - 24.8 MBThe development of nuclear weapons is one of the most amazing, and fearsome, scientific breakthroughs in human history. But before they could be made, a lot of discoveries had to happen first. The timing is also amazing. Almost as soon as these things were discovered we started blowing things up.
24: Weapons and Explosives
August 12, 2020 17:10 - 57 minutes - 41 MBThe recent ammonium nitrate explosion that leveled most of Beirut has sparked many discussions about explosives. So Joe and Rob explore the history of explosives, from the invention of gunpowder in 9th century China to the massive explosion that killed JFK’s older brother in WWII. They’ll stop along the way and talk about the 100 Years War and the invention of nitroglycerine and TNT along the way.
23: Mapping the World
August 06, 2020 19:45 - 54 minutes - 38.7 MBCreating a map of the world is hard, very hard. It took the best minds in the world centuries to get it right. From the disfigured maps of the Greeks to the elegant portolan charts of the Renaissance, people have been mapping the world for a long time. The main problem was with longitude, a puzzle that was not figured out until Harrison invented a chronometer that could keep track of time while moving (like in a ship). It was easy enough to figure out how far north or south you were, but east...
22: Photosynthesis: Improbable to the Max
August 01, 2020 00:20 - 46 minutes - 17.5 MBPhotosynthesis is one of the most important processes on the planet, yet its complexity beguiles many students. This elegant and unlikely series of chemical reactions allows life on earth to exist.
21: The Strange World Inside the Atom, Pt. 2
July 24, 2020 22:26 - 47 minutes - 33.6 MBRob and Joseph continue to explore the particle and atom sciences. What are the elements? What discoveries to they afford? Why are scientists often disappointed with the discoveries? The people that can use these sciences to their advantage will rule the world.
20: The Strange World Inside the Atom
July 15, 2020 21:26 - 52 minutes - 37.1 MBIt took scientists a long time to figure out what was inside the atom.darne
20: The Strange World Inside the Atom, Pt. 1
July 15, 2020 21:26 - 52 minutes - 37.1 MBIt took scientists a long time to figure out what was inside the atom.
19: Energy Rules of the Universe
July 08, 2020 20:22 - 52 minutes - 38.1 MBEnergy is a fundamental part of the universe, but how much do we actually understand it? Joe and Rob ask and answer lots of questions on this fascinating topic, ranging from nuclear power plants to photosynthesis.
18: Fantastic Bees and Where to Find Them, Pt. 2
June 24, 2020 17:28 - 48 minutes - 24.3 MBRob and Joseph revisit honey bees and how to care for them, while not getting stung! There is so much more to learn about the fascinating little insects.
17: Fantastic Bees and Where to Find Them, Pt. 1
June 18, 2020 01:43 - 50 minutes - 24.6 MBRob and Joseph finally dive deep into beehives! What makes bees tick? Where did beekeeping come from? Why would two guys take this hobby on? And what’s the science bee-hind the colony?
16: Quirks of Ancestry and Genealogy
June 11, 2020 01:04 - 51 minutes - 36.9 MBRob and Joseph discuss more of the oddly fascinating details that impact mankind, how our family ancestry works, and some surprising ways that it does not.
15: We Are Less Than Dust
June 04, 2020 16:31 - 47 minutes - 33.9 MBRob and Joseph discuss SpaceX’s big launch, getting our podcast on Spotify, podcasting apart from each other, Rob’s one-page sci-fi, and for the main topic, Dr. Carter goes through the science of atomic theory. It’s a vast realm of the universe at a molecule’s scale, where there’s more empty space than matter!
14: ‘Science’ Fiction Films
May 28, 2020 16:00 - 1 hour - 42.7 MBWhat makes a good sci-fi movie? How much fiction can we mix with fact before the science part begins to fall apart? Using the movie Interstellar as a focus of attention, Joe and Rob discuss movie making, how this one genre attempts to blend storytelling with reality, and how it sometimes succeeds and sometimes does not.
13: The Earth Is Slowing Down
May 20, 2020 21:25 - 53 minutes - 39.5 MBRob and Joseph revisit some of the previous topics and bring them together with an unexpected twist. You will learn what the moon, Earth’s gravity, the Ice Age, and extinct corals all have to do with each other.
12: Who is Dr Rob Carter? Part II
May 14, 2020 13:34 - 49 minutes - 35 MBJoe grills rob some more about his past, specifically about how he got to where he is today. The discussion ranges from corals, to computer programming, to genetics, to Covid-19. Meanwhile, Joe waxes eloquent on some interesting philosophical ideas.
12: Who is Dr. Rob Carter? Part II
May 14, 2020 13:34 - 49 minutes - 35 MBJoseph grills Rob some more about his past, specifically about how he got to where he is today. The discussion ranges from corals, to computer programming, to genetics, to Covid-19. Meanwhile, Joseph waxes eloquent on some interesting philosophical ideas.
11: Who is Dr. Rob Carter? Part I
April 29, 2020 22:26 - 49 minutes - 35.5 MBJoseph decided it was time to ask the question, “Who is Dr. Carter.” The two laugh their way through the life of Rob: from bad grades to a love of learning, Georgia Tech to teaching high school, scuba diving to cloning DNA from corals.
10: The Earth
April 22, 2020 21:53 - 59 minutes - 41.8 MBIn honor of the 50th Earth Day, Joe and Rob talk about...the earth! That is, the rock we call planet earth. They discuss some amazing experiments, done in the 1700s, that told us the mass of the earth and that calculated the gravitational constant. This is a big deal for us today, because there would be no space travel without these foundational experiments.
9: Christianity and the Environment: A Review of the Riot and the Dance
April 16, 2020 00:13 - 52 minutes - 36.9 MBJoe and Rob review the documentary films The Riot and the Dance and discuss various environmental issues and how the Christian is supposed to approach these things.
8: All the Peoples of the World
April 08, 2020 19:54 - 50 minutes - 36 MBJoe and Rob go on a world tour, trying to explain where all the peoples of the world came from, including Eskimos, Polynesians, Native Americans, Asians, and Europeans. They ran out of time before they got to Africa, but this episode should keep you busy enough. They also deal with the issue of ‘race’ and many of the surprising new facts that are coming out of laboratories across the world.
7: Personal Genetics and Why There Are No More Secrets
April 01, 2020 16:59 - 56 minutes - 40.6 MBRob and Joe, surprisingly, discuss beekeeping, unsurprisingly talk about the coronavirus, then move onto the main topic: ancestry and genetics. They cover a lot of ground, including making transgenic organisms, the differences between the three main ancestry testing companies, whole-genome sequencing, the erosion of privacy as more and more people take those tests, Nanopore sequencing, the Golden State Killer case and how genetics allowed it to be cracked, the very complicated human genome, a...
6: Darwin 2.0: Correcting the Myths
March 25, 2020 16:14 - 59 minutes - 83.7 MBIn this second episode on the life of Charles Darwin, Rob and Joe discuss multiple myths about Darwin’s life, including the false ideas that he first thought of evolution while on the Galapagos and that he recanted his views on evolution on his deathbed. Other topics include finch beaks and Darwin’s rewriting the story of their discovery, his (abhorrent) views on race, and the fact that he died believing in the Lamarckian “inheritance of acquired characteristics” view.
5: Charles Darwin, the Man, but Mostly the Myth
March 18, 2020 21:58 - 54 minutes - 77.7 MBCharles Darwin is a man of legend in science history. The real man’s influence shaped much of the progress and setbacks culture experiences today. Dr Rob Carter and Joseph Darnell take a journey through Darwin's times and accomplishments to shed like on the man, and separate the man from wayward legends that obscure key insights into the creation and evolution debate.
4: Clocks, Ancient Calendars, and Absolute Craziness
March 11, 2020 16:00 - 1 hour - 83.5 MBTracking time goes all the way back to the first people who ever lived. How did they decide on months? Weeks? Years? Did they use the starts, the moon, seasons, or political ventures to define their passage through time? Rob and Joseph rewind the clock to the dawn of time then zip up through to the present to see how and why mankind has arrived at the calendar system we commonly employ in the 21st century.
3: Ancient DNA: Finding What Should Not Be There
March 05, 2020 02:49 - 59 minutes - 81.6 MBArcheologists and geneticists are finding DNA in older and older things. Some of these discoveries are significantly challenging. In fact, many theories on the history of mankind have been abandoned due to some of the things we have learned. Robert Carter and Joseph Darnell discuss some of the discoveries being made with this legendary science and what it means for the human race.
2: Stopping the Sun, Moving the Earth
February 26, 2020 18:12 - 60.8 MBGeocentrism is a scientific theory that could have left mankind in the 'dark ages', but in the end it still held civilizations back for thousands of years. Dr. Rob Carter and Joseph Darnell explore why it took people throughout history so long to figure out that the earth moves, and the implications this has had for all of science up to the present. How we arrived at heliocentrism (actually, the universe isn’t heliocentric either!) will possibly surprise you!
1: The Greatest Theory Ever
February 19, 2020 17:00 - 58.8 MBIn this first episode, Joe and Rob explore Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity and explain how it is the single greatest engine of scientific prediction ever made by man. The theory of gravity also interconnects with a number of other interesting subjects, which they will touch on briefly, basically giving them fodder for a slew of future episodes. Equinox podcast is dedicated to Sir Isaac Newton.
1: Welcome to Equinox
February 15, 2020 18:57 - 1 minute - 2.36 MBFind out what this show is all about!