Light Your Bunsen Burner

Light Your Bunsen Burner

By Mariela Rosas/Jonah BakerScience
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Light Your Bunsen Burner episodes

  • Operation Paperclip: When the U.S. Hired Nazi Scientists
    When the Third Reich fell, there was a mad grab for German technology by the United States. Although many of the scientists recruited under this top secret operation were proven or probable war criminals, the perceived advantages were too good to pass up. Join us as we declassify the origins and legacy of Operation Paperclip.  From being tracked down by elite T Forces, to building rockets for NASA, we find that some of these "intellectual assets" got off too easy.
    1 hr 12 min
  • Your Burning Questions: Part 1
    You wanted to know about global warming, human evolution and hangovers... Well, here is the episode where we answer all your burning questions! Join us as we discuss Darwinian Demons, the "Ice Man" (not THAT Ice Man) and how to quantitatively transfer "baby powder." We also have  a special quest appearance from a demon spider.
    1 hr 22 min
  • Tasting the Stars: A Brief History of Champagne
    POP! FIZZ! CLINK! Join us as we uncork the bubbly history of Champagne! As we drink we'll find that exploding bottles can scare off monks, the English really loved their sugar, and slightly turning thousands of bottles every day can be quite a riddle. The Romans may have spread it to France, but it was Dom Perignon who perfected it. We also have a special guest appearance from Mr. Jonah's Dad.
    1 hr 5 min
  • No Laughing Matter: A Cautionary Tale of Nitrous Oxide

    A polymath isolated it, a young scientist popularized it, a dentist applied it to his field, and we inhaled it at a party.  It started off as a "glorious gas" but ended up as the undoing of a very thin-skinned dentist. Join us this week as we drill into the dental applications of nitrous oxide! As you inhale deeply, you'll find that the best job is the one that requires you to get high, a chloroform habit is a bad idea and, most importantly, it's ok to fail. 

    1 hr 1 min
  • Worst Stomach Ache in History: Dr. Beaumont and Digestion
    Whether you're eating steak or guzzling down beer, everything you eat undergoes the process of digestion. For centuries this mechanism was poorly understood and a debate raged on. That is until one frontier doctor found himself a not so willing guinea pig to experiment on. Join us as we bite into the tale of Dr. Beaumont and his digestive experiments on Alexis St. Martin. Learn how eager scientists were to taste bodily fluids, how good Hippocratic Oats are for you, and why medical issues are measured in food sizes.
    1 hr 6 min
  • Of Pigeons and PhDs: Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

    Proof of the Big Bang had eluded astrophysicists throughout the early 20th century. That is until two radio-astronomers working for a telephone company stumbled upon of of the most significant find in cosmology. Join us as we listen to the universe weave a tale of childhood escapes from Nazi Germany, experimental satellites, and pigeon murder! Along the way we explore the proper way to measure your PhD and speculate as to what exactly "pigeon fanciers" do with all those pigeons. 

    1 hr 13 min
  • The Poison Squad: Harvey Wiley and Food Safety

    Before proper food safety regulation, everything from borax to formaldehyde could end up on your dinner plate. Then in the early 1900's, one wily chemists assembled a  group of volunteers to eat poison for science. Join us as we digest the appetizing story of The Poison Squad! We learn what eating borax for a year will do to a healthy young man, pour some praise for the AOAC and give you advise on which side of the glory hole you want to be on. 

    1 hr 8 min
  • A Very English Fossil: Piltdown Man
    In 1912, an amateur archeologist found a skull fragment and a jawbone in the English town of Piltdown. What was once thought as a ground breaking find turned out to be an elaborate fraud that misguided evolutionary biology for decades. Join us as we uncover the culprit behind the Piltdown Man hoax! Along the way we knight ourselves, find out how far English men will go to join the Royal Society and have a guest appearance by our boy, Mothman. Be prepared for bad English accents!
    1 hr 16 min
  • Let's Go Tripping: The Synthesis of LSD
    It's the episode on acid, where we're NOT on acid. Extracted from a dangerous fungus, lysergic acid diethylamide became the preferred party drug of the counterculture. Join us as we take a trip from ergotism epidemics in the middle ages to microdosing by Silicon Valley techies. On our magical mystery tour we find that you shouldn't eat the weird-looking rye, riding your bicycle on LSD is just one bad trip and you can't absorb acid through your skin (unless you lick it). Also: Timothy Leary, MK-ULTRA, and orifices!!!
    1 hr 19 min
  • Fog of War: Fritz Haber and Chemical Warfare

    During the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans unleashed a vile weapon against Allied troops. Standing on the German side as the yellowish fog of war swept across the land killing thousands, was German scientist, Fritz Haber. Join us as we piece together the complicated legacy of this chemist who pulled bread from the sky and fed the world. We also propose ending war through diplomatic makeout sessions and figure out that a fur coat and a pair of funky glasses really make the villain.

    1 hr 13 min

About Light Your Bunsen Burner

From the publisher's feed

A science history podcast that elucidates the weird, wonderful and sometimes tragic tales behind the science. Join Mariela and Jonah as they take a lighthearted dive into obscure and thought-provoking…