If Ancient Rome was so brilliant, why didn’t they invent trains? Or steam engines? Or, you know… industrialize?

In this episode, Gordy explores why one of history’s most advanced civilizations never sparked an industrial revolution, even though they had brilliant engineers, sprawling cities, and even a proto-steam engine over a thousand years before James Watt.

From the invention of Hero’s aeolipile to Rome’s heavy reliance on slave labor and rigid social hierarchies, this episode breaks down the real reasons why the Romans paved the roads, but never built the trains. Spoiler: It’s not because they weren’t smart.

Perfect for history nerds, science fans, and anyone who’s ever asked: “What if Rome had railroads?”

Sources:

• Wilson, A. (2002). Machines, Power and the Ancient Economy. The Journal of Roman Studies, 92, 1–32.
  

• Landels, J. G. (2000). Engineering in the Ancient World. University of California Press.
  

• Oleson, J. P. (Ed.). (2008). The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World. Oxford University Press.
  

• Greene, K. (1990). The Archaeology of the Roman Economy. University of California Press.
  

• Headrick, D. R. (2009). Technology: A World History. Oxford University Press.
  

Hashtags: #AncientRome #IndustrialRevolution #HistoryNerds #SmartestYearEver #DidYouKnow #WhyRomeHadNoTrains #EverydayHistoryFacts

Music thanks to Zapsplat.

Why do we call someone the “salt of the earth”? Or say someone’s “all that and a bag of chips”? In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy breaks down the surprising, strange, and sometimes murky origins of common food idioms. From medieval soup to colonial slang, we’re digging into five of the most popular phrases — including one submitted by a listener on TikTok.

Language is messy, and idiom histories aren’t always crystal clear — but these stories give you the best-supported theories we’ve got. Tune in for a tasty batch of etymological brain snacks you can drop at your next dinner party.

🧂 Phrases covered in this episode:

• Salt of the earth

• Have your cake and eat it too

• Make no bones about it

• All that and a bag of chips

• Big cheese
  

Follow @SmartestYearEver on your favorite platforms for daily wit, wisdom, and conversational gold.

Sources:

• Ayto, J. (2010). Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford University Press.

• Green, J. (2010). Green’s Dictionary of Slang. Chambers.

• Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.oed.com

• Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Dictionary and Thesaurus. https://www.merriam-webster.com

• Smithsonian Magazine. (n.d.). The mysterious origins of everyday phrases. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-mysterious-origins-of-everyday-phrases-180974609/
  

Music thanks to Zapsplat. #languagefacts #etymology #FoodPhrases #SmartestYearEver #IdiomsExplained #LearnEveryDay #WittyWisdom #FunFacts #WordOrigins #EverydayEnglish

Since 1951, Oscar winners have been legally blocked from selling their statuettes. Why? Because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wants to keep the Oscars about artistic merit—not money.

Gordy breaks down the unusual contract every winner enters: they must offer the Oscar back to the Academy for one dollar before trying to sell, gift, or even bequeath it. That dollar isn’t random—it’s a legal requirement called “consideration.” Without it, the agreement wouldn’t hold up in court.

So while Oscar winners can cherish their awards forever, they’re not allowed to cash them in. Even their heirs can’t sell them—unless it’s a pre-1951 statuette, like the one Michael Jackson bought for $1.54 million.

And yes—the Academy enforces it. Heirs have been sued. Auctions have been shut down. And the courts have backed the Academy every time.

This is the rare award you can win… but never truly own.

Sources:

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (n.d.). Regulations. Oscars.org. https://www.oscars.org/legal/regulations
  

• CBS News. (n.d.). How much is an Oscar statue worth? The resale value of Academy Awards. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-oscar-statue-worth
  

• TIME. (2014). If You Sell Your Oscar, You're Going to Get Sued. https://time.com/2948153/oscar-sold-sued-joseph-wright-briarbrook-auctions
  

#Oscars #FilmFacts #HollywoodHistory #DailyFacts #SmartestYearEver Music thanks to Zapsplat.

Why Do Cicadas Wait 17 Years to Emerge? The Evolutionary Secret Behind Prime Number Broods

 Cicadas don’t hibernate for 17 years—they strategically wait underground, avoiding predators with one of the most fascinating evolutionary timelines on Earth.

In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy dives into Brood XIV, the massive group of cicadas emerging in 2025 across 13 U.S. states. Why do they come out every 13 or 17 years? And why those weird prime numbers?

Turns out, it’s a brilliant move called predator satiation—and the prime-number timing may help them avoid syncing up with predator life cycles entirely. Gordy breaks it all down with vivid, weirdly satisfying logic. You'll also learn how cicadas live as root-sucking nymphs underground for nearly two decades before emerging in a synchronized, noisy, reproductive flash mob.

If you're in the eastern U.S., get ready: the ground’s about to hum.

Sources:

• U.S. Forest Service. (n.d.). Here come the cicadas!. U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/features/here-come-cicadas
  

• Live Science. (2011, May 13). Why Southern Cicadas Emerge In Exact Prime Number Cycles. https://www.livescience.com/14238-southern-cicadas-emerge-exact-prime-number-cycles.html
  

• NBC Chicago. (2024, April). Which cicada broods you will see in different parts of Illinois. https://www.nbcchicago.com/cicadas-illinois-chicago-2024/which-cicada-broods-see-different-parts-illinois-historic-emergence-begins/3428725/
  

#Cicadas #NatureFacts #Evolution #BroodXIV #17Years #Entomology #FunFacts #PrimeNumbers #SmartestYearEver

Music thanks to Zapsplat.

 Can you legally go through life in the U.S. with just one name? In today’s episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy explores the strange paradox of naming laws in America: it’s not illegal to be nameless—but try living without one, and you’ll hit a bureaucratic wall. From government forms to bank accounts, our systems are built on two-name assumptions. Gordy investigates whether going mononym like Prince is actually possible, and what happens if you try.

Plus: the story of a girl named Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii, and why a judge had to step in.

This episode is a great one to share with someone who loves quirky law, civic paradoxes, and name-related weirdness.

So… is it illegal not to have a last name? No. But good luck functioning in modern life without one.

Sources:

• HowStuffWorks. (n.d.). Is it illegal not to have a name? Retrieved from https://people.howstuffworks.com/no-name.htm
  

• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (n.d.). Verification of Identifying Information. Retrieved from https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-1-part-e-chapter-5
  

• BBC News. (2008, July 24). New Zealand girl’s name deemed unacceptable. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7522952.stm
  

#NameLaws #WeirdFacts #LegalTrivia #CivicCuriosities #SmartestYearEver #DailyLearning #EverydayFacts #MindBlown Music thanks to Zapsplat.

In this episode, Gordy digs into some wildly optimistic (and occasionally insulting) predictions made in 1925 about the world we’d be living in today, in 2025. From flying cars and rooftop airports to the disappearance of beauty itself, futurists from a century ago weren’t exactly short on opinions.Featuring forecasts from scientists, novelists, and newspaper editors, this episode unpacks five of the most striking predictions made in the roaring 1920s. Some came close—like H.G. Wells’s vision of a global trifecta of power. Others? Well… let’s just say humanity is still very beautiful and very much stuck in traffic.This episode commemorates over 100 episodes of Smartest Year Ever and asks: what will we get wrong about 2125?Source:Price, M. (2024, Jan 5). From immortality to ugly people: 100-year-old predictions about 2025. Akron Beacon Journal. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2024/01/05/what-people-in-1925-predicted-about-life-in-2025/72101552007/ #FuturePredictions #HistoryOfTheFuture #SmartestYearEver #1925to2025 #WildHistory #DidYouKnow #FunFacts #LearnEveryDay #futurology

Why do donkeys and your backside share the same word? It’s not what you think.

In today’s episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy unpacks the linguistic mix-up that gave us the same word for both a pack animal and your posterior. Spoiler: it has nothing to do with donkeys being stubborn.

The term for a donkey comes from Latin asinus, while the word for your rear end traces back to Old English ærs, which became arse, and later the modern American version we all know—just spelled the same as the animal.

So, two meanings, two histories, and one awkward overlap. Blame the evolution of English, not the donkey.

Sources:

• Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). Ass (animal) and arse. Oxford University Press.
  

• Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Ass and arse. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.
  

• Harper, D. (n.d.). Ass and arse. Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com
  

Hashtags: #LanguageFacts #Etymology #Donkeys #SmartestYearEver #WordNerd #HistoryOfWords Music thanks to Zapsplat.

Does your birth order actually influence your personality—or is your older sibling just using it to justify being bossy?

In Episode 100 of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy explores the classic theory that birth order shapes personality. Are firstborns really more responsible? Do youngest siblings actually tend to be rebellious? And what happens to middle children—besides being forgotten at Walmart?

From Alfred Adler’s early theories to modern scientific studies, we dig into whether there’s any real science behind these claims—or if we’ve just been enabling our siblings for years.

Find out:

• Why firstborns might score higher on IQ tests
  

• How youngest kids may have evolved into natural performers
  

• Why middle children could be the true diplomats of the family
  

• And whether the research actually backs any of it up
  

This 100th episode is your perfect chance to settle (or restart) that family debate—with facts.

Sources:

• Rohrer, J. M., Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2015). Examining the effects of birth order on personality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(46), 14224–14229. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1506451112
  

• Salmon, C., & Schumann, K. (2012). The Secret Power of Middle Children. Plume.
  

• Adler, A. (1928). Characteristics of the First, Second and Third Child. Routledge.
  

#BirthOrder #PersonalityScience #SmartestYearEver #DailyFacts #PsychologyFacts Music thanks to Zapsplat.

What’s humanity’s backup plan if farming fails? Gordy explores the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a secure facility tucked inside a Norwegian mountain that stores over a million seed samples—a real-life "save game" button for civilization.

From war zones to climate change, agriculture has always been vulnerable. But Svalbard’s frozen vault preserves the genetic future of crops, offering hope if disaster ever strikes. And in 2015, it already proved its worth when seeds were withdrawn during the Syrian Civil War, helping restore what was lost.

This episode explains why the vault was built, how it’s kept secure, and the real story of how it quietly protects global food security—while also being threatened by the very thing it guards against: climate change.

A story of science, planning, and just-in-case brilliance.

Sources:

• Fowler, C. (2008). The Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Securing the Future of Agriculture. Global Crop Diversity Trust. Retrieved from https://cdn.croptrust.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Svalbard-Global-Seed-Vault-FactSheet.pdf
  

• Westengen, O.T., Jeppson, S., & Guarino, L. (2013). Global Ex-Situ Crop Diversity Conservation and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Assessing the Current Status. PLOS ONE, 8(5), e64146. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146
  

• Qvenild, M. (2008). Svalbard Global Seed Vault: A ‘Noah’s Ark’ for the World’s Seeds. Development in Practice, 18(1), 110–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/09614520701778934
  

• Carrington, D. (2015). Syrian war spurs first withdrawal from doomsday Arctic seed vault. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/23/syrian-war-spurs-first-withdrawal-from-doomsday-arctic-seed-vault
  

• Crop Trust. (2025). Svalbard Global Seed Vault Official Website. Retrieved from https://www.croptrust.org/work/svalbard-global-seed-vault/
  

#SmartestYearEver #SeedVault #Svalbard #ClimateResilience #DailyLearning Music thanks to Zapsplat.

How did a melted candy bar lead to a kitchen revolution?

In this episode, Gordy dives into the accidental invention of the microwave oven—a story that starts not with culinary ambition, but with a confused radar engineer and a pocket full of chocolate. Learn how microwaves work, why they don’t cook from the inside out, and what really happens when you put metal inside one. From dancing water molecules to the explosive first test with an egg, this episode breaks down the science and the strange origin of a device that transformed kitchens around the world.

Plus: what do pink lemonade and microwave ovens have in common? A surprising theory about the power of a good origin story.

Microwave myths, molecule raves, and one of the most delicious accidents in tech history—this one’s loaded.

Sources

• Gallawa, J.C. (2013). How Do Microwave Ovens Work? U.S. Food & Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/radiation-emitting-products/resources-you-radiation-emitting-products/microwave-oven-radiation
  

• Blitz, M. (2016). The amazing true story of how the microwave was invented by accident. Popular Mechanics. https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a23841/microwave-oven-history/
  

• Kennedy, J. (2021). Why can’t you put metal in the microwave? MIT School of Engineering. https://engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/why-cant-we-put-metal-objects-in-a-microwave/
  

• Butler, S. (2017). A brief history of the microwave oven. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/brief-history-microwave-oven-180962837/
  

Music thanks to Zapsplat. #MicrowaveHistory #KitchenScience #SmartestYearEver #ScienceFacts #EverydayScience #FoodTech #MicrowaveMyths #CuriousMinds