Best Inquisitive Queens Podcasts (2025)

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King Leopold and the Congo Free State 15:56

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11h ago15:56

15:56

In the late 19th century, during the scramble for Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized a large landmass in Central Africa. By doing this, he created the Congo Free State, but this name was a misnomer as it was anything but free. King Leopold’s rule over the Congo Free State was defined by tales of brutality, horrific conditions, and massive am…

1
German POWs in America 14:31

1d ago14:31

14:31

Prisoners of war or POWs during the 20th century were a part of war. Beligerant nations had to develop systems to guard, house, and feed their prisoners, and before the war, in 1929, most countries had agreed on how prisoners would be treated in captivity. In reality, conditions for POWs differed dramatically, particularly for captured German soldi…

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The Washington Monument 14:30

2d ago14:30

14:30

Almost immediately after the death of George Washington in 1799, the United States began to think of ways to commemorate and honor the father of the country. The process of creating a monument took decades. There were multiple aborted designs and one idea that was built but never fully implemented. What ended up being constructed became the world’s…

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The Velvet Revolution and The Velvet Divorce 17:14

3d ago17:14

17:14

The country of Czechoslovakia was born and died in the 20th century. It was created after a war, suffered through another war, was occupied during the Cold War, and was finally liberated in 1989. Once it did become free of Soviet Rule, they decided that maybe they should never have been made into a country in the first place. Unlike almost every co…

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The 1970 Ancash Earthquake 14:43

4d ago14:43

14:43

On May 31, 1970, one of the most devastating disasters in Peruvian history occurred. A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit just off the coast of Peru, creating the most catastrophic natural disaster in the country's history. The “Ancash” or “Great Peruvian Earthquake” not only caused disastrous short-term loss of life, but also had long-term impacts that …

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The Domestication of Sheep 15:08

5d ago15:08

15:08

Sometime around 11,000 years ago, somewhere in the Middle East or Central Asia, someone figured out how they could keep wild sheep and breed them. This simple act had enormous consequences for humanity. It improved food production, revolutionized the production of clothing, and even influenced the development of writing. Fast forward over 10,000 ye…

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The Origins of the Vietnam War (Encore) 15:05

6d ago15:05

15:05

The Vietnam War was perhaps the most significant event that took place in the last half of the 20th century. It had profound impacts on the United States and, of course, Vietnam. However, many people have a very simplistic view of the causes of the war. They assume it was just a result of Cold War politics. While that was certainly a cause, the roo…

1
The Year 1900 15:24

6d ago15:24

15:24

The year 1900 was a pivotal year in world history. It was the end of the 19th century and on the cusp of the 20th century. Many of the technical advances that would come to define the next 100 years were just being unleashed. Social and economic changes were unfolding that would revolutionize the world. The changes that the world had seen in the 19…

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The Black Dahlia 14:53

8d ago14:53

14:53

On January 15, 1947, a young woman was found dead in Los Angeles, California. She was found naked, cut in half, and drained of blood. When the crime was reported in the newspaper, the woman received a nickname, the Black Dahlia. Though the case has been cold for the better part of a century, the murder of the Black Dahlia has remained one of the mo…

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Dendrochronology 15:42

8d ago15:42

15:42

One of the most essential aspects of archeology is dating objects found in the past, and one of the most critical tools in dating historic objects is dendochronology. Dendrochronology, also called tree-ring dating, is a scientific method used to determine the age of wood and reconstruct past environmental conditions by analyzing growth rings in tre…

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Star Wars 15:47

10d ago15:47

15:47

A long time ago in a city far, far away…. A young director with several films under his belt had an idea for a movie. His idea was to create a modern version of an old space adventure film like Flash Gordon. He wrote a story that would cover several films, negotiated a groundbreaking contract, and in the process, completely changed the film industr…

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The Arctic and the North Pole 14:15

11d ago14:15

14:15

Located above 66°33? Latitude North is the region we call the Arctic. The Arctic is unlike any other environment on Earth, even the Antarctic. It is sparsely populated and has unique wildlife and a biome that can’t be found anywhere else. It is completely dark in the winter and the sun never sets in the summer…and of course, it is really cold Learn…

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Hannibal Barca and the Second Punic War 17:13

13d ago17:13

17:13

In the third century BC, Rome faced its greatest enemy. One man, a Carthaginian general named Hannibal Barca, led an army into the Italian peninsula and terrorized Rome for over a decade, despite having fewer resources and fighting on Rome's home turf. He handed the Roman Republic many of its most humiliating defeats and, in the process, developed …

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The Never Ending Voyager Missions 15:23

14d ago15:23

15:23

In 1977, NASA took advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime alignment of the planets to send two probes to the outermost reaches of the solar system. They sent back the best images and data yet available about Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The program was a smashing success. However, the probes didn’t stop traveling. They kept going and going, all…

1
Leonardo da Vinci 15:13

14d ago15:13

15:13

On April 15, 1452, a child was born, the illegitimate son of a peasant woman and a local notary in the village of Vinci, which was then part of the Republic of Florence. Given his illegitimate status, no one expected much of the young man, so he was apprenticed in the studio of a local artist. He would go on to become, not just one of the world’s g…

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Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 15:27

16d ago15:27

15:27

On October 13, 1972, a fight transporting a Uruguayan rugby club crashed into the Andes Mountains. For the following 72 days, survivors of the crash were stranded in the ice and snow, forced to survive in sub-zero temperatures, battling starvation and avalanches. Desperate to escape the mountains, two of the crash survivors trekked across the harsh…

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The Long Telegram 14:13

17d ago14:13

14:13

On February 22, 1946, George F. Kennan, a career diplomat working in the American embassy in Moscow, sent an 8,000-word cable to the State Department in Washington.In it, he explained why the Soviet Union behaved as it did, outlining its unique combination of a communist ideology and historical Russian paranoia and suspicion. He also gave a prescri…

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Six Degrees of Separation 14:44

17d ago14:44

14:44

You may have noticed, on occasion, that friends you have from totally different parts of your life sometimes know each other. It often comes as a surprise, but it actually shouldn’t. It turns out that the world is highly connected via personal relationships. In fact, it has been suggested that any two people in the world are only six degrees apart …

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The Germ Theory of Disease (Encore) 14:59

18d ago14:59

14:59

For thousands of years, many theories have been put forward as to the cause of communicable diseases. These theories ranged from the religious to the magical and sometimes quasiscientific, but what they all had in common was that there was no proof for anything. Over the centuries, these theories became dogma and often prevented a better understand…

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Hitler's Family 16:57

19d ago16:57

16:57

Adolf Hitler was unquestionably one of the evil people, not just of the 20th century, but in all of history. His very name has become a metaphor for someone bad or someone you want to associate with someone horrible. However, he was a person, and as such, he had parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews. How did they deal with being related to the mos…

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The Lost Colony of Roanoke (Encore) 13:58

20d ago13:58

13:58

In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh established an English colony on an island in what is today the state of North Carolina. After a slow start, over 100 people moved to the island to start a new life and establish this English outpost at the edge of the new world. When a ship returned to the colony in 1590, what they found shocked them and began a mystery…

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Ivory Coast /Côte d'Ivoire 15:40

22d ago15:40

15:40

The Ivory Coast, or as it is officially known, the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country located on West Africa’s southern coast. It is a small nation known for its agricultural production. Despite its small size, the Ivory Coast is one of the most populous countries in West Africa, with a population of 31.5 million, and roughly 78 different lang…

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Names of Animal Groups 15:29

21d ago15:29

15:29

The English language is weird. We have words that are spelled the same but sound different. We have words that are spelled differently but sound the same. We have words that sound nothing like how they are spelled, and a host of exceptions that you just have to know and remember. …and then for some reason, we have totally different arbitrary words …

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Energy, Work, and Power 14:46

24d ago14:46

14:46

Everything we know in the world is ultimately dependent on energy. Energy fuels our bodies as well as our civilization. Energy is literally everywhere and all around us. Yet for the longest time, we had no idea what energy really was. It wasn’t until relatively recently that scientists had a grasp on energy as a concept, and once they did, they unl…

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Questions and Answers: Volume 34 17:17

25d ago17:17

17:17

September is upon us. It means going back to school and the autumnal equinox. The days get shorter in the north and longer in the south. The name September means sevenths, even though it is now the 9th month of the year. Most importantly, it is the time when you have questions and I have answers. Stay tuned for the 34th installment of questions and…

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The Pseudo-Neros 13:57

26d ago13:57

13:57

In the first century, Rome underwent a major political transition when the Emperor Nero died after being declared an enemy of Rome by the senate. With his death, the Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end, ushering in a period known as the Year of the Four Emperors. For the common people, many of them simply didn’t believe that Nero was dead. In fac…

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The Republic of Pirates 13:37

27d ago13:37

13:37

Between 1706 and 1718, a group of pirates established a haven in the Bahamas. Using a code and system of rules that they developed themselves, the pirates created their own forms of self-governance to maintain order within a society that was otherwise lawless. This community grew into a community of thousands of pirates before the British put an en…

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The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre 15:49

28d ago15:49

15:49

In 1972, the Olympics returned to Germany for the first time since being hosted in Berlin in 1936. The Games were intended to present a new image of West Germany, one that would reject the image portrayed at the previous Nazi-hosted Games and showcase a modern, peaceful nation. That didn’t happen. Instead, it became known for a terrorist attack on …

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Starlite: The Miracle That Never Was 14:59

29d ago14:59

14:59

In the 1980s, an Englishman by the name of Maurice Ward developed a material which he claimed could withstand temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius. Not only could the material withstand high temperatures, but it could also protect anything in proximity from high temperatures. This product didn’t result in a revolution in material science. I…

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The Unabomber 16:27

30d ago16:27

16:27

Starting in the late 1970s and lasting for seventeen years, a series of bombings terrorized the American public. Primarily targeting technology companies and universities, these attacks befuddled law enforcement officials for almost two decades. The bomber became one of the most wanted criminals in the history of American law enforcement. When he w…

1
Francisco Macías Nguema 15:57

1M ago15:57

15:57

In 1968, the colony of Spanish Guinea was granted independence and became the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. In its first open election, which turned out to be its last, it elected as president Francisco Macías Nguema. He very quickly turned out to be a dictator. However, he wasn’t just a dictator. He became one of the worst dictators of the 20th c…

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Emperor Nero (Encore) 14:27

1M ago14:27

14:27

In the year 54, the Roman Emperor Claudius died, and his adopted son Nero became the Emperor of Rome at the age of 16. His reign was one of the most infamous in history, and over 2000 years after he came to power, his name is still used to invoke the image of a cruel ruler and a despot. But what exactly made him so bad, and was he really as bad as …

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European Exclaves 15:02

1M ago15:02

15:02

We have all looked at a map and seen all of the different countries represented by different colors. A country has some sort of border, and everything inside that border is what makes up the country. However, there are some exceptions. There are exclaves, which are bits of a country that are separated from the main landmass, and enclaves, which are…

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The Spanish Inquisition 15:54

1M ago15:54

15:54

At the end of the 15th century, Spain had almost completed the Reconquista and the removal of the Caliphate in the Iberian Peninsula, ending centuries of Islamic rule. One of the first things they did was usher in an attempt to unify and purify the country as a Catholic one, rather than a multi-religious one. After receiving permission from the Pop…

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Cyprus 17:07

1M ago17:07

17:07

Strategically located in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, with access to Europe, Asia, and Africa, is the island of Cyprus. Cyprus has a history that goes back as far as civilization itself, and it has had a history with almost every major civilization and empire around the Mediterranean.. Its history isn’t just a relic of the ancient world. It has r…

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The Invention of the Telephone (Encore) 15:30

1M ago15:30

15:30

The 19th century was one of rapid technological advancement. Of all of the innovations to come out of this century, and there were many, perhaps none was more important than that of the telephone. The telephone radically changed communications, allowing personal communications over long distances. Despite what many people are often told, this inven…

1
Rasputin 14:51

1M ago14:51

14:51

In the early 20th century, the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, the Tsarina Alexandra, welcomed a homeless monk into their home. As this scruff, unkempt-looking man became closer to the royal family, he seemingly performed miracles, predicted the future, and cured illnesses. He starts to gain influence over the Imperial Family, too much influ…

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Nuclear Power 15:59

1M ago15:59

15:59

One of the most important and least understood sources of energy in the world today is nuclear power. Nuclear power has an energy density tens of millions of times greater than fossil fuels and has one of the most impressive safety records of any energy source. Yet, for decades, controversy has surrounded it and has hindered its adoption. Learn mor…

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The Trail of Tears 15:13

1M ago15:13

15:13

Between 1830 and 1850, the United States forcibly displaced 60,000 Native Americans living in the Southern United States under the ‘Indian Removal Act.’ While being moved, thousands would die due to starvation, disease, and exposure. Its impact has led some scholars to classify the event as a genocide. Regardless of how it is classified, it remains…

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The 1956 Suez Crisis (Encore) 14:10

1M ago14:10

14:10

In 1956, one of the most important geopolitical events of the post-war period took place in Egypt. The Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, one of the most important waterways in the world. In response, a coalition of several countries tried to take it back. However, it didn’t go as planned, and it signaled a major res…

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Joan of Arc (Encore) 15:02

1M ago15:02

15:02

In 1428, a young girl from the village of Domrémy, France, audaciously set out to meet the heir apparent to the French throne, the Dauphin, and told him what he had to do to defeat the English occupying her country. She claimed that she was told what to do by God. Against all odds, the Dauphin took her advice, and it worked. After a series of milit…

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The Whiskey Rebellion (Encore) 13:37

1M ago13:37

13:37

In the late 18th century, the newly independent United States of America faced its first major domestic crisis. Settlers in its westernmost regions rose up in open armed rebellion against the government. The cause of the rebellion had to do with taxes, which was the very thing that the American Revolution was about in the first place. The rebellion…

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Frequent Flyer Programs 15:26

1M ago15:26

15:26

One of the things that almost every airline has in common is frequent flyer programs. Frequent flyer programs were initially designed for loyal customers who flew frequently. However, they eventually branched out to people who used certain credit cards and earned miles by making everyday purchases. These programs have become so popular that many ai…

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The Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio 14:41

1M ago14:41

14:41

Two of the most important concepts in the world of mathematics and nature are the Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio. These two concepts seem separate, but they are actually tightly intertwined. While they have been known since the ancient world, they are still highly relevant today and can be found all over nature. Best of all, despite being …

1
Amateur Radio 16:11

1M ago16:11

16:11

The early days of radio were like the wild west. There were no rules, and that lack of rules often led to problems. Eventually, frequency regulations were put into place, which left a large swatch of spectrum available to amateur radio operators. Over time, these operators created a worldwide community that predated the internet by decades. It is s…

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The Bank of England 16:03

2M ago16:03

16:03

In the late 17th century, King William III of England was facing a problem. He was in the middle of a prolonged war with France. He was in desperate need of money, and he had exhausted most of the traditional sources for funding a war. A proposal came forward for a new bank that could lend the crown money at favorable interest rates, and also solve…

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Yellowstone National Park (Encore) 15:01

2M ago15:01

15:01

Located in the state of Wyoming and a little bit of Montana and Idaho lies one of the greatest national parks on Earth: Yellowstone. In the 19th century, Yellowstone was declared the first national park in the world. However, what makes Yellowstone special actually dates back millions of years. The geologic circumstances that led to the creation of…

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The Soviet Bomb 15:03

2M ago15:03

15:03

On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested its first atomic bomb. The announcement shocked the world, especially the United States, which predicted the Soviets wouldn’t have Nuclear Weapons until the mid-1950s. The big question was, how did the Soviets make the bomb so fast? Well, the Americans inadvertently helped them, as did the re…

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The Great Leap Forward 15:19

2M ago15:19

15:19

In 1958, the People’s Republic of China instituted its second five-year plan since the revolution. Its goal was to rapidly industrialize China and boost agriculture to levels on par with the advanced economies of the Western world. China was going to become a modern country, not through the widespread adoption of machinery, but through the mass mob…

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The Banality of Evil 13:18

2M ago13:18

13:18

When you think of evil, characters like Hannibal Lecter, the Joker, and Michael Myers probably come to mind. But what is evil really? Evil can take different forms: sadistic and brutal, but it can also be boring and normalized. During the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann, political philosopher Hannah Arendt reported on the trial for the New Yorker Maga…