Patented: History of Inventions

Get ready for the coming of our robot overlords by listening to this episode all about the history of AI. Who was Shakey the robot? Why did we spend thousands of hours trying to tell a machine the basic facts of life (like that the hot tap is coloured red)? What was King Charles’ grey goo theory all about?The first half of the show is with Matthew Sparkes of the New Scientist. Matthew spends his life covering the latest developments in the field of AI and is a regular contributor to the New Scientist’s podcast ‘New Scientist Weekly’.Then in the second half Dallas is with Professor Michael Wooldridge, author of The Road to Consciousness: the story of AI.Edited by Stuart Beckwith, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

When does spaghetti grow on trees? When can you milk a duck? When does Google read your brainwaves? On April Fool’s Day!Come with us into the chaotic world of April 1st as we explore where the tradition originated and how many kinds of hilarious pranks there are.Dallas’s guest today is Moira Marsh, a folklorist at Indiana University and author of Practically Joking.Edited and Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long

Early aquariums didn't have much more in them than some sorry looking trout. Yet such was the excitement at being able to see this underwater world for the first time people queued for hours to get a peak.Taking Dallas through the surprising history of fish tanks and aquariums is the world's only fish tank historian (that we know of) Samantha Muka, author of Oceans Under Glass: Tank Craft & Science of the SeaEdited and Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

The Ouija Board was patented in 1890. But in did not appear out of thin air. It was only one in a long, long line of devices attempting to pierce the veil between this world and the next.Come with us, if you dare, on a journey through the Spiritualism that rocked America in the 19th century and the wild world of inventions the movement spawned.Dallas’s guest today is the wonderful Brandon Hodge, expert on all things talking board. Find out more at Brandon’s website: http://www.mysteriousplanchette.com/Edited by Stuart Beckwith, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

In 1890, the Governor of New York called for a new method of capital punishment. A more modern, efficient, scientific method was being sought. There was still a buzz around the recently harnessed power of electricity, which, when delivered. at high voltage to a prisoner strapped to a chair, would do the job (though not quite, at least the first time). The terrifying prospect of the Electric Chair was also hoped to put off potential criminals. Mark Essig, author of Edison and the Electric Chair: a Story of Light and Death, tells Dallas how it came about. Mixed by Benjie Guy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer: Charlotte Long. For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

Every bottle of Tabasco sauce on earth comes from one place - Avery Island, deep down in Louisiana. The same place where the sauce was invented by one Edmund McIlhenny in 1868.Joining Dallas to uncover the origin story of the world’s favourite spicy sauce is the official Tabasco historian Shane Bernard.Edited by Joseph Knight, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte LongFor more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.If you’d like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

Concrete is the second most used material on earth after only water. There are more than half a trillion tons of it weighing down the earth. Which is a problem. Where did concrete come from? And why are we so addicted to it?To get into the nitty gritty with Dallas is Barnabas Calder who is Head of the Architectural and Urban History Research Group at the University of Liverpool and the author of “Raw Concrete: The Beauty of Brutalism” and “Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency.”Edited by Stuart Beckwith, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long

The war in Ukraine is being fought with tanks designed in the Cold War. The US Abrams. The German Leopard. The British Challenger. All have been sent to fight Russia’s soviet era machines. T-72s, T-62s, T-80s.One year into the war in Ukraine we explore the origins of the tanks being used to fight the battle with David Willey of the Tank Museum.Produced and edited by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long

This is the story of the first modern computer program and the extraordinary woman who wrote it, Klara von Neumann.The program Klara wrote was a list of numbers eight hundred odd lines long. Gibberish to look at now but to the room-sized computer she was working with, it translated into a sophisticated set of instructions telling it how to map out the path neutrons would take inside nuclear bombs.To mark International Women’s Day we’re going in search of Klara von Neumann and giving her the recognition she so richly deserves.Dallas’s guest to make this happen is Ananyo Bhattacharya. Ananyo wrote a wonderful book about John von Neumann called The Man from the Future and has championed Klara and her work.Edited by Stuart Beckwith, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

The keyboard on the first ever commercially successful typewriter and the keyboard on your smartphone are separated by a gulf of time and technology. Yet their layout is essentially the same (plus or minus a few new buttons along the way).Who invented the QWERTY keyboard layout and why hasn’t it been updated?What is the Shift button all about?Who else remembers the weird way it felt to type on the ZX Spectrum?To tell the stories that lurk underneath the keyboards you use every day, Dallas is joined by Marcin Wichary. His book ‘Shift Happens’ is available via Kickstarter now: bit.ly/3ETOn8cProduced by Sophie Gee, Edited by Freddy Chick, Senior Editor is Charlotte Long.For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store