Inspire Science

Accidents happen. Sometimes that’s a good thing. Did you realize cheese puffs, Coca-Cola, Bubble Wrap, and the Post-it note were all invented by accident? This audiobook covers fascinating origin stories of 60 everyday items that were invented by accident; that is, the inventor did not expect to make the product when the product was discovered. Not only will this audiobook share amazing stories about everyday products, but it will also inspire you. We all encounter things that go wrong, and this audiobook reminds us that when life gives lemons, we can make lemonade.

The latest adventure from best-selling author Ben Fogle explores what we can learn from nature about living well and living wild. What can rowing across the Atlantic teach us about boredom and about patience? Can coming down from Everest take more resilience than climbing up in the first place? How can the isolation of the South Pole highlight what’s most important? And how can we tap into the same reflective state in our daily lives?

Paul W. Fairman (1916-1977) was the author of not one - but two stories for science fiction magazines that were later purchased and transformed into classic 1950s drive-in theater horror fare. Oddly both tales were published in the same year, 1953, two months apart. The first, "Deadly City" appeared in the March 1953 issue of Worlds of If, under Fairman's "Ivar Jorgensen" pseudonym; and was filmed as Target Earth (1954).

This essay comes from the NPR series This I Believe, which features brief personal reflections from both famous and unknown Americans. The pieces that make up the series compel listeners to rethink not only what and how they have arrived at their beliefs, but also the extent to which they share them with others.

Albert Einstein became one of the most important scientists in history for his discoveries about physics and how our universe works. Before everyone knew him as a genius, Albert was a curious kid who loved reading, learning, and experimenting with new ideas. He asked big questions and wasn’t afraid to make mistakes. Explore how Albert Einstein went from being a young Jewish boy growing up in Germany to the most celebrated physicist ever.

The Will of Heaven is the powerful true story of how one woman overcame a debilitating addiction - rising from the courtrooms of her past to the grass plains of Kenya as a conservation research scientist. It was there she could finally fulfill her lifelong dream of working with wild elephants.

On June 17, 2015, 12 members of the historically black Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina welcomed a young white man to their evening Bible study. He arrived with a pistol, 88 bullets, and hopes of starting a race war. Dylann Roof’s massacre of nine innocents during their closing prayer horrified the nation. In Grace Will Lead Us Home, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jennifer Berry Hawes provides a definitive account of the tragedy’s aftermath.

Renowned astrophysicist, Dr. Noel Clay, has an impossible dilemma. He is faced with putting his reputation at risk by announcing something that will make him the laughing stock of the scientific community. He invites an eclectic mix of scientists, theologians, and world celebrities to a secret destination to try and explain what it is he has learned. Not knowing what to expect and fearing the worst, he decides to declare his intentions even though he knows the outcome will ruin everything he has stood for throughout his life.

This essay comes from the NPR series This I Believe, which features brief personal reflections from both famous and unknown Americans. The pieces that make up the series compel listeners to rethink not only what and how they have arrived at their beliefs, but also the extent to which they share them with others.

Did you know a group of bunnies is called a fluffle? Or that the people who voiced Mickey and Minnie Mouse were married in real life? How about this one: In ancient Persia, government officials debated laws twice - once sober and once drunk? We could all use a little good news right now. Comedian and writer Emily Winter is here to tell you confidently that there is kindness, beauty, empathy, humor, resilience, wonder, silliness, cuteness, strength, hope, and joy in our world.

Here’s a little-kept secret: liberals, independents, and conservatives all own firearms. Gun ownership is one of the few issues that crosses all sides of the aisle. In their book, Guns and Self-Defense: 23 Inspirational True Crime Stories of Survival with Firearms, Robert A. Waters and Sim Waters describe exciting true stories in which a cross-section of Americans used guns to fend off violent assailants.

The story is inspired by real dreams and a variety of moments in life that remained to vivid to forget. It is a Mythical Fictional Story of Crystal Powers and the Origin of Time. For Lena, in her dreams, sometimes she would touch the surface of the crystal and time would stop. It allowed her to go anywhere and only she was moving. In the story, the dreams continued and became a passion of hers to try and understand what the meaning of these dreams were.

After obtaining a married status contract in 1989, I worked on a five-star hotel project down on the Turkish Mediterranean Coast. Here, due to my wife and I loving both the people and area, we bought some land with a Turkish friend and had a house built. This turned out to be a major change in our lives, with our moving from our home in Plymouth to live in the Turkish countryside, just a short distance from what is now the resort town of Kemer. This move proved an excellent one, as we enjoyed many happy years among friendly people.

AquaLuna intends to be the first company to mine underground water near the lunar South Pole, opening up thriving commerce between the Earth, the Moon, and beyond. When precocious sixteen year-old Tom Gordon accompanies his father, the AL Executive V.P., to the company’s base at Haworth Crater, he has no idea the adventure and danger he’ll encounter or how his life will be forever changed.

For generations, the rangers of Black Water Island have guarded the Old Herd against the horrors released by the Rift. And Cal West, an apprentice ranger, fights daily to prove he belongs within their ranks. But even greater challenges await with the return of his childhood friend Meg Archer and the onset of a new threat that not even the rangers are prepared for. Now Meg and Cal, while struggling with their mutual attraction, must face their darkest fears to save the island from disaster.

Explaining power and privilege and the links between individual safety and community safety, Cristien Storm shows listeners how to set emotional boundaries that build vibrant social movements and a better world for all.

In A Long Time Coming, a compelling narrative by Evan Thomas, Newsweek shares the inside stories from one of the most exciting elections in recent history, illuminating the personalities and events that influenced the outcome, and taking stock of the key players and key issues for the new administration.

After an experiment goes horribly wrong, a brilliant but obsessive scientist spends decades perfecting a way to alter history and correct his mistake. His time-tampering efforts draw the attention of an old rival, who likewise seeks to alter time for his own nefarious purposes. For a Better Yesterday takes readers on a history-bending journey across space and time, and culminates in an ending that defies reality itself!

As a politics and as a practice, abolitionism has increasingly shaped our political moment, amplified through the worldwide protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a uniformed police officer. It is at the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement, in its demands for police defunding and demilitarisation and a halt to prison construction. And it is there in the outrage that greeted the brutal treatment of women by police at the 2021 Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard.

Solveig and her shieldmaiden have finally made it to Waterstone, a fabled city hidden in a world of frost by ancient magic. Shrouded from the Enemy’s gaze, they are safe to rest and regroup—or so they think. Sol suspects their hosts are not as benevolent as they seem. Whispers race through the halls, hinting at self-serving agendas and secret plots. So, as Sol attempts to harness her awakened magic, she must fight for her voice to be heard or risk being used like a pawn in the greater game.