How do computers store so much info in such a tiny space?

If you translate “Hello! How are you?” to binary code, it looks like this: 01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 00100001 00100000 01001000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00111111

This episode takes a look at how computers can do so much with such tiny parts. But computers weren't always small -- so we take a look at where computers came from. We visit Ada Lovelace, whose love of math and weaving paved the way for modern-day computers. And we hear about the material that let computers shrink from the size of a room to something that fits in our pockets. There’s also a visit from a yak and a ram, but you’re just going to have to listen to find out why.

All that plus a new Mystery Sound and Moment of Um that answers the question: what is the flavor of root beer?

This episode is sponsored by

Mathnasium (Mathnasium.com) and Sun Basket (sunbasket.com promo code: brains on)