Showing results for "Villains" in Science & Engineering

An engrossing and revealing study of why we deem certain animals “pests” and others not—from cats to rats, elephants to pigeons—and what this tells us about our own perceptions, beliefs, and actions, as well as our place in the natural world A squirrel in the garden. A rat in the wall. A...

On April 4, 1979, a Boeing 727 with 82 passengers and a crew of seven rolled over and plummeted from an altitude of 39,000 feet to within seconds of crashing, were it not for the crew's actions to save the plane. The cause of the unexplained dive was the subject of one of the longest NTSB investigations at that time. While the crew's efforts to save TWA 841 were initially hailed as heroic, that all changed when safety inspectors found 21 minutes of the 30-minute cockpit voice recorder tape blank.

He was hailed as a genius, a visionary who solved some of the most pressing industrial challenges of the early 20th century. But today, Thomas Midgley Jr. is remembered as the man whose inventions did more harm to the Earth’s atmosphere than any single human before him. In this riveting biography, Thomas Midgley Jr.: The Man Who Accidentally Destroyed the Atmosphere, Rick Stupart unravels the life, work, and legacy of a brilliant chemist whose groundbreaking innovations—leaded gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)—unleashed environmental disasters still felt around the globe.

The Soulless Villain: The HBB Gene explores how one tiny mutation in the HBB gene can change lives forever. Responsible for making part of hemoglobin, this gene becomes dangerous when altered, leading to disorders like Sickle Cell Disease and Beta Thalassemia. This podcast breaks down the science, the inheritance, and the real human impact behind these conditions—while exploring how modern medicine and gene therapy are fighting back against this invisible biological villain.