In today’s episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an “expert” on... snowflakes! Depending where on Earth you live, these tiny miracles fall around you by the millions. And boy do they fall! Sometimes from clouds over 2 miles in the sky! We were fascinated to learn exactly how these precious little treasures form up there. Although they’ve been landing on Earth for probably forever, it wasn’t until just over 100 years ago that their uniqueness was captured up close in photos thanks to a certain young Vermonter. Cozy up with a cup of hot chocolate, put on your new Christmas slippers, and enjoy what is perhaps our gentlest episode yet.

Highlights include:

- Scientific talk that was almost skipped entirely!

- A theory that Hawaiians do not know how to measure snow accumulation!

- The biggest snowstorm of ALL TIME!!! (that we know of)

Donate to the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-to-aclu-multistep

Donate to the NAACP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1

Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod

Send us your expertise at [email protected]

And please rate and review!

Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvanksy

Happy New Year, again! In the first new episode of 2021, Katie has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Times Square! We watched the ball drop in Times Square this year, and even though it was weird without all the people, we were happy to see the tradition live on. But what's the deal with Times Square? Why is it called that? It's not a square, so truly a mystery. But a mystery we solved! From its humble beginnings as Longacre Square, to its seedy history in the 1980s, Times Square is a real joy to learn about. That ball? It has been been dropping for over 100 years! The Disney fixation of Times Square is fairly new, but the big bright ads are not. Also - a throwback to our chewing gum episode! It’s a great way to kick off 2021. Come dig into some Bubba Gump Shrimp with us and enjoy!

Highlights Include:

- One million people watch the ball drop in person on New Year’s Eve

- Times Square is not a square- it’s bow-tie shaped!

- The biggest LED sign in the world

Donate to the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-to-aclu-multistep

Donate to the NAACP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1

Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod

Send us your expertise at [email protected]

And please rate and review!

Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvanksy

Happy New Year!! Hope you all had lovely and relaxing holidays, and are ready to celebrate 2021 with what we think is our worst episode ever! This is the last of our unreleased group, so enjoy it! Hopefully next week you will be stunned by the incredible difference in our research and banter skills when we jump back into the present.

In this week's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... The Microwave! For some reason, a quote that is maybe from Albert Einstein features heavily in this episode. It's a little off the rails. But once we finally get into microwaves, it gets good. Although we do refer to the inventor of the microwave as "chocolate boy" (for a good reason, at least), and it's very uncomfortable. Lots of crazy words in this one... Raytheon, magnatron, diathermy, whew! This one does have a happy accident story (remember, chocolate boy), which you know we love. So that's fun! Zack really works hard to explain some serious science in this one. Electrons, wave functions, it's nuts. Cheers to him, but also, we don't really know what we are talking about. We are confident in the fact that Percy Spencer invented the microwave, first tested it on popcorn, and then exploded an egg. In his honor, and to celebrate this wonky episode exploding onto the podcast scene, we shall do those things today as well.

Highlights include:

- Microwaves used as therapy

- A six-foot tall, 750 pound microwave!

- Zack explains how microwave technology works!

Donate to the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-to-aclu-multistep

Donate to the NAACP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1

Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod

Send us your expertise at [email protected]

And please rate and review!

Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvanksy

It's week 2 of our throwback episodes! If you're still here, thank you! If not, we get it! Here's the next one of our unreleased backlog:

In this week's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Vodka! Now this is a topic we can all get behind! Burping yeast! Watered-down Everclear! Vodka is a fun ride. If you've ever had it - which we know you have - why not learn what's in it? That's a pretty easy task, since it's only ethanol and water. Whoops I spoiled it. But still listen to the episode! Where does the word "vodka" come from? We really get into it. Turns out you can make vodka out of anything, so maybe this is your new quarantine activity? Why we Americans are missing out on Bison-grass laced vodka that everyone else gets to enjoy! Plus this episode intros our long-running (never revived) "acronym for the planets" bit. You'll love it. There's lots of laughing in this one, because we don't know what we're doing. Maybe we still don't! but we're having fun. Happy Holidays!

Highlights Include:

- Frat Boys Are Right Sometimes: Filtering Vodka in Your Brita 

- Vodka = "Little Water"

- Why we call alcohol "spirits"

Donate to the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-to-aclu-multistep

Donate to the NAACP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1

Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod

Send us your expertise at [email protected]

And please rate and review!

Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvanksy

Happy Holidays, experts! Hopefully you are all finding some kind of peace and comfort in this crazy time. We have both finished finals (hooray!!) and are taking a holiday break to catch up on sleep and celebrate. But we didn't want to leave you hanging, especially if you were looking forward to the soothing sounds of our voices to keep you company. So we decided to do something fun! We had a couple episodes backlogged from before we officially launched the podcast - test episodes, if you will, that we have never released. So we are releasing them now! Here's the first of our trio of oldies to get you through to 2021. Are they terrible? Maybe! Should they have been left on the cutting room floor? You decide! Tell us what you think, and if we have improved at all over the past 8 weird months.

In today's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... The Interstate Highway System! So here's the thing, as we mentioned, this was early on in 30 Minute Expert's existence, so Zack's research skills were not great. He started by researching the wrong topic... But, that means that we got to learn about the predecessor to the Interstate Highway System as well! If you are taking a road trip this holiday, you have Dwight D. Eisenhower to thank for the ease of travel you are (hopefully) experiencing. We often take the highway system for granted, but it is quite a feat of infrastructure. Lastly - want to know why the 405 sucks so bad? Because 380,000 cars PER DAY travel on it. Wow. 

Highlights include: 

- Contraflow: Opposite Day on the Highway

- Highway H1? Hawaii's 27 miles of interstate highway

- The shortest highway in America (you could walk it!)

Donate to the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-to-aclu-multistep

Donate to the NAACP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1

Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod

Send us your expertise at [email protected]

And please rate and review!

Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvanksy

In today's episode, Katie has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Antarctica! And a little bit of the Arctic too! Mainly the differences between the two and why Antarctica is so dang cold. Because, dang! Is it cold down there! it's the only continent that humans have never lived on - except for now, when a thousand or so crazy scientists hunker down there year round to study all kinds of important stuff that makes the world go round. Antarctica may not be home to any indigenous people, but it is home to penguins, and the now (thanks to this podcast) world-famous wingless midge. Thanks to the Antarctic Treaty, no one really "owns" Antarctica. It's a special place for research and being chill. (Very chill.) Hopefully this episode will get you curious about the southernmost place on the earth. And if it does, maybe watch Where'd You Go, Bernadette on Hulu! It's got awesome shots of real Antarctica, learn about the terrible Drake Passage, and it all takes place at Christmas time. So make some hot cocoa, snuggle in, and drum up some residuals for Katie. 

Highlights include: 

- The Wingless Midge: Antarctica's only land animal 

- How Australia stole Antarctica's name

- Penguins!

Donate to the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-to-aclu-multistep

Donate to the NAACP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1

Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod

Send us your expertise at [email protected]

And please rate and review!

Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvanksy

In today's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Chess! If you've been watching The Queen's Gambit, this episode is for you. We haven't been watching (too busy studying for finals *eyeroll*), but we still thought that this would be a great topic. And it was! As with many things, chess has a long history that really jumps all over the world. The true origins of chess are in India around the 7th century, but the chess-as-we-know-it today comes from England, all the way fast-forwarded to the 1850s! Thanks Howard Staunton for a ringing endorsement. Did they actually use an ancient Scottish chess set in a Harry Potter movie? Come on, definitely not, but also maybe yes. If you have insight, let us knowwww. This one had all kinds of twists and turns... chaturanga becoming chess, counselors becoming queens, and elephants becoming bishops. If that sounds wild to you, you BET it is!! That's chess for ya.

Highlights include: 

- The Queen used to be a Counselor!

- The Bishop used to be an Elephant!

- Why "Checkmate" = "The King is Dead"

In today's episode, Katie has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Yo-Yos! The world's second oldest toy. The long history of the yo-yo spans many centuries and several countries. If you've ever heard that yo-yos were initially used as weapons, we think you're wrong! But we also think we might know why you think that. Americans didn't get their hands on yo-yos in any real way until the 1920s, but then they got wayyyyy into it. Thank Pedro Flores, Donald F. Duncan, and 40 million kids who purchased a total of 45 million yo-yos in 1962 alone. This was a fun topic to read about, but it's even more fun to watch. Search anything to do with "yo-yo" on YouTube (may we suggest Gentry Stein?) and you will be absolutely floored by the skill of those yo-yo-ers!

Highlights include: 

- A yo-yoing four-year-old Prince Louis XIV

- The violent (fake?) history of the yo-yo

- 45 million yo-yos sold in one year!

Donate to the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-to-aclu-multistep

Donate to the NAACP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1

Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod

Send us your expertise at [email protected]

And please rate and review!

Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvanksy

In today's episode, Katie has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Chewing Gum! Uh huh, that's right, chewing gum. All these years you've been popping a little piece of who-knows-what in your mouth and chowing down for hours at a time, knowing little to nothing about what it is you're munching on. So we're gonna tell you! Although humans have a very long history of yanking bits off of trees and chewing them, the fairy tale that is modern chewing gum starts with a sticky substance called chicle from the sapodilla tree in South America. And we have the Aztec, the Maya, and an exiled Mexican president to thank for it. Gum has taken some interesting twists throughout history, but we are happy to hear that good old-fashioned chicle is making a comeback. We expected this to be an easy, laid back topic, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Pop in a piece of Glee Gum and listen!

Highlights include: 

- A mile-long billboard made of 117 signs... for gum!

- A nauseating description of modern gum-making

- Wanna stop crying when you cut onions? Chew gum!

Donate to the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-to-aclu-multistep

Donate to the NAACP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1

Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod

Send us your expertise at [email protected]

And please rate and review!

Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvanksy

In today's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Alpacas! Our cutest topic yet . (Sorry, Evel Knievel!) You might think of alpacas as llamas' adorable little cousins, but they are actually descended from another delightful furball - the vicuña! As cute as this episode got at times, it wasn't without its disgusting bits as well. Have you ever heard about how llamas spit? Well, alpacas do too, and Zack almost barfed over the specifics of it. We learn where alpacas are from, whether or not they like dogs (they don't!!), and how much it might cost to own one. Interesting retirement plan from AARP - an alpaca farm. Can't say we recommend it, but can say that that's a real AARP suggestion. Head to South America with us and learn about your new favorite animals, alpacas!

Highlights include: 

- Who hates dogs? Alpacas do!

- Vicuñas - dare I say, an even cuter alpaca?

- Llama + sour mouth = don't look it up!

Donate to the ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-to-aclu-multistep

Donate to the NAACP: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/naacp-1

Follow on instagram @30minuteexpertpodcast and twitter @30minexpertpod

Send us your expertise at [email protected]

And please rate and review!

Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvanksy