All Our Yesterdays

8. Early Ancient China

A new civilization rises in the East, bringing sophisticated organization, profound philosophy, and bodies buried in city walls. 

7. Encrypted History: The Indus Valley and Minoan Civilizations

The Indus Valley Civilization and the Minoan Civilization were both highly advanced, highly influential nations of the ancient world, yet our knowledge of them is obscured by our inability to decipher their writing systems (Indus Valley Script and Linear A). Hear Lance Fever Myers, William Gold, and L.B. Deyo struggle to draw deep knowledge from limited archaeological evidence. They will fail and so, dear listener will you!

6. Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids

The splendor of life, death and rebirth in the Old Kingdom of unified Egypt. Life on the banks of the Nile and in the shadow of the pyramids, amid the wealth and power of the early dynasties. Imhotep, the first great genius of history, who started as a common man but became a vizier, a god, and then a monster. 

5. The Dawn of Civilization

Cities. Writing. The wheel. The plow. Literature and epic poetry. Irrigation systems. The sailboat. Beer. The concept of time. These are all inventions of the first great civilization, Mesopotamia, and all of them were to be found in the first city of history, Uruk. Join Lance, L.B. and producer William Gold for a discussion of how the story of history began. 
 

4. The Prehistory of Humanity

Was the prehistoric human a rough beast crouching in the forest primeval, capable only of subsistence and superstition? Or were early homo sapiens brave, adventurous, and rich in culture? What distinguishes the human species? 

3. Life--uh--Finds a Way

The primordial Earth. The age of planetesimal bombardment. The origins and nature of life. Cosmic rays and plate tectonics, watery asteroids and organic chemicals. The Fermi Paradox, the Drake Equation, and the mystery of our apparently unique existence as living things in the universe. Join L.B. and Lance as they grapple with the seemingly incomprehensible.

2. Lives of a Quark

In the second episode, Lance and L.B. follow a single quark through its 9 billion year journey into the expanding universe.

1. The Big Bang

And away we go, with the beginning of everything.