The Periodic Table of the Elements (Encore)

Before the United States entered the Second World War, it had a problem. The military was spread out all over Washington, D.C., and had difficulty functioning. The solution was a new massive building. Built in just 16 months during the urgency of World War II, the Pentagon began ...  Show more

Following the collapse of the Toltec Civilization, the Aztecs rose to prominence in 14th-century Mexico. The Aztecs constructed the most formidable state in the Americas, guided by a supreme emperor and a spiritual worldview that viewed human sacrifice as essential for cosmic sta ...  Show more

In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start off looking at the surprisingly interesting origin of the paperclip and why a person who had nothing to do with its design commonly gets all the credit for it, including having a giant statue of it made in his honor only a couple d ...  Show more

In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start off looking at that time the United States government banned pre-sliced bread… Really. Next up, we have a brief message from a sponsor, Blinkist, which gives you the key ideas from more than 3,000 bestselling nonfiction books in j ...  Show more

In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start off looking at the interesting reason why milk is white, yet cheddar cheese is yellow/orange. Next up, we have a brief message from our sponsor, Blinkist, which gives you the key ideas from more than 3,000 bestselling nonfiction b ...  Show more

For thousands of years, getting light was a huge hassle. You had to make candles from scratch. This is not as romantic as it sounds. You had to get a cow, raise the cow, feed the cow, kill the cow, get the fat out of the cow, cook the fat, dip wicks into the fat. All that--for no ...  Show more