The Ninth Legion (Legio IX Hispana, also sometimes called the "Lost Legion") had a long history. It served under the command of Julius Caesar during the First Century BC, on the side of Octavian in the civil war against Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and was sent to Spain, Germania, Pannonia, and Britain. In Roman Britain, it fought against rebellions, including the rebellion of Queen Boudica in which it narrowly avoided destruction. But its trace was lost in Northern England in the early Second Cen...
Feb 23, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 61
This soft-spoken bedtime story is a journey to the discovery of exoplanets. We will visit some of them, like Proxima Centauri B, OTS 44 and Kepler 438b. I will also tell you about the different types of planets and stars, including stars that no longer shine like old white dwarfs or neutron stars; methods to discover planets that are invisible from Earth, like Transit Photometry or Doppler Spectroscopy; and astrobiology: the field of research that studies the possibility of extraterrestrial life...
Feb 09, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 60
In these bedtime stories, I tell you three different myths from Ancient Greece: The story of Perseus, how he was conceived by Zeus and Danaë, went on an adventure to cut off the head of Medusa the Gorgon, and rescued Andromeda. The myth of the Labyrinth, built in Crete by Daedalus for King Minos to contain the Minotaur, and how Theseus slew it with the help of Ariadne. The myth of Prometheus, who stole the secret of fire to give it to mankind and was punished for it. Timestamps 00:00 Introductio...
Feb 02, 2025•59 min•Ep. 59
In this soft-spoken sleepy bedtime story, I tell you about the History of Astrology: how it appeared as a discipline that was not formally separated from Astronomy across different cultures (Babylon, China, India, Egypt, Greece, the Islamic World, the Maya...), and how it evolved. Western Astrology, with its zodiac signs, birth charts, horoscopes, and individualized predictions, is a tradition that began to form more than 2,000 years ago in the Eastern Mediterranean. Even though critiques of the...
Jan 26, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 58
This bedtime story takes us on a journey through time and space. We explore the appearance and evolution of life in Earth's oceans, from the first microorganisms and the diversification of life forms that happened during the Cambrian and Ordovician explosions, to our time. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Prehistoric Oceans 05:05 How Oceans and Life Appeared on Earth 19:59 Cambrian Explosion 31:16 Fish, Arthropods, and Mollusks 45:08 From Paleozoic to Mesozoic 56:49 Towards Modern Marine Ecosyst...
Jan 12, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 57
For tonight's talk, I invite you to explore the history of wine from the very beginning, including the history of famous wine regions like Bordeaux and Champagne. I explain the most important elements that distinguish the styles of wines, the varieties of grapes, and the terroirs, as well as a few tips about tasting, storage, and how to make the best of it! Timestamps: 00:00 All About Wine 04:11 What is wine? 07:26 Discovery of fermentation 10:18 Ancient Egypt and the Phoenicians 16:14 Wine in A...
Dec 22, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 56
For tonight, I tell you the stories of different "lost treasures" and other legends attached to: 1- The Knights Templar, a religious military order that emerged during the Crusades but became so wealthy and influential that it made powerful enemies; 2- The Cathars, a Christian sect from the 12th to 14th Centuries in Southern France and Northern Italy, which was persecuted until it disappeared; 3- The Fabergé Eggs, exquisite pieces of jewelry that were made for the Romanovs in Saint Petersburg in...
Dec 08, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 55
Tonight, I tell you about several creation myths from the Apache and Navajo traditions, including the Kiowa Apache myth of Kuterastan and the Navajo Diné Bahaneʼ ("Story of the People"), in our usual relaxing and ASMR-ish style. We also discuss the historical roots of these peoples in the American Southwest and the north of Mexico, how they used to live, their linguistic connections across North America, and the figure of Geronimo. Welcome to Lights Out Library Join me for a sleepy adventure ton...
Dec 01, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 54
In this new astronomy episode, I take you on a discovery journey of meteors (shooting stars) and meteorites, asteroids in the Solar System, and comets. I tell you about 'Oumuamua, Halley's Comet, Hale-Bopp, and several phenomena like ram pressure and highly eccentric orbits. Welcome to Lights Out Library Join me for a sleepy adventure tonight. Sit back, relax, and fall asleep to documentary-style stories read in a calming voice. Learn something new while you enjoy a restful night of sleep. Liste...
Nov 24, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 53
In this sleepy episode, I tell you about the long history of timekeeping devices, from the first sundials and water clocks to mechanical clocks, quartz timers, and atomic clocks. Beyond technique, we also explore how the perception and management of time are cultural phenomena. Welcome to Lights Out Library Join me for a sleepy adventure tonight. Sit back, relax, and fall asleep to documentary-style stories read in a calming voice. Learn something new while you enjoy a restful night of sleep. Li...
Nov 10, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 52
This bedtime story tells you the Epic of Gilgamesh based on the Standard Babylonian Version. I also tell you about Mesopotamian mythology and the emergence of civilizations in the region, from Sumer and Akkad to Assyria and Babylonia. Welcome to Lights Out Library Join me for a sleepy adventure tonight. Sit back, relax, and fall asleep to documentary-style stories read in a calming voice. Learn something new while you enjoy a restful night of sleep. Listen ad free and get access to bonus content...
Nov 03, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 51
Tonight, I tell you the sleepy stories of four different ghost ships, together with their historical context and what happened to them. Two are fictional: the Flying Dutchman, a flute from the Age of Sails that would have traded between Amsterdam and the Spice Islands, and the Caleuche, a legendary ship on the island of Chiloe, Chile. Two are real: the Mary Celeste that mysteriously lost her crew in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Baychimo, which was abandoned but unexpectedly kept wandering for dec...
Oct 27, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 50
In this bedtime story, I take you on an underwater cruise to the various layers of the Earth's oceans. I talk about marine life, its evolution, and the conditions it had to adapt to. Types of animals or species we look at in more detail include jellyfish, coral, sharks, giant squids, sperm whales, the components of plankton, fishes from the bathyal zone and below, or the inhabitants of ecosystems around cold seeps and hydrothermal vents. We also make a bit of time travel, and I tell you about so...
Oct 13, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 49
This bedtime story is about One Thousand and One Nights (also known as "Arabian Nights"). I tell you several famous stories from this compilation of Middle Eastern and North African folk tales and legends. These include the framing story with Scheherazade and Shahryar, "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," "The Merchant and the Genie," "Sinbad the Sailor" and his seven voyages, and "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp." I also tell you a little bit about where this compilation of stories comes from. Welcome ...
Oct 06, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 48
Tonight, I tell you three different stories: - Area 51: How did this USAF base gain its reputation for being at the center of numerous conspiracies, including the dissimulation and reverse-engineering of alien technology? We take a look at what is documented, from its creation in 1955 as a test facility for the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, to the study of foreign technology and the intense secrecy around the base's activities. - Chaco Canyon is a large archaeological site in New Mexico,...
Sep 29, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 47
This is a soft-spoken science bedtime story about Earth: its formation, its structure, and how mankind perceived the World before its exploration and the space age. In this video, I tell you about what we know or suppose of Earth's formation in the solar system, its geology, its internal structure from the crust to the core, and how all these interact. We discuss plate tectonics and continental drift, the chemical elements our planet is made of, its temperature, its future in several billion yea...
Sep 15, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 46
In these three new historical mysteries, I tell you about the Pythia, the High Priestess of Apollo in Delphi, who for more than a millennium delivered sought-after prophecies in a state of frenzy - but the Oracle may have been more ancient than Classical Greece. The second story is about the myth of changelings, that is to say newborns, or young children that would have been exchanged by fairies, or trolls in the Scandinavian version. Why this belief, and how did it appear? I also added a touch ...
Sep 08, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 45
In this soft-spoken bedtime story, I tell you about the History of the Norsemen in the Middle Ages. At the end of the Eighth Century, they embarked on raids, explorations, and conquests farther and farther from their homelands in Scandinavia. This took them as far east as the Volga River in Russia and Byzantium, and as far west as America, even though they did not stay there for long. They founded colonies such as Iceland or Vineland in Newfoundland, Canada, created new states such as the Kievan...
Sep 01, 2024•59 min•Ep. 44
In tonight's ASMR story, I tell you myths from Polynesia, especially Hawaii and Aotearoa (New Zealand), and I explain the origins and connections of Polynesian people. We will discover the story of Maui, his fight with goddess Hine, the origins of the gods starting with Rangi and Papa from the Maori tradition, more divinities (Tane of the forest and the birds, Tangaroa of the sea, Tawhirimatea of storms and winds...) and the creation of men and women. Welcome to Lights Out Library Join me for a ...
Aug 18, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 43
As the Olympic Games come to a close and become another page in history, I believe you will enjoy these bedtime stories. Tonight, we go on a trip to the City of Lights, Paris, and I tell you several mysterious stories from the past two centuries: the intriguing and clandestine life of the Countess of Castiglione, the foundation of spiritualism by its visionary pioneer, Allan Kardec, and the audacious theft of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, in the year 1911. Welcome to Lights Out...
Aug 11, 2024•57 min•Ep. 42
In this new science/astronomy bedtime story, we travel to the 7th and 8th planets from the Sun: Uranus and Neptune. I tell you about their characteristics, how they could have formed together with the rest of the Solar System, and what their inside is thought to be made of. We also explore their moons like Titania and Triton, and their influence on their environment. Welcome to Lights Out Library Join me for a sleepy adventure tonight. Sit back, relax, and fall asleep to documentary-style storie...
Aug 04, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 41
Tonight, I take you on a journey along the Silk Road. We explore how and why this route or network from China to the Mediterranean opened at the time of the Han Dynasty and Ancient Rome. Given the distances and costs, long distance trade was limited to light, expensive and exotic goods, like silk, glassware, fine crafts, perfumes and spices. It adapted to changes over centuries: the rise and fall of dynasties in China, the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the struggles of Byzantium, the ...
Jul 21, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 40
This sleep story is about Arthurian Mythology. How much do you know about the story of King Arthur, how it appeared, and what parts of the myth could have roots in history? As you drift off to sleep, find out how Arthurian legends took shape, listen to some of the stories, and spend time around the Round Table with Merlin, Guinevere, Lancelot, Galahad, Percival, Morgan le Fay, Vivien the Lady of the Lake, Excalibur, Avalon, Camelot, and the Holy Grail. Listen ad free and get access to bonus cont...
Jul 14, 2024•49 min•Ep. 39
In this story, I take you on an introduction to fungi: what the definition of their kingdom is about—they are neither plant nor animal—the mind-blowing variety of sizes, shapes, and the appearance they can take, and their associations with other life forms. I also tell you about their importance to ecosystems, what happens when they produce mushrooms, and the various ways humans use them, ranging from a source of food to yeasts, molds, or "magic mushrooms." Listen ad free and get access to bonus...
Jul 07, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 38
In this soft-spoken sleepy story, I tell you the stories of four ghost towns in America: - North Brother Island, New York, a small uninhabited island that once had a large hospital and kept the infamous Typhoid Mary in quarantine for over two decades. - Bodie, California, a well-preserved mining town that boomed in the 1870s thanks to the discovery of gold deposits. I tell you a little about the California Gold Rush, Express companies like Wells Fargo, and the decline of this once-thriving town....
Jun 30, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 37
In this sleepy story, as we continue the journey of our solar system, we will explore several of Saturn's moons, including Titan, Rhea, Iapetus, and Enceladus, and identify their differences. We will talk about the theories regarding the age and formation of the planet's rings, and eventually dive into the planet itself to see what a "gas giant" is made of. Listen ad free and get access to bonus content on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LightsOutLibrary621 Welcome to Lights Out Libra...
Jun 23, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 36
In this sleepy episode, I tell you stories from Norse Mythology and explanations about its context and meaning to the Old Norse. Stories include the discovery of the runes and the loss of an eye by Odin, the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, the construction of the wall of Asgard, the creation of the World, and Ragnarok, the end of times. We will meet all sorts of gods and creatures: Odin, Thor, Freya, Freyr, Njord, Tyr, Loki, Heimdall, Mimir, the Norns, Ymir, Fenrir, Jormungand, and many mor...
Jun 16, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 35
In this sleepy story, I take you through more than 3,000 years of Egyptian History, from the first unification of Egypt to the death of Cleopatra. I talk about history, the gods of Egypt, architecture, art, life along the Nile, the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, and many other things! I hope you enjoy it, as you drift off into a deep, peaceful night's sleep. Listen ad free and get access to bonus content on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LightsOutLibrary621 Enjoy my audiobook on Anci...
Jun 09, 2024•46 min•Ep. 34
In this episode, I take you on a new exploration journey, to discover what science can tell us about sleep and dreams: What happens when we sleep? What are the phases of sleep and the difference between quiescent sleep and paradoxical/REM sleep? Why do we need it? What are intermediary states of consciousness like sleepwalking or lucid dreaming? I also tell you about the origins of dreams, their possible functions, and how neurobiology, psychoanalysis, psychology, religion, or literature approac...
Jun 02, 2024•59 min•Ep. 33
Tonight, on our way to sleep, we explore stories related to famous diamonds. These include the Hope Diamond and its supposed curse, the story of the exceptionally big Cullinan Diamond, from which the famous Star of Africa comes, and a dive into the mysteries of the Versailles court in pre-revolutionary France with the Affair of the Diamond Necklace (a scandal surrounding a magnificent necklace and Queen Marie-Antoinette). So get cozy, and prepare for a good night's sleep. Listen ad free and get ...
May 26, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 32
