Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

Dogs and cats are both domesticated, four-legged, fur-bearing mammals.  Beyond that, they really don’t have much in common. One of the things that they don’t have in common is how they wound up in the lives of humans.  Cats established their relationship with humans at a totally different point in history and for a totally different reason.  Learn more about the domestication of cats and how these...

If you were to pick a single visible icon to represent the 20th century, it would probably be the skyscraper.  Skyscrapers didn’t really even exist before the 20th century, but by the end of the century, they became ubiquitous in major cities around the world.  The skyscraper didn’t just appear out of nowhere. They wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for multiple technical innovations. Contin...

About 384,400 km or 238,900 miles above the surface of the Earth is our planet's only natural satellite, The Moon.  Every culture and civilization on the planet has had the moon play a role in its legends, and they have also used the moon to keep track of time, plant, and harvest.  Scientists have wondered where the moon came from and how it was formed, and with data gathered over the last several...

Alexander the Great was one of the most famous people from the ancient world.  He defeated a vastly larger Persian Empire and conquered everything from Egypt to India.  Yet, what Alexander achieved wouldn’t have been possible without his father. In fact, if Alexander hadn’t accomplished what he did, his father would probably be the one given the title “great.” Learn more about Philip II of Macedon...

In January 1920, an Italian American businessman in Boston started a new company. In order to raise money, he took $100 investments from 18 people and offered them a fabulous return on their money in only 45 days, and he delivered on his promise.  Soon people were lining up to give him their money and everything worked great…. …until it didn’t. Learn more about Charles Ponzi, the man whose name is...

Located in Central and Eastern Europe is one of the continent's longest and most rivers: the Danube.  For thousands of years, the Danube has been a vital river for commerce and agriculture, and it has served as a natural boundary for empires and kingdoms.  Today, it is still vitally important to ten countries and has become one of the top tourist attractions in Europe. Learn more about the Danube...

It is one of the most important inventions in history. Almost everyone listening to this has one. You use one almost every day, and if we didn’t have them, the world would be a very different place.  I am talking about toilets.  It isn’t something we like to talk about in public, but the sanitary removal of waste has been one of the critical components of allowing the development of the modern wor...

In the very long history of China, it has had exactly one female ruler.  She was a woman who managed, against all odds, to inch her way closer to power over a period of years until she reached a point where she could claim power for herself.  By all accounts, she was beautiful, brilliant, cunning, and absolutely ruthless.  Learn more about Wu Zetian, China’s only female emperor, on this episode of...

The Philippines is one of the largest countries in the world. With a population of 115 million people, it is the 14th largest country in the world in terms of population.  However, for a period of 48 years, it was a colony of the United States. That half-century was one of the most important in the history of the Philippines. It saw two major wars, profound social and cultural changes, and laid th...

For thousands of years, wine has been one of the most important beverages in the world.  It has been consumed by common folk and by emperors, and it can be made in a surprisingly wide variety of geographies.  It can be made by backyard vintners as well as by megacorporations.  It is so important that it plays a central role in some religions, yet it is completely banned by others.  Learn more abou...

After the American War of Independence, Britain recognized the United States, but it didn’t necessarily make them close allies.  Each country had its own agendas, and a generation later, they were butting heads again over a host of issues.  The result was another war, but unlike the Revolutionary War, everyone claimed victory, and no one really won anything.  Learn more about the War of 1812, its...

Books are one of the foundational tools of civilization. They allow us to pass knowledge and information between people who don’t know each other, and their compact form allows knowledge to be transported across vast distances.  Their permanence allows information to be sent across time such that centuries might separate a writer from a reader.  But how did books develop, and in the modern world,...

In the 19th century, several American universities began to compete with each other in several sporting events in friendly intercollegiate competitions. Fast forward over a hundred years, and college sports in the United States is a multibillion-dollar business.  How did institutes of higher education become some of the biggest sports organizations in the world? And how did this situation come to...

Ninjas are awesome. They’re silent, they can turn invisible, and they can totally flip out and kill people, especially their mortal enemies…pirates.  …or at least that is what popular culture would like you to believe.  Were ninjas really as powerful as they are made out to be? Were they the ultimate silent assassins? Learn more about ninjas, real ninjas, on this episode of Everything Everywhere D...

Depending on how you define it, there were approximately 70 Roman Emperors.  They were a mixed bag ranging from philosophers to the insane, from generals to children.  Some were truly horrible, but some were actually pretty good at their job. In particular, there were five consecutive emperors who reigned during the peak of Pax Romana. Learn more about the Five Good Emperors on this episode of Eve...

On June 6, 1944, the largest amphibious landing in world history took place on the shore of Normandy, France. The allied forces called it D-Day. The landing marked the commencement of Operation Overlord, a strategic move that heralded the long-awaited opening of the second front in the European war.  D-Day was the start of the most meticulously planned events in history and one of the greatest log...

When President John F. Kennedy set the objective of landing on the moon before the end of the 1960s, no one really knew what it entailed.  The Apollo program involved many incredible feats of engineering, but perhaps the most impressive was the development of the Apollo Lunar Module.  The Lunar Module was unlike any spacecraft before or since. It was the first spacecraft designed to fly only in th...

Located between Mexico and Columbia, in a strategic area connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific, is the region we call Central America.  The countries that makeup Central America were mostly former Spanish colonies, but unlike other Spanish colonies to the north and south, Central America wound up as a series of small countries rather than one big one. But why? Learn more about the history of Cen...

Money is a very strange thing. All of us use it. We spend it, earn it, and save it. We know it when we see it. Yet, even some of the world’s best economists have a very hard time defining it.  It has been around for thousands of years, yet innovation is still being made with it today. Learn more about the history of money, how it came about, and how it developed over time on this episode of Everyt...

A common occurrence at many universities is that they have contentious relationships with their local community.  This is not a recent development. It is something that has existed ever since universities were developed.  The relationship between colleges and local towns was probably at its worst in 1355 when an outbreak of violence occurred at Oxford University. Learn more about The St. Scholasti...

The month of June was originally called Iunius by the Romans. It originally had 29 days and was the fourth month of the year.  Today, it has 30 days, and it is the sixth month of the year.  It used to be a bad omen to be married in June, and now it is the most popular month to be married in. However, despite all the changes in June, there is one thing that has remained constant: questions and answ...

In August of 1964, an event occurred off the waters of North Vietnam that would have repercussions that would echo in US foreign policy for decades.  Two alleged confrontations between US Navy vessels and North Vietnamese ships set off a chain of events that resulted in a dramatic escalation in the United States' involvement in Vietnam and a subsequent backlash that would change military policy to...

One of the most iconic images of America is the cowboy. Cowboys have defined entire genres of literature and movies and are the basis for entire styles of fashion.  But how did cowboys come about, what exactly did they do, and who exactly became cowboys?  Perhaps most importantly, how realistic is our image of cowboys?  Spoiler: It's not very realistic at all. Learn more about Cowboys, how they ca...

In the year 79, Mount Vesuvius, a volcano located east of the modern-day city of Naples, erupted.  Vesuvius had erupted before, but this eruption was different. It ejected an enormous amount of ash, which completely buried several towns and cities below the mountain. Almost 2,000 years later, the largest of those cities, Pompeii, was rediscovered, and what archeologists found revolutionized our un...

There are millions of different insect species in the world. All of them fill some niche in the ecosystem in which they live. However, some species are more important than others. In particular, insect species that are members of the family Apidae, or what you probably know as bees.  Bees are some of the most important pollinators in the world. They are responsible for a large amount of plant repr...