Kevlar Was Nearly Discarded. One Woman Fought to Prove It Could Save Lives
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 30 July 2025
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, Kevlar is now a staple of body armor, trusted by law enforcement, military personnel, and first responders, but when Stephanie Kwolek first developed the fiber in a DuPont lab, it was almost thrown away. The material didn’t behave like others, and no one saw a use for it. Kwolek pushed for further testing, convinced it was worth more. That decision led to one of the most important safety innovations of the twentieth century. Kaela Rider from the Bill of Rights Institute shares how one overlooked discovery became the foundation for the modern bulletproof vest.
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:04.2 | If you're looking for another heavy podcast about trauma, the saying it. |
| 0:09.2 | This is for the ones who had to survive and still show up as brilliant, loud, soft, and whole. |
| 0:14.9 | The unwanted sorority is where black women, fims, and gender expansive survivors of sexual violence, |
| 0:20.2 | rewrite the rules on healing, support, and what happens after. |
| 0:23.5 | And I'm your host and co-president of this organization, Dr. Leah Trette. |
| 0:27.9 | Listen to the unwanted sorority, new episodes every Thursday on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:36.4 | From tips for healthy living to the latest medical breakthroughs, WebMD's Health Discovered |
| 0:41.5 | podcast keeps you up to date on today's most important health issues. |
| 0:45.7 | Through in-depth conversations with experts from across the health care community, |
| 0:49.8 | WebMD reveals how today's health news will impact your life tomorrow. |
| 0:54.0 | It's not that people don't know that exercise is healthy. It's just that people don't know why it's healthy. And we're struggling to try to help people help themselves and each other. Listen to WebMD Health Discovered on the IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Summer's here, and with the kids home and off to camp, it's easy for moms to get lost in the shuffle. |
| 1:11.8 | On good mom's bad choices, we're making space to center ourselves with joy, rest, and pleasure. |
| 1:16.9 | Take the kids to camp. |
| 1:18.3 | You know what? It was expensive. |
| 1:20.5 | But I was also thinking, you have my kid. |
| 1:22.8 | This is kind of priceless. |
| 1:24.4 | Take her, feed her, make core memories. |
| 1:27.4 | I don't have to do anything. Main memories. I don't have to do anything. |
| 1:28.9 | Main thing, I don't have to do anything. To hear this and more, listen to Good Mom's Bad |
| 1:34.5 | Choices from Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your |
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