Neural Newscast

[00:00] Announcer: From Neural Newscast, this is Deep Dive,
[00:03] Announcer: exploring the moments that shape today.
[00:10] Claire Donovan: Welcome to Deep Dive.
[00:11] Claire Donovan: I'm Claire Donovan.
[00:13] Claire Donovan: Today is March 13th, 2026,
[00:16] Claire Donovan: and we are looking at a date that truly expanded our perspective
[00:21] Claire Donovan: on where we fit in the universe.
[00:23] Frederick Moore: And I'm Frederick Moore.
[00:24] Frederick Moore: It is a day defined by the act of looking closer, Claire.
[00:29] Frederick Moore: Whether through a telescope in an English garden
[00:32] Frederick Moore: or into the complex characters of modern cinema,
[00:35] Frederick Moore: the figures we are talking about today
[00:37] Frederick Moore: changed how we see the world.
[00:40] Claire Donovan: The most literal version of that shift happened in 1781.
[00:45] Claire Donovan: For thousands of years, humans believed the solar system ended at Saturn,
[00:50] Claire Donovan: but that changed on this night, in a very quiet domestic setting.
[00:54] Frederick Moore: Right.
[00:55] Frederick Moore: William Herschel, a German-born British astronomer,
[00:59] Frederick Moore: was actually out in his garden in Bath, England, looking for double stars.
[01:05] Frederick Moore: He spotted something that didn't look like a star at all.
[01:08] Frederick Moore: At first, he was convinced he had found a comet.
[01:12] Claire Donovan: It is fascinating that the first new planet discovered in modern times
[01:16] Claire Donovan: was almost written off as a transient visitor.
[01:20] Claire Donovan: It took further observation to realize it had a circular orbit
[01:24] Claire Donovan: much further out than Saturn.
[01:27] Claire Donovan: Herschel actually wanted to name it after his patron, King George III.
[01:31] Announcer: He called it Georgium Cytis, or the Georgian Star.
[01:36] Announcer: As you can imagine, that name wasn't very popular outside of Britain.
[01:40] Announcer: Eventually, the international community settled on Uranus, following the tradition of naming planets after Greek and Roman deities.
[01:47] Announcer: But the impact was immediate.
[01:50] Announcer: Herschel became a celebrity and the solar system suddenly felt much larger.
[01:55] Claire Donovan: And Frederick, that spirit of astronomical curiosity leads us directly to one of our birthday highlights.
[02:01] Claire Donovan: Percival Lowell was born on this day in 1855, and he took that torch of discovery into the next century.
[02:08] Announcer: Lowell was a fascinating figure.
[02:10] Announcer: He was a wealthy businessman who turned his full attention to the stars, founding the Lowell Observatory in Arizona.
[02:17] Announcer: He is perhaps most famous for his theories about canals on Mars, which he believed were built by an intelligent civilization.
[02:25] Claire Donovan: Exactly.
[02:26] Claire Donovan: While we know now those canals were an optical illusion, his work wasn't for nothing.
[02:31] Claire Donovan: He was the one who mathematically predicted the existence of a ninth planet, what he called Planet X.
[02:39] Claire Donovan: That search eventually led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his death.
[02:44] Announcer: It shows how even a wrong hypothesis can lead to a monumental truth.
[02:49] Announcer: While Lowell was mapping the edges of the solar system, other figures born on this day were exploring the depths of the human experience through art, like the actor William H. Macy, born in 1950.
[03:02] Claire Donovan: Macy is such a unique talent. He has appeared in over a hundred films, but he is perhaps best known for playing these morally ambiguous, often struggling characters.
[03:13] Claire Donovan: Think of his breakout role as Jerry Lundegard in Fargo, or his long run as Frank Gallagher in Shameless.
[03:20] Announcer: No way. He has this ability to make desperation feel incredibly human and even relatable.
[03:27] Announcer: He has an Emmy and a career that spans from indie darlings to major television hits,
[03:33] Announcer: always bringing a steady, grounded presence to the screen.
[03:37] Claire Donovan: And speaking of multi-talented artists, we also celebrate the birthday of Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr.,
[03:44] Claire Donovan: better known to the world as Common, born in 1972.
[03:48] Claire Donovan: He has navigated the worlds of music, acting, and activism with remarkable grace.
[03:54] Announcer: Common really changed the landscape of hip-hop with his socially conscious lyrics.
[03:59] Announcer: He has won three Grammys, but his reach goes beyond the recording studio.
[04:03] Announcer: He won an Academy Award for the song Glory from the film Selma, which really cemented his place as a voice for justice and history.
[04:10] Claire Donovan: He's managed to maintain that integrity while appearing in massive action franchises like John Wick.
[04:17] Claire Donovan: It's a rare career that bridges the gap between high-stakes entertainment and deep community advocacy,
[04:24] Claire Donovan: much like the final story we're covering today.
[04:27] Announcer: That's remarkable.
[04:29] Announcer: Moving from the stage to the global spiritual stage, March 13, 2013, gave us a major turning
[04:35] Announcer: point for the Catholic Church.
[04:37] Announcer: This was the day Jorge Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis.
[04:42] Claire Donovan: This was a moment of firsts.
[04:44] Claire Donovan: He was the first pope from the Americas, specifically Argentina, and the first person from outside Europe to lead the church in more than a millennium.
[04:54] Claire Donovan: His choice of the name Francis was a very deliberate message.
[04:58] Announcer: Absolutely.
[04:59] Announcer: By naming himself after St. Francis of Assisi, he was signaling a focus on people living in poverty, on peace, and on simplicity.
[05:09] Announcer: It was a departure from the traditional pomp of the Vatican, and it resonated with millions of people who were looking for a different kind of leadership.
[05:18] Claire Donovan: It is interesting how his election, much like the discovery of Uranus or the work of Percival Lowell,
[05:24] Claire Donovan: represents a moment where an established institution or a settled map of the world suddenly has to adjust to a new reality.
[05:33] Announcer: It really does come back to that idea of expanding horizons, whether they are physical, spiritual,
[05:39] Announcer: or cultural.
[05:40] Announcer: March 13th reminds us that there is always more to find if we are willing to look beyond
[05:46] Announcer: what we think we know.
[05:48] Claire Donovan: That is a perfect note to end on.
[05:50] Claire Donovan: To explore more history every day, visit deepdive.neuralnewscast.com.
[05:56] Claire Donovan: I'm Claire Donovan.
[05:57] Announcer: And I am Frederick Moore.
[05:59] Announcer: Deep Dive is AI-assisted, human-reviewed.
[06:03] Announcer: Explore History Every Day on Neural Newscast.
[06:06] Announcer: This has been Deep Dive on Neural Newscast.
[06:09] Announcer: Exploring the moments that shape today.