Episode notes
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why helium is secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode.
Visit https://maximumfun.org/boco to get your digital art for Episode 200! There are also posters in the vault for Episodes 50, 100, and 150.
Get tickets to see us LIVE at the London Podcast Festival this September: https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/comedy/secretly-incredibly-fascinating/
LINKS FOR KATIE GOLDIN:
- Katie Goldin on TikTok
- Katie Goldin on Twitter
- @ProBirdRights
- ‘Creature Feature’ podcast (iHeartRadio)
- When Is a Bird a ‘Birb’? An Extremely Important Guide (Audubon)
RESOURCES USED TO INFORM THE EPISODE’S LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
- native-land.ca
- U.S. Department Of Arts And Culture
- The True Native New Yorkers Can Never Truly Reclaim Their Homeland (Smithsonian)
- “Finding Lenapehoking” (YouTube / Hudson River Maritime Museum)
- Why Do They Call It Beacon? (The Highlands Current)
- Dutch & Native American Heritage In The Hudson River Valley (National Park Service)
RESEARCH SOURCES:
- Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
- Introduction to the Atmosphere (U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
- Saturn’s atmosphere (The European Space Agency)
- Our Sun: Facts (NASA)
- How do stars die?: Black holes, neutron stars and red dwarfs – it all depends on the mass. (BBC Science Focus Magazine)
- Why exactly does helium make your voice sound so weird? (NPR / WHYY Philadelphia)
- Why does helium change your voice?: The surprising effect of helium is that it technically doesn’t make your voice higher. (BBC Science Focus Magazine)
- Scientists Gave a Crocodile Helium to Understand How Its Vocals Work (Mental Floss)
- Why does a recording increase in pitch when sped up? (BBC Science Focus Magazine)
- How Scientists Discovered Helium, the First Alien Element, 150 Years Ago (Smithsonian Magazine)
- This Month in Physics History: August 18 and October 20, 1868: Discovery of Helium (American Physical Society)
- Coronium, One of the Most Enduring Mysteries (and Mistakes) in Eclipse Science (Atlas Obscura)
- How high can a helium balloon float?: Helium makes your voice go high, but how close balloons go to space will surprise you. (BBC Science Focus Magazine)
- What happens to balloons that are released outside? (CBS News)
- We composted ‘biodegradable’ balloons. Here’s what we found after 16 weeks (The Conversation)
- The Global Helium Shortage Is Real, but Don’t Blame Party Balloons (The New York Times)
- Keeping An Eye on the Potential Shortage of Helium for MRIs (Radiological Society of North America)
- Explaining the global helium shortage (CBC News “The National” / YouTube)
- A Hidden Helium Bonanza Has Suddenly Appeared in Minnesota (Popular Mechanics)
- How the Qatar Crisis Shook Up the World’s Supply of Helium (The Atlantic)
- Huge New Trove of ‘Life-Saving’ Helium Is Discovered (Atlas Obscura)
- Primordial Helium May Be Leaking From Earth’s Core (Scientific American)
- Big Push Into Helium Could Have the World on Russia’s String (The New York Times)
- Whatever Happened to Airships? (JStor Daily)
- Airships and the Future That Never Was (99% Invisible)
- Goodyear Blimp web page for “Blimp Science”
- Helium Time Columns Monument — Amarillo, Texas (Atlas Obscura)
- Stewardship of the Federal Helium Program (Bureau of Land Management)
- Messer bid for federal helium assets accepted by Bureau of Land Management (ROI-NJ.com)
In this episode...
About the show
A weekly podcast about the history, science, lore and surprises that make everyday things secretly incredibly fascinating. Hosted by comedy writer, emoji creator, and ‘Jeopardy!‘ champion Alex Schmidt. Join Alex & his co-host Katie Goldin for a joyful deep dive into seeing the world a whole new way!
Get in touch with the show
@sifpod
@sifpod
SIF on Discord!People
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