Did you know that Europeans used to believe that sheep grew from Mongolian trees? Have you heard about the misbegotten discovery of a new form of water in the 1960s that set off a cold war arms race? Ever seen the gleaming Las Vegas hotel that accidentally shoots heat rays at poolside guests?
The Constant is an audio history of getting things wrong. From ancient science to contemporary blunders, we take you on journeys of misadventure and misapprehension, filling your brain with juicy nuggets of the sometimes comical, sometimes tragical and always fascinating ways people mess things up.
In December, 1912 a lawyer and a paleontologist made an amazing announcement: The missing link was real, the missing link had been found, and--most incredibly--the missing link was... English?
This is the story of the greatest scientific scandal of the 20th century: Piltdown Man.
After Charles Darwin published Origin of Species, the scientific world spent the next fifty years searching for an alternative theory for evolution. And they found plenty. This is the story of a period known as "The Eclipse of Darwinism".
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What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets, of course. But in the 19th century, a debate arose about whether apes might have miserable piles of their own, leading to a controversy that persists to this day: are apes men, or are men apes?
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To start off the year, we're looking back at an old favorite that plays a significant part in an upcoming series.
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This episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/theconstant and get on your way to being your best self:
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One more round of short stories, about little things, that had big consequences.
This episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/theconstant and get on your way to being your best self:
Visit GiveWell.org to find a charity today. Be sure to choose "podcast" and enter "The Constant" at checkout to get your donation matched up to $100 dollars.
Visit our Patreon here. You too can get ad-free, early episodes, starting now!