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 3014: Measuring Almost Nothing
Episode: 3014 Measuring Almost Nothing. Today, we measure almost nothing.
00:03:49 |
Wed 07 May 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3241: Hooker’s Green
Episode: 3241 Green with Immortality. Today, we go green with immortality.
00:03:46 |
Tue 06 May 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1367: Struggling With Abstraction
Episode: 1367 Struggling with abstraction in schools and in public. Today, we think about thinking abstractly.
00:03:43 |
Mon 05 May 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1366: Rain, Steam, and Speed
Episode: 1366 Rain, Steam, and Speed: Turner's vision of modern times. Today, a painting tells the coming of rail.
00:03:47 |
Sun 04 May 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1364: Radar
Episode: 1364 Our radar warning of the Pearl Harbor attack. Today, devastation follows when we don't trust a new technology.
00:03:37 |
Sat 03 May 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3312: Physics in 1861
Episode: 3312 An 1861 Natural Philosophy test reveals far more than it meant to.Today, a look at physics before our Civil War.
00:03:44 |
Fri 02 May 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2454: Wrinkle Free Cotton
Episode: 2454 Ruth Benerito and Wrinkle Free Cotton. Today, we wash and wear.
00:03:48 |
Thu 01 May 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3040: Leonardo and Borelli
Episode: 3040 Leonardo and Borelli. Today, two hemispheres come together.
00:03:51 |
Wed 30 Apr 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2579: Music and Mathematics
Episode: 2579 Music and Mathematics. Today, UH Math Professor Krešo Josić talks about music and mathematics.
00:03:50 |
Tue 29 Apr 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1363: Man the Treasure
Episode: 1363 Man the measure -- man the meter. Today, let's ask what meters measure.
00:03:38 |
Mon 28 Apr 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1362: Flying Across the Atlantic
Episode: 1362 The first twenty years of transatlantic flights. Today, we fly the Atlantic.
00:03:43 |
Sun 27 Apr 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1360: Cleaning Ourselves
Episode: 1360 A brief history of bathing ourselves. Today, let's bathe.
00:03:42 |
Sat 26 Apr 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1359: Windmills
Episode: 1359 The Windmill: A device that has come, gone, and which may come again. Today, let's tilt at windmills.
00:03:42 |
Fri 25 Apr 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2452: Kitchen Gadgetry
Episode: 2452 Gadgets in the American Kitchen. Today, gadgets galore.
00:03:49 |
Thu 24 Apr 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2268: The Lucifer Effect
Episode: 2268 The Lucifer Effect: From Stanford University to Abu Ghraib. Today, our guest, UH journalist Michael Berryhill, looks at the Lucifer effect.
00:03:50 |
Wed 23 Apr 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2557: The Google Ranking System
Episode: 2557 Linear algebra, the mathematics behind Google's ranking algorithm. Today, let's talk about how Google ranks your search results.
00:03:49 |
Tue 22 Apr 2025
The Engines of our Ingenuity 1358: William Minor and the OED
Episode: 1358 William Minor helping us to understand language from an insane asylum. Today, a great dictionary and an asylum for the criminally insane.
00:03:43 |
Mon 21 Apr 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1357: Testing Airplane Propellers
Episode: 1357 An airplane propeller test facility, twelve years before the Wright Brothers. Today, we test airplane propellers, 12 years before the Wright brothers flew.
00:03:41 |
Sun 20 Apr 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1356: Betting on Science
Episode: 1356 Betting on science. It's been going on for a long time. Today, let's bet on science.
00:03:44 |
Sat 19 Apr 2025
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1355: George Squire
Episode: 1355 Major General George Squire, Muzak, and struggling to be generous. Today, a story about altruism and Muzak.
00:03:45 |
Fri 18 Apr 2025
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