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May 18
16m 59s

Comets

Gary Arndt | Glassbox Media
About this episode
For thousands of years, people have looked into the night sky and seen something unusual. It was fuzzy, sometimes bright, and it wasn’t there before. It appeared out of nowhere and, after a few days or weeks, disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared. When these events occurred, they were often interpreted as omens. Good or bad depending on who was do ... Show More
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Today
Fabergé Eggs
In 1885, the Russian Tsar Alexander III commissioned an Easter gift for his wife. It was a rather unusual gift. He asked one of the finest goldsmiths in the country to create a jeweled egg. However, it wasn’t just to be an expensive bauble. Inside the egg was to be another exquis ... Show More
16m 17s
Yesterday
Transistors
One of the most important inventions of the 20th century was the transistor. Prior to the transistor, electronic devices were large and bulky and dependent on vacuum tubes. Vacuum tubes were large, fragile, power-hungry, and prone to failure. The transistor not only replaced the ... Show More
16m 39s
Jul 7
The Peloponnesian War
In the 5th century BC, the Greek world found itself in the middle of one of its greatest wars. This wasn’t one of their existential conflicts against the Persians; this was a war of Greeks against Greeks. An alliance of city-states led by Athens fought a coalition led by Sparta f ... Show More
16m 27s
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