Showing results by narrator "Ellouise Rothwell" in All Categories

Bubonic plague is widely regarded as being responsible for two of the most infamous plagues in recorded history - the Black Death in the mid-14th century and the great plague of London in 1665. The causative organism of modern-day plague was discovered independently in 1894 by two bacteriologists: the Swiss born Dr. Alexandre Yersin and Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato from Japan.

Mystery and misconception surround the geisha. At first glance, she may appear to be rather average looking, heavily clad in a weighty costume and an excess of make-up. But behind this mask lies a range of artistic skills and social etiquettes of immense importance to Japanese culture, past and present.

Learn about the Great Fire of London with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Before the Great Fire, the City of London was filled with crowded, timber-framed buildings with thin, plaster walls. Candles, rushlights, coals and fireplaces were omnipresent, and the risk of fire was paramount.The Great Fire of London is believed to have been started by the baker Thomas Farrynger shortly after midnight on Sunday, 2 September 1666, in his shop on Pudding Lane, just East of London Bridge.

Learn about the Rosetta Stone with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. In 196 BCE, priests of all the gods of Upper and Lower Egypt assembled at Memphis to celebrate the accession to the throne of the boy king Ptolemy V. He was already in the ninth year of his reign, but this was the first time that such a momentous gathering as this had taken place.

The House of Plantagenet was a royal house of 15 monarchs who ruled England from 1154-1485. The Plantagenets originally came from France, where they ruled a county called Anjou. They were a strange and powerful family, complex and prone to insanity. Their founder, Count Fulk III (known as "The Black"), had his wife burned at the stake in her wedding dress when he discovered she was sleeping with a goatherd.

Learn about REM sleep with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. REM is an important component of sleep. But sleep itself is a difficult phenomenon to study, because it is such an insular process. Dreams in particular are highly elusive for the researcher of sleep. As dreaming is a "state of mind", theories concerning it are frustratingly convoluted and highly theory-based, with any advancement unlikely to be supported by hard evidence.

The aurora borealis, often referred to as the Northern Lights, is a natural light-show that appears in the sky around the north magnetic pole. Auroras can sometimes be seen in other places of the world, but not as clearly. In the southern hemisphere, the phenomenon is called "aurora australis".

Learn about the principal of habeas corpus with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Habeas corpus is a Latin phrase that means "have the body". It is a legal writ, or order, that a court may make, requiring a prisoner to be brought before it so that the lawfulness of his or her detention may be determined. The fundamental principle behind the writ is that no-one should be detained without cause.

Learn about Murphy's Law with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Murphy's Law is a tongue-in-cheek and rather pessimistic adage of eight simple words: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The translation of these words into "Murphy's Law" was in honour of US aerospace engineer Edward Aloysius Murphy Junior.

Learn about the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. The Bermuda Triangle is a large stretch of ocean in the Caribbean. It is infamous for numerous unexplained disappearances of boats and aircraft. What goes on in the Bermuda Triangle is one of the world's greatest mysteries. Many believe supernatural phenomena or extra-terrestrial activity occurs there.

Learn about the Seven Archangels with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. The history of Angels rests predominantly in the Middle East. Other cultures had gods, goddesses or faeries, but in the Middle East they worshiped angels as their gods. Once the idea of a single all powerful God evolved, however, it was necessary to create another space for angels. And so, they became known as mediators between the newly created all powerful God and his servants - humankind- on Earth.

Confucius was a Chinese philosopher, teacher, and political figure. His teachings have profoundly influenced Asian thought and life. The impact of his life and intellectual ideas have changed human history and it can be argued that he is the most influential philosopher who ever lived.

Learn about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. In 1997, a Californian man named Charles Moore was sailing home from Hawaii after competing in a boat race. On a whim, he decided to change course and head through a part of the eastern Pacific Ocean known as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Known to seafarers as "the doldrums", this is an area of light or no wind and little boat traffic.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is one of the world's most famous conspiracy theories. It is a statement of prejudice and paranoia, a fake historical record and a grand hoax all rolled into one.

According to most economics textbooks, human beings are super-rational creatures who know what is in their own best interests and always act accordingly. When making a decision to purchase, the rational consumer would not buy something on the spur of the moment, or on the recommendation of a friend. Sound realistic?

Learn about the mysterious Hope Diamond with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series.

The 45.52-carat Hope Diamond is the largest deep-blue diamond in the world. In its body of less than one cubic inch, it holds a history dripping with mystery, conspiracy, and celebrity. It is now housed behind three inches of bulletproof glass in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and looks out at a world fixated with its beauty and history.

Learn about the story behind the tradition of Thanksgiving with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Thanksgiving is a North American festival. It commemorates the good fortune its founders encountered when they arrived in the New World. In Canada, Thanksgiving is held on the second Monday of October. In the United States of America, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.

Learn about the development of burlesque performance with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Burlesque is a theatrical performance concerned with parody and exaggeration. But it didn't originate in the theatre. In fact, the term 'burlesque' is believed to have originally come from the Spanish word for joke, which was "burla". The term "burlesque" was used for satirical literary works from medieval times up until the 18th century.

Learn about the feeling of déjà vu with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. When Charles Dickens wrote in his 1850 novel David Copperfield about "a feeling, that comes over us occasionally, of what we are saying and doing having been said and done before", he may well have been referring to the experience of déjà vu.

Learn about lobbying with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. In a perfect world, elected officials in democratic countries would make decisions in the public interest after considering issues objectively and impartially. This is how parliaments and other representative bodies are supposed to work. In reality, however, politicians around the world are subject to a range of influences and pressures that can distort the political process.