Ever wonder where your fork and spoon came from?  This episode is all about the invention of eating utensils: Chop Sticks, Spoons, Forks, and the backwards cousin of the table setting, the Spork.  Take a listen and learn of the great wickedness of the fork users and England's most celebrated spoon.

Our topic this week is the HIV virus and what science has uncovered about how and when it crossed over and mutated from the SIV virus that infects African primate populations.  We also discuss when the virus is most likely to have first shown up in North America (hint: probably earlier than you think) resulting in the American AIDS epidemic.

Come learn about the history of New Year's Day and New Year celebrations from around the world.  Time to sit back, eat some Hoppin' John, much on some Niangao, and taste some Samanu as we tour some traditions.

It's the Christmas season, and what better way to kick it off than to discuss Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Come learn a bit about what inspired Theodor Geisel to create the Grinch, how the subsequent TV shows and movies were made, and a bit about the in-world continuity of The Grinch.

(apologies for the audio quality... had to record without the good microphone) 

Mixing fantasy and true crime for our 200th episode.  The idea of a Changeling, a replacement creature left in place of  a child or other relative taken by the fairies, is a concept that permeates through most European cultures.  Sometimes real life parallels folklore and we discuss three true crime stories that involve real life changelings.

   

The International Space Station (ISS) has been a model of international cooperation, being run by five cooperating space agencies (US, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada).  It has been continuously manned since November 2000, having housed people for more than two decades.  Listen in and learn about its history, purpose of operation, and uncertain future.

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886 as a gift to the United States from the people of France.  We discuss the history of the statue, so well known bits like the statement above, and others less well known, such as the Statue being damaged by an explosion in 1916 set by German agents.  Take a listen and find out the hidden history of Lady Liberty.

The Filles du Roi or Daughters of the King, was a term used to describe roughly 800 young French women who's dowries and passage to the new world was paid for by King Louis the 14th in an attempt to correct the imbalance of men in New France and help encourage the creation of families and the agricultural settlement of the territory.  Between 1663 and 1673 these women braved the trip across the ocean to an unknown future for the hope of new life and possibly new love in the new world.

We discuss the invention of manmade snow and how its usage at ski resorts around the world has increased economic activity but also resulted in many unintended impacts.

We discuss two topics tied to birth control: Margaret Sanger's fight to make birth control and information about it accessible to American women and George Rosenkranz and his work to synthesize human sex hormones which led to the creation of mass produced contraceptive pills.