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The BrainFood Show episodes
- The Real Story of Amelia Earhart
In the field of aviation, few figures loom larger in the popular imagination than Amelia Earhart. Over her relatively brief 10-year career, the legendary aviatrix became an icon and inspiration for women everywhere, becoming the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo and setting dozens of long-distance flight records. Her mysterious disappearance during an attempted round-the-world flight in 1937 continues to fuel speculation to this day, ensuring her legacy will live on for years to come. But before she was a world-famous superstar, Amelia Earhart was a struggling social worker and pilot living in Massachusetts whose earliest flights were instrumental in the establishment of Dennison Field, among the first commercial airports in the United States.
Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas, the eldest of two daughters born to Amy Otis and Edwin Earhart, a lawyer. From an early age Amelia displayed a love of adventure and the outdoors, spending long days with her younger sister Muriel exploring the neighbourhood, collecting insects, and engaging in all sorts of rough-and-tumble play - including building a roller-coaster-like ramp that provided Amelia with her first taste of flight. But aside from a few idyllic years spent in Atchison, much of Amelia’s childhood was characterized by hardship and constant movement:“There are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows, one of which rolls. Because I selected a father who was a railroad man it has been my fortune to roll.”When Edwin Earhart’s law practice failed in 1905, he took a job as a claims officer for the Rock Island Railroad and moved the family to Des Moines, Iowa. At first all seemed well for the family, with Edwin quickly earning a promotion. But he...Author: Gilles MessierHost: Simon WhistlerEditor: Daven HiskeyProducer: Samuel AvilaLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
22 min - The Incredible Engineering Behind Driving on the Moon
Long before the Apollo Program was officially announced in 1961, engineers and science fiction writers recognized the value of giving future moon explorers some kind of wheeled vehicle to increase their mobility. Most early concepts for such vehicles were large truck-like contraptions with pressurized cabins, allowing the astronauts to operate in so-called “shirt-sleeve” conditions, not unlike in the phenomenal film, The Martian.
Such vehicles appear in Polish science fiction writer Jersz Zulawski’s 1901 novel On a Silvery Globe and Belgian cartoonist Hergé’s 1952 comic book On a Marché Sur La Lune AKA Explorers on the Moon, in which intrepid globetrotting journalist Tintin becomes the first person to set foot on earth’s satellite.That same year, Wernher von Braun, the former Nazi rocket engineer who developed the V2 ballistic missile and was brought to the United States after the Second World War as part of Project Paperclip, wrote a series of articles for Collier’s Weekly magazine with the delightfully gung-ho 1950s title of Man Will Conquer Space Soon! in which he speculated on what future space missions might look like.In these articles, he described a hypothetical six-week expedition to the moon equipped with specially-designed ten-ton tractor-trailer vehicles for hauling supplies. These articles were later adapted into three episodes of the Disney anthology TV series Disneyland - Man in Space, Man and the Moon, and Mars and Beyond - in which von Braun was prominently featured.Once the Apollo Program officially got underway, von Braun - by now the director of the newly-formed Marshall Spaceflight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama - commissioned a series of studies in cooperation with various corporations including Lockheed, Bendix, Boeing, General Motors, Brown Engineering, Grumman, and Bell Aerospace to evaluate the feasibility of building a wheeled vehicle for lunar surface exploration. Directed by MSC engineer Saverio Morea, these studies came up with a number of theoretical concepts including the Lunar Logistics System or LLS; the Lunar Scientific Survey Module or LSSM; the Mobility Test Article or MTA, the Lunar-Traversing Vehicle or LTV and the Mobility Laboratory or MOLAB - all of which followed the same general form factor of a large, truck-like vehicle with a pressurized cabin and four or more large wheels driven by electric motors.At first, the primary challenge in designing such vehicles was the nature of the lunar surface, which in the late 1950s and early 1960s was largely unknown. Some astronomers speculated that millions of years of bombardment by meteorites might have buried the surface under a blanket of dust several feet deep that would instantly swallow up any lander, rover, or astronaut that touched down on it.Author: Gilles MessierHost/Editor: Daven HiskeyProducer: Samuel AvilaLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
44 min - The “Trial of the Century” That Led to Women Jumping Out of Cakes
In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start with a Simon rant, then look at what the M’s stand for in M&Ms. Next up we look at when exactly humans started putting living things in food items for the purpose of entertainment, the origin of “That’s What She Said” and “Said the Actress to the Bishop”, and then all leading up to the first “Trial of the (20th) Century” and what exactly that had to do with the curious practice of having women jump out of cakes.
This is the story we discussed in the part we cut out at the end, which was in relation to a rather dark story Simon came across concerning soldiers/drinking, noting he had something “orders of magnitude” more disturbing than Nesbit’s youth, to which I apparently did not have a good enough imagination for, thinking that must be an exaggeration… It was not an exaggeration, and we ultimately decided to cut it out because of it.
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1 hr 36 min - WTF is Up with Worcestershire Sauce? Is Honey Vegan? And Much More
In the video today, we're looking at the rather disgusting ingredients of Worcestershire sauce and how it's made. Whether honey is vegan. How Cereal became part of a complete breakfast. What started the cops eating doughnuts stereotype. Who invented the Food Pyramid. How Napoleon helped invent margarine. Why asian nations use chopsticks. The difference between brown and white eggs. How people used to use frogs to keep milk from spoiling. The corrupt individual that gave us Monterey jack cheese. And finally the cornell professor who gave the world the chicken nugget.
00:00 What is in Worcestershire Sauce and Why is It Called That?04:44 Is Honey Vegan?09:45 How Did Cereal Become “Part of a Complete Breakfast”?23:43 What Started the “Cops Eating Doughnuts” Stereotype27:01 Who Invented the Food Pyramid?36:20 Napoleon and the Invention of Margarine42:30 Why Do Asian Nations Use Chopsticks?45:50 The Difference Between Brown and White Eggs51:07 Frogs and Milk- How to Keep Milk from Spoiling Without Refrigeration53:50 The Corrupt and Ruthless Californian Who Gave us the Name for “Monterey Jack” Cheese01:01:31 The Cornell Professor Who Gave Us the Chicken NuggetLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 14 min - Anne Frank's Much More Scandalous Original Diary
On June 12, 1942, Anne Frank received a diary for her 13th birthday. But you all undoubtedly know a lot about that already. What you might not know is that the popular public version of that diary has been greatly censored because, as young teens are wont to do, Anne talked about her nether regions and sex- a lot.
In fact, the version of Anne Frank’s diary many of you are likely familiar with, depending on the publisher, has had upwards of 30% of the original content removed. While sometimes this is done to streamline Frank’s prose, most of the time the edits were made to avoid offending people with more conservative sensibilities.For example, entire pages of Frank’s original diary were filled with detailed descriptions of the changes...Author: Karl SmallwoodEditor: Daven HiskeyHost: Simon WhistlerProducer: Samuel AvilaLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
12 min - How Long Can You Live After Dying?
Pushing daisies. Kicked the bucket. Bought the farm. Six feet under. Crossed over. Passed away. Shuffled off this mortal coil. It is said that the more important - or taboo - a concept is to a society, the more euphemisms that society will have for it, and death is no exception. Death is central to the human experience, with every culture on earth having developed elaborate rituals to mourn the deceased and help them go gentle into that good night. But…what is death, anyway? How is it actually defined?
Author: Gilles MessierHost/Editor: Daven HiskeyProducer: Samuel AvilaLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
42 min - How was William Wallace Actually Captured?
William Wallace was one of those to lead Scotland’s battle for freedom from England after King Edward I of England declared himself Lord Paramount of Scotland in the late 13th century. Wallace was finally caught on August 5, 1305, and brought to London for trial and execution. From the 15th century minstrel “Blind Harry” to modern times with the blockbuster film “Braveheart” (both accounts being wildly inaccurate), William Wallace’s acts to try to free Scotland have captivated people for centuries.
Born in Scotland around 1270, Wallace was from a family of minor Scottish nobility. During his formative and early adult years, Scotland was ruled by King Alexander III and the country enjoyed an era of peace and stability. However, the King died suddenly in 1286, leaving a four-year-old granddaughter, Margaret, Maid of Norway, as heir to the throne. (She would ultimately be engaged to King Edward I of England’s son.) However...Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
18 min - What's the Difference Between Dynamite and TNT?
Ever wonder what the difference between dynamite and TNT is or how they were invented? Well, wonder no more!
Despite what the likes of AC/DC and Wile E. Coyote might have you believe, dynamite and TNT are very different substances with distinct properties. So what’s the difference between TNT and Dynamite? And just who invented them? Well, let’s find out as we dive into the fascinating and destructive history of these high explosives, and along the way in the Bonus Facts we’re also going to look at the truth about why there is no Nobel Prize for mathematics, which is likely to be different from what seemingly every mathematics professor the world over will tell you because, well, they are mathematicians, not historians.But to begin with, for much of modern human history, the only practical explosive available was black gunpowder, a mixture of charcoal, sulphur, and potassium nitrate AKA saltpetre. As covered in our previous video Who Invented Gunpowder, this mixture was likely discovered in China around the 9th Century C.E, making its way west across the Middle East to Europe by the 13th.Initially used in fireworks, it did not take long for gunpowder to find military uses, leading to the development of artillery and handheld firearms. It was also packed into various closed casings to produce explosive charges such as hand grenades, buried mines for breaching the walls and doors of fortifications, ‘torpedoes’ for defending harbours against ships, and shells and bombs for cannons and mortars. But while gunpowder completely changed the face of warfare, quickly rendering - for example - castles and plate armour obsolete, it also suffered from several serious drawbacks. For example, burning gunpowder produced large quantities of thick, white smoke...Author: Gilles MessierHost/Editor: Daven HiskeyProducer: Samuel AvilaLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
30 min - The Forgotten Greatest Pirate of All Time
In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at what exactly grog is, where it came from, and the origin of the name. Moving on to the main content today we’re looking at the woman who was arguably the most successful pirate of all time, dominating both land and sea in the vast region she controlled, which all ultimately saw her have one of the most impressive exits to piracy in history as well.
We follow all this up with looking at the origins of a variety of sailor/pirate slang terms.
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51 min - Can Professional Wine Connoisseurs Tell the Difference Between Cheap and Expensive Wines & Much More
In the episode today, we are looking at whether professional wine connoisseurs can tell really not tell the difference between expensive and cheap wines. How Alcohol “Proof” is Determined. Do Drunk People Really Survive Car Crashes More? Why Would You Add Antifreeze to Wine? Do Wine Makers Really Walk Over Grapes With Their Feet? Does Canadian Beer Really Contain More Alcohol Than Beer Made in the United States? How Did Oktoberfest Start? Why Isn’t Beer Sold in Plastic Bottles? Who Invented Tequila and What about the Worm? A Brief History of Beer. The interesting story behind Welch’s Grape Juice, and what Eggnog is Made Of
0:00 Can Professional Wine Connoisseurs Really Not Tell the Difference Between Expensive and Cheap Wines?17:26 How Alcohol “Proof” is Determined21:00 Do Drunk People Really Survive Car Crashes More?32:10 Why Would You Add Antifreeze to Wine?46:15 Do Wine Makers Really Walk Over Grapes With Their Feet?51:10 Does Canadian Beer Really Contain More Alcohol Than Beer Made in the United States?55:12 How Did Oktoberfest Start?1:03:55 Why Isn’t Beer Sold in Plastic Bottles?1:08:30 Who Invented Tequila and What about the Worm?1:13:30 What is Eggnog Made Of?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 22 min
About The BrainFood Show
From the publisher's feed
In this show, the team behind the wildly popular TodayIFoundOut YouTube channel do deep dives into a variety of fascinating topics to help you feed your brain with interesting knowledge.