In this episode, you’re going to learn just what happened to Howard Hughes’ vast estate after he died, given he left no will and had no known direct descendents. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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In addition to being an occasional biological necessity, human flatulence has served a variety of uses, including as a way to clear a room, entertain friends, torture a sibling, and tease a child (pull my finger). But while some humans have elevated farting to an art form (see: The Most Famous Farter in History), perhaps no entire species has elevated […]
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Janet B. asks: How does soap kill bacteria? For well over a century, public health officials have been pushing regular hand washing with soap as one of the most effective methods of inhibiting the spread of disease and infection. The result of physical, as opposed to biological processes, proper hand washing with regular soap will thoroughly remove bacteria. Yes, contrary […]
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This Day In History: January 8, 1941 As the year 1941 dawned, 24-year-old Orson Welles had just finishing making what is largely considered one of the best films of all time – Citizen Kane. But at the time, he was having a difficult time getting his picture released. Why? Because Hollywood’s Boy Genius had stepped on the toes of the […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn the fascinating origin of the word “abracadabra” and the important medical role this mystical word was used for through most of recorded history. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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On April 15, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York, the great Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and became the first African-American in 67 years to play in the Major Leagues. (Yes, Robinson was not the first, as is often stated.) Less than three months later, on July 5, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio, Larry Doby became the second African-American ball player […]
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This Day In History: January 7, 1990 The Cathedral in Pisa’s free-standing bell tower obviously wasn’t intended to be lopsided. When construction began in August of 1173, everything seemed OK at first. But the builders set the tower on a too-small foundation in unstable, weak soil. By the time construction had reached the third floor in 1178, the structure had […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about the many human skeletons recently found buried under Ben Franklin’s house and how they got there. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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Brenda V. asks: Why are elections held on Tuesday? Why not Saturday when most people aren’t working? Americans traditionally head to the ballot box on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November to vote in national elections. Tuesday elections only became the official country-wide rule in 1845, something that hasn’t changed much since. So why Tuesday? The Founding Fathers […]
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Matthew S. asks: Why doesn’t your tongue quickly stick to plastic or wood in freezing temperatures but does to metal? In that famous scene in the movie Christmas Story, a kid “triple dog dares” another kid in the schoolyard to put his tongue on a metal flag pole to see if it will stick. Lo and behold, it sticks. The […]
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This Day In History: January 6, 1941 Equality of opportunity for youth and for others. Jobs for those who can work. Security for those who need it. The ending of special privilege for the few. The preservation of civil liberties for all. – Four Freedoms Speech One of the most famous and influential political speeches on the subject of freedom […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about the near 70 year long saga of Elmer McCurdy’s body, and how it ultimately ended up on the set of a popular TV show. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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Gimly16 asks: What did people use for pain during surgery before modern anesthesia? Other than ingesting alcohol and narcotics in sufficient doses to induce a state of analgesia, for most of its history, people in the West got through surgery with the aid of little more than forcible restraint and grit. Drugs and alcohol were well known in the ancient […]
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Xing U. asks: Why do kids get the summer off of school? The commonly touted explanation for students having summers off from school dates back to a time when the United States’ economy relied heavily on agriculture in order to survive. Students needed to leave school in the summer in order to work on the farm alongside their families. The […]
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This Day In History: January 5, 1978 Dame Kathleen Kenyon was a British archaeologist who excavated the city of Jericho to its Stone Age foundation, and proved it was the world’s oldest continuously occupied settlement. She was the most influential female archaeologist of the last century, and instrumental in bringing the profession to the attention of the general public. Born […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. A Celestial Message in a Bottle Imagine for a moment that it’s 40,000 years in the future in a solar system far, far, away on a planet thriving with intelligent life. Extraterrestrial beings inhabit this place. Perhaps they look like the […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about the first openly gay Major League Baseball player, who also happens to have the distinction of performing the first documented high-five, and who ultimately popularized this now ubiquitous celebratory slap while he was with the LA Dodgers. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can […]
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Katy J. asks: Why do we say “I was beside myself”? Dating back to the dawn of Modern English, the expression “beside myself” has been used to denote someone not in his right mind. After William conquered England in 1066, French became the language of scholars, clergy and nobility in Britain and remained so even throughout much of the grinding […]
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