spokewiki - hear more than headlines
Space

Mars

is the fourth planet from the Sun known as The Red Planet due to its iron-oxide and had its first rover landing in 1997 from NASAx.

48 min (27mb) - recorded January 26, 2024
USABusiness

openai

is a research lab based in San Francisco, California. Founded in 2015, the company's mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity but more recently, they are making news headlines for their lack of openness.

41 min (22mb) - recorded January 26, 2024
China

Great Firewall

first appeared in 1997, it is a system of censorship that blocks websites and content that the chinese government deems inappropriate or harmful to its citizens.

25 min (13mb) - recorded January 8, 2024
Environment

Paris Agreement

in 2016, an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, was signed and now ratified by 195 countries.

34 min (19mb) - recorded January 2, 2024
Health

Down Syndrome

is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is typically associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual disability, and characteristic facial features.

44 min (23mb) - recorded January 1, 2024
USA

Trinity Nuclear Test

was the code name for the first detonation of a 25 kiloton plutonium nuclear weapon, conducted by the United States Army on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project tested in New Mexico. The movie Oppenheimer is based on this event.

48 min (25mb) - recorded January 1, 2024
Holidays

Christmas

Celebrated each year on Dec 25, it commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily by Christians around the world.

49 min (26mb) - recorded December 23, 2023
Celebrity

Matthew Perry

is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, executive producer, screenwriter, and playwright who gained worldwide recognition for his role as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom Friends, which ran from 1994 to 2004.

17 min (9mb) - recorded November 26, 2023
Health

Influenza (flu)

is an infectious disease caused by four different types of virus. Each year, roughly 5-15% of the population will get sick and 650,000 respiratory-related deaths occur globally each year.

51 min (27mb) - recorded November 26, 2023
Crypto

Bitcoin

is a cryptocurrency invented in 2008 by an unknown person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto and started in 2009 and turned viral in 2018 with huge increase in value.

49 min (27mb) - recorded November 26, 2023
HealthAddiction

Opioid Epidemic

is the rapid increase in the use of prescription and non-prescription opioid drugs in the United States and Canada in the 2010s. Opioids are a diverse class of moderately strong painkillers, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl.

28 min (16mb) - recorded November 25, 2023
Health

Common Cold

is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract that primarily affects the nose, throat, sinuses, and larynx that may appear fewer than two days after exposure to the virus and people usually recover in seven to ten days.

18 min (10mb) - recorded November 25, 2023
Sports

Basketball

created in 1891, it is a sport in which two teams of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball through the defender's hoop while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop.

45 min (24mb) - recorded November 25, 2023
BusinessUSA

Paypal

was founded as Confinity in 1998, acquired X.com in 2000, and went public as Paypal in 2002, operating a worldwide online payments system that supports online money transfers and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods.

48 min (25mb) - recorded Nov 25, 2023
Space

Moon

The Moon is an astronomical body orbiting Earth as its only natural satellite. It is the fifth-largest satellite in the Solar System, and by far the largest among planetary satellites relative to the size of the planet that it orbits.

49 min (26mb) - recorded Nov 24, 2023
PoliticsChina

Xi Jinping

is serving as the President of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since 2013 after rising through the ranks politically in China's coastal provinces including being governor of Fujian, vice president of the PRC and vice chairman of the CMC.

53 min (28mb) - recorded Nov 24, 2023
BusinessUSA

Costco

is a membership-only bulk warehouse club started in 1983 in Settle, Washington, and now has 800 stores worldwide with 250k employees making it the third largest retailer in the world.

38 min (20mb) - recorded Nov 24, 2023
BusinessUSA

Black Friday

the day after Thanksgiving, is a shopping holiday in the United States and many other countries. It is a day when retailers offer promotional sales and discounts to kick off the holiday shopping season, sometimes with stores opening as early as midnight.

39 min (21mb) - recorded Nov 23, 2023
BusinessUSA

Media Matters for America

is a non-profit progressive research and information center started in 2004, dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the US media. Many large advertisers stopped their ads after Media Matters released a report about the social network X that is triggering a lawsuit.

21 min (11mb) - recorded Nov 20, 2023
Holidays

Thanksgiving

In the United States, it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November as a day to give thanks for the harvest and of the preceding year with family and friends. It is also celebrated in Canada, Grenada, the Philippines, Saint Lucia, and Liberia.

21 min (11mb) - recorded Nov 19, 2023
Sports

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a 22-yard pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps.

45 min (23mb) - recorded Nov 19, 2023
PoliticsUSA

Mike Johnson

Is a Republican politician and U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 4th congressional district since 2017. On October 25, 2023, following the ousting of Kevin McCarthy, Johnson was elected as the 56th speaker of the House.

29 min (15mb) - recorded Nov 18, 2023
BusinessUSA

Barbie Doll

The most popular American doll was created in 1959 by Ruth Handler and hitting the news again as its new movie was released July 2023.

33 min (17mb) - recorded Nov 18, 2023
HolidaysIndia

Diwali

also known as Deepavali, is one of the most significant festivals in India, celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs. The festival symbolizes the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. It is a five-day festival that is typically celebrated in October or November.

33 min (17mb) - recorded Nov 15, 2023
PoliticsUSA

Jim Jordan

Is a Republican politician and U.S. Representative for Ohio's 4th congressional district since 2007. He is a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, and currently attempting to become the Speaker of the House.

25 min (9mb) - recorded Aug 20, 2023
Health

Leprosy

Is a chronic infectious disease caused by bacterium that attacks the skin, peripheral nerves, and sometimes the upper respiratory tract and eyes. It is a very slow-growing and is not as contagious as many people think. It is making headlines due to new case uptick in Florida.

41 min (14mb) - recorded Aug 20, 2023
USA

Robert Oppenheimer

Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist and director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the father of the atomic bomb.

68 min (24mb) - recorded Aug 4, 2023
Environment

Urban Heat Island

Occurs in urban or metropolitan area that are significantly warmer, often at night, than its surrounding rural areas due to structures like asphalt roads that trap and store heat

25 min (9mb) - recorded July 16, 2023
AccidentsUSA

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Occurred on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. It is considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.

69 min (24mb) - recorded July 13, 2023
PoliticsVietnam

Nine-Dash Line

Is a demarcation line in the contested territorial claims of the People's Republic of China (mainland China) and the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the South China Sea. On July 3, 2023 Vietnam banned the film Barbie over the map it used in the film.

17 min (6mb) - recorded July 9, 2023
PoliticsRussia

Wagner Group (Russia)

The Wagner Group is a Russian paramilitary organization formed in 2014, it operates in support of Russian interests

73 min (25mb) - recorded June 24, 2023
PoliticsUSA

Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas is an American lawyer and jurist who serves on the Supreme Court of the United States since 1991 and is in the news for accepting luxury trips for two decades and failed to report them.

63 min (23mb) - recorded June 24, 2023
HolidaysUSA

Juneteenth

Juneteenth is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. Originating in Galveston, Texas, it is now celebrated annually on June 19 throughout the United States, with increasing official recognition.

25 min (9mb) - recorded June 17, 2023
AI

Hard Problem of Consciousness

When looking at new artificial intelligent (AI), lots of people ask if AI is conscious, yet even asking that questions about animals is a difficult to say yes to.

37 min (13mb) - recorded May 28, 2023
Addiction

Twelve Step Program

Developed in 1930 as an international mutual aid program supporting recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions and compulsions with the first group started by Alcoholics Anonymous.

14 min (5mb) - recorded May 19, 2023
BusinessUSA

YouTube

launched in 2005, YouTube is now the second most popular site behind Google search, serving more than 2.5 billion monthly users, who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos each day

90 min (31mb) - recorded May 13, 2023
PoliticsUSA

Tucker Carlson

Tucker is an American political commentator, writer, and television personality, who hosted many political talk show and was recently let go from the Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News.

74 min (26mb) - recorded May 7, 2023
SpaceUSA

SpaceX Starship

SpaceX Starship is a fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle under development by SpaceX, intended to be capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

20 min (13mb) - recorded Apr 27, 2023
PoliticsUSA

Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-born American media mogul and billionaire who controls a global media empire that includes The Sun, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Fox News and the book publisher HarperCollins.

47 min (17mb) - recorded Apr 21, 2023
Business

Crossfit

Cross Discipline Fitness is a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout that combines weightlifting, gymnastics, and cardio that started their first gym in Santa Cruz, California in 2000, and by 2018 has 15,000 gyms in 160 countries.

19 min (7mb) - recorded Apr 17, 2023
PoliticsUSA

Patriot Act

The Patriot Act was enacted in 2001 with the stated goal of tightening national security: expanded surveillance abilities of law enforcement, easier interagency communication and increased penalties for crimes and an expanded list which would qualify for terrorism charges.

75 min (26mb) - recorded Apr 17, 2023
BusinessUSA

Resort Fees

When traveling, ever wonder when and where resort fees came from? Turns out 1997 some US hotels started adding this line item.

18 min (7mb) - recorded Apr 16, 2023
PoliticsUSA

2023 Pentagon Document Leak

In April 2023, classified documents from the United States began circulating online that is causing diplomatic incidents for a number of countries.

25 min (9mb) - recorded Apr 15, 2023
AccidentsBusinessUSA

Silicon Valley Bank

On March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank is the second largest bank collapse in US history but FDIC backed all depositors with full protection to get their money out.

16 min (6mb) - recorded Mar 31, 2023
USA

Stormy Daniels

In 2018 Daniels became involved in a legal dispute with U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump's attorney Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to silence her about an affair she says she had with Trump in 2006.

12 min (4mb) - recorded Apr 5, 2023
PoliticsUSA

Stormy Daniels Donald Trump scandal

Back in October 2016, Michael Cohen made a $130k payment to Stormy Daniels to not disclose an affair between her and Donald Trump, then multiple lawsuits occurred until 2023 when a Manhattan Grand Jury indicted Trump.

29 min (10mb) - recorded Mar 31, 2023
AccidentsUSA

Times Beach Dioxin Contamination

Back in 1980s, a small town by St. Louis, was evacuated after a chemical factory paid a local waste oil company that was unaware of proper handling and used the waste oil to spray on land as dust control.

20 min (7mb) - recorded Mar 25, 2023
Accidents

MH370 Disappearance

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was an international passenger flight that disappeared on March 8, 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia to Beijing and recent Netflix docuseries.

90 min (33mb) - recorded Mar 22, 2023
Holidays

Valentine's Day

Every Feb 14, people around the world celebrate Valentine's Day, some have been celebrating since the 8th century but others started in 1990s while still others have banned it.

34 min (12mb) - recorded Feb 13, 2023
USAChina

2023 Chinese Balloon Incident

On Jan 28 to Feb 4, 2023 an unknown balloon floated over the United States and was ultimately shot down after passing over North Carolina.

25 min (9mb) - recorded Feb 12, 2023
AccidentsUSA

2023 Ohio Derailment

On Feb 3, 2023 a train carrying hazardous chemicals like vinyl chloride derailed in east border of Ohio causing evacuations.

5 min (2mb) - recorded Feb 12, 2023
AIBusiness

ChatGPT

Launched in Nov 2022, this chatbot has shown impressive answers and confidently incorrect replies to a variety of questions leading to some sites banning its use.

13 min (5mb) - recorded Jan 14, 2023
PoliticsBrazil

Jair Bolsonaro

In Oct 2022, Jair lost his reelection campaign for president of Brazil, but his supports stormed the capital in Jan 2023.

37 min (13mb) - recorded Jan 9, 2023
PoliticsUSA

Kevin McCarthy

In Jan 2023, after 15 rounds of voting, Kevin McCarthy of California finally received a majority vote for speaker of the House.

37 min (13mb) - recorded Jan 8, 2023
Holidays

Boxing Day

On Dec 26, many European and other countries celebrate by giving gifts to the poor.

16 min (6mb) - recorded Jan 7, 2023
BusinessUSA

Southwest Airlines

In Dec 2022, Southwest Airlines made headlines with thousands of cancelled flights during the December holiday rush.

23 min (8mb) - recorded Jan 1, 2023
PoliticsUSA

Andrew Tate

In Dec 2022, Andrew Tate was arrested in Romania, find out about his background as a kickboxer turned social media personality.

9 min (3mb) - recorded Dec 30, 2022
PoliticsUSA

George Santos

In Dec 2022, George Santos was elected to New York's 3rd district in the House of Representatives and then admitted his background was false.

22 min (8mb) - recorded Dec 28, 2022
USA

United States Constitution

Written in 1787, hear the original unabridged document creating the 3 branches of government before the 27 amendments.

25 min (9mb) - recorded Dec 27, 2022
ChinaBusiness

TikTok

Created in 2016 by ByteDance, TikTok is a popular short video social networking app that has been getting in recent news by countries banning its use.

57 min (20mb) - recorded Dec 14, 2022
Crypto

Samuel Bankman-Fried

In Nov 2022, this 30 year old billionaire ran a crypto exchange for 3 years called FTX, which suddenly collapses due to a solvency issue.

14 min (5mb) - recorded Dec 12, 2022
Russia

Victor Bout

In Dec 2022, a Russian Arms Dealer that was arrested in 2008 is in the prisoner exchange to release Brittney Griner.

16 min (5mb) - recorded Dec 8, 2022
USA

Railway Labor Act

In Nov 2022, the railroad unions are rejecting labor deals but find out why Congress can force them not to strike.

10 min (4mb) - recorded Nov 23, 2022
Business

Ticketmaster

In Nov 2022, after issues with the release of a new Taylor Swift concert, Ticketmaster is being investigated by the Department of Justice.

18 min (6mb) - recorded Nov 19, 2022
Russia

Brittany Griner

In Feb 2022, Brittany Griner, a Olympic gold medalist and WNBA basketball player, was arrested and charged in Russia for possession of less than 1 gram of cannabis oil.

27 min (10mb) - recorded Nov 17, 2022
Space

Artemis 1

On Nov 16, 2022, NASA launched the Artemis 1 mission to deploy ten cubesat around the moon.

21 min (7mb) - recorded Nov 16, 2022
PoliticsUSA

Kari Lake

The 2022 Arizona Governor race placed Kari Lake in national news with slow midterm results.

13 min (5mb) - recorded Nov 15, 2022
Crypto

Binance (crypto exchange)

Binance came into the news to buy out FTX crypto exchange, hear how they got started.

12 min (5mb) - recorded Nov 12, 2022
USAPolitics

John Fetterman

In Nov 2022, John Fetterman ran against Dr. Oz for senator seat in Pennsylvania

34 min (12mb) - recorded Nov 9, 2022
United Kingdom

Rishi Sunak

On Oct 25, 2022, Rishi was elected the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

34 min (12mb) - recorded Nov 7, 2022
USA

Powerball Lottery

Every couple months Powerball makes the news for an even larger jackpot, hear how this lottery got started in 1992

29 min (10mb) - recorded Nov 6, 2022
Holidays

Halloween

Every year at the end of October, people around the world celebrate this after harvest festival but how did it come about?

49 min (17mb) - recorded Nov 5, 2022
Accidents

Crowd Crush

Crowd crushes are catastrophic incidents that can occur when a gathering of people becomes dangerously overcrowded.

14 min (5mb) - recorded Nov 4, 2022
USAPolitics

Candace Owens

Appearing in lots of recent news, find out how Candace Owen got her start with 'no interest in politics whatsoever prior to 2015', and her path to where is she is now.

29 min (10mb) - recorded Oct 17, 2022
USAPolitics

Reedy Creek Improvement District

Find out why in 1967, Disney got its own governmental district near Orlando, Florida called Reedy Creek Improvement District

16 min (5mb) - recorded Oct 17, 2022
Russia

2022 Russia Invasion of Ukraine

On February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014.

86 min (30mb) - recorded Oct 17, 2022
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