Engines of Our Ingenuity
Houston PR
The story of technological progress is one of drama and intrigue, sudden insight and plain hard work. Let’s explore technology’s spectacular failures and many magnificent success stories.
This content is in service of Houston Public Media’s education mission and is sponsored by the University of Houston. It is not a product of our news team.
Location:
Houston, TX
Networks:
Houston PR
Description:
The story of technological progress is one of drama and intrigue, sudden insight and plain hard work. Let’s explore technology’s spectacular failures and many magnificent success stories. This content is in service of Houston Public Media’s education mission and is sponsored by the University of Houston. It is not a product of our news team.
Language:
English
Episodes
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2628: The Edge of Space
8/5/2025
Episode: 2628 When traveling into space, how do you know you're there? Today, astronaut Michael Barratt asks, where exactly is the border of space?
Duration:00:03:48
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1418: The Influence of War
8/4/2025
Episode: 1418 Does war influence technological evolution? Some surprising facts. Today, we wonder how war influences technology.
Duration:00:03:45
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1417: A Metaphor Collapses
8/3/2025
Episode: 1417 In which the medieval clock metaphor finally collapses. Today, a metaphor dies.
Duration:00:03:42
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1416: Technology on Hold
8/2/2025
Episode: 1416 Technology on Hold: ideas that return after a long time. Today, technology on hold.
Duration:00:03:40
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1415: Right Hand / Left Hand
8/1/2025
Episode: 1415 Right and left handedness: some new ideas about origins. Today, why do you write with your right hand?
Duration:00:03:43
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2495: Creativity Within Limits
7/31/2025
Episode: 2495 Creativity Within Limits: Rules as a Source of Creativity. Today, bounded creativity.
Duration:00:03:57
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3243: The Water Illusion Machine
7/30/2025
Episode: 3243 Hollywood's Heroic Water FX. Today, water effects.
Duration:00:03:50
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2810: The Concrete Revolution
7/29/2025
Episode: 2810 The Concrete Revolution in Ancient Rome. Today, some concrete achievements.
Duration:00:03:49
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1414: Advertisements in 1869
7/28/2025
Episode: 1414 Viewing America through advertisements in Appleton's magazine, 1869. Today, advertisements just after the Civil War.
Duration:00:03:43
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1413: Poets and the Industrial Revolution
7/27/2025
Episode: 1413 How contemporary Romantic poets saw the Industrial Revolution. Today, Romantic poets and the Industrial Revolution.
Duration:00:03:39
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1412: NonExercise Activity Thermogenesis
7/26/2025
Episode: 1412 NonExercise Activity Thermogenesis (or NEAT) and weight gain. Today, we lose weight.
Duration:00:03:41
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1411: John Dalton’s Notation
7/25/2025
Episode: 1411 The role of notation in John Dalton's atomic theory. Today, we wonder how to draw an atom.
Duration:00:03:47
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2493: Child’s Play
7/24/2025
Episode: 2493 Child's Play: the role of play in education. Today, child's play.
Duration:00:03:48
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2801: The MTT
7/23/2025
Episode: 2801 The Maria Theresa Thaler. Today, the almighty Thaler.
Duration:00:03:50
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3321: Scott Joplin and Ragtime
7/22/2025
Episode: 3321 Scott Joplin persevered in creating Ragtime music as a black musician in post-Civil War America. . Today, Joplin and Ragtime.
Duration:00:03:52
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1410: Homo Technologicus
7/21/2025
Episode: 1410 Homo Technologicus. Today, a chicken-and-egg question.
Duration:00:03:45
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1409: The Redoubtable DC-3
7/20/2025
Episode: 1409 The Douglas DC-3: an airplane for all seasons. Today, we ride the first modern passenger airplane.
Duration:00:03:37
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1408: The Tortoise and the Hare
7/19/2025
Episode: 1408 Fast game, slow game, and Stone Age population dynamics. Today, a Paleolithic story of the tortoise and the hare.
Duration:00:03:55
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1407: A Matter of Size
7/18/2025
Episode: 1407 A matter of size: scaling laws among living species. Today, a matter of size.
Duration:00:03:43
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2491: Mitch Miller and the Gang
7/17/2025
Episode: 2491 Mitch Miller and the Gang: A Look at American Pop Culture in the Late 1950s. Today, we follow the bouncing ball.
Duration:00:03:42