This episode is presented by eBay.

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Then when you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. There's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else. Then when you're selling, it's so simple and most

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deals on things you love. You can't help but say when it's eBay. It excludes vehicles and business

sellers.

Welcome to Science Talk, the weekly podcast of Scientific American, for the seven days starting December 24, 2008. I'm Steve Murski. This week on the podcast, we'll hear from Scientific American

editor Michael Bataglia on the 40th anniversary of Apollo 8's historic flight to the moon.

And journalist Emily Anthis talks about her new book, The Instant Egghead Guide to the Mind.

Plus, we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news.

First up, Michael Bataglia, he put together the in-depth report for our website about the Apollo 8 mission,

which orbited the moon Christmas Eve 40 years ago. We spoke at the He put together the in-depth report for our website about the Apollo 8 mission, which

orbited the moon Christmas Eve 40 years ago.

We spoke in the library at Scientific American.

A lot of things that people still probably don't know about Apollo 8, which was, at the time,

the biggest deal there had ever been in in spaceflight

today people remember Apollo 11 but Apollo 8 was was the one that really broke

ground because it was it was the first mission carrying human beings outside the Earth's orbit

correct yeah that that was the that was truly the great leap for mankind,

I think. I mean, I don't want to denigrate the landing and then the incredible accomplishment there,

but I think Apollo 8 really paved the way. It brought them to within 69 miles of the landing

and tested so many things. There were so many firsts on that mission.

...