Engines of Our Ingenuity
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.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 3 minutes
- Episodes
- 170
- Years Active
- 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2597: History and Math
Episode: 2597 Mathematical models of historical events. Today, let's see what mathematics tells us about history.
00:03:50 |
Tue 17 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1392: Fog in the Woods
Episode: 1392 The nature of fog and of redwood trees. Today, fog in the forest.
00:03:42 |
Mon 16 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1391: The Johnstown Flood
Episode: 1391 The Johnstown Flood. They didn't see it coming. Today, a dam breaks.
00:03:43 |
Sun 15 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3133: The Liar That Helped Win D-Day
Episode: 3133 Juan Pujol García: the Liar Who Helped Win D-Day. Today, a great big liar saves the day.
00:03:52 |
Fri 13 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2475: Friedrich Fröbel and Kindergarten
Episode: 2475 Friedrich Fröbel and Kindergarten. Today, we play.
00:03:49 |
Thu 12 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2934: Molecules of Life
Episode: 2934 Reading the Molecules of Life. Today, we read the molecules of life.
00:03:48 |
Wed 11 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2499: Texas Germans
Episode: 2499 Frederick Law Olmsted and the Texas Germans. Today, Texas auf Deutsch.
00:03:48 |
Tue 10 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1389: Regrowing Our Forests
Episode: 1389 The supply of wood: trouble along the Equator, good news to the North. Today, some good news and some bad.
00:03:45 |
Mon 09 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1388: A Short Discourse of Tunneling
Episode: 1388 A short history of tunneling. Today, let's tunnel our way through history.
00:03:44 |
Sun 08 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1387: The Wooden Ships of Mallows Bay
Episode: 1387 The ghost fleet of wooden ships in Mallows Bay. Today, a fleet of sunken ships.
00:03:42 |
Sat 07 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1386: Franklin’s Glass Armonica
Episode: 1386 Benjamin Franklin invents the glass armonica -- no mouth organ, this. Today, singing wine glasses.
00:03:38 |
Fri 06 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2467: Graph Theory
Episode: 2467 Graph Theory and the Königsberg Bridge Problem. Today, the bridges of Königsberg.
00:03:48 |
Thu 05 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3245: Memes
Episode: 3245 Memes, Internet Challenges, and the Selfish Gene. Today, memes.
00:03:45 |
Wed 04 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2946: Man or Monster?
Episode: 2946 Man or Monster? The Legend of the Golem and the Age of Technology. Today, what can an old legend tell us about the future?
00:03:47 |
Tue 03 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1385: Bushnell’s Submarine
Episode: 1385 How David Bushnell built his submarine for the Colonial Army. Today, a new look at a Colonial technology.
00:03:38 |
Mon 02 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1384: The Samurai Sword
Episode: 1384 The samurai sword and quality control through ritual. Today, let's talk about ceremony and technology.
00:03:40 |
Sun 01 Jun 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1383: Owning Time
Episode: 1383 In which we invent the watch and take possession of time. Today, we look at time as a new possession.
00:03:43 |
Sat 31 May 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1381: Names of Machines
Episode: 1381 Naming our machines - finding out who they are! Today, we name a new machine.
00:03:46 |
Fri 30 May 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2464: Engineering Diapers
Episode: 2464 Marion Donovan: The Woman who Engineered a Better Diaper. Today, engineering the diaper.
00:03:48 |
Thu 29 May 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1766: Doctors and Detectives
Episode: 1766 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the man who hated Sherlock Holmes. Today, our guest, Bill Monroe, from the UH Honors College, tells us about doctors and detectives.
00:03:46 |
Wed 28 May 2025
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