Episode description

Grab your fire extinguisher and hang on to your eyebrows, we’re building FIRES today. We’ll hear all about how our ancient ancestors learned to wield a flame, tame it, transport it, and use it to make tools, keep us warm, and maybe even make us smarter. So get ready for sharp rocks, hairy jello, sooty caves, glowing coals, iron sparks, fluffy fungus, molten metal, ember tending and more with Yale anthropologist and pyrotechnologist, Dr. Ellery Frahm.

Visit Dr. Frahm’s website and follow him on Bluesky and Instagram

A donation went to Armenia Fund

Full-length (*not* G-rated) Pyrotechnology episode + tons of science links

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Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media and Steven Ray Morris

Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Jacob Chaffee, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert

Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm