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Seg. 1: History Of Sprint. Seg. 2: Populating The Americas. Seg. 3: Fingerprinting Technology.

Segment 1: From Abilene to KC: The history of Sprint.

It's a multi-billion dollar company with thousands of local employees. But did you know that Sprint got its start in Abilene, Kansas? Over a century ago, a farmer-turned-businessman started stringing lines through town and bought up local independent telephone companies. Hear how the company grew from there.

Segment 2, beginning at 24:47: How many people populated the Americas?

A KU professor has determined that just 250 people made up the original founding population of the Americas. How he and his collaborators did their research to come up with that number.

Segment 3, beginning at 40:56: Fingerprinting and modern criminal forensics.

Fingerprinting has been around since the time of the ancient Egyptians. But in the U.S., we've only been using fingerprints to identify criminals for just over 100 years. In this encore presentation, we take a look at how the technique developed in the KC area.

As a host and contributor at KCUR, I seek to create a more informed citizenry and richer community. I want to enlighten and inspire our audience by delivering the information they need with accuracy and urgency, clarifying what’s complicated and teasing out the complexities of what seems simple. I work to craft conversations that reveal realities in our midst and model civil discourse in a divided world. Follow me on Twitter @ptsbrian or email me at brian@kcur.org.