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Join us as telegraph and radio begin to make the world a smaller place.
Check out our latest attempt at Episode One.
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Join us for a thumbnail sketch of how modern computers came about, and then began to double in capability each year.
Continue reading Ep 359: The digital revolution, and a bit o’ spooky
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There are thousands of different languages in the world. Today we talk about the art of translation.
Check out our latest attempt at Episode One:
Wishing for luck and encrypted babies
Continue reading Ep 358: From one tongue to another
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A newborn human can learn many languages at once, and without any coaching or teaching. We ask the babies how.
Continue reading Ep 357: Babbling about baby babble
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Join us as we hang out with NASA while they deliberately crash into an asteroid.
Check out take 107 of Episode One.
Beer in space!
Continue reading Ep 356: The spacecraft crashed, just like we planned
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Part of communicating is trying to tell someone something without the wrong someone hearing it. We take a look at the history and practice of secret messages.
And here’s our latest attempt at Episode One.
Take 106 of Episode One: Don’t know where to begin
Continue reading Ep 355: To tell a secret, and keep it too
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How did people communicate over distance in the ancient world? We answer this question by examining signal fires, talking drums, and languages composed entirely of whistling.
Continue reading Ep 354: By flame, drum and song
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Once again, the title says it all. We look at mail in the ancient world, and take a look at the oldest known library.
Continue reading Ep 353: Ancient mail, and the oldest known library
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We pick it up from last time and finish the story of our alphabet, along with a look at where our numbers came from.
Check out our latest attempt at Phil’s show.
Part 2 of take 102 of Episode One
Continue reading Ep 352: Numbers and letters
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This time we start from the very beginnings of writing, and move on to just before the invention of alphabets.
Here’s part one of our latest attempted at Episode One.