Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

The Mona Lisa is unquestionably the most famous painting in the world. Heck, it is probably the most famous work of art in the world.  Yet the reason why it is so famous is due to an event which happened on the 21st of August 1911. It was wasn’t for the events of that day, the Mona Lisa would probably just be another painting hanging on the walls of the Louver.  Find out what happened to make the...

There are a great many chemicals that are dangerous to work with. Things that you wouldn’t want to get on your skin or somehow ingest.  However, there is a category beyond that of substances that are so dangerous that many chemists wouldn’t want to work with them under any circumstances.  Things are so dangerous that even the smallest error could result in a disaster in the laboratory. Learn more...

Ever since organized sports began, people have been collecting statistics.  These statistics were originally collected to let people know what happened during a game they might have missed.  However, over time, these statistics became more and more sophisticated, and they eventually began dictating how the games themselves were to be played by uncovering truths that were overlooked. Learn more abo...

Located in Southwest Africa is the nation of Namibia.  Namibia doesn’t make the news very often, which is a good thing. It is one of the most stable countries in Africa and one of the safest.  It also has some of the most spectacular geography on the planet, wildlife that can be found nowhere else, and a history, unlike any other country in Africa. Learn more about Namibia, its ancient past, and i...

Every year, on the second Sunday in May, 96 countries around the world celebrate Mother’s Day. Dozens of other countries celebrate the same thing on different days throughout the year.  Mother’s Day wasn’t always a thing, however. Its creation was due to a small number of very determined people…and, of course, greeting card companies.  Learn more about Mother’s Day and how it became a holiday on t...

Located in the 90th place on the periodic table is the element Thorium.  Thorium, as with every element, has unique properties, making it useful in certain applications.  However, Thorium’s best days might still be ahead of it and might move it to the front of the list of the world’s most important elements. Learn more about Thorium, how it was discovered, and its potential uses on this episode of...

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...

On July 16, 1945, at 5:29 am, 35 miles southwest of Socorro, New Mexico, the world’s first nuclear bomb was detonated.  This was the culmination of the Manhattan Project, one of the largest and most expensive programs in world history.  Yet, just before the event, the scientists and engineers who worked on the project weren’t entirely sure it would work and, if it did, just what the results would...

Globalization consists of a system of interlinked markets and economies. Most people think of this as a modern phenomenon, however, its roots go back much further.  One of the earliest examples of globalization took place as early as the 16th century.  The Spanish empire had a global spanning operation that linked together three continents and several of the world’s greatest civilizations. Learn m...

The media portrayal of the wild west is filled with gunfights in the middle of the street, bank robberies, and vigilantes. In fact, it is very difficult to find a media portrayal that doesn’t use the wild west as a backdrop for some struggle of good vs. evil and of criminals vs. lawmen.  But how accurate is this portrayal? Have Western movies been lying to us? Learn more about just how wild the wi...

Even before humans first went into orbit, there had been dreams of establishing a permanent presence in space.  For almost the last 25 years, humanity has achieved just that. At least one human being has been in Earth orbit without interruption for almost a quarter century.  What has allowed this to happen is one of the most complex and expensive things ever built.  Learn more about the Internatio...

According to the laws of supply and demand, an equilibrium will eventually be researched where suppliers will meet the demands of consumers at a given price and quantity level.  In the case of this podcast, the supply and demand for questions are met at an equilibrium point of exactly one episode every month.  Stay tuned for volume six of questions and answers on this episode of Everything Everywh...

On May 6, 2023, something will happen in London that hasn’t occurred in 70 years. A British monarch will be crowned. An event for which King Charles has spent his entire life in preparation. The ceremony, which will take place in Westminster Abbey, will incorporate centuries of traditions, both civil and religious. Many of those traditions had specific origins and reasons for their incorporation i...

Every year Mexico and Mexican culture are celebrated during the holiday of Cinco de Mayo, which in Spanish just means May 5th.  However, many people, especially those outside of Mexico, have no idea what exactly is being celebrated on May 5, and many of those who think they know have the wrong idea. The location of most of the Cinco de Mayo celebrations is also surprising to most people as well. L...

If you wanted to know how many countries there were in the world, it should be a pretty easy thing to find out. Go to a map, count all the countries, and voila!  However, it isn’t even remotely close to being that simple. Defining what a country is is extremely difficult and has been a point of contention in many wars and conflicts.  Find out the problem of determining out how many countries are i...

In the 1960s, a New York clinical psychiatrist and an adoption agency conducted an experiment. They separated multiple sets of identical twins and one set of identical triplets into different families to test how much of personality is due to genetics or the environment.  None of the children or families were ever told about this.  The results of this experiment, and other cases like it, have prov...

For most of human existence, we looked up at the night sky and thought that was all there was to the universe. However, in the 20th century, as telescopes improved, we made a shocking discovery. The universe was much, much larger than we supposed, and some of those points of light in the sky were, in fact, collections of stars themselves.  Learn more about galaxies, what they are made of, and all...

Probably the most consequential monarch in British history was Henry VIII. He upended much of English society by changing the religion in the country from the top down.  He also left in his wake a century of controversy and turmoil about the succession of the monarchy. In all of that controversy, one figure wound up being an asterisk in the list of British Monarchs.  Someone who only ruled for nin...

All of us have some sort of mental map inside our heads for how the world is laid out. North America is north of South America. Europe is west of Asia. et Cetra.  However, even the greatest geography minds often have a flawed mental map of the world. Places aren’t often where were think they are in relation to other places.  Learn more about why almost everyone’s mental map of the world is wrong a...

Located in the heart of Rome is one of the oldest standing buildings in the world. Unlike other ancient structures, it isn’t a ruin. For almost 2,000 years, it has been in continuous use. When it was built, it was an unrivaled architectural masterpiece. Today, it remains the largest building of its type, having never been surpassed in all of history.   Learn more about the Roman Pantheon, how it w...

Every year the last Friday in April in the United States is Arbor Day.  Arbor Day is not the sexiest holiday on the calendar. I don’t think anyone listening is getting the day off from work, and you don’t see used car dealerships offering Arbor Day sales. Nonetheless, for over 150 years, Arbor Day has highlighted the importance of trees and has encouraged their planting, and it is something that h...

In 1897, the visionary Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky discovered an equation that governed how rockets worked.  His equation, which was independently discovered by several other rocket scientists, immutably governs how we can send rockets into space.  The variables in his equation have determined everything surrounding spaceflight and rocketry since its inception and will for the...

In the 18th century, the French writer and philosopher Voltaire said, ??”This body which was called, and which still calls itself, the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” Since then, some variation of this quote has found itself into history classes around the world.  So what exactly was the Holy Roman Empire, and was Voltaire right? Learn more about the Holy Roman Emp...

At the start of the 20th century, the world’s third-largest lake was located in Central Asia. It had been known to the people of the Asian steppes for thousands of years.  However, by the end of the 20th century, the lake had all but disappeared.  Somehow, over the course of a century, one of the world’s largest bodies of fresh water had all but vanished, stranding the many ships which once sailed...

Every year on April 25, Australia and New Zealand celebrate a holiday that is unique to those two countries.  It is one of the most important days on the calendar, and it was created to celebrate an event that took place over 100 years ago.  Today the holiday has taken on a broader meaning and has developed traditions all its own. Learn more about ANZAC Day, its origins, and how it is celebrated o...