episode-header-image

Oct 27

46m 9s

Mules, Arsenic, and Sesame: Untold Black...

Science History Institute

About this episode

Up next

Live Show! October 29th in Philly

Come celebrate our newest Distillations podcast season, American Vice. From cigarettes to alcohol to fireworks, this season is all about our relationship with risk, how science plays a role in it, and how it has shaped the American experience. To do it, we're partnering with our ... Show More

From Hysteria to Long COVID: Invisible Illnesses

Many of us have heard of Long COVID, but few of us understand the depth and breadth of the diagnosis or the history leading up to it. We talk with medical anthropologist Emily Mendenhall about her book on invisible illnesses and what happens when medical symptoms are hard to expl ... Show More

Chasing Shiny Things

Silver's Volatile History. How long have people been pinning their hopes on silver? And what makes it valuable to us? Is it just because it's shiny and pretty or do we care about its practical uses too? Join us as we go down the rabbit hole to find out how Nevada got its nickname ... Show More

Recommended Episodes

Why Ancient People Didn't See the Color Blue

Here's a philosophical question for you. If a color doesn't have a name, can we still see it? Many years ago, the human eye evolved to give us the ability to see about a million colors. That's a lot. Then how come, until very recently, nobody saw or even heard of the color blue? ... Show More

No, the Ancient Greeks Weren’t Color Blind. They Justed Had Unique Ways to Describe the World

Were ancients color-blind? They weren’t but this idea has been passed around for centuries, usually by classicists confused by the Greeks’ odd choice of descriptive language. Homer, author of The Iliad and The Odyssey, the first ‘great’ poet of western civilization described the ... Show More

SYMHC Live: Mysteries of the Color Blue

Blue is the most popular color in many parts of the world, and it can seem like it's everywhere. But many ancient languages didn’t have a word for blue, and some languages still don’t. This show was recorded live at a National Gallery of Art's NGA Nights event. Learn more about y ... Show More

Did You Know That the Color Blue Was One of the Last Colors to Be Named

Did you know blue was one of the last colors to be named? Discover the science behind how words shape our perception in this episode of Know Yourself. Find the full transcript of this episode and learn more about it on https://englishpluspodcast.com/the-curious-case-of-the-missin ... Show More

<p>Up in the sky and down in the ocean, blue is the endcap of our visuall existence.One that may even influence us subconsciously. Find out why this color is the ultimate magician, appearing mostly as an illusion, in this episode of the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast.</p><p> </p ... Show More

Blue is the loneliest color

Once in a blue moon the Outside/In team opens up the mailbag and answers your questions about the natural world. This time, they all share a preoccupation with a particular hue: blue. Come along as we learn about the differences between European and Aztec conceptions of the color ... Show More

146 - Why is the Color Blue So Rare?

The colour conundrum

The world is full of colour! But, listener Maya Crocombe wonders ‘how do we see colour and why are some people colour blind?’Dr Rutherford and professor Fry set out to understand how special light-sensitive cells in our eyes start the process of colour perception, why people some ... Show More

And at last I see the light. In episode 64 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss vision in the second installment of their ongoing series on the five senses. They discuss the prevalence of visual metaphors for knowledge, and why sight has historically been the most privileged of ... Show More