In the 1950s, scientists hated politics. Then one Allen Astin got fired. After that, scientists knew they had to play politics—or face professional annihilation.
No one in Columbus’s time believed the world was flat. So why did so many children learn this bogus “fact” in school? It all goes back to Rip van Winkle...
When the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, the two most scientific detectives in the world took on the case. But they overlooked the real enemy—their own petty prejudice.
The Smyth Report is the strangest book ever written on atomic bombs—as well as highly effective science propaganda, warping our view of everything from the Manhattan Project to Robert Oppenheimer.
When a British sub sank with all hands, JBS Haldane volunteered to investigate by experimenting on himself—even if it meant losing his own life in the process. (Part 2 of 2.)
About The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean
About The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean
About The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean
A topsy-turvy science-y history podcast by Sam Kean. I examine overlooked stories from our past: the dental superiority of hunter-gatherers, the crooked Nazis who saved thousands of American lives, the American immigrants who developed the most successful cancer screening tool in history, the sex lives of dinosaurs, and much, much more. These are charming little tales that never made the history books, but these small moments can be surprisingly powerful. These are the cases where history gets inverted, where the footnote becomes the real story.
Listen to The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean, You Beauty and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
Australia