HOLIDAY PUZZLE 2025!

HOLIDAY PUZZLE 2025!

UPDATE!! AS OF DECEMBER 18, NO ONE HAS SUBMITTED CORRECT ANSWERS! SO THANKS TO DAVID T. AT ASU, THE PUZZLE HAS BEEN GIVEN AN EXTENSION TO DECEMBER 31, 2025!  Wel­come to Math! Sci­ence! His­to­ry! It’s Decem­ber and that means it is Puz­zle Month. Hi, I’m Gabrielle Bir­chak. I’m a sci­ence com­mu­ni­ca­tor with a back­ground in math, sci­ence, and jour­nal­ism. This year,

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Carl Friedrich Gauss: The Quiet Genius Who Transformed Math, Astronomy & Modern Science

Carl Friedrich Gauss: The Quiet Genius Who Transformed Math, Astronomy & Modern Science

Wel­come to Math! Sci­ence! His­to­ry!, Today we’re explor­ing the sto­ry and the myths sur­round­ing Carl Friedrich Gauss, the Prince of Math­e­mat­ics. This isn’t because he chased fame, he didn’t, but because his insights were so deep they silent­ly built the scaf­fold­ing of mod­ern sci­ence. Hi, I’m Gabrielle Bir­chak. I’m a sci­ence com­mu­ni­ca­tor with a back­ground in math, sci­ence and journalism.

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FLASHCARDS! Does Turkey Really Make You Tired? The Science of Tryptophan and Holiday Meals

FLASHCARDS! Does Turkey Really Make You Tired? The Science of Tryptophan and Holiday Meals

Thank you for tun­ing into today’s pod­cast! If you are here for the recipes, just scroll to the bot­tom! PODCAST TRANSCRIPTS Wel­come to Flash­cards Fri­day! Today we’re tak­ing a clos­er look at some­thing that shows up every Novem­ber: tryp­to­phan. Yes, that mys­te­ri­ous amino acid that gets blamed every year for the leg­endary “post-Thanks­­giv­ing nap.” Turkey is the star wit­ness, but

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It’s Pumpkin Spice Season!

It’s Pumpkin Spice Season!

Dis­cov­er the chem­istry of fla­vor, the his­to­ry of spices, and the math behind the per­fect pump­kin spice lat­te. Grab your favorite pump­kin spice treat, get cozy, and join me on this fla­vor­ful exploration!

FLASHCARDS! Imagination Is the Engine of Science.

FLASHCARDS! Imagination Is the Engine of Science.

TRANSCRIPTS Wel­come to Flash­cards Fri­days! If you had a chance to lis­ten to Tuesday’s episode, I inter­viewed the the­o­ret­i­cal physi­cist Dr. Ronald Mal­lett, who shares how a moment of heart­break in his child­hood became the foun­da­tion for his entire sci­en­tif­ic career. It’s an inspir­ing inter­view, and I hope you lis­ten to it. Today I’m fol­low­ing up on his con­clud­ing state­ment, and

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Turning Grief into Physics: Dr. Ronald Mallett’s Journey Through Time

Turning Grief into Physics: Dr. Ronald Mallett’s Journey Through Time

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTS Gabrielle Bir­chak I just fin­ished edit­ing this fan­tas­tic inter­view with Dr. Ronald Mal­lett, Pro­fes­sor Emer­i­tus of Physics at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Con­necti­cut. This episode of Math Sci­ence His­to­ry is all about explor­ing one of physics most dar­ing fron­tiers, time trav­el. Dr. Mal­lett has spent a life­time inves­ti­gat­ing whether light itself can twist space time enough to form loops

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The Math and Science of Efficiency

The Math and Science of Efficiency

It’s Flash­cards Fri­day here on Math Sci­ence His­to­ry, where we take big ideas and pack them into small, pow­er­ful moments. I’m Gabrielle Bir­chak, and I have a back­ground in sci­ence, math and jour­nal­ism, and today, we’re flip­ping through the math and sci­ence behind one of life’s biggest chal­lenges: sav­ing time. Because here’s the truth, time is the only thing you

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Time Travel IRL!

Time Travel IRL!

Time Trav­el Imag­ine step­ping into a machine, an elab­o­rate cham­ber of brass, gears, and hum­ming coils. You sit down, pull a lever, and sud­den­ly the world out­side your win­dow blurs. The clock on the wall no longer ticks in neat, famil­iar sec­onds. Instead, time itself bends and stretch­es like taffy. Days whirl past in moments, cen­turies col­lapse into a single

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