The History of Jigsaw Puzzles

The History of Jigsaw Puzzles

You might not think of jig­saw puz­zles as sci­en­tif­ic objects. They seem sooth­ing, domes­tic, almost med­i­ta­tive. But behind every lit­tle card­board piece is a sur­pris­ing­ly rich sto­ry, one that spans glob­al explo­ration, tech­no­log­i­cal inno­va­tion, Vic­to­ri­an par­lor cul­ture, eco­nom­ic upheaval, wartime mate­r­i­al short­ages, cog­ni­tive sci­ence, and the dig­i­tal age. And it all begins with an Eng­lish car­tog­ra­ph­er who want­ed to teach children

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The Engineer’s Proximity Effect and the Pauli Effect

The Engineer’s Proximity Effect and the Pauli Effect

As Hal­loween is upon us in the Unit­ed States and in Cana­da, today we are talk­ing about some creepy things, like why the tech guy can make your com­put­er work as soon as he enters the room, why some peo­ple have bad juju wher­ev­er they go, and what spells you can do to either imple­ment or break tech­ni­cal bad spells.

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Washington, Adams, and Smallpox: An MHS Interview

Washington, Adams, and Smallpox: An MHS Interview

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTS [Gabrielle Bir­chak] I believe in the Unit­ed States. I believe in our resilience and I believe that this exper­i­ment that is known as Amer­i­ca can do so much bet­ter if we trust sci­ence. And after today, I hope you have the same rev­e­la­tion. Today’s very spe­cial episode includes an inter­view with the Direc­tor of Research at the Massachusetts

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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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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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Jacoba van den Brande: Pioneer of Women’s Education

Jacoba van den Brande: Pioneer of Women’s Education

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTS It’s Flash­card Fri­day here at Math, Sci­ence, His­to­ry, when on Fri­days we post a short lit­tle flash card about some­thing mathy, sci­en­cy, or his­to­ry. I’m your host, Gabrielle Bir­chak, and I’m shar­ing a sto­ry about the life of a remark­able woman who made a pro­found, yet often over­looked, con­tri­bu­tion to math­e­mat­ics and edu­ca­tion: Jaco­ba van den Brande. Though

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