PODCAST SWAP — History Daily: The Loch Ness Monster

In this spe­cial pod­cast swap episode, Math Sci­ence His­to­ry teams up with His­to­ry Dai­ly to bring you one of the most endur­ing mys­ter­ies in mod­ern folk­lore: the leg­end of the Loch Ness Mon­ster. From ancient Scot­tish lore to one of the most infa­mous pho­to­graph­ic hoax­es of the 20th cen­tu­ry, this cap­ti­vat­ing nar­ra­tive blends his­to­ry, myth, and media manip­u­la­tion.Enjoy this rich

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Packing Problems: The Math of Fitting Everything into Your Suitcase

Wel­come to Flash­cards Fri­day, at Math! Sci­ence! His­to­ry! I’m Gabrielle Bir­chak, and today, we’re going to take a quick trip into the suit­case, lit­er­al­ly. Have you ever found your­self sit­ting on your lug­gage, try­ing des­per­ate­ly to zip it shut? Or play­ing Tetris with your shoes and socks? Believe it or not, this prob­lem has fas­ci­nat­ed math­e­mati­cians and com­put­er sci­en­tists for

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FLASHCARDS! Why Airline Prices Change After You Search

FLASHCARDS! Why Airline Prices Change After You Search

It’s Flash­card Fri­days here at Math! Sci­ence! His­to­ry! I’m your host, Gabrielle Bir­chak, and today we’re look­ing at a mys­tery many of us have expe­ri­enced: why do air­line prices jump around, some­times with­in min­utes, after we search for a flight? You check once. It’s $278. You think, “Hmm, maybe I’ll wait a few hours.” You check again. $348. You wait

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Flashcards Friday: Chandrasekhar’s Voyage into Black Holes

Flashcards Friday: Chandrasekhar’s Voyage into Black Holes

Wel­come to Flash­cards Fri­day here at Math! Sci­ence! His­to­ry! where every Fri­day, we take a lit­tle idea and make a big dis­cov­ery out of it. I’m your host, Gabrielle Bir­chak, and today’s sto­ry is about a young sci­en­tist, a long, relax­ing, boat ride, and a rev­e­la­tion that changed the way we under­stand the death of stars, and the birth of black holes.

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Black Holes from Theory to Reality

Black Holes from Theory to Reality

This post con­tains a spon­sored link. I have received com­pen­sa­tion for includ­ing it in this post. Imag­ine a place in the uni­verse where time stops, where space folds into itself, and where not even light can escape. A place that devours every­thing, mat­ter, radi­a­tion, even infor­ma­tion. Now imag­ine the sci­en­tists who tried to explain it… and were laughed at, ignored, or

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Just Say No to Melanoma

Just Say No to Melanoma

Wel­come back to Flash­card Fri­day here on Math, Sci­ence, His­to­ry! I’m your host, Gabrielle, and today’s episode is all about some­thing small that packs a big punch against one of the most com­mon can­cers in the world: sun­block. We’ll explore its fas­ci­nat­ing his­to­ry, the sci­ence of how it works, the sta­tis­tics on skin can­cer and melanoma, and why pro­tect­ing your

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FLASHCARD FRIDAYS: Charles Darwin, the lost boy

FLASHCARD FRIDAYS: Charles Darwin, the lost boy

It’s FLASHCARDS FRIDAY at Math! Sci­ence! His­to­ry! and I’m Gabrielle Bir­chak. I have a back­ground in math sci­ence and jour­nal­ism. It’s offi­cial­ly sum­mer. Some pro­fes­sors are on break. And if you’re not in acad­e­mia you are like­ly plan­ning your vaca­tions or sum­mer activ­i­ties. So, this sum­mer Math! Sci­ence! His­to­ry! is going to have a spe­cial vaca­tion series, because it’s nice

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Queer Nature

Queer Nature

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTS We’re often told that nature is all about sur­vival of the fittest, repro­duc­tion, and het­ero­sex­u­al pairs. But what if nature has always been far queer­er than we’ve been taught? Today, I’m going to take you on a glob­al jour­ney through the world of sci­ence, from the ear­li­est obser­va­tions to cut­t­ing-edge research, to explore queer­ness in nature: from same-sex

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