Hi, I'm Lauren Volgebaum, host of the new House Stuff Works Now podcast. Every week, I'll be bringing you three stories from our team about the weird and wondrous developments we've seen in science, technology, and culture. Fresh episodes will be out every Monday on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, and everywhere else that find podcasts are found everybody. I imagine that you are curious like I am, about the
world about how things work. Right, That's probably why you're listening to the show and why I do the show well. I also want to share another show with you. It's called The Great Courses. Plus. It's not a show as much as it's this huge library of engaging video lectures presented by award winning professors and experts in their field.
You can learn about whatever interests you on here. They've got specific topics like black holes or World War two, or you can just drill down and browsed by category, find science, history, health, even travel and photography information. There's hundreds of fascinating courses on there, with new ones that they're adding all the time, and you get unlimited access to all of them, and you can stream them from anywhere, any time, on any device. The one I want to
recommend to you today is called The Intelligent Brain. Sounds perfect for brain Stuff, right. It is this really interesting look at research behind intelligence using brain imaging technology to explore the workings of human intelligence learning how to make ourselves smarter. That sounds great to me. It sounds like it would fit in right here. So here's what we'd like for you to do. Sign up for the Great Courses Plus today because get this, they are giving brain
Stuff listeners a special offer. You get an entire month of unlimited access to all of their lectures for free. Start your free month today. Go to the Great Courses Plus dot com slash brain Stuff. Remember that is the Great Courses Plus dot com slash brain Stuff. Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey everybody, this is brain Stuff. I'm Christian Seger, and I just got back
from a vacation. Here's the thing, though, If I were going out of the country, let's say, to sunny Bolivia, my whole trip would have hinged on one vital thing, my passport. But what is this thing exactly? Why do I need it to travel? Well, the first question has a pretty clear cut answer. A passport is a document issued by a government that verifies your identity and gives you the right to travel under its protection. The word passport comes from passport of Middle French phrase from around
the fifteen hundreds. However, the idea of a passport is positively ancient. You can find evidence of state sponsored travel documents dating from as far back as four hundred and fifty b c. And since that time these documents have existed in one form or another, with varying degrees of success. Since about the nineteen eighties, most passports have been regulated by a department of the United Nations called the International Civil Aviation Organization or I see A. Oh, so why
do you need one? Well, ultimately it goes down to proof of nationality. For example, let's say I was caught up in a vast conspiracy and I had to travel to the Vatican. That happens, right anyhow, I'm flying into Italy and I have to present some sort of proof that I'm really coming from where I say I am coming from. Otherwise, any old supervillain with a plausible Yankee
accent could stroll off their runway pretending to be an American. Right, So, possessing a passport is like having your country of origin vouched for you, assuring other nations that you are in fact the person you say you are. Keep in mind, however, that possession of a valid passport alone does not guarantee your entrance. Countries allow visitors at their own discretion, which means that in theory, they can refuse entry to pretty
much anyone at any time. So even if you have a valid passport, make sure to check the entry policies of the country you're visiting before you hop on that plane. And not everyone's happy with the passport system. In the Invention of the Passport, professor John Torpi argues that it is inherently a monopoly of the state, meaning a private company like say how Stuff Works, couldn't just slap my mug in a little book and send me off to Japan.
Religious organizations can't do this either. Not only do countries control the passport system, but the issuing country can revoke your passport at any time. And of course, not everyone has a passport either. Only about forty six percent of Americans had either a passport or the less comprehensive passport card. The percent who don't have one overwhelmingly didn't get it because well, they just didn't want the thing. However, pe
can end up without a passport for numerous reasons. Perhaps it's lost or stolen, in which case you'll need to contact your local consulate. In cases of war torn countries, refugees may not have a passport. Some people are even considered stateless, meaning the country they live in does not consider them a citizen. The United Nations has special laws describing how to issue travel documents in these cases, So
there you have it. In theory, almost every single person on the globe needs a passport or some sort of official document to travel. This official document could be something for an individual, or it could be an agreement between specific countries. At one point or another, there's no other way to legally travel. Virtually everyone needs something like this. Ah, but did you notice how I just said almost every
person and virtually everyone. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. There is one person in the world who can travel freely and legally without a passport or other documents. The Queen of England. True story. British passports are issued in the name of the Queen. Therefore, it's not necessary for her to have one. The rest of the family has to have a passport, though even the Princes William and Harry.
Check out the brain Stuff channel on YouTube, and for more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how staff works dot com.