In 1900, Greek sponge divers sheltering from a storm off the small island of Antikythera found the wreck of an ancient ship. Among the statues and treasures they brought up was a lump of corroded bronze that nobody paid much attention to. Inside it were gears.

More than two thousand years old, the Antikythera mechanism is a hand-cranked device that tracked the sun and moon, predicted eclipses, and even counted down to the Olympic Games. Nothing like it appears again for well over a thousand years. This episode follows its discovery, the century of detective work it took to read it, and what it tells us about ancient Greek science. We also sort the record from the legend, including what "ancient computer" really means and the wilder theories about who made it.

Created with the assistance of AI, using an AI model of the host's voice, and checked against the historical record.

In January 1922, at Toronto General Hospital, a 14-year-old boy named Leonard Thompson was dying of diabetes. At the time, a diagnosis meant a starvation diet and, usually, death within months. Then doctors gave him an injection of a new extract made in a University of Toronto laboratory.

This episode follows the unlikely team behind it: Frederick Banting, a young surgeon with an idea, the student Charles Best, the professor J.J.R. Macleod, and the chemist James Collip, who made the extract pure enough to use. It follows the breakthrough, the bitter fights over credit, and the Nobel Prize that followed. We also sort the record from the legend, including the story of the patent sold for a single dollar.

Created with the assistance of AI, using an AI model of the host's voice, and checked against the historical record.

In June 1813, during the War of 1812, Laura Secord learned that American troops were planning a surprise attack on a British outpost in the Niagara region. Her husband was still recovering from wounds, so she went herself, walking some 30 kilometres through woods, swamps and enemy territory to warn Lieutenant James FitzGibbon.

Days later, at the Battle of Beaver Dams, Indigenous warriors ambushed the American column, and the Americans surrendered. This episode follows Laura's walk, the battle, and the decades she waited to be recognised. We also sort the record from the legend, including the famous cow she supposedly brought along as cover, and how her name ended up on a box of chocolates.

Created with the assistance of AI, using an AI model of the host's voice, and checked against the historical record.