Lights Out Library: Sleep Documentaries

In this new astronomy episode, I take you on a discovery journey of meteors (shooting stars) and meteorites, asteroids in the Solar System, and comets. I tell you about 'Oumuamua, Halley's Comet, Hale-Bopp, and several phenomena like ram pressure and highly eccentric orbits.   Welcome to Lights Out Library Join me for a sleepy adventure tonight. Sit back, relax, and fall asleep to documentary-styl...

In this sleepy episode, I tell you about the long history of timekeeping devices, from the first sundials and water clocks to mechanical clocks, quartz timers, and atomic clocks. Beyond technique, we also explore how the perception and management of time are cultural phenomena.   Welcome to Lights Out Library Join me for a sleepy adventure tonight. Sit back, relax, and fall asleep to documentary-s...

This bedtime story tells you the Epic of Gilgamesh based on the Standard Babylonian Version. I also tell you about Mesopotamian mythology and the emergence of civilizations in the region, from Sumer and Akkad to Assyria and Babylonia.   Welcome to Lights Out Library Join me for a sleepy adventure tonight. Sit back, relax, and fall asleep to documentary-style stories read in a calming voice. Learn...

Tonight, I tell you the sleepy stories of four different ghost ships, together with their historical context and what happened to them. Two are fictional: the Flying Dutchman, a flute from the Age of Sails that would have traded between Amsterdam and the Spice Islands, and the Caleuche, a legendary ship on the island of Chiloe, Chile. Two are real: the Mary Celeste that mysteriously lost her crew...

In this bedtime story, I take you on an underwater cruise to the various layers of the Earth's oceans. I talk about marine life, its evolution, and the conditions it had to adapt to. Types of animals or species we look at in more detail include jellyfish, coral, sharks, giant squids, sperm whales, the components of plankton, fishes from the bathyal zone and below, or the inhabitants of ecosystems...

This bedtime story is about One Thousand and One Nights (also known as "Arabian Nights"). I tell you several famous stories from this compilation of Middle Eastern and North African folk tales and legends. These include the framing story with Scheherazade and Shahryar, "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," "The Merchant and the Genie," "Sinbad the Sailor" and his seven voyages, and "Aladdin and the Ma...

Tonight, I tell you three different stories: - Area 51: How did this USAF base gain its reputation for being at the center of numerous conspiracies, including the dissimulation and reverse-engineering of alien technology? We take a look at what is documented, from its creation in 1955 as a test facility for the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, to the study of foreign technology and the intens...

This is a soft-spoken science bedtime story about Earth: its formation, its structure, and how mankind perceived the World before its exploration and the space age. In this video, I tell you about what we know or suppose of Earth's formation in the solar system, its geology, its internal structure from the crust to the core, and how all these interact. We discuss plate tectonics and continental dr...

In these three new historical mysteries, I tell you about the Pythia, the High Priestess of Apollo in Delphi, who for more than a millennium delivered sought-after prophecies in a state of frenzy - but the Oracle may have been more ancient than Classical Greece. The second story is about the myth of changelings, that is to say newborns, or young children that would have been exchanged by fairies,...

In this soft-spoken bedtime story, I tell you about the History of the Norsemen in the Middle Ages. At the end of the Eighth Century, they embarked on raids, explorations, and conquests farther and farther from their homelands in Scandinavia. This took them as far east as the Volga River in Russia and Byzantium, and as far west as America, even though they did not stay there for long. They founded...

In tonight's ASMR story, I tell you myths from Polynesia, especially Hawaii and Aotearoa (New Zealand), and I explain the origins and connections of Polynesian people. We will discover the story of Maui, his fight with goddess Hine, the origins of the gods starting with Rangi and Papa from the Maori tradition, more divinities (Tane of the forest and the birds, Tangaroa of the sea, Tawhirimatea of...

As the Olympic Games come to a close and become another page in history, I believe you will enjoy these bedtime stories. Tonight, we go on a trip to the City of Lights, Paris, and I tell you several mysterious stories from the past two centuries: the intriguing and clandestine life of the Countess of Castiglione, the foundation of spiritualism by its visionary pioneer, Allan Kardec, and the audaci...

In this new science/astronomy bedtime story, we travel to the 7th and 8th planets from the Sun: Uranus and Neptune. I tell you about their characteristics, how they could have formed together with the rest of the Solar System, and what their inside is thought to be made of. We also explore their moons like Titania and Triton, and their influence on their environment.   Welcome to Lights Out Librar...

Tonight, I take you on a journey along the Silk Road. We explore how and why this route or network from China to the Mediterranean opened at the time of the Han Dynasty and Ancient Rome. Given the distances and costs, long distance trade was limited to light, expensive and exotic goods, like silk, glassware, fine crafts, perfumes and spices. It adapted to changes over centuries: the rise and fall...

This sleep story is about Arthurian Mythology. How much do you know about the story of King Arthur, how it appeared, and what parts of the myth could have roots in history? As you drift off to sleep, find out how Arthurian legends took shape, listen to some of the stories, and spend time around the Round Table with Merlin, Guinevere, Lancelot, Galahad, Percival, Morgan le Fay, Vivien the Lady of t...

In this story, I take you on an introduction to fungi: what the definition of their kingdom is about—they are neither plant nor animal—the mind-blowing variety of sizes, shapes, and the appearance they can take, and their associations with other life forms. I also tell you about their importance to ecosystems, what happens when they produce mushrooms, and the various ways humans use them, ranging...

In this soft-spoken sleepy story, I tell you the stories of four ghost towns in America:- North Brother Island, New York, a small uninhabited island that once had a large hospital and kept the infamous Typhoid Mary in quarantine for over two decades. - Bodie, California, a well-preserved mining town that boomed in the 1870s thanks to the discovery of gold deposits. I tell you a little about the Ca...

In this sleepy story, as we continue the journey of our solar system, we will explore several of Saturn's moons, including Titan, Rhea, Iapetus, and Enceladus, and identify their differences. We will talk about the theories regarding the age and formation of the planet's rings, and eventually dive into the planet itself to see what a "gas giant" is made of. Listen ad free and get access to bonus c...

In this sleepy episode, I tell you stories from Norse Mythology and explanations about its context and meaning to the Old Norse. Stories include the discovery of the runes and the loss of an eye by Odin, the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, the construction of the wall of Asgard, the creation of the World, and Ragnarok, the end of times. We will meet all sorts of gods and creatures: Odin, Thor...

In this sleepy story, I take you through more than 3,000 years of Egyptian History, from the first unification of Egypt to the death of Cleopatra. I talk about history, the gods of Egypt, architecture, art, life along the Nile, the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, and many other things! I hope you enjoy it, as you drift off into a deep, peaceful night's sleep. Listen ad free and get access to bonus...

In this episode, I take you on a new exploration journey, to discover what science can tell us about sleep and dreams: What happens when we sleep? What are the phases of sleep and the difference between quiescent sleep and paradoxical/REM sleep? Why do we need it? What are intermediary states of consciousness like sleepwalking or lucid dreaming? I also tell you about the origins of dreams, their p...

Tonight, on our way to sleep, we explore stories related to famous diamonds. These include the Hope Diamond and its supposed curse, the story of the exceptionally big Cullinan Diamond, from which the famous Star of Africa comes, and a dive into the mysteries of the Versailles court in pre-revolutionary France with the Affair of the Diamond Necklace (a scandal surrounding a magnificent necklace and...

In this soft-spoken bedtime story, I tell you about various Greek myths. This is a compilation episode, in which I've combined multiple prior episodes into one long-play episode to help you fall asleep. These are the Greek myths we will discover tonight. - The Trojan War, as told in Homer's Iliad and other sources; - The Odyssey, also mainly based on Homer's work;  - Pandora and her jar (or box),...

In this bedtime story, I tell you about two different mysterious stories and what I make of them. - Bigfoot (or the Sasquatch) is one of the most famous cryptids in the world, together with the Loch Ness Monster and its Himalayan cousin the Yeti. We will discover where this creature comes from, how it got its name, and why it remains so elusive. - The Bell Witch Haunting is a legend that originate...

In this soft-spoken bedtime story, I tell you about four Greek myths: ·       Pandora and her jar (or box), which according to Hesiod contained countless plagues that she let escape, providing a backstory for the existence of suffering in human life. This myth works as a "theodicy" (a backstory or an argument that explains why evil is part of the human condition when God(s) would have the power to...