In April, 2010 鈥� 13 years ago this month 鈥� we did a segment on the concept of the 鈥渕esofact,鈥� a certain kind of data point that feels fixed even though it鈥檚 actually always slowly changing. (I鈥檇 add a link to that show, but our archive doesn鈥檛 actually go back that far.) And we鈥檝e gone back to the idea every now and again ever since.
Think about things like the world population or the Periodic Table of the Elements. Or think about our understanding of the health and nutritional value of red wine. Or coffee. Or how Brussels sprouts . Or what dinosaurs are supposed to look like.
This hour, an update on a bunch of mesofacts that we鈥檇 probably all lost track of, including and .
GUESTS:
- Samuel Arbesman: A scientist and writer; he is the author of and
- Jennifer Schuessler: A culture reporter covering intellectual life and the world of ideas for The New York Times
- Maddy Witt: An educator at the in Ely, Minnesota
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