Scientists have always been rivals—for priority, prizes, and positions within science, and for fame and funding. This can be seen when Newton and Leibniz fought over who invented calculus (and the former destroyed the reputation of the latter), or...
Today
The Battle of Agincourt, 1415: Longbowmen, Bands of Brothers, and Henry V’s Triumph
<p>From Shakespeare's 'band of brothers' speech to its appearances in numerous films, Agincourt rightfully has a place among a handful of conflicts whose names are immediately recognized around the world. The Battle of Agincourt, fought in 1415, is famous for the decisive role of ... Show More
53m 15s
Nov 25
Clarence Dillon: The Roaring 20s Wall Street Baron Who Wrote the Rules for Corporate Takeovers, Junk Bonds, and Bankruptcy
<p>J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Charles E. Mitchell are names that come to mind when thinking of the most prominent icons of wealth and influence during the Roaring Twenties. Yet the one figure who has escaped notice is an enigmatic banker by the name of Clarence Dillon. ... Show More
45m 11s
Nov 20
A Utah Indian Chief Controlled the 1800s Mountain West Through Slave Trading, Building Pioneer Trails, Horse Stealing, and Becoming Mormon
<p>The American Indian leader Wakara was among the most influential and feared men in the nineteenth-century American West. He and his pan-tribal cavalry of horse thieves and slave traders dominated the Old Spanish Trail, the region’s most important overland route. They wid ... Show More
1 h
Mar 2024
A Conversation with Irwin Shapiro: Scientist Extraordinaire from the Earth to the Stars, and at 94, still going strong.
Irwin Shapiro is a remarkable human being by almost any standard. Following his education in physics at Cornell and Harvard, he had a job at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory working on various problems in planetary dynamics, and radar ranging, when he went to a lecture and realized that ... Show More
1h 57m
Feb 2022
Merging supermassive black holes, and communicating science in the age of social media
On this week’s show: What we can learn from two supermassive black holes that appear to be on a collision course with each other, and the brave new online world in which social media dominates and gatekeeps public access to scientific information First up, Staff Writer Daniel Cle ... Show More
29m 51s
Nov 2023
The unexpected outcomes of artist-scientist collaborations
Artist and illustrator Lucy Smith helps botanists to identify new species. Usually they request a set of drawings, she says, with a detailed set of requirements.
But Smith, who joined London’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, more than 20 years ago, says: “We also feed back to the sci ... Show More
23m 48s
<p><strong>Stuart Ritchie</strong> (<a href="https://twitter.com/StuartJRitchie" target="_blank">@StuartJRitchie</a>) is a lecturer in the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at King’s College London and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-That- ... Show More
<p>To say that event <em>A</em> causes event <em>B</em> is to not only make a claim about our actual world, but about other possible worlds — in worlds where <em>A</em> didn’t happen but everything else was the same, <em>B</em> would not ha ... Show More
