The engineering world revolves around math, with every important part in a design involving complicated arithmetic. For the longest time, the time before a product could be released depended heavily on how fast the math team could get their work done, which often took ages to finish due to human processes and checking for mistakes. However, the arrival of the mechanical calculator completely changed that, reducing time drastically while improving efficiency at the same time. This invention was almost like the discovery of fire in how important it was to the math and engineering world. Tune in to see how these old calculators operated with their rotating dials and cylinders!

When most people think communication, they often think about the phone that they have in their pocket. However, communication didn't start off like that, and was actually just based on a language of dots and dashes, and by a bunch of wires and a device that looked like a complex hammer. Telegraphs are the basis of all communication today, showing that instant, long communication is possible no matter how hard to understand it may be at first. Tune in to learn about how a simple system grew to connect countries around the world!

In this episode, we'll talk about of the first vehicles that connected distant regions, directly contributed to the huge economic boom of our times, and basically built us to where we are today, We're going to discuss the steam trains that used the simple process of heating water to move materials across continents, how it happened, and their impact on the world.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/technology/history-of-technology/Steam-locomotive

https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/about/engine-shed/locomotive-workings/

https://steamgiants.com/wiki/answers/how-a-steam-locomotive-works/

https://www.theengineerspost.com/locomotive-boiler/

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/62943-fastest-steam-locomotive

https://nationalrrmuseum.org/union-pacific-4017-big-boy/

https://www.trains.com/trn/train-basics/abcs-of-railroading/how-a-steam-locomotive-works/

https://www.american-rails.com/

The tech we have today didn't always start out that way. In fact, all of our current tech, from smartphones to pcs, are the direct descendants of room-sized computers. Despite their intimidating size, they were much less capable than the smartphones in your hand, and needed physical programming rather than the easygoing software we have today. Tune in to learn all about these huge monsters and some fun facts as well!

Have you ever seen a record player and wondered how it could create music from just spinning a disk? How it seemed more complicated than the phones we just hit play? In this episode we talk about how the record player came to be and some fun facts about them as well. We also dive into how they work, showing you that they're not actually more complex than the technology we have today.

https://guides.loc.gov/recorded-sound-research/collections

https://www.electrohome.com/blog/history-record-player/

https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/record-player.htm

https://www.britannica.com/technology/phonograph

https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/usa/en/blog/phono-stages

https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/

https://www.loc.gov/collections/emile-berliner/articles-and-essays/emile-berliner-biography/

https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/about-this-program

We use this box so often and so effortlessly that it may just seem like magic in the way it so efficiently makes our food edible. However, the heat from a microwave and the heat from your stove is vastly different, but both can still burn you. Microwaves target food almost surgically, heating it up more effectively than other methods. The future even consists of instant cooling technology, almost like a reverse microwave. Tune in to learn even more!

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/technology/microwave-oven

https://www.history.com/articles/microwave-oven-invention

https://www.britannica.com/technology/How-Does-a-Microwave-Oven-Work

https://www.si.edu/collections/snapshot/microwave-oven

https://www.explainthatstuff.com/microwaveovens.html

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-66317-3

https://www.impactlab.com/2024/04/03/the-dawn-of-the-reverse-microwave-revolutionizing-kitchen-cooling/

https://www.concepthut.com/super-freeze-the-reverse-microwave/

This is a device that is crucial to communicating in the modern world, and is one that all of us are definitely familiar with. We use this device for hours on end, yet have remotely no clue on how it works.

Phones are basically a supercomputer in terms of what they are capable of. They're actually made up of multiple different systems that work together to create a device capable of everything you may ever wish for. In the future, they might even go as far as to being able to create 3D replicas of what you see right now. Tune in to learn about this new tech!

Sources:

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/first-cellular-phone-call

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/03/tech/cell-phone-turns-50

https://ijcseonline.org/index.php/j/article/view/5559

https://www.techspot.com/article/1989-arm-inside/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_telephony

https://www.nature.com/nnano/

https://www.nature.com/natelectron/

https://news.mit.edu/

Windmills are one of the first things people think of when renewable energy is mentioned, and rightfully so, as this technology turns one of our most abundant resources into usable power. Windmills started from grain machines to now being held miles above ground, tethered only to the ground through a long rope. Wind technology is incredibly complex, and in this episode I'll be explaining how it works, where it came from, and where it's going to go.

Hope to see you here!

Sources:

https://www.energy.gov/cmei/systems/history-us-wind-energy

https://apnews.com/article/windmill-netherlands-millers-heritage-561c011f36c20b87c9abe12cb0644038

https://www.energy.gov/cmei/systems/how-do-wind-turbines-work

https://www.energy.gov/cmei/systems/wind-energy-basics

https://www.energy.gov/cmei/systems/explore-wind-turbine

https://www.techradar.com/pro/its-like-wrapping-the-wind-from-all-sides-drone-like-airship-with-24-blades-is-worlds-first-megawatt-class-tethered-wind-turbine-s2000-rises-to-2km-and-can-generate-a-whopping-3mw

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/china-tests-worlds-first-airborne-megawatt-wind-turbine-powers-grid-from-2000-metres/articleshow/128819180.cms

https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.07718?