Ear Trumpets are seen as old fashioned and clumsy, mostly deployed in pop culture for comic effect as a snarky shorthand for how old and out-of-touch a person is.

But during the Enlightenment there was a wider embrace of this new technology as a means of increased participation.

This episode we are joined by medical historian Dr Ruben Verwaal to explore how the popularity and stigma of the ear trumpet tracks with attitudes towards deafness, and where our cynicism towards the ear trumpet came from.

In medieval times it was monks who were the masters of invention. They were the most educated members of society who saw scientific and philosophical investigation as a way to get closer to god. However, any experimentation had to be carefully balanced with religion, the threat of being labelled a heretic looming large. 

Today Dallas is joined by Matt Lewis, co-host of our sister podcast Gone Medieval, who explains how monks navigated this balance and tells the story of one man in particular: Roger Bacon. A friar and incredible polymath, Bacon has been credited with designing the magnifying glass but also predicted cars, powered ships and manned flight.

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Creating a successful spacesuit was one of the biggest challenges in man's quest to land on the moon. And, it required borrowing skills from some surprising places to pull it off.... namely, women's underwear.

With the help of Ryan Nagata, artist and replica spacesuit maker, we chart the evolution of the spacesuit from the Wiley Posts, to the iconic Apollo suits and beyond.

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Kellogg's Cornflakes are arguably the most iconic breakfast cereal, and for good reason. It was this product that launched breakfast cereal as we know and love today. But as with all good invention stories, it isn’t quite as simple as a good idea at the right time.

The invention of Cornflakes is wrapped up in 20th Century health fads, transformations in labour and the mother of all family feuds. Today Dallas is joined by food historian Sarah Wassberg Johnson to get the full story.

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In a world at war, and with no end in sight, the atomic bomb was positioned to be the one weapon that could end the conflict for good.

In this episode Dallas is joined by Dr Campbell Craig, who argues that it may have put an end to World War Two — but also laid the foundations for the Cold War that was to define the second half of the 20th century, as well as continued anxieties to this day.

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As today’s guest puts it, there have been condoms for as long as there have been penises. But, how did condoms as we know them — thin, latex and single use — come about?

This episode, Dr Jessica Borge, author of Protective Practices: A History of the London Rubber Company and the Condom Business, explains it all through the story of the world's most popular contraceptive brand, Durex.

Find out more about Jessica's work here: www.londonrubbercompany.com.

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If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

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Drone technology has transformed the way we wage war today. They have been key in every major conflict since at least 2008, including the current war in Ukraine. But military drones have a much longer history than you might imagine, dating all the way back to the First World War.

In this episode Dallas is joined by James Rogers, host of History Hit's very own Warfare podcast, who walks us through the century-long history of military drones.

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The revolution in speed ground to a halt in the 1960s. The previous half-century saw great leaps in how quickly people could get from place to place: high-speed railways, cars, intercontinental flight. In our lifetime transport may have become safer and comfier — but we aren't getting anywhere any faster. 

How did these great leaps happen? What grove this focus on transport innovation and where does collaboration come into play? And why has the focus shifted? 

In this episode, we talk to Matt Ridley, author of How Innovation Works, about the acceleration of transport innovation from the steam engine to space travel. 

This episode was produced by Emily Whalley

The senior producer is Charlotte Long

Edited and mixed by Seyi Adaobi

Over the course of only half a century, genetic engineering has developed from an intellectual concept to a medical reality. Yet the ethical and moral questions underpinning it remain unanswered.

Genetically modified crops, illegal human experimentation, and a handy hip-hop analogy - Dallas is joined by Dr Adam Rutherford (The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry, BBC R4) to help dig into the story of this invention, that is still very much in progress

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