Ancient Inventions
Have you ever wondered what inspired the first flame thrower, or when the first brain surgery was performed? Who invented the simple kiss between two people? How did human behavior and relationships change once we began to aggregate into cities? This series takes viewers back to ancient times in search of the roots of technologies and social customs that set the stage for the world we know today.
Have you ever wondered what inspired the first flame thrower, or when the first brain surgery was performed? Who invented the simple kiss between two people? How did human behavior and relationships change once we began to aggregate into cities? This series takes viewers back to ancient times in search of the roots of technologies and social customs that set the stage for the world we know today.
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Ancient Mystery: How Were Egypt’s Great Pyramids Built? (Think Water, Not Aliens)
It isn’t certain how huge limestone blocks were transported to the sites of the pyramids nor how they were raised into place. Several recent archaeological discoveries do make a…
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The Metaphorical Language of Science
Words shape how we think and view the world. We often believe the words we’ve inherited from scientific achievements are accurate pictures of how things are, but a lot of…
Guglielmo Marconi and the Dawn of Wireless Communications
Before Marconi brought his inventive genius to the problem, communication over long distances was tethered to wires strung from one point to another. His wireless telegraphy…
Who Was George Westinghouse? More than Just Thomas Edison’s Arch-Rival
George Westinghouse was Thomas Alva Edison’s relentless competitor in the battle to establish a universal standard for transmission of electricity to the streets, homes, and…
Modern Tech Cracks Secrets of Roman Concrete, the Voynich Codex, and the Antikythera Device
Over the ages, great discoveries and useful instruments have been lost and forgotten. There are persistent mysteries in the archeological record and medieval texts that…
The Long Strange Story of Search: From Ancient Scrolls to Digital Books
Libraries have been around for more than 2000 years. And so has the problem of organizing and searching written knowledge. While Google’s search is impressive, it owes much to the…
Trading Longboats for Horses: The Italian Days of the Norman Knights
Before William, Duke of Normandy conquered England and became its king, cadres of Norman mercenaries headed from their homeland in northern France to the very rich and ruthless…
Why Does the Western New Year Start January 1? Credit Rome
January 1 starts the new year in most parts of the world, but why is this so? How did the Western calendar develop, and what are the meanings of the months? We go back to the days…
Ancient Tech: The Amazing Inventions of Hero of Alexandria
Our great age of technology and scientific advancement is hardly the first. In ancient Alexandria, one great mind of that era, Hero, is responsible for several amazing mechanical…
From Chinese Origins to Gutenberg's Bible: How the Invention of the Printing Press Changed the World
Most of us associate the name Johannes Gutenberg with the invention of the printing press, but the first models appeared hundreds of years before, in China. Gutenberg improved…