When amateur astronomer Richard Carrington gazed through his telescope on the morning of September 1st, 1859, he noticed something weird about the surface of the sun -- it seemed to have clusters of dark spots. Later historians would recognize this as the earliest observation of a solar flare -- and a little less than 18 hours later, the associated coronal m ... Show More
Mar 19
Knitting as Espionage, Part Two: Legendary Spies -- and One Traitor
Espionage takes many forms. As Ben, Noel and Max learned in the first part of this two-part series, one of those forms was knitting. In today's episode, the guys explore the stories of phenomenal spies who used knitting as a form of top-secret communication.See omnystudio.com/lis ... Show More
33m 37s
Mar 17
Knitting as Espionage, Part One: Secrets in the Stitch
For a lot of folks in the modern day, knitting is more a relaxing hobby than a household necessity. However, not too long ago, this needlecraft was a genuine -- and effective! -- tool for spies. In the first part of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max dive into the fascinatin ... Show More
33m 37s
Mar 14
CLASSIC: Idiomatic for the People II, Part II
Language is beautiful and, in many cases, continually evolving. As a result, we end up with hundreds of strange idioms and figures of speech that we use on a daily basis, with little to no understanding of what they originally meant. Join Ben and Noel with special guests Frank Mu ... Show More
38m 47s
May 2022
When Our Star Erupts - The 1859 Solar Storm And More
In 1859, astronomer Richard Carrington was studying the Sun when he witnessed the most intense geomagnetic storm recorded in history. The storm, triggered by a giant solar flare, sent brilliant auroral displays across the globe causing electrical sparking and fires in telegraph s ... Show More
12m 11s
Feb 2024
Exploring solar eclipses through time
<p>This week on Planetary Radio, we delve into the evolution of humanity's relationship with one of our planet's most awe-inspiring phenomena: total solar eclipses. Ed Krupp, the director of Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, will share insights from the fascinating field of ar ... Show More
52m 8s
Oct 2021
SYMHC Classics: Tunguska Event
This 2018 episode covers an even from June 30, 1908, when at approximately 7:15am, the sky over Siberia lit up with what was described by witnesses as a massive fireball, or the sky engulfed in fire. For the last century, scientists have been trying to figure out exactly what hap ... Show More
26m 42s