Lights Out Library: Sleep Documentaries

In this new sleepy documentary-style story, we will explore the cultural history of three colors: yellow, black, and white. How were pigments for art and crafts or dyes obtained? What were the meanings, symbolisms, and status of these colors across various ancient cultures and to our days? Let's find out. This podcast is entirely scripted and recorded by real people, it includes no AI, and mid-rol...

In this science talk for bedtime, I review the periodic table of the elements methodically and explain in simple terms plenty of phenomena and concepts about chemistry and physics (for example in this episode: the structure of atoms, valence and reactivity, isotopes, allotropes, ionic compounds, the definitions of metals...) as well as the industrial and economic relevance of some of these element...

As long compilations of episodes that can accompany you for several hours were requested, we put this new one together. This is a compilation of three different stories: Maya and Aztec Mythology, Native American Myths (Navajo and Apache), and History of the Incas. This podcast is entirely scripted and recorded by real people, it includes no AI, and mid-roll ad breaks are turned off so that you can...

This sleepy documentary is a time travel to the Celtic era to examine historical mysteries and discover more about Celtic culture. I will tell you about the druids: what we know of their emergence, their functions, their cultural importance, and the many aspects of druidism that remain mysterious. We will also travel to the Hill of Tara in Ireland, examine the mystery of the vitrification of hillf...

This documentary sleep story is about the history of dinosaurs: What were they? When did they appear? How did they rule the Earth's continents for 150 million years? What happened to them? In this story I tell you about dinosaurs in general, various famous groups such as Brachiosaurus, Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, and more! I also tell you about paleontology, the study of f...

What are the origins of well-known legendary figures, such as the phoenix, the unicorn and the mermaid? From ancient symbols and myths to medieval bestiaries, we are going to explore their appearance and evolution and try to dig a bit deeper. Why do certain motifs such as the phoenix appear across various cultures? What are the Physiologus and the illustrated bestiaries from the Middle Ages? What...

In this soft-spoken bedtime story, I tell you about cats: their evolutionary history from the first Felidae to domestic cats, their species, their characteristics, and how they live. We will review extinct genera and species, such as Proailurus or the well-known saber-toothed cats from the Pleistocene, and many extant species: tigers, lions (and their hybrids: ligers and tigons), jaguars, leopards...

This documentary-style bedtime story takes us along lost trails of the Andes Mountains, to the discovery of several millennia of civilization in this region (Caral-Supe, the Valdivia culture, Chimu, Wari, Tiwanaku...), until the rise of the Inca Empire. I tell you about the history and culture of the Incas, as well as the development of their empire, from the small Kingdom of Cusco to one of the l...

This extended documentary-style bedtime story is a compilation of three different stories: History of Gold, History of Ceramics, and History of Textile. For each of them, I tell you about their evolution since Prehistory and the various types of objects, styles and techniques that were developed. This podcast is entirely scripted and recorded by real people, it includes no AI, and mid-roll ad brea...

In this soft-spoken sleepy documentary, we travel across the various layers of the atmosphere, and I tell you about their composition, about various phenomena (how clouds form, why wind blows, why the sky looks blue, how the ozone layer works, what aurora borealis are...). We also take a look at the formation history of this atmosphere and how it regulates temperature and pressure on Earth. This p...

We all know of modern fantasy creatures, and also that they owe a lot to J.R.R. Tolkien, other fantasy authors of the last 60 years, Dungeons & Dragons, or different franchises like Warhammer or Warcraft. But how did these different figures actually form? What are the mythologies, the folklore, and the more recent elements that gave birth to them? This is what we are going to examine in this episo...

In this bedtime story, we visit Mercury and Venus, two planets with formidable environments. I share with you various theories about their formation, of what they are composed, what to expect at their surfaces, and other interesting facts like how orbits form and are maintained, and what a supercritical fluid is. I hope you enjoy this relaxing way to learn more about space while quieting your mind...

Eight hundred years ago, the World was shaken when the Mongols suddenly left their corner of Asia to conquer the largest land empire in History. Join me as we explore who they were, how they lived, what they believed in and why they could take two continents by storm and build an empire in a few years. I tell you about Genghis Khan and his successors like Ogedei Khan and Kublai Khan, Chinese dynas...

In this sleepy story, we trace the shared history of wolves and dogs, from their ancient evolutionary origins to the deep bond they formed with humans through domestication. We explore how wolves live, communicate, and organize their social world, and how, over thousands of years, some of them evolved into the many dog breeds we know today. Along the way, we see how dogs developed their unique emo...

This long soft spoken sleep story tells you the history of Ancient Rome from its foundation to the fall of Constantinople. It is in 3 parts. In part 1, I tell you about the origins of Rome, its slow emergence and wars until the 1st Century BC - including the founding of the Republic and the rivalry between the Senate and the plebs, the conquest of Italy, the wars against Carthage, the overseas exp...

For tonight's bedtime story, let's explore the stories of various gods from Antiquity that once were very relevant to the societies that worshipped them, before mostly disappearing from memories: • Sol Invictus, the sun god of the Romans that was propelled from obscure cult to imperial religion in the Third Century AD, and whose festival on December 25th became Christmas. • Mithra, an Iranian deit...

This is a remake of one of our first episodes because the original sound was harsh and uneven when I started the podcast. For tonight's talk, I invite you to a long moment in the woods. We explore the origins of plants and how they evolved from microscopic algae to mosses, ferns, seed plants with or without flowers. I also discuss the life cycle of trees, their composition, and many often unnotice...

In tonight's story, I take you on a historical tour of the myth of El Dorado. I discuss what the early years of the Spanish conquest of America were like, how the encounter between older European legends and the reality of pre-Columbian America created new myths about fabulous places, and some of the expeditions that went on a search for El Dorado or the Cities of Gold, to the Andes Mountains, the...

In this soft-spoken bedtime story about China, I take you to the discovery of the Forbidden City. We explore this extraordinary complex and follow the history of Imperial China from the rise of the Ming Dynasty and the construction of the Forbidden City in the 15th Century, to the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty, until the fall of the Empire in 1911.This podcast is entirely scripted and recorded by real peo...

In this soft-spoken sleep documentary, I tell you about ceramics: what pottery, earthenware, stoneware, terracotta, and porcelain are; how they appeared; and how significant they have been since prehistory around the world—in Ancient Egypt, Greece, the Americas, the Islamic world, Europe, and of course, China. This podcast is entirely scripted and recorded by real people, it includes no AI, and mi...

For this extra long episode, we put together various of our mythology stories. From Asia to America via Europe, all these stories reflect how humanity makes sense of the world around us, transmits wisdom and cautionary tales, and infuses storytelling with meaning and faith. This podcast is entirely scripted and recorded by real people, it includes no AI, and mid-roll ad breaks are turned off so th...

This is a new version of one of our first episodes, that I remade because the sound was a bit harsh and uneven when I started the podcast. I also added a few elements to the script. In this bedtime story, I tell you all about Buddhism: the beliefs and culture of Ancient India; the life of Siddartha Gautama, the historical Buddha; how Buddhism spread in Asia; the differences between various Buddhis...

In this bedtime story, we visit different real or hypothetical space objects and phenomena. I tell you about the life cycle of stars that can leave behind a white dwarf, a neutron star (that can take the form of pulsar and/or magnetar), or a stellar black hole. We also explore the concept of dark matter and various kinds of hypothetical or less familiar planets, including coreless planets, iron pl...

This bedtime story about Japanese mythology begins with the world creation myth by Amaterasu. Then we will explore Japan’s spiritual tradition: Shinto, and its countless Kami. We will also follow the path of Emperor Jimmu’s legendary journey, and discover beloved folktales like Momotaro and The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue, before closing with the powerful story of the 47 Ronin. #sleep #bedtimesto...

Tonight's episode is an overview of the history of gold and other precious metals: how much is there on Earth? Where is it? How was gold discovered and how did it acquire its powerful status as a symbol of wealth and power, that makes it a store of value? From the tombs of ancient pharaohs to the reserves of central banks, let's delve into this history, as we settle in for a good night's sleep. #s...