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Big Picture Science

Nuts and Bolts

Big Picture Science

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.6986 Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How frequently do you think about fasteners like screws and bolts? Probably not very often. But some of them a storied history, dating back to Egypt in the 3rd century BC. They aren’t just ancient history. They help hold up our bridges and homes today. Join us as we dissect a handful of engineering inventions that keep our world spinning and intact. Guests: Roma Agrawal - structural engineer and author of "Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World (in a Big Way)" Ron Gordon - watchmaker, New York City Descripción en español Originally aired May 6, 2024 Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact [email protected] to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.

0:04.2

I'm Matt Kaplan, the host of Safeguarding Sound Science, Evolution Edition.

0:09.6

Evolution is the unifying principle of biology, yet it still breeds controversy a century

0:15.3

and a half after Charles Darwin.

0:17.7

Join us as we meet the passionate researchers and communicators who are expanding our knowledge

0:23.0

and fighting to keep good science in our schools and politics. Subscribe to Safeguarding Sound

0:29.3

Science on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you like to listen.

0:47.7

King Kong climbed to get where I'm standing.

0:54.0

I took an elevator to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, and what of you from up here? You can see 80 miles on a clear day, which today is.

0:58.0

It was nearly a hundred years ago in 1930 that construction began turning 10 million bricks and hundreds of tons of stainless steel into New York's most recognizable building. Its frame is secured in part by

1:14.5

rivets. And now I'm imagining those construction workers whose job it was back then to walk up

1:20.4

and down the beams, putting rivets in by hand. You've undoubtedly seen iconic photos of these men of steel, appearing to float above

1:31.1

the New York skyline as they straddled beams, legs dangling without nets or harnesses.

1:37.7

Their motto was, don't look down. And I'm looking down now, and I'll have to say that's

1:43.1

pretty good advice.

1:44.7

But when we gaze up at the iconic Art Deco design or look down at Midtown from this viewing platform on the 86th floor,

1:53.3

do we think about the hundreds of thousands of rivets and bolts that help keep the Empire State Building standing?

2:00.7

At this moment, I am intensely grateful for those little bits of steel.

2:05.6

I'm Molly Bentley on the 86-floor viewing platform of the Empire State Building in New York City.

2:12.6

When simple but ingenious inventions like nails and screws do their jobs, they're practically invisible to us.

2:22.3

So much so, we might not appreciate what keeps building standing and makes everyday appliances work.

2:28.3

It's easy to take the nuts, bolts, and rivets that hold our world together for granted,

...

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