Science Diction
Science Diction is a podcast about words and the science stories behind them.
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Each episode of Science Diction takes a word or phrase, and with the help of historians, authors, etymologists, and scientists, serves up language with a side of science.
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The Origin Of The Word ‘Alcohol’
“The cause of (and solution to) all life’s problems” is derived from Arabic. But the word ‘alcohol’ originally referred to a method of manufacturing makeup, among other things.
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The Origin Of The Word ‘Meme’
What does LOLcats have to do with evolutionary biology?
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The Origin Of The Word ‘Quarantine’
‘Trentino’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
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The Origin Of The Word ‘Cocaine’
It’s a tale of a leaf, a graduate student, and alkaloid science.
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The Origin Of The Word ‘Quark’
It’s a tale of particle physics, Aristotle, and James Joyce.