This week we're replaying our favorite shows about writers and the printed page. In this episode from November 2020, we look at book dedications. Most are straightforward, but there are surprises. Plus: a scientific report sheds light on the pelagornithid, perhaps the largest flying bird ever.

Brilliant Book Dedications (Sad and Useless)

Scientists Reveal What May Be the Largest Flying Bird Ever (Smithsonian)

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A Harvard study finds that the thousands of dams humans have built over the last couple centuries have locked up so much water it's actually affected Earth's poles! We'll try to explain. Plus: starting today in Michigan City, Indiana, it’s the Singing Sands Sand Sculpting Festival.

Water storage in dams has caused minute shifts in Earth’s poles (Harvard's Advancing Earth and Space Sciences)

The Singing Sands Sand Sculpting Festival

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Today in 1972, a break-in at the Watergate hotel that kicked off a huge political scandal... and also, somehow, gave a gelatin dessert the name "Watergate salad." Plus: in 2022, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington hosted an exhibit called “Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue.”

Jell-O Journalism: Investigating the Origins of Watergate Salad (Mental Floss)

Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue (National Portrait Gallery)

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