North Carolina State University professor Marshall Brain grew up in southern California with a father who was a computer scientist at NASA during the agency's heyday.

Brain watched his father work on lunar excursion modules for the Apollo missions and later, major train systems in San Francisco and Atlanta.

In his spare time, he helped Marshall build a bubble machine out of spare parts. It was an enchanting childhood, and it is no wonder that Marshall was a curious boy who developed a love for all things mechanical.

Meet Marshall Brain

He realized that his curiosity was shared by people all over the world after he started the website howstuffworks.com in 1998.

Today, he teaches entrepreneurship and tries to pass on that raw human curiosity to his students.

Host Frank Stasio talks with Marshall Brain about his life and career.