From teenage country prodigy to global pop icon, Taylor Swift has built a career defined by reinvention, resilience, and razor-sharp strategy. In this episode of Brain Bites, we dive into her journey—from writing songs in her bedroom to rewriting the rules of the music industry. We’ll explore her genre-hopping transformations, her battles with streaming giants, the master recordings saga, and the cultural tidal wave of the Eras Tour. Swift isn’t just making music—she’s reshaping the very idea of modern stardom.

Remember Friday nights at Blockbuster? Wandering the aisles, picking out movies, and dreading late fees? At its peak, Blockbuster had over 9,000 stores worldwide and was worth billions. And then, almost overnight, it was gone.

In this Brain Bites: Business & Tech episode, we dive into the rise and fall of Blockbuster — how it built a cultural empire, why it laughed off Netflix, and the decisions that led to one of the most famous business failures in history. From late fees to streaming wars, this is the story of how a giant collapsed, and the lessons it left behind.

Cleopatra and the pyramids — we usually picture them together. But here’s the mind-bending truth: the Great Pyramid of Giza was already ancient history by the time Cleopatra was born. In fact, Cleopatra lived closer in time to the invention of the iPhone than to the construction of the pyramids.

In this Brain Bites: History episode, we explore the real world of Cleopatra — her cosmopolitan Alexandria, her political genius, and her fight to keep Egypt independent against the rise of Rome. Along the way, we uncover why the way we picture “ancient Egypt” is more myth than reality, and what this timeline twist tells us about how we see history itself.