Inception to Inoculation – The Eradication of Smallpox

Microbes of Mass Extinctions – The Great Oxygenation Event: Have you ever wondered how the earth got its oxygen rich atmosphere? Pranjal and Eric talk about how microbes gave us the air we breathe and how they might be responsible for the first mass extinction. Intro/Outro by Eric Pierce by More than Abstract

15 min listen

Average to Atrophied – The Effects of Spaceflight on Humans: How important is gravity for humans. We have adapted to this way of life for millions of years, but what if we take the one constant through our evolution away. Pranjal and Eric talk about what happens to people once you get into low earth orbit and be... by More than Abstract

20 min listen

Singularity to Static – The Cosmic Microwave Background: Most of us have seen vestiges of the early universe and never knew. Pranjal and Eric talk about the Cosmic Microwave Background, from the early days of its inception, leading to its discovery and how we can see it with our very eyes - by More than Abstract

14 min listen

Communication to Clutter – Kessler Syndrome: Pranjal and Eric talk about one of our possible futures that may trap us in the gravity well we call home if we aren't careful. Kessler syndrome is one of the dangers of having so many satellites in orbit. - Intro/ Outro by Eric Pierce by More than Abstract

14 min listen

Cold war to conspiracy – The Van Allen Belt: Have you ever wondered what happens to all the radiation that hits the earth from the sun. Some of it reaches us on the surface, but not all. When the earliest spacecraft were launched, they found a peculiar phenomenon in low earth orbit and conspiracy... by More than Abstract

15 min listen

Inception to Inoculation – The Eradication of Smallpox: How did we get rid of smallpox. Obviously, it doesn't scar us with its presence today, but what events and inventions lead to this monumental achievement and how did some of the hindrances like vaccine hesitancy and poor infrastructure make the process... by More than Abstract

23 min listen

Cutting through the sky – Supersonic Flight: Why is there a distinction between sub and supersonic speeds. What really makes things moving quickly enough so special. In this episode, Pranjal and Zechariah talk about the physics behind the effects of moving at this speed and subsequently why we ca... by More than Abstract

23 min listen

Playing the Market – Currency Manipulation: Why is this currency manipulation a problem. The situation isn't obvious and there's a lot of nuance that goes along with it. This week, Pranjal and Nat talk about the background of this problem and how it might affect you. - by More than Abstract

24 min listen

Rays to Radiology – Xray Machines: Xray machines don't just grow on trees, they had to have come from somewhere. Pranjal and Eric talk about the origins of xrays and the people that played a part in its invention. - If you liked this podcast, by More than Abstract

16 min listen

Reconnaissance to Roswell – The SOFAR Channel: How are whales communicating to each other in the ocean and aliens connected to one another? There is a link between the two and it is the SOFAR channel. Pranjal and Zechariah will talk about how it's possible to connect these two seemingly separate to... by More than Abstract

16 min listen

Turning a Desert Green – The Saharan Savanna: Have you ever wondered how humans first left Africa? Looking at a map, it seems impossible that hunter gatherers that need to migrate with their food source decided to go through one of the most vast deserts on the planet toward Europe and Asia. by More than Abstract

15 min listen

Conquering a Cyclone – Making a Hurricanes: Why are there constantly once in a century hurricanes multiple times a year. You might have heard it's due to climate change, but that doesn't really answer the question of why they keep coming. This week, Pranjal and Zechariah talk about how a hurrica... by More than Abstract

13 min listen

What happens when the sun gets angry – The Carrington Event: The sun is amazing, after all it give life to everything on earth. But it also has a more dangerous side, especially when it is most active. There are multiple side effects to this activity, one of the most notable is coronal mass ejections, by More than Abstract

22 min listen

Unsustainable Growth – The Water Crisis: You might have heard some people being concerned over the availability of potable water in countries half way around the world. But a possible water crisis can occur anywhere in the coming decades. That's what Pranjal and Eric talk about today, by More than Abstract

18 min listen

Chancing an Enigma – Early Encryption: How do we keep our data safe from anyone with an antenna. After all, our sensitive information is sent through radio waves that go everywhere and we have all heard of instances when sensitive information has been hacked. by More than Abstract

21 min listen

Ghost Hunting in Space – Dark Matter: We've heard dark matter in sci-fi or news stories, it's one of the big mysteries in astronomy, but how can we know something's out there, but not know enough about it to have a decent explanation. That's what Pranjal and Zechariah talk about on this we... by More than Abstract

16 min listen

Chernobyl 2.0 – The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster: Its been 10 years since the events at Fukushima Daiichi took place and caused another nuclear panic. But how bad was this all in the end? At the time, there were horrifying possibilities thrown around where radiation could leak for years to come into t... by More than Abstract

39 min listen

Unwanted Visitors – Heavy Metals in Humans: Why is lead bad for us. We all know that it is, but nobody has ever said why though. That's what Pranjal and Eric try to tackle in this weeks episode, why does our body need metals to begin with and why certain heavy metals are toxic to us, by More than Abstract

16 min listen

Poisonous Efficiency – Leaded Gasoline: Have you ever seen that sticker on your gas pump that says you're using unleaded gasoline and wondered who in their right mind would be dumb enough to put lead in their gas? So have I and that's what Pranjal and Eric talk about on this weeks episode. by More than Abstract

13 min listen

The Overlooked Invaders – Infections: Have you ever wondered what it is about a viral infection that makes you feel so terrible? When you're told about some infection, it's usually only the beginning part, where the virus infects a cell, but nothing after that. by More than Abstract

17 min listen

The First Market Bubble – Tulip Fever: The existence of market bubbles are not unique to our modern world. They've existed in the past and possibly the first market bubble involved the sale of Tulips. How exactly did the situation lead to a bubble that eventually popped and is it any differ... by More than Abstract

17 min listen

Finding your way through the Darkness – Early Cartography: How did we used to find our way around without google maps. We've grown so dependent on our devices that living without it would be a real shock, even though we used to use paper maps till not too long ago. This week, by More than Abstract

17 min listen

The physics behind climate change: We've heard from scientists that CO2 is a greenhouse gas that is causing average global temperatures to rise, but that's it. Few people know why that is the case and even fewer know the physics behind this phenomenon, which is surprisingly simple. by More than Abstract

15 min listen

The Year Without Summer – Volcanic Winter: We've talked about what happens to the earth when "The sun gets angry", but if you are in a part of the world that is not very geologically active, one of the overlooked natural disasters are volcanic eruptions. by More than Abstract

26 min listen

Predicting Apocalypse – Asteroid Detection: How do we tell when an asteroid is going to hit the earth. It's a difficult task with very few prediction. We talk about all the problems with trying to identify an asteroid. Follow us on twitter @moreabstract Outro by Eric Pierce by More than Abstract

13 min listen

Why we do physics: Perhaps the most consistent question asked about scientific research is why does this matter. It is something each researcher struggles with everyday. That question is important, but it needs to be put into a larger context before its importance can be... by More than Abstract

16 min listen

Forever the fuel of the future – Hydrogen Fuel Cells: Just like fusion, hydrogen fuel cells have been touted as being the fuel of the future, but as the years go on that promise never becomes a reality. This week we talk about what fuel cells are and some of the challenges that face the technology along w... by More than Abstract

17 min listen

Capturing Darkness – The Event Horizon Telescope: How were we able to observe a black hole 50 million light years away so clearly. It is a massive undertaking that we talk about this week including why it is such a big deal to the scientific community. - Follow us on twitter @moreabstract - by More than Abstract

19 min listen

The Bronze Age Collapse: How was it that earliest civilizations suddenly disappeared. During the bronze age, there were complicated interconnected societies most of which collapsed over the course of a few centuries. We talk about some of the leading theories that lead to this... by More than Abstract

30 min listen

Decommissioning satellites: How are old satellites decommissioned. We spoke about this in one of our previous episodes, but didn't go into detail. This episode, we talk about how massive achievements like the Hubble Space Telescope will be decomissioned. - by More than Abstract

29 min listen

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Inception to Inoculation – The Eradication of Smallpox

Inception to Inoculation – The Eradication of Smallpox

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