Death By Derivatives

Death By Derivatives

Author: DamnInteresting.com November 20, 2017 Duration: 14:55
The opening of a canal in 1848 led to the birth of modern financial derivatives, and the early demise of some of the men who traded them

The stories that shape our world are often hidden in plain sight, waiting for the right moment to reveal their strange and significant details. That's the territory explored by Damn Interesting, a narrative-driven podcast from the team at DamnInteresting.com. Each episode is a deep and immersive dive into a true story, told with the care and pacing of an audiobook. You'll find yourself pulled into meticulously researched accounts from the overlapping realms of science, medicine, history, and human behavior. One week might unravel a forgotten medical mystery, while the next could detail a pivotal, overlooked moment in technological history or a psychological phenomenon that explains more than we'd like to admit. This podcast is built on the conviction that reality, when examined closely, is far more compelling than fiction. The narration is clear and engaging, designed to make complex subjects accessible and to transform historical footnotes into gripping narratives. It’s for anyone with a restless curiosity about the how and why of things, offering those satisfying moments of connection where disparate facts suddenly click into place. Listening feels like uncovering a series of fascinating secrets, each story selected for its inherent ability to surprise and make you reconsider a piece of the world.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 73

Damn Interesting
Podcast Episodes
The Remains of Doctor Bass [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:13
Under normal circumstances, one would expect a wandering throng of students to demonstrate animated displeasure upon encountering a human corpse in the woods; particularly a corpse as fragrant and festering as that which…
The City Under Ice [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:55
The story of Camp Century: A "nuclear city" under the Greenland ice sheet that was not entirely what it seemed.
Otokichi's Long Trip Home [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 12:24
While most of the major powers of western Europe spent the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries racing around the world carving out empires for themselves, Japan felt threatened by the influx of foreigners and ended up spendin…
The Conductor [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:43
The story of Roy Sullivan. A different kind of Damn Interesting episode.
Andrée and the Aeronauts' Voyage to the Top of the World [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:44
On the 11th of July 1897, the world breathlessly awaited word from the small Norwegian island of Danskøya in the Arctic Sea. Three gallant Swedish scientists stationed there were about to embark on an enterprise of histo…
The Mole Rat Prophecies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:15
The naked mole rat, Heterocephalus glaber, is fleshy, furless, buck-toothed and brazenly ugly. Yet what these small East African rodents lack in terms of good looks, they make up with an impressive array of biological qu…
The Smoldering Ruins of Centralia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:40
There is a small town in Pennsylvania called Ashland where Route 61's northbound traffic is temporarily branched onto a short detour. Exactly what the detour is circumventing is not immediately clear to travelers, howeve…
The Spy Who Loved Nothing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:13
The meeting had not gone well, the man gloomily reflected as he was driven out of East Berlin. His head was still heavy after a few too many snifters of cognac. The American's ambitious scheme to build a life and career…
The Isle of Doctor Seaborg [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:03
It was the summer of 1936 when Ernest Lawrence, the inventor of the atom-smashing cyclotron, received a visit from Emilio Segrè, a scientific colleague from Italy. Segrè explained that he had come all the way to America…
The Arizona Dragonslayer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:12
A simple telegram plunged America into the Great War. The Zimmermann telegram, intercepted by American intelligence in April 1917, revealed Germany’s efforts to encourage Mexico to invade the United States. For a towhead…