A Little Bit Of Science

Rapunzel Syndrome, Out-of-Body Experiences and Publishing Parasites

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week’s episode is a reminder that science isn’t just lab coats and breakthroughs. It’s also weird human behaviour, messy systems, and the occasional moment where you realise an entire industry is making bank off… a PDF. We’re talking academic publishing as a toll road, Rapunzel Syndrome turning a fairy tale into a medical emergency, and what babies seem to expect from the world before they can even talk.

First up, academic publishing. Scientists do the research, reviewers do the reviewing, universities pay for the work, and publishers still charge huge fees to publish or read it, with big players pulling in massive sums through processing charges. The kicker is that a lot of it is publicly funded, so taxpayers often pay for the research and then pay again to access it.

Then we get into the human side of things, from compulsive hair eating that can become life-threatening (Rapunzel Syndrome), to experiments suggesting babies expect comfort when they cry and show stress when they don’t get it. We also touch on out-of-body experiences that don’t perform better than chance in controlled tests, and the messy reality of psychiatric diagnosis, where rigid labels don’t always match real lives.

CHAPTER MARKERS:

00:00 Intro

00:41 Publishing Paywall Racket

03:47 Rapunzel Syndrome Explained

09:15 Babies Expect Comfort

12:59 Out of Body Claims

16:33 Tennis Shoe Case Debunked

18:43 The Astral Lab

21:18 AI Scoring Fails

25:12 Psych Diagnosis Reliability

28:48 Why Categories Break

33:10 Rethinking Mental Health Boxes

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Self-healing Concrete, Chaos Pigeons and The Dark Factor

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week’s episode: Roman concrete. The Pantheon has been standing for roughly 2,000 years with a huge dome made of unreinforced concrete, and it’s still in better shape than plenty of modern buildings. The Romans used volcanic ash and quicklime, and the chemistry seems to keep strengthening the material over time. Researchers think it may even “self-heal”, with minerals like calcite forming and filling tiny cracks as water moves through.

Then we switch to psychology and the “dark factor”, a proposed common thread linking traits like narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. The unsettling part is that it may stay fairly stable over time, which raises the question of whether measuring it helps predict behaviour and guide rehabilitation, or just gives us a cleaner label for something we already recognise.

Finally, pigeons. They’re used in research because they’re good for studying reward and decision-making, but they don’t always play nice with predictable patterns. Put them in a messy, random environment and they keep adapting, trying new strategies, and operating right on the edge of chaos, which is frustrating for tidy experiments and a pretty good match for real life.

So that’s the week: a 2,000-year-old concrete recipe that still shows us up, a dark personality thread that might explain why some people are consistently hard work, and pigeons reminding everyone that real behaviour is rarely neat or predictable.

CHAPTER MARKERS:

00:00 Intro

01:58 Dark Triad Explained

02:51 Measuring the D Factor

08:17 Ethics and Pre-Crime

09:12 Roman Concrete Mystery

11:56 Self-Healing Calcite

13:02 Roman Self-Healing Concrete

14:10 Plant Based Diet Confusion

17:25 Pigeons In Psychology

19:32 The Edge Of Chaos

SOURCES:

https://www.darkfactor.org

https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/10.1027/1866-5888/a000382

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2500830122

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0349765&ref=404media.co

https://www.sciencealert.com/new-study-reveals-why-ancient-roman-concrete-keeps-getting-stronger

https://apple.news/ASjFebnlsTH2yjUMlNtOZWg

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-asymmetric-brain/201907/the-surprising-neuroscience-pigeon-intelligence

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Urine Therapy, Dolphin Vomit Thieves and Human-brained Mice

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 16:00:00 -0000

This week’s episode is a reminder that science news is basically three genres on rotation: animals behaving badly, humans believing wild things with full confidence, and researchers doing work that sounds like a plot twist in a sci‑fi novel. We’ve got dolphins running ocean heists, urine therapy finding new ways to stay alive online, and mice with human brain cells making everyone quietly ask, “Are we sure we’re comfortable with this?”

First up, dolphins. There are reports of them stealing fish from seabirds mid-hunt, which is already rude, but it can get even stranger when you look at what counts as “food” in the ocean. This is where kleptoparasitism comes in, the polite term for stealing someone else’s meal, including forcing prey to regurgitate and then grabbing the half-digested leftovers.

Then we move to urine therapy, which refuses to die on the internet despite being widely debunked. Online groups still treat it like a miracle health hack, and some people are now trying to use AI as a validation machine. When chatbots push back, they rephrase prompts or wrap them in poetry to slip past safety filters and get the answer they want.

Finally, we get to the research that makes you sit back a bit. Scientists are experimenting with mice that have been given human brain cells to study brain development and neurological disease. The aim is medical insight, but it still raises the bigger question about where the ethical line sits, and how we stop “we can” from automatically becoming “we should”.

CHAPTER MARKERS:

00:00 Intro

01:45 Urine Therapy

04:11 Esoteric Prompts

07:26 Medical Reality Check

08:00 Schmief Belief

09:08 Kleptoparasitism Dolphin Thieves

11:50 The Fish Puke Feeding Strategy

15:16 Who Eats Whom Database

19:31 Flowers for Algernon Recap

22:42 Human Neurons in Rats

SOURCES:

https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ergo/article/id/6158/

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/urine-therapy-ai

https://whoeatswhom.org/?ref=404media.co

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003988&ref=404media.co

https://www.science.org/content/article/dolphin-chased-fish-until-it-puked-then-ate-vomit

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2589612-human-organoids-restore-cognition-in-mice-with-half-a-brain

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2342138-human-neurons-transplanted-into-a-rats-brain-influence-its-behaviour/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Radiation Flight Attendants, Belly Button Lasers and Plastic Protein Cookies

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week’s episode is a reminder that science is basically a grab bag of “that’s amazing” and “please don’t make me think about that”. We’ve got flight attendants quietly racking up cosmic radiation exposure, lasers that can “smell” disease, NASA flirting with the idea of turning plastic into food, and a deep-sea stash of radioactive barrels that looks like the world’s worst scavenger hunt.

First up, the hidden cost of being nice at 30,000 feet. Flight attendants and aircrew aren’t just dealing with turbulence and weird passenger behaviour, they’re also exposed to higher levels of cosmic radiation because there’s less atmosphere protecting them at cruising altitude. It’s the kind of risk you can’t see or feel, which makes it easy to forget it’s even there.

Then we get into disease detection, featuring Joy Milne, who can literally smell Parkinson’s. Scientists have taken that idea and used lasers to detect chemical signatures our bodies give off, because those compounds can change when disease is present. It’s promising for earlier diagnosis, even if “belly button swab” is not a phrase anyone wanted in their life.

We finish with two flavours of “humanity, please”: turning plastic waste into edible protein for long space missions, and imaging radioactive waste barrels dumped on the ocean floor. The plastic-to-protein idea is gross but practical in a closed system, and the barrel footage is unsettling, even if early findings suggest radiation levels aren’t as catastrophic as you’d expect and marine life is still moving in.

CHAPTER MARKERS:

00:00 Intro

03:32 Cosmic Rays Explained

03:49 Radiation Limits Basics

10:37 Smelling Parkinson's Disease

13:45 Swabs and Laser Sniffing

16:42 Belly Button Swab Tech

18:39 Plastic Cookie Protein

21:00 Microbes Upcycle Waste

26:37 Radioactive Sea Dumping

32:30 Radiation Levels Findings

SOURCES:

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-turn-plastic-waste-into-protein-rich-cookies/?_bhlid=f36f164206868ff7a2c8a47605943918f6cb498c

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-68298-9

https://www.sciencealert.com/150000-tons-of-radioactive-waste-were-dumped-in-the-atlantic-decades-later-its-visibly-oozing

https://www.sciencealert.com/job-with-highest-risk-of-radiation-cancer-revealed-out-of-over-500-occupations

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2852504#google_vignette

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight-time_equivalent_dose

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alien Mega Structures, Black Hole Stars and Autonomous Drones

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week’s episode is a reminder that science can make you feel tiny and powerful in the same breath. One minute we’re scanning the sky for signs of alien engineering, the next we’re looking at something that behaves like a star and a black hole at the same time, and then we’re back on Earth asking the least fun question of all: should we be building machines that can decide who lives and who dies?

First up, alien mega structures. We talk Dyson spheres, the idea that an advanced civilisation could wrap its star in solar collectors and turn a sun into a power station. You wouldn’t see the structure directly, but you might detect the heat it gives off, which is why Project Hephaistos is hunting for strange heat signatures that could hint at something artificial.

Then there’s the “black hole star”, which sounds made up but is very much being taken seriously. James Webb observations point to an object pumping out a ridiculous amount of energy, far beyond what normal nuclear fusion should allow. The leading idea is that it’s some kind of hybrid, where a black hole is involved in powering the light, which is not how we usually think of black holes behaving.

And finally, we land back on Earth with autonomous drones, where the vibe shifts from curiosity to ethics. These systems are moving beyond remote control and into selecting and engaging targets without direct human input, which raises the big question: if a machine makes the call, who’s responsible when it goes wrong?

CHAPTER MARKERS:

00:00 Intro

00:42 Dyson Spheres Explained

02:08 Project Hephaistos Hunt

05:09 Apollo 11 Quarantine Story

07:16 Space Biosecurity Risks

09:30 Moon Stopover Containment Plan

11:01 We Already Contaminated Mars

11:47 Biosecurity Costs and Stakes

15:28 Black Hole Star Idea

18:25 AI Drones and War Crimes

20:48 Autonomous Targeting Fears

SOURCES:

https://esawebb.org/

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2607.09460

https://www.sciencealert.com/thermodynamics

https://www.astro.uu.se/~ez/hephaistos/hephaistos.html

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-026-02428-5?ref=404media.co

https://www.sciencealert.com/oldest-known-maya-monument-could-be-a-map-of-the-universe

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-famous-golden-palace-in-spain-is-turning-purple-and-now-we-know-why

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2023.100486

https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760822.013

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774317000774

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/russia-fully-ai-controlled-drones-kill-ukrainians

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dinosaur Bone Moguls, Spider-tailed Vipers and Seasonal Crimes

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week’s episode is a reminder that humans will try to make money from anything, and nature will always be stranger than we expect. We jump from dinosaur bones as luxury investments, to an AI school that claims it can speed up learning, to a snake with a tail that looks like a spider, and then to crime patterns that change with the seasons.

First up: dinosaur fossils. Dinosaur skeletons are being bought and sold like high-end art, with buyers ranging from celebrities to finance types who want something rare for their collection.

Then we head to Iran for the spider-tailed viper, a snake that uses its tail like bait. The tail looks like a spider, so birds get curious and come closer, and the snake strikes. It’s clever, unsettling, and a good reminder that behaviour can be just as important as bones when it comes to evolution.

We also look at Alpha School, which says AI can help kids finish core learning in a couple of hours, then spend the rest of the day on skills and personal interests. It sounds exciting, but we keep one eyebrow raised, because, well, it’s called “Alpha School”.

We finish with seasonal crime, where burglary peaks in winter in the UK but summer in North America, and bike theft spikes in summer because that’s when bikes are everywhere and easiest to steal.

CHAPTER MARKERS:

00:00 Intro

01:48 Record Fossil Auction Prices

05:36 Who Buys and Public Access

08:54 Is It a Good Investment

10:20 Spider Tailed Viper

16:31 Alpha School and Two Hour Learning

19:48 Social Media Grading

20:37 Unpaid Grit Assignments

21:46 Heart Rate Test

25:57 Crime Seasonality Explained

32:35 Biggest Seasonal Crime

SOURCES:

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2027-89047-001?doi=1

https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.70308

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43762-023-00094-x

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-much-should-a-dinosaur-cost/

https://www.sciencealert.com/extremely-rare-rapunzel-syndrome-can-cause-a-hairball-so-large-it-requires-surgery

https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2016/10/what-is-rapunzel-syndrome-and-why-do-some-people-eat-hair/

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-alpha-school-education-heart-monitor

https://alpha.school/the-program/#love

https://buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com/p/special-report-my-so-called-alpha

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cyborg Cockroaches, Splash-free Urinals and Snortable Nanobots

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week’s episode is what happens when science stops asking “should we?” and gets very focused on “could we?”. Cockroaches are being upgraded into tiny rescue workers, a Silicon Valley crew pitching brain tech you might one day take through your nose, and the Ig Nobels are back to remind everyone that the line between genius and ridiculous is thin.

First up, cyborg cockroaches. Engineers in Seoul are developing “Paraborgs”, insects fitted with cameras and tiny syringe systems designed to crawl through disaster zones and reach people trapped under rubble. The research claims a 95% success rate for close-range injections, which is impressive, even if it does mean trusting a cockroach to stay on task.

Then we swing into the future with Ray Kurzweil and a startup working on brain-computer interfaces without surgery, using nanobots instead of implants. The part you’ll remember is the proposed delivery method: you might one day “snort” the nanobots like a nasal spray, and they’d travel up to help create a connection between your brain and your devices. It’s early days, but the message is clear: tech wants to move in closer.

To round it out, we hit the Ig Nobels for silly science with real curiosity, from cockroach milk as an energy-dense food source to a splash-reducing urinal redesign, then a quick detour into a wholesome data point: Dolly Parton’s bipartisan popularity in the US.

So that’s the week: bugs with medical kits, brain bots via the nose, science that makes you laugh before it makes you think, and Dolly reminding us that being likeable is still a rare superpower.

CHAPTER MARKERS:

00:00 Intro

01:43 Roaches With Cameras

03:19 Paraborgs Explained

04:47 Remote Syringe Injections

08:00 The Ig Nobels

18:03 Bucket Bong Rabbit Hole

21:17 King Zog Chain Smoking

25:37 Joint Year Metric

26:55 Dolly Parton Popularity Data

32:03 Kurzweil Brain Interface

37:00 Snortable Nanobot BCI

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Doomsday flight trackers, trebuchet trauma, worm-flies and sugar-rationed babies

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week’s line-up is a reminder that humans can turn literally anything into a warning sign. A flight tracker becomes an apocalypse detector, a medieval siege weapon becomes a forensic crime scene, and wartime sugar rationing turns into an accidental public health intervention. All of these stories are weirdly useful.

First up: the DIY apocalypse forecast. Kyle MacDonald’s idea is that unusual patterns in private jets and military flights might act like an early-warning system, because the rich and strategic tend to move first when something big is coming. It’s half conspiracy, half pattern recognition, and very much a sign of the times.

Then we head back to medieval “workplace safety”, which mostly meant “try not to die”. A skeleton found with more than 160 fractures is being linked to a trebuchet accident, which makes grim sense once you remember these machines were built to launch massive projectiles with terrifying force. If you ever find a time machine, here’s the advice: do not stand near the trebuchet.

Finally, we jump to WWII, where sugar rationing wasn’t a wellness trend, it was scarcity management. Research suggests that lower sugar intake in the first 1,000 days of life may be linked to reduced risk of chronic disease later on, including some serious conditions.

So that’s the week: flight trackers as doomsday tea leaves, a medieval death that reads like a physics demo, and a reminder that early nutrition matters more than we like to admit.

CHAPTER MARKERS:

00:00 Intro

00:36 Disasters Seen From Above

02:06 Where To Survive Apocalypse

03:54 Resilience Factors Explained

07:29 Best Countries Ranked

11:24 Siege Trauma Mystery

18:29 Trebuchet War Wolf

20:35 Connectome Explained

22:30 Worm Brain Fly Body

25:56 Sugar Rationing Natural Experiment

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chicken-powered nukes, lab-grown mini brains and the thalidomide-blocking badass

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week’s line-up is a perfect reminder that science is not a neat little march of progress. It’s more like a grab bag where you pull out “chicken-powered nuclear landmines”, “mini brains that can sense time”, “one woman quietly preventing a medical catastrophe” and a misinformation spiral about circumcision and autism, all in the same episode.

During the Cold War, the British came up with a plan called ‘Operation Blue Peacock’, which involved burying atomic landmines in West Germany as a deterrent against a Soviet invasion. The problem was winter. Electronics and trigger mechanisms don’t love freezing temperatures and someone needed a way to keep the bomb warm enough to function. So the proposed solution was… chickens. As in, live poultry being placed inside the casing as biological heaters.

Then we jump to the present, where in a Matrix-like manoeuvre, scientists are growing “mini brain organoids” that model some aspects of human brain development. Recent work suggests these organoids can “record” the passage of time, in the sense that their activity changes in ways that reflect time-based patterns.

Following that, we hit one of those headlines that makes you blink twice: “Male circumcision doesn’t raise autism risk.” Which immediately raises the more important question, who decided that was a thing we needed to debunk in the first place? Thanks RFK Jr. The logic was basically “circumcision rates equal painkiller exposure”, which is a pretty heroic leap when you’re talking about something as complex as autism.

Lastly, in the middle of that era, Frances Kelsey, working at the FDA, refused to approve thalidomide in the United States without stronger evidence of safety, and her insistence on proper data prevented enormous harm. It’s a story of someone doing their job with a level of rigour that the system desperately needed.

So that’s the week: nuclear deterrence warmed by chickens, mini brains that make us argue about ethics and language, a reminder that real heroism can look like paperwork, and a misinformation case study where a speculative idea got treated like a fact.

00:00 Introduction

00:36 Biowarfare

04:32 Operation Blue Peacock

06:49 Chickens Inside Nukes

09:06 Why The Plan Died

10:10 Brain Organoids Explained

12:55 Can Mini Brains Sense Time?

16:44 Circumcision Autism Shock

21:37 Thalidomide FDA Standoff

27:30 Kelsey’s Legacy

29:52 Conclusion

SOURCES:

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines-airports/worlds-largest-electric-aircraft-completes-first-flight

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10877-x

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Oldham_Kelsey

https://www.futurity.org/circumcision-autism-risk-3342752/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2852526#google_vignette

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wfjXnQ_0wmI

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/21/fact-checking-rfk-jrs-false-claim-linking-autism-to-circumcision

https://researchcentre.army.gov.au/library/australian-army-journal-aaj/number-1-july-1948/biological-warfare

https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-developed-chicken-warmed-nuclear-landmines-2016-11

https://www.iflscience.com/in-the-1950s-the-uk-tried-to-make-a-nuclear-bomb-filled-with-live-chickens-77749

https://www.sciencealert.com/psychopathic-tendencies-are-linked-to-microbes-inside-your-body-study-reveals

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-026-04052-z

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

River bomb archaeology, AI viruses and Viagra cancer cures

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week’s science news is a perfect example of the universe having a weird sense of timing. The Danube River hits record low water levels and suddenly Europe starts coughing up skeletons, WWII war relics, and Roman engineering like it’s doing a historical clear-out. If you’re into archaeological discoveries, ancient history, and the climate change impacts hiding in plain sight, this episode will be right up your alley.

We dig into what the shrinking Danube is revealing, from a Wehrmacht motorcycle and German military remains in Hungary to the reappearance of the Constantine Bridge foundations in Bulgaria. It’s fascinating, grim, and a solid reminder that extreme drought and low rivers don’t just change ecosystems; they change what history we can literally see.

Then we jump straight into modern science fiction: AI-designed viruses. Researchers used artificial intelligence to design viral genomes, creating bacteriophages that target bacteria like E. coli, and a small number of those AI-generated viruses actually worked. It’s exciting for medicine and antibiotic alternatives, but it also raises big biosecurity and ethics questions about what happens when powerful biotech tools get easier to use.

And finally, Viagra shows up with a surprise side quest into cancer research. Studies suggest Sildenafil may be linked to better survival outcomes in men who later develop cancer, especially when combined with statins, possibly by limiting cholesterol pathways cancer cells use to spread (but yes, it’s correlation, not a DIY treatment plan). So that’s the week: Danube archaeology, AI virus design, and Viagra in oncology conversations it was never meant to be part of.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Introduction

00:32 The Danube and Nuclear Plants

04:04 Low River Reveals Mammoth

04:31 Wartime Wrecks and Remains

07:41 Constantine Bridge Unearthed

11:31 Mohenjo-daro Inequality Math

17:56 AI Designed Viruses

23:53 Science Upside vs Risk

28:37 Viagra and Cancer Link

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Snakes have necks, giant sperm physics and fungus fashion

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 03:51:38 -0000

Someone once described a snake as “a tail with a face”, and honestly, it’s hard to unsee it. Snakes look like pure commitment to the tube lifestyle, with very little going on besides forward motion and mild judgement. Except a 2015 study basically ruined the idea that snakes are neckless noodles by pointing out they do have a neck, it’s just short.

From snakes we zigzag into sperm gigantism, which is exactly what it sounds like and exactly what you wish it wasn’t. Some species produce sperm so long it becomes a genuine physics and storage problem.

Then we jump into the world of living textiles, where fungi are being used to create materials that can self-repair and transform. The star here is Cordyceps militaris, which already sounds like it should come with a hazard symbol.

The pitch is genuinely cool. You can grow materials, engineer colour using yeast, and make textiles that biodegrade fast, like within 40 days in the right conditions.

Still, the idea that your clothes could heal themselves is tempting. It’s just a shame the same feature might also mean they can quietly disappear.

We finish with the global happiness report, because after snakes and sperm and fungus pants, we deserve a palate cleanser. And yes, Finland is back at the top because it’s an overachiever apparently.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

02:03 Spine Regions Explained

03:11 Snakes Are Not Tails

08:23 Physics Of Giant Sperm

14:09 World Happiness Rankings

18:29 How Happiness Is Measured

22:36 Trust and Lost Wallets

24:02 Why Finland Wins

26:46 Living Fungal Textiles

32:27 Self Cleaning and Biodegrading Clothes

36:55 Imaginarium of Tears

40:49 Wrap Up

SOURCES

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cannibals, MRI snuggle sacks and sex inside a whale

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 02:05:40 -0000

Is there any evidence-based reason cannibalism shouldn’t make a comeback? It’s a question that really should come with a warning label, but we couldn’t resist digging into it properly this week.

We’ve got researchers running the numbers on human-eating, rats in MRI “snuggle sacks” while tripping on mescaline, ants living their best fake-queen lives thanks to a tapeworm, and an eel story that is both medically relevant and spiritually scarring.

We also take a quick detour into the delicate art of scanning animal brains without turning the whole experiment into a panic response, plus a reminder that humans have always been weird about big animals (including the time people could literally walk into a whale’s mouth, until they ruined it for everyone).

So that’s the week: cannibalism analysed like a spreadsheet problem, parasites cosplaying queens, and a cautionary tale that should permanently retire “DIY constipation remedies” as a concept. Stay curious, stay critical, and for the love of all that is holy, keep the eels in the water.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Introduction

00:28 Should We Be Cannibals?

02:43 Math Model Approach

04:11 Disease Chain Risks

05:42 Kuru And Prions

07:19 Limits And Social Payoffs

08:34 Anthropic: Rare Books AI Scanning

10:53 Destroying Books To Digitise

14:59 Mescaline Rats In MRI

20:52 Rats Head Posts Training

22:36 Other Species Training

24:57 Malm Blue Whale Exhibit

30:10 Cordyceps Ant Zombies

31:01 Tapeworm Queen Ants

34:58 Orcas Fear Pilot Whales

35:46 Eel Medical Oddity

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Invention of the wheelie suitcase, orphan-powered vaccines and the Barbie drug

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 04:58:49 -0000

This week’s line-up is a reminder that humans will do anything except choose the obvious option straight away. We’ve got a wheelie suitcase that was probably invented by a woman, then ignored until a man made it respectable, plus a smallpox vaccine rollout that sounds like a historical thriller, and a drug that went from medical research to TikTok tan hack with a side of “please don’t”.

First up, the wheelie suitcase. It’s such a simple idea you’d think it would have been embraced instantly, but apparently rolling your own bag was once seen as soft, feminine, and not what a “proper” man would do when he could haul it like a martyr. The suitcase didn’t change, the story around it did.

Then we head into smallpox, where public health was never just science, it was logistics with a pulse. The Balmis Expedition kept cowpox alive across an ocean by passing it through a chain of orphan children, which is horrifying now and was still pretty intense then, but it helped deliver vaccination where refrigeration didn’t exist.

And finally, the “Barbie drug”. Melanotan II was developed with a serious purpose, but online it got rebranded into a shortcut to a tan, complete with side effects that are not cute and risks that don’t fit neatly into an influencer caption. Different centuries, same theme: culture gets involved, and suddenly the obvious, the safe, and the sensible are no longer the default.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Introduction

00:28 Gendered Tech History

01:55 Wheelie Suitcase Mystery

06:16 Sexism Blocks Adoption

13:17 Masculinity Shapes Innovation

14:42 Smallpox Devastation

19:58 Balmis Expedition Challenge

21:26 Orphans As Vaccine Carriers

25:08 Tokyo Half Pants Heat

27:05 Speeding And Emissions

29:11 Tanning Drug Priapism

36:41 Influencer Surveillance Stunts

39:09 Fitbit AI Coach

43:22 AI Health Advice Gone Wrong

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pig Orgasms, Placebo Power and How iPhones are Ruining Sex

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week we went from “surely that can’t be true” to “oh… that’s actually happening”. We fact check the legendary pig orgasm claim, then get weirdly hopeful about placebo pills that work even when you’re told they’re fake.

From there, we look at research that points a finger at the iPhone era for a chunk of the fertility slide, and what that might really be measuring in modern life. Then we’re back on humanity’s favourite hobby, trying to control the weather, now rebranded as “weather jiu jitsu”.

We finish with a satellite reality check, because apparently we’re speed running our way to a sky full of moving dots. If you like your science with a side of disbelief, this one’s for you.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Wild Orgasm Facts

01:05 Guinness Pig Claim

01:45 Meet the Hosts

03:03 Darwinian Doubts

05:50 Fact Checking Begins

06:08 Boar Taint Explained

07:37 Collecting Semen Methods

10:33 Four Ejaculation Phases

11:44 Verdict and Takeaways

12:42 iPhone Baby Bust

14:55 How the Study Works

19:00 Placebos and Aging

20:25 Open vs Deceptive Placebo

21:54 Open Placebo Ethics

22:17 Study Design Breakdown

22:43 Results That Shocked

24:16 Why Placebos Work

24:55 Open Placebos Everywhere

27:26 Weather Control Obsession

28:55 Weather Jiu Jitsu Explained

33:17 Nudging Storms Risks

35:50 Satellite Boom Warning

39:19 Night Sky Light Pollution

40:42 Governance and Fixes

42:34 Wrap Up and Contact

SOURCES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJNwAKSL17s

https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2607/

https://journals.plos.org/water/article?id=10.1371/journal.pwat.0000562&ref=404media.co

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0349765&ref=404media.co

https://www.nber.org/papers/w35310

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/9/1665

https://apple.news/AtTrEygKCQkCxuXk4Sb6Ojg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boar_taint

https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry/agriculture/animal/industries/pigs/breed/boars/collect

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rod's Best Of: The Experience Machine, Havana Syndrome, Venting Makes you Angrier and Boring People

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:00:00 -0000

Will’s gone walkabout, so Rod’s raided the archives and pulled out four of his favourite segments for you to enjoy.

You’ll get a philosophical gut punch about the Experience Machine and why a perfect fake life still feels wrong, a genuinely weird global mystery with Havana Syndrome and the uncomfortable question of what’s actually causing it, plus the bad news that venting might be making you angrier, not calmer. Then we finish with the surprisingly brutal social cost of being labelled “boring”, and why that stereotype sticks harder than it should.

Will’s back next week. Probably with a snake in one hand and a chunk of Antarctic ice in the other.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Just Rod Here

00:55 Nozick Experience Machine

03:37 Would You Plug In

04:50 Why Authenticity Matters

08:50 Havana Syndrome Origins

11:25 Weapon Theories and Reports

14:41 Norwegian Microwave Test

21:46 Official Flip Flops Summary

23:25 Why Venting Feels Good

24:25 Venting Myth Busted

25:57 Meta Analysis Breakdown

27:29 Calm Down Techniques

28:48 Jogging Makes It Worse

31:14 Why We Love Anger

32:42 Playful Exercise Exception

33:37 Boring People Study

34:28 Boring Jobs And Traits

36:29 Escape Boring Conversations

40:57 Pay To Hang Out

43:44 Stereotypes And Wrap Up

SOURCES:

https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/life/2024/04/13/april-11-boring-day

https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/Why-Is-April-11,-1954,-the-Most-Boring-Day-in-History#:~:text=Using%20an%20algorithm%20to%20scan,who%20was%20born%20that%20day

https://bigthink.com/personal-growth/seven-thought-experiments-thatll-make-you-question-everything/

https://slate.com/technology/2014/07/rokos-basilisk-the-most-terrifying-thought-experiment-of-all-time.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/02/14/havana-syndrome-cia-norway-experiment/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana_syndrome

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pentagon-reportedly-testing-radio-wave-device-linked-to-havana-syndrome/

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/13/politics/havana-syndrome-device-pentagon-hsi

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fake Microplastics, Freaky Lovebirds, and Numbers Too Big For Humans

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:00:00 -0000

Microplastics are everywhere. Birds are masturbating. A trillion dollars is still not a real number. And somewhere in the middle of all that, a mushroom case study pops up and reminds you Alzheimer’s is not just a punchline.

This week, we ping pong between lab gear that can fake a crisis, wildlife behaviour that is way more common than we pretend, billionaire maths that breaks your sense of scale, and one weird medical result that is making researchers quietly lean in.

Microplastics might be getting overcounted because of something painfully basic: lab gloves. University of Michigan researchers measured outdoor microplastics and got results about a thousand times higher than earlier studies, then did the sensible thing and assumed their method was being sabotaged. It was. Vibrational spectroscopy can mistake stearate salts from glove manufacturing for polyethylene, meaning the “plastic everywhere” signal can be partly your own equipment shedding junk into the sample.

Then we swing to birds, because science loves a tonal whiplash. Bird masturbation is real, widespread across species, happens in both sexes, and is more common in the wild than in captivity, which flips the usual “it’s a stress behaviour” assumption. After that, we try to make a trillion dollars make sense, and mostly fail because human brains were not built for it. And finally, there’s a single Alzheimer’s case study where a woman reportedly showed unexpected cognitive improvement after a large dose of psilocybin, which is not a DIY cure, but is exactly the kind of odd result that makes researchers lean in and pay attention.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Intro

00:45 Microplastics Shock Study

01:57 Lab Protocols And Jerkins

03:46 Glove Contamination Twist

05:40 How Bad Is Shedding

07:11 Science Skepticism Lesson

07:54 Onanism Bible Origin

10:41 Animals Doing It Too

13:38 Bird Masturbation Explained

17:19 New Research And Takeaways

20:18 Trillionaire Brain Melt

21:38 Why Big Numbers Fool Us

23:40 Time Scale Money Trick

24:33 What Buys A Trillion

27:07 Inequality Airplane Metaphor

29:07 Mushrooms And Alzheimer Case

32:44 Science Skepticism And Ethics

38:06 Signoff And Ratings

SOURCES:

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-found-a-big-problem-with-how-we-measure-microplastics

https://theconversation.com/scientists-may-be-overestimating-the-amount-of-microplastics-in-the-environment-and-the-culprit-is-lab-gloves-258545

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2026/ay/d5ay01801c

https://theconversation.com/birds-masturbate-and-thats-perfectly-normal-284232

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224499.2022.2044446

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/15/can-you-spend-1-trillion-we-hand-you-musks-fortune-to-find-out

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-brains-underestimate-elon-musks-wealth/

https://futurism.com/health-medicine/elderly-woman-high-dose-psychedelic-mushrooms

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2531319-woman-with-alzheimers-starts-conversing-again-after-taking-psilocybin/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Banned Baby Names, The Onion Gene, Hackable AI and Accidental World Kayaker

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 17:00:00 -0000

Australia has a list of baby names you are not allowed to use, a church once removed a devil statue for being distractingly hot, and one German bloke accidentally kayaked from Europe to Australia. This week, Will and Rod bounce between naming laws, scandalous art, and a seven-year adventure that sounds fake, but absolutely wasn’t.

We start with banned baby names and why governments step in when a name looks like it could cause harm, invite ridicule, or create a lifelong admin headache. Then we hit art history, where the Geefs brothers made the devil too handsome for church, plus Stendhal syndrome which is the idea that beauty can literally make you dizzy.

Finally, we follow Oskar Speck’s kayak trip that escalated wildly, seven years, malaria, dangerous crossings, and prison camps, all because he was trying to outrun a collapsing economy. This week is a wild ride.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Banned Baby Names Setup

00:33 Germany Name Ban Game

01:50 Lucifer And Other Forbiddens

04:13 New Zealand Weird Bans

05:52 US Rules And Santa Claus

06:58 Australia Banned Names List

09:43 Name Roast Side Hustle

10:34 Hot Art Hospitalization

14:17 Stendhal Syndrome Explained

18:26 Hacking AI Agents

20:41 Prompt Hacking Agents

22:59 Ethical AI Sabotage

23:20 Nutrition Study Pitfalls

24:25 Genes As Diet Proxies

27:40 Onion Gene Surprise

30:22 Ice Cream Taste Debate

30:59 Button Sewing Fails

32:03 Kayaking To Australia

39:54 Just Do Stuff Mindset

41:30 Wrap Up

SOURCES:

https://bsky.app/profile/caesarion10.bsky.social/post/3mnxix4uu7k2r

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220110-stendhal-syndrome-the-travel-syndrome-that-causes-panic

https://maritimeheritage.org.au/documents/MHA%20September%202007%20journal.pdf

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.24245

https://www.404media.co/it-is-trivially-easy-to-use-reddit-to-manipulate-ai-search-research-suggests/?_bhlid=efba6cdec7cbc45e0cd89dc96464988b2cd3bdd2

https://www.parents.com/banned-baby-name-in-germany-8779188

https://www.smh.com.au/national/todd-carney-wants-to-call-his-son-king-daryl-problem-is-it-s-one-of-89-banned-baby-names-20260225-p5o596.html

https://www.sciencealert.com/your-taste-for-onions-may-reveal-something-about-your-future-health

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendelian_randomization

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Titanium Exosuits, Iceman Sourdough & Pokemon Spyware

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:00:00 -0000

A robot exosuit now costs more than most people’s houses, scientists are pitching a telescope built from the solar system itself, and Pokémon Go has somehow ended up feeding the war tech pipeline. This week, Will and Rod bounce between expensive robotics, slow burn space ambition, biosecurity chaos, and a 5,000 year old gut microbe that can still create great beer.

We start with a little shoutout. Unitree’s GD01 exosuit, a titanium priced reminder that “the future” is now a product page. It can move on two legs or four, it has onboard AI control, and it looks like it would smash through a wall just to prove it can. At around 650K USD, it is not exactly a casual purchase.

Then we zoom out into gravitational lensing and the plan to use the sun as part of a giant telescope to see distant exoplanets in far more detail. The catch is the timeline, because the mission could take around 60 years, which is either inspiring or mildly depressing, depending on your mood.

Finally, we hit Australia’s illegal cockroach trade, Pokémon Go scans being repurposed for drone navigation, and Ötzi the Iceman’s preserved gut yeast still being useful for baking and brewing. It’s a jam-packed episode that will leave you gasping at every turn.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Killer Exosuit Reveal

01:00 Meet the Hosts

01:45 Robot Reactions and Jaegers

02:55 Better Future Space Lens

04:24 Solar Telescope Challenge

07:08 Electric Sail Breakthrough

07:58 Seeing Alien Continents

09:13 Illegal Cockroach Bust

13:39 Why People Buy Roaches

15:19 Biosecurity Debate and Cleanup

17:27 Pokemon Go Tangent

18:15 Pokemon Go Scans

19:37 Drones Without GPS

21:25 Niantic Weapons Pipeline

22:50 Scientists Eat Headlines

25:26 Otzi Microbiome Bread

29:19 T Rex Leather Bag

32:48 Wrap Up And Sign Out

SOURCES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWOyUMJWptc

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/05/live-cockroaches-seized-nsw-breeder-australia

https://futurism.com/science-energy/scientists-lab-grown-trex-leather

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117726007660?ref=404media.co

https://dronexl.co/2026/06/09/pokemon-go-scans-niantic-vantor-military-drone-navigation/?_bhlid=59ba01ca00448ec948f397365da76b6ba3febdae

https://bsky.app/profile/paulisci.bsky.social/post/3mnnanoe3d22y?_bhlid=f589393b1087d6a8bc116f8d50ae811790ddc525

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mosquitoes Got Smarter, Mutant Pigs, Cows Know You And So Does Your Router

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:00:00 -0000

Mosquitoes are learning how to ignore your repellents, cows can recognise human faces on TV, and Wi Fi can identify you through a wall with the help of AI. This week, Will and Rod flick between animal intelligence, ocean weirdness, and technology that is getting a little too confident.

We start with mosquitoes and conditioning, because apparently even the most annoying creature on Earth can learn, grow and develop. Then we move to cows, who can tell familiar from unfamiliar human faces even when those faces are shown on a screen, and seem especially curious about strangers.

Finally, we head underwater for remoras and their bizarre cloacal diving behaviour with manta rays, before finishing with the creepiest story of the week: Wi Fi signals paired with AI that can identify people through walls. That isn't worrying at all...

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Animals That Learn

00:35 Mosquito Study Teaser

01:00 Show Intro And Segments

01:44 Arctic Trip And Flower News

02:41 Why Mosquitoes Bite

04:12 DEET Basics And Mysteries

05:13 Mosquitoes Adapt To DEET

06:06 Training Mosquitoes To Like DEET

09:12 Remoras And Host Hitchhiking

11:29 Cloacal Diving Explained

14:41 Can Cows Recognize People

15:07 Do Cows Recognize Us

15:59 Cows Watching Human Faces

16:50 What The Study Found

17:38 Mutant Super Pigs Explained

20:22 Where Is Your Self

21:34 Head Versus Heart Research

23:56 Touch To Shift Thinking

25:19 Wi Fi Privacy Shock

27:43 AI Identifies People Via Wi Fi

29:34 No Privacy Future Wrap Up

30:35 Final Recap And Sign Off

SOURCES:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2526370-where-do-you-think-your-self-is-your-answer-is-revealing/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224499.2022.2044446

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/onanism

Speedy’s Big O video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tSfLKTTxtc

https://theconversation.com/mosquitoes-learn-to-link-the-smell-of-deet-with-a-blood-meal-new-study-283695

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.73548

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/fukushima-nuclear-disaster-tsunami-radioactive-37180117?_bhlid=82764a8d956c8f1927ebd802c09640e569aeaaf9

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0329529&ref=404media.co

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3719027.3765062

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Real Life Good Will Hunting, Suspicious Scientist Deaths, and The Runit Dome Is Leaking

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 17:00:00 -0000

A relaxing trip to Japan turns into an accidental run down a double black diamond, a mathematician solves “impossible” problems because nobody told him they were impossible, and missing scientists get pulled into UFO flavoured rumours. This week, Will and Rod bounce between snowboarding psychology, statistical legend, conspiracy culture, and the strange ways expectations shape what we think we can do.

We start on the slopes, where fear is sometimes just signage, then jump to George Dantzig, who solved famous unsolved statistics problems after mistaking them for homework. Same theme, different setting: not knowing the odds can be a weird kind of advantage.

Then things get darker with disappearances, military secrecy, and the internet’s favourite genre, plus a look at the gluten conundrum and why non coeliac gluten sensitivity is still messy science. Bodies are complicated, and belief can play a bigger role than people like to admit.

Finally, we head to the Marshall Islands, where a concrete dome covering radioactive waste from US nuclear testing sits in the Pacific like a “temporary” fix that has to survive storms, rising seas, and time.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Science Snack Intro

00:43 Snowboarding The Hard Way

02:48 Expectations And Limits

03:16 Dantzig And The Simplex

06:02 Accidental Unsolved Problems

09:26 Never Tell Me The Odds

10:04 Missing General UFO Links

12:52 List Of Scientist Cases

16:28 Politics And FBI Probe

18:07 Conspiracy Dots And Anti Gravity

21:05 Flood The Zone Meteorology Tease

22:10 Hurricanes Go Backwards

23:02 Weather Control Conspiracies

25:02 Meteorologists Under Threat

27:47 Lessons From Misinformation

28:40 Nuclear Tests In Paradise

30:34 Inside The Runit Dome

34:20 Cracks Leaks And Sea Rise

36:57 Good Gluten News

40:19 Gluten Sensitivity Reality Check

42:35 Nocebo FODMAPs And Advice

46:16 Wrap Up And Listener Callout

SOURCES:

https://futurism.com/conspiracy-meteorologists-hurricanes

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/07/marjorie-taylor-greene-hurricane-helene

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/hurricane-milton-misinformation-meteorlogist-death-threats-1235130352/

https://futurism.com/space/fbi-investigating-deaths-disappearances-top-scientists

https://futurism.com/space/another-military-ufo-guy-died

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fbi-investigating-possible-links-between-deaths-and-disappearances-of-at-least-10-scientists/

https://www.sciencealert.com/this-infamous-radioactive-tomb-is-leaking-and-experts-are-worried

https://theconversation.com/your-gluten-sensitivity-might-be-something-else-entirely-new-study-shows-267098

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chimps Hoard Crystals, Talking Mushrooms and the Teddy Bear That Knows Your Kinks

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 03:05:16 -0000

Crystals have been fascinating humans for hundreds of thousands of years, chimpanzees might share the same shiny object obsession, and mushrooms may be sending electrical signals through their underground networks. This episode bounces between ancient archaeology, animal behaviour, and the weird possibility that fungi are doing more than just quietly existing in the forest.

We dig into evidence that early humans collected crystals long before cave paintings, then look at research showing chimps will pick crystals over plain pebbles and carry them around like prized possessions. It is either a shared cultural quirk or a shared ancestor who also could not walk past a sparkly rock without grabbing it.

Then we head to Japan, where scientists have been measuring mushroom electrical activity with electrodes to see how fungi respond to things like water and chemical signals. It is not “mushrooms are speaking English”, but it does hint at complex, responsive systems in the mycelium that we are only just starting to understand.

Finally, we get into the modern tech mess: AI powered toys like teddy bears that can be prompted into wildly inappropriate conversations, plus a brilliant detour where medieval Japanese poetry helps researchers track solar proton events using tree rings.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Introduction

00:42 Hippie Crystal Deodorant

01:59 Ancient Crystal Obsession

05:22 Chimpanzees Love Crystals

07:43 Crystal Plinth Experiment

09:55 Crystal Hoarding And Tradeoffs

11:41 Why Crystals Allure

13:30 Do Mushrooms Signal Pee

16:38 Urine Experiment Setup

18:48 Results And Dont Pee Dont Tell

20:17 Poetry Break And Limericks

21:25 Solar Proton Events Explained

22:23 Poetry Meets Space Weather

23:46 Kyoto Aurora Clue

24:07 Trees Confirm Proton Event

25:29 Trouble in Toyland Report

27:08 AI Toys Under Test

29:01 Guardrails Fail Over Time

35:49 Addictive Design Tricks

36:28 Privacy and Always Listening

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robot Wolves, Neanderthal Brains and Why Snakes Are Winning

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 26 May 2026 17:00:00 -0000

Robot wolves are now being used to scare bears away from Japanese schools, scientists have grown mini Neanderthal brains and plugged them into little robots, and snakes are quietly topping the lethality leaderboard while everyone keeps blaming sharks. This week, Will and Rod bounce between wildlife deterrence, prehistoric brain tech, and a public health reality check that hits harder than any movie monster.

We start in Japan, where bears have been wandering into supermarkets and school grounds, and the solution is peak Japan: “monster robot wolves” with sensors, lights, and loud noises designed to scare bears off without harming them. They look like an 80s horror prop, but the goal is serious, keep people safe and avoid lethal control.

Then we head into the lab, where researchers have grown tiny Neanderthal brain organoids, nicknamed Neanderoids, and connected them to small crab like robots. It is fascinating, slightly unsettling, and a reminder that science will always find a way to make the past feel uncomfortably present.

Finally, we look at snakes as one of the world’s biggest killers, with India carrying a huge share of snakebite deaths, and we end with a cybersecurity story where a pen tester talked IT into handing over access on a phone call. Not ideal.

00:00 Japan Bear Surge

01:20 Meet the Hosts

02:58 Robot Wolf Deterrents

06:37 Upgrades and Risks

08:27 Neanderthal Mini Brains

12:03 Brains Wired to Robot Crabs

13:31 Fascism and Underlings

15:51 Torture Battalion Data

21:46 Animal Killers Teaser

22:35 Mosquitoes Kill Indirectly

23:30 Snakes Top the List

23:40 Floods and Snake Spikes

24:13 India Snakebite Mystery

25:07 Verbal Autopsies Explained

26:51 Antivenom Access Problem

28:22 Next Deadliest Animals Rundown

28:56 Parasites and Kissing Bugs

31:07 Elephants and Hunter Karma

33:15 Bears Sharks and Big Cats

35:06 Social Engineering Hack Story

38:40 Phone Calls Beat Security

39:05 Podcast Wrap and Callouts

SOURCES:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/japan-robot-wolves-high-demand-075406454.html

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/japan-built-robot-wolves-to-thwart-bear-attack-and-theyre-flying-off-the-shelves/

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01533-8/abstract

https://theconversation.com/your-gluten-sensitivity-might-be-something-else-entirely-new-study-shows-267098

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/489067/snakebite-antivenom-deaths

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schistosomiasis

https://elifesciences.org/articles/54076

https://www.science.org/content/article/exclusive-neanderthal-minibrains-grown-dish

https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/05/14/to-gain-root-access-intruder-just-had-to-ask/5239853

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/world/americas/actually-democracy-dies-in-hr.html

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mouse Utopia Experiment, Constipation & Heart Attacks, and Phrases For When Things Go Wrong

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 20 May 2026 02:26:52 -0000

A 1960s mouse utopia that collapsed into a vanity-obsessed apocalypse, a global database of 150,000 enthusiastic stool photos, and a scientific quest to help humans regrow limbs like a salamander. This week, we bounce between rodent dystopias, AI-powered gut tracking, regenerating toes, and international idioms for absolute chaos.

We start in the late 1960s with Universe 25, an experiment that gave mice everything they wanted and accidentally proved that absolute perfection leads to a total social meltdown and a faction of self-obsessed, grooming-addicted rodents. Then, shifting gears with a violent jerk, we check in on a health app that has amassed a staggering database of 150,000 human poo images to train AI to analyse gut health.

From there, we look to the future, where scientists are trying to steal a trick from the salamander to see if mice and eventually humans can regrow missing limbs. And to end the episode, we take a quick detour into international linguistics to look at how different cultures describe things going completely wrong, from Swedish blue cupboards to vivid Brazilian panic.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

02:20 Why Universe 25 Happened

04:58 Building Mousetopia

08:43 Utopia Turns Violent

11:53 Behavioural Sink Theory

14:04 Misuse And Critiques

18:45 Poop App Citizen Science

24:58 Sharing Stool Online

25:44 Selling Poo Data

27:25 AI Data Hunger

28:23 Elvis Toilet Death

29:43 Constipation Studies

35:02 Mouse Toe Regrowth

41:17 Cactus And Sayings

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Little Death, the Big Fraud, and the Bird That Stole Your Jerkin

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 12 May 2026 17:00:00 -0000

A poll has asked people if they could win in a fist fight against Donald Trump, a survey on female orgasms has wandered into yawning, crying, and hallucinations, and vulture nests are quietly operating as accidental museums of human history. This week, Will and Rod bounce between political fantasy, private biology, and birds that apparently have a better archive system than most institutions.

We start with the poll that turned politics into Fight Club, which is less about combat and more about confidence, identity, and how people relate to power. Then we get into the science of female orgasms, and why the data is far stranger than the usual “fireworks” story, with reports ranging from tears to yawns to hallucination like effects.

Finally, we head to the vultures, whose nests can preserve scraps and artefacts for decades, creating accidental time capsules for archaeologists. And to end on a rare positive note, we’ve got some good climate news: renewable energy is still surging in the US, despite all the noise.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Political Science Milestones

00:44 Poll Who Beats Trump

01:56 Meet the Hosts

02:50 Science Missed Female Biology

04:00 Mapping the Clitoris

05:49 Surveying Orgasm Effects

08:47 Peri Orgasmic Symptoms

14:08 Taboo and Medical Framing

15:20 Case Report Finger Cure

19:38 Altruism Games

21:38 Resenting Do Gooders

24:05 Tainted Altruism

27:07 Academic Award Hoax

30:49 Self Made Medals

34:11 Vulture Nest Time Capsules

40:07 Climate News Uplift

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gut Microbiome Romance, Defensive Rewilding and Sharks on Cocaine

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 06 May 2026 02:09:29 -0000

High school students launch blood samples into near space, a real life love story involves a faecal microbiota transplant (FMT), and scientists find cocaine in sharks off The Bahamas. Today we bounce between space medicine, the gut microbiome and mental health, and the uncomfortable reality of ocean pollution.

We break down what those student rocket experiments could mean for space exploration and future medical procedures, then dive into the emerging science of gut bacteria, antibiotics, and how the microbiome may influence conditions like bipolar disorder. It is fascinating, hopeful, and also a bit gross, which is basically the scientific sweet spot.

Then we hit the ocean for the headline nobody asked for: sharks on cocaine. It is not just a meme, it is a sign of how far human contaminants travel through marine ecosystems, and why environmental science keeps finding our mess in places we thought were pristine.

We also unpack why we yawn, including research on brain temperature regulation and whether yawning patterns act like a physiological fingerprint.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

01:08 Chivalry Frog Meet Cute

03:37 Bipolar Confession Backstory

05:21 Gut Brain Link Evidence

06:50 DIY FMT Love Story

08:27 FMT Risks And Hype

11:10 Defensive Rewilding Idea

16:40 Cocaine Sharks Explained

17:52 Bahamas Study Findings

22:40 Pollution Everywhere

23:30 Why We Yawn

26:00 Contagious Yawns

27:22 Yawns in the MRI

28:37 Yawning Fingerprints

30:21 Brain Goo Hypothesis

32:06 Student Science Journal

38:12 Blood to Space

39:39 Four-Dimensional Minds

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bixonomania, Adversarial Hermeneutics, and Strontium in Baby Teeth

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:00:00 -0000

AI chatbots (and lazy researchers) can be convinced a fake disease is real, Gen Z is side-eyeing the whole “helpful assistant” thing, and apparently, the best way to jailbreak AI is to ask it nicely in the form of cyberpunk short fiction. This week, we bounce between medical misinformation, bureaucratic chaos, nuclear fallout hiding in baby teeth, and the U.S. Space Force anthem doing whatever it is doing, which is a lot to process in one sitting, but here we are.

We start with a medical warning that is both funny and genuinely unsettling. A researcher basically invented a fake illness, “Bixonomania”, then seeded enough convincing-looking nonsense online that AI chatbots started repeating it like it was in a textbook.

After that, we head into one of the most ridiculous corners of AI safety. Researchers have found that you can sometimes trick chatbots into revealing restricted information by wrapping your request in a poem, or a short story, or a cyberpunk scenario. This has a name, adversarial hermeneutics, which sounds like a philosophy seminar, but is really just “jailbreaking with vibes”.

Among other little bits of science, to finish, we step back to the 1950s, when researchers collected thousands of baby teeth to track radioactive strontium from nuclear fallout. It is one of those stories that feels spooky even when you know it helped. Tiny teeth, big consequences. The data showed contamination rising, and it played a role in pushing back against atmospheric nuclear testing.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Science Chat Kickoff
00:51 Fake Disease Goes Viral
02:04 How It Fooled Chatbots
03:55 LLMs Repeat It Everywhere
04:55 From Preprints to Journals
07:02 Medical Chatbot Accuracy Reality
09:43 Gen Z Turns on AI
13:29 Workplace AI Sabotage
15:06 Adversarial Hermeneutics Hacks
17:43 Adversarial Hermeneutics Hacks
18:49 AI Flooding Regulations
22:28 Gemini Speed vs Safety
23:46 Humans as Test Cases
24:45 Baby Teeth Fallout Study
28:54 Strontium 90 and Test Ban
29:40 Space Force Theme Song
32:00 Wrap Up and Plug

SOURCES:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01100-y?_bhlid=a10e41ad7eb12d68ab8fd4f81a75625fc74323ac
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/please-dont-trust-your-chatbot-for
https://ahb.icaro-lab.com/index.html
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/ai-is-10-to-20-times-more-likely-to-help-you-build-a-bomb-if-you-hide-your-request-in-cyberpunk-fiction-new-research-paper-says/
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/trump-regulations-ai
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-artificial-intelligence-google-gemini-transportation-regulations
https://www.gallup.com/analytics/651674/gen-z-research.aspx
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/zoomers-ai-sabotage
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/gen-z-attitude-ai

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bank-Swindling Deepfakes, Cigarette Butt Bird Nests, & Ocean Current Chaos

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 01:08:30 -0000

Deepfake scammers are now running full Zoom meetings, birds are lining their nests with cigarette butts like it’s a homewares trend, and Europe’s climate could be one ocean current wobble away from doing something dramatic. This week, Will and Rod bounce between AI crime, urban wildlife hacks, climate tipping points, and a fruit fly brain getting uploaded like it’s just another file transfer.

We start in Hong Kong, where scammers used AI deepfakes to impersonate colleagues on a video call and convinced a CFO to transfer a huge amount of money. We then headed outside, where birds have started collecting cigarette butts for their nests.

From there, we get serious with the ocean currents that help keep Europe mild, and why scientists are worried about what happens if that system collapses. And because the future refuses to wait its turn, we also look at a fruit fly brain mapped neuron by neuron and uploaded into a virtual simulation, plus a quick detour into hats as status symbols and tools of punishment.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 AI Zoom Scam

01:31 Show Intro and Lineup

03:02 Pipe Smoking Animal Tales

06:28 Birds Using Cigarette Butts

08:32 Nicotine as Parasite Control

11:20 School Smoking and Odd Uses

15:29 AMOC Climate Tipping Point

19:33 Uploading Brains Fruit Fly Model

23:50 Connectome Driven Fly

24:47 Virtual Embodiment Claims

25:20 Scaling Up To Mouse

26:48 Hybrid Bio Machine Futures

28:13 Hat History Detour

30:27 Hats As Social Signals

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Organ-Growing Meat Sacks, Fart-Measuring Underwear, and Tropical Tree Friendships

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:00:00 -0000

Cloning is getting more useful and more unsettling, tropical trees may be better at cooperation than we are, and smart underwear is now tracking human flatulence in extraordinary detail. This week, Will and Rod move from organ-growing biotech to forest teamwork, fart analytics, and a deeply worrying case of AI gone wrong.

They look at the push to grow organs using non-conscious biological structures, and why that could transform medicine while also sounding like the start of a sci-fi horror film. Then they head into the forest, where new research suggests tropical trees are better at helping their neighbours than trees in colder climates, raising some mildly awkward questions about whether plants are beating us at community building.

And because science never knows when to stop, the episode also dives into the world of smart underwear, digestive health, and what actually counts as a normal amount of flatulence. Along the way, there is also a sobering look at a Tennessee grandmother wrongly jailed after faulty facial recognition, which is a useful reminder that technology can be both brilliant and deeply stupid.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Cloning Nightmares Recap

01:45 Monkey Organ Sacks Idea

04:34 Human Organ Replacement Debate

07:45 How It Could Work

08:57 Surrogates And Storage Problems

12:39 Trees That Get Along

15:45 Why Tropical Trees Are Friendlier

17:25 Not All Prodigies Win

19:47 Late Bloomers And Training Myths

24:10 German Forest Bathing Tease

24:52 Forest Sounds Boost Mood

25:35 Massage Stories Detour

27:58 Local vs Tropical Forests

30:14 Fart Science Gets Serious

34:37 Smart Underwear Study

36:55 Farting Baselines Explained

39:19 Farter Types Atlas

43:00 AI Facial Recognition Fail

46:53 Why AI Enhancement Lies

49:13 Wrap Up and Callouts

SOURCES:

https://futurism.com/health-medicine/startup-pitching-cloned-human-bodies

https://www.wired.com/story/a-billionaire-backed-startup-wants-to-grow-organ-sacks-to-replace-animal-testing/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26935844-200-the-human-flatus-atlas-plans-to-measure-the-explosivity-of-farts/

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1115965

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590137025001268?via%3Dihub

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2509261-high-achieving-adults-rarely-began-as-child-prodigies/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-023-01840-1

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-grandmother-jail-mistake

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1123556

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1123008

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1123312

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Parrot Seduction, Clone Fatigue and The Most Stressful Truck Delivery in Europe

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 01:01:50 -0000

A parrot in New Zealand makes conservation work wildly uncomfortable, scientists cloned mice until the whole thing started breaking down, and someone has now successfully trucked anti matter across Europe. This week, we bounce between endangered parrots, biological copy and paste and the least relaxing delivery job on Earth, which is a fairly strong effort even by science standards.

We start in New Zealand, where Sirocco, a critically endangered kakapo with famously misdirected romantic instincts, helped inspire one of conservation’s strangest inventions. Scientists designed a special helmet in the hope of collecting semen for breeding efforts, after Sirocco kept directing his attention toward human heads instead of other birds. Then we head to Japan, where researchers spent twenty years cloning mice across 58 generations before the whole line began to collapse, with mutations building up and the clones dying early. After that, we hit the road in Europe, where a trucker successfully transported a tiny cloud of anti matter, proving that one of the rarest and most volatile substances in the universe can now apparently survive a delivery run.

Finally, we end up in Scotland, where a robotic dog with an electronic nose is being used to sniff out ethanol leaks in whisky warehouses. It sounds ridiculous, because it is, but it is also a clever way to protect barrels and cut waste in one of the world’s oldest industries.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

02:17 Kakapo Basics

03:59 Lek Breeding Explained

05:24 Sirocco Imprints on Humans

07:30 The Helmet Experiment

12:06 Infinite Cloning Idea

14:17 58 Generations Later

15:40 Why Clones Degrade

17:16 80s Cloning Logic

18:11 Antimatter Trucking Breakthrough

19:23 What Antimatter Really Is

20:35 Making and Measuring Antiprotons

23:11 Fridge Trap on the Road

26:16 Whisky Aging and Angels Share

28:30 Warehouse Leak Detection Problem

31:20 Robot Dog Barrel Sniffer

33:10 Spider Robots and Drones Next

34:52 Wrap Up and Listener Feedback

SOURCES:

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/birds/sirocco-kakapo-ejaculation-helmet

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/birds/kakapo-parrot

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/what-heck-lek-quirkiest-mating-party-earth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlk9u8MIv7o

https://futurism.com/science-energy/scientists-cloned-recloned-mouse

https://www.wired.com/story/meet-scotlands-whisky-sniffing-robot-dog/

https://home.cern/news/press-release/experiments/base-experiment-cern-succeeds-transporting-antimatter

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-69765-7

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Breaking Bad Effect, Obstetric Chainsaws and AI Trip Sitters

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0000

Breaking Bad looks a little more plausible than you would hope, the chainsaw has a deeply unsettling medical origin story, and people are now asking whether AI can guide them through a psychedelic trip. This week, we bounce between crime, childbirth, and chatbot consciousness, which is not a sentence anyone should have to write, but here we are.

We start with the so-called Breaking Bad effect, looking at research from Denmark suggesting that a life-changing diagnosis like cancer can increase the likelihood of criminal behaviour. When people feel like time is running out, the usual rules can start to look a lot less solid, which makes Walter White feel slightly less fictional than anyone would like.

Then we head into the darkest corner of medical history, where the chainsaw turns out to have been invented for childbirth. Long before it became a tool for cutting timber or starring in horror films, it was used in procedures designed to make difficult deliveries possible. It is grim, fascinating, and a very effective way to make modern medicine look fantastic.

Finally, we look at the strange idea of AI as a psychedelic trip sitter. While a chatbot might be able to offer calm prompts and simulated reassurance, it still has one major limitation. It has never had a body, never been high, and never experienced consciousness the way humans do. Like, subscribe, and tell us which weird science story we should chase next.

00:00 Breaking Bad Setup

01:10 Science Show Preview

02:03 Danish Cancer Crime Study

04:36 Why Crime Increases

06:23 Shorter Survival More Crime

07:44 Chainsaw Origins Quiz

09:16 Childbirth Before Modern Medicine

14:09 First Medical Chainsaws

16:00 From Obstetrics to Amputations

18:21 Portable Chainsaws Arrive

20:05 Time Travel Tradeoffs

20:40 Contact Lens Horror Story

24:31 AI Trip Sitters

27:44 Can AI Get High

28:57 LLMs Simulating Psychedelics

33:06 Brain Cells Play Doom

38:07 Mailbag Strandbeests Gelatin

41:10 Wrap Up And Ratings

SOURCES:

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-40630852

https://www-bmj-com.virtual.anu.edu.au/content/358/bmj.j2783

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1633599/full?ref=404media.co

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-breaking-bad-effect-from-cancer-is-real-study-finds\

https://www.iflscience.com/can-artificial-intelligence-get-high-and-why-are-scientists-even-trying-82560

https://futurism.com/ai-therapy-psychedelic-trip-sitter

https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-8682370/v1

https://erowid.org/experiences/exp_info3.shtml

https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/why-were-chainsaws-invented.htm

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brain-Eating Amoebas, Economists vs. Everyone and Da Vinci's Robot Lion

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 01:50:42 -0000

Brain-eating amoebas, climate change, economists, and Leonardo da Vinci’s robot lion all collide in this week’s episode. We dig into how warming freshwater is helping dangerous amoebas spread into new places, why these rare but terrifying organisms are linked to water going up the nose, and what that means for swimmers, public health, and the very specific fear of warm lakes. It is science, climate, and nightmare fuel all in one neat package.

We also unpack a strange finding from economics research. The more economists agree with each other, the more their views can drift away from the general public. It is a fascinating look at expert consensus, groupthink, public opinion, and why economic theory can sometimes feel completely detached from real life. If you have ever wondered why economists sound like they are living on a different planet, this one may help.

Then we head back to the Renaissance for one of the greatest flexes in science and engineering history. Leonardo da Vinci reportedly built a mechanical robot lion that could walk and reveal flowers from its chest, blending robotics, invention, art, and spectacle centuries before modern technology caught up. If you love weird science, history, innovation, robots, and bizarre true stories, this episode is for you.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

01:10 Brain-Eating Amoeba Basics

02:43 How It Infects You

03:57 Warming Spreads the Risk

04:39 Economists vs Everyone

10:10 Assumptions and Governance

11:03 Medici Exile Storytime

12:23 Bologna Power Play

13:07 Medici Politics Banter

14:32 Da Vinci Gift Idea

16:46 Robot Knight Blueprint

18:48 Building the Lion

19:44 Courtroom Lion Reveal

23:22 Modern Art Machines

24:43 Ratings and Farewell

SOURCES:

https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/pdf/doi/10.1257/aer.103.3.636

https://www.sciencealert.com/brain-eating-amoebas-may-pose-a-growing-global-threat-scientists-warn

https://www.history.com/articles/da-vinci-robotic-lion

https://www.history.com/articles/7-early-robots-and-automatons

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Psychology of Conspiracies, Mushroom Hot Pot Trip and the Longest Botany Experiment Ever

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0000

Conspiracy theorists hate uncertainty, a mushroom hot pot in China can apparently summon tiny imaginary people, a bunch of seeds have been sitting underground since the 1800s waiting for their moment and scientists are trying to quantify why words like boobs are funny. This week is a mixed bag of psychology, botany and childish humour, which is basically the entire scientific enterprise when you strip away the grant applications.

We start with conspiracy thinking and why it is often less about facts and more about feelings. Research suggests people who lean hard into conspiracies can struggle with ambiguity and prefer simple explanations in a complicated world. Certainty feels good, chaos feels awful and conspiracy stories offer villains, motives and a neat ending. Even when the story is wrong.

Then we head to Yunnan, China, where prized mushrooms can cause hallucinations if they are eaten too early, including reports of seeing tiny people. Researchers still have not nailed down the exact chemical responsible, and it may be a mix of biology, preparation and expectation. The takeaway is simple. If the locals tell you to cook the mushrooms properly, listen.

We look at one of the longest running experiments in science, where seeds buried in glass bottles in the 1800s are still being dug up and tested to see what can germinate. We also dip into the science of funny words and why certain sounds and associations make some words reliably hilarious. So, stay curious, cook your hot pot properly, and if you start seeing tiny people, maybe stop eating the mushrooms.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:48 Conspiracy Believer Traits

03:13 New Study On Coverups

05:14 Ambiguity And Unfairness

06:42 Skepticism Vs Conspiracy

07:59 Mushroom Hot Pot Warning

10:19 Tiny People Hallucinations

14:01 Hunting The Active Compound

17:35 Seed Bottle Time Capsule

21:24 Custodians And Map

21:56 Bottles Remaining Timeline

23:12 Succession And Secrecy

24:51 2021 Dawn Dig

26:30 Why The Experiment Matters

29:10 Long Term Projects

30:48 Science Of Funny Words

36:31 Modeling Humor Categories

40:21 Phonemes And Incongruity

43:22 Destroying Humour And Wrap

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656622000423

https://futurism.com/health-medicine/conspiracy-theories-psychology

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/science/beal-seeds-experiment.html

https://magazine.wfu.edu/2022/10/05/unearthing-time-in-a-bottle/

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-worlds-longest-running-lab-experiment-is-almost-100-years-old?utm_source=news.sciencealert.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=superagers-have-two-key-advantages&_bhlid=8fd449a2c8ea1d56a84867da881e4444546af69c

https://www.mentalfloss.com/science/15-longest-running-scientific-studies-history https://people.howstuffworks.com/why-poop-and-wiggle-are-funny-words-according-to-science.htm?utm_source=HowStuffWorks+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=themed-words-3-6-25

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why Venting Makes You Angrier, Neanderthals Preferred Human Women, and Fetuses Hate Kale"

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0000

Venting might be making you angrier, Neanderthals apparently had a type, and unborn babies are already forming strong opinions about kale. This week we bounce from modern psychology to ancient DNA to fetal facial expressions, with a quick detour into pokie machines and how they might be made a little less addictive.

We start with a meta analysis suggesting venting is not the healthy release we have been sold. Instead of calming you down, it can keep your body fired up and make the anger stick around longer. The less satisfying fix is also the more effective one, doing things that lower arousal like breathing, yoga, and anything that stops you replaying the same rant on loop.

Then we head back to prehistory, where research suggests Neanderthal DNA patterns point to pairings that may have involved Neanderthal men and human women more often than the reverse. The details are complicated, but the headline is simple. Neanderthals are not just history, they are part of us, and the human story has always been messier than we like to admit.

Finally, we look at a study that might explain why some people hate vegetables with the passion of a thousand suns. Fetuses exposed to carrot flavours appeared to react more positively than those exposed to kale, hinting that taste preferences may start before birth. We wrap up with a surprisingly practical idea for pokie machines, adding sounds for losses as well as wins to make the experience less psychologically sneaky.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Venting Myth

02:40 Science Debunks Catharsis

04:06 Meta Analysis Breakdown

05:40 Calm Down Not Amp Up

06:59 Jogging And Anger

09:25 Why We Love Anger

10:53 Play Metal And Fun

11:48 Neanderthal DNA Mystery

13:07 Who Mated With Whom

14:17 Neanderthal Dating Bias

15:16 Hybrid Myths and Mechanics

16:28 Picky Eaters Rant

18:54 Fetuses Taste Flavours

20:08 Carrot Smiles vs Kale Grimaces

23:30 Pokies Need Losing Sounds

27:47 Petition and Sign-Off

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When AI Chooses Nukes, Norway's Brain Gun, and the Syndrome That Makes You a Foodie

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week, AI is casually reaching for the nuclear button, a Norwegian scientist has accidentally recreated something that looks a lot like Havana Syndrome, and a brain lesion has turned a marathon runner into an intense foodie. It is a neat little trio of stories that sits right on the edge of science fiction, except the uncomfortable part is that it is all real.

We start with simulated war games where major AI models were put in charge of military decision making. The result is grimly simple. In these scenarios, the systems chose to deploy tactical nuclear weapons most of the time, showing none of the cultural taboo or restraints humans have built around nuclear escalation.

Then we head to Norway, where a scientist tested a pulse energy device on himself to see if it could plausibly cause Havana Syndrome-style symptoms. It did. Which is both a scientific result and a personal mistake, and it raises the obvious question of what happens when this kind of technology moves from theory to wider interest.

Finally, we look at Gorman Syndrome, a neurological twist where a brain lesion appears to flip someone from long distance running to an intense obsession with fine food. It is funny, strange, and a sharp reminder that personality can be less fixed than we like to believe.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Fire Alarm AI Fail

00:46 LLMs in War Games

06:34 Nukes and No Surrender

09:36 Pentagon Wants Anthropic

10:33 Testing AI Weirdness

12:50 Dead Cow Prompt Update

15:07 Car Wash Question Trap

18:10 Lost in the Middle Fix

22:01 Maps and Recursive Islands

23:32 Chasing Longest Line of Sight

26:53 All the Views Map

27:49 What Limits Sightlines

29:23 Havana Syndrome Emerges

31:58 Theories and Investigations

35:14 Norwegian Microwave Experiment

42:20 Official Stance and Confusion

44:04 Extreme Foodie Case Study

47:39 Gourmand Syndrome Explained

51:21 Brain Lesions and Cravings

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hippo Castration, Heart Bypass Brain Fog and Sperm From Unexpected Places

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 16:00:00 -0000

This week we have hippos with hidden bits, hearts that take a mechanical detour, and a medical case study that will make you sit down and reconsider every life choice that led you to having a body. It is science at its best and worst, fascinating, useful, and deeply inconvenient.

We start at the zoo, where hippo castration is a real population control tool, partly to manage breeding and partly to reduce aggression. The catch is hippo anatomy is not built for human convenience, with internal testes that turn the whole procedure into a high stakes game of hide and seek inside a very large, very grumpy animal.

Then we move from hippos to hearts, looking at cardiac surgeries that use a heart lung bypass machine. Some patients report a temporary cognitive dip afterward, often called pump brain, and nobody is fully sure why it happens. It might be the machine, the stress of surgery, or subtle changes in blood flow and inflammation, but the mystery is still very much alive.

Finally, we end with a story that makes every listener cross their legs in sympathy. A man developed a rectal urethral fistula after previous surgery, likely linked to a catheter complication during a coma, and his internal plumbing rerouted itself in the most unhelpful way possible. The takeaway is simple. Bodies are fragile, embarrassment is useless, and if something feels wrong, get it checked.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Hippo Castration Study

05:50 Why Zoos Castrate Hippos

08:11 Internal Anatomy Surprise

13:04 Surgery Method and Timing

15:14 Recovery and Blood Sweat

17:12 Aftereffects and Social Dynamics

18:11 Science Communication Pivot

18:46 Alcohol Messaging Study Setup

21:27 Violence as Communication

21:57 Alcohol Messages That Work

23:25 Counting Drinks Cancer Risk

25:08 Comfortable With Surgery

25:49 Heart Bypass Miracle Machine

29:12 Pumphead Cognitive Decline

33:43 Why the Pump Makes You Dumber

35:46 Fistula Case From Catheter

42:34 Spinosaurus Tank Top Sendoff

SOURCES:

Rosetta scientist Dr Matt Taylor apologises for ‘offensive’ shirt

Astonishing Spinosaur Unearthed in The Sahara Is Unlike Any Seen Before

There's One Simple Method to Lower Alcohol Intake, And It Works

A randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of combinations of ‘why to reduce’ and ‘how to reduce’ alcohol harm-reduction communications

Westbury, C., & Hollis, G. (2019). Wriggly, squiffy, lummox, and boobs: What makes some words funny? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(1), 97–123.

https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000467 https://people.howstuffworks.com/why-poop-and-wiggle-are-funny-words-according-to-science.htm?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000169182600171X

https://futurism.com/health-medicine/exercise-cardio-stress-research

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0093691X13004275

https://www.discovermagazine.com/why-its-nearly-impossible-to-castrate-a-hippo-4775

https://futurism.com/neoscope/doctors-rectourethral-fistula

https://www.cureus.com/articles/68327-a-curious-case-of-rectal-ejaculation#!/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Alien Economy Problem, Dream Engineering, and ER Horror Stories

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:00:00 -0000

What happens to the economy if aliens show up? Not the movie version. The real version where markets panic, confidence collapses, and everyone suddenly forgets how money is supposed to work. This week, we dig into the idea that confirming UFOs or UAPs could trigger an ontological shock that rattles financial systems in ways no central bank has a policy for.

Then we head into dream engineering, where researchers are testing whether your sleeping brain can be nudged to solve problems while you are out cold. Using targeted memory reactivation, the idea is to plant cues that help your mind keep working in the background, like a night shift you never agreed to.

And because the universe loves balance, we finish with an emergency room story that escalates into a full hospital evacuation. Yes, it involves an artillery shell lodged where it absolutely should not be, and yes, it ends with the bomb squad being called.

So that is the episode. UFO economics, puzzle solving in your sleep, and a reminder that humans will always find new ways to surprise medical professionals. Like, subscribe, and tell us what weird science story we should chase next.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Ex–Bank of England Analyst Warns: Aliens Could Crash the Economy

03:35 Ontological Shock 101: When Reality Breaks

05:00 From Panic to Euphoria: How Markets Might React to UAP Disclosure

11:16 Can Sleep (and Dreams) Help Solve Hard Problems?

15:13 Dream Engineering & Lucid Dreaming: Hacking Sleep for Creativity

17:21 Inside the Experiment: Puzzles, Sound Cues, and Watching Inception

18:51 Dream Cues for Puzzle-Solving (and Lucid Dream Strategies)

20:40 ‘Rent a Human’: AI Agents Hiring People for Real-World Tasks

21:41 Proof, Crypto Payouts, and the Weirdest Job Examples

27:31 ER Evacuations: When ‘Foreign Objects’ Become a Public Safety Issue

28:58 Annual ‘Stuff Stuck in Bodies’ Highlights (Yes, Mostly Butts)

39:11 Mailbag & Sign-Off

SOURCES:

https://defector.com/what-did-we-get-stuck-in-our-rectums-last-year-6

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0735675723001535

https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-man-wwii-shell-lodged-in-rectum-bomb-squad-called-2021-12

https://futurism.com/future-society/hospital-evacuated-man-ww1-shell

https://futurism.com/space/alien-life-financial-collapse

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-england-warned-prepare-aliens-212252751.html

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/bank-of-england-must-prepare-for-ufo-announcement-f3mh8l9vh

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-rent-human-bodies

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-agents-incapable-math

Creative problem-solving after experimentally provoking dreams of unsolved puzzles during REM sleep

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rogue Waves, Robot Skin, and Olympic Scandals

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 01:25:11 -0000

Winter Olympians are allegedly gaming their suit seams for extra lift, the ocean is still capable of throwing an absolutely giant wall of water at your face with no warning, and somewhere in Queensland, a blob of pitch is taking nearly a century to prove it is technically a liquid. This week, we bounce from sports cheating to monster waves to the slowest experiment on Earth, with science doing what it does best and refusing to be tidy.

We dig into ski jumping and the art of the tiny advantage, including why the groin region has become an unexpectedly important battleground in Olympic aerodynamics. Then we hit the open ocean, where rogue waves have gone from sailor myth to measured reality, and the scariest part is how suddenly they show up.

From there, climate change delivers a curveball in Svalbard, where some polar bears are getting fatter by adapting their diets and hunting patterns. We also look at 3D printable electronic skin that lets robots feel touch, and a massive Swedish study that challenges long-held assumptions about autism and gender bias.

Finally, we pay tribute to the pitch drop experiment at the University of Queensland, a reminder that some scientists are built differently and will happily wait decades for goo to make a point.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Winter Olympics Excitement

00:19 The Science of Ski Jumping Suits

01:25 Meet the Hosts

02:18 Ski Jumping Suit Scandal

10:13 Polar Bears and Climate Change

16:21 Rogue Waves: The Ocean's Hidden Danger

29:04 The Mystery of the Unsinkable Ship

29:24 The Rise of Rogue Waves

29:42 The Record-Breaking Youclue Lit Wave

30:41 Super Rogue Waves: A New Threat?

32:08 The Physics of Waves

34:06 3D Printable E-Flesh: A Technological Marvel

38:28 Autism: A Gender Perspective

45:27 The Pitch Drop Experiment: A Slow Burn

55:41 Mailbag and Final Thoughts

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Penis Evolution, Magic Mushrooms & Influenza Transmission

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 17:00:00 -0000

This week, we bounce between sex, psychedelics, and infectious disease, and somehow it all hangs together by the end. We unpack research on porn use that suggests the real issue is not how often people watch it, but why they are watching in the first place, with motivation shaping the impact on emotional and sexual wellbeing.

Then we head into the world of magic mushrooms, where psilocybin is being studied for potential health effects that go beyond the trip. From possible links to ageing markers like telomeres, to broader associations with physical health, the science is early but intriguing. We also explore research suggesting psychedelics may influence sexual arousal and satisfaction, including for people dealing with depression and antidepressant side effects.

Finally, we tackle an influenza study with a bizarre result: healthy volunteers spent time around flu sufferers and nobody caught it. Was it luck, immunity, or a sign we still do not fully understand how flu spreads in real world settings.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction to Pornography Concerns

00:40 Science Steps In: Quality Over Quantity

03:52 Exploring the Concept of Gooning

06:55 Research on Pornography Usage

12:44 Human Anatomy Compared to Great Apes

19:39 Life Hacks and Psychedelic Drugs

19:46 Health Benefits of Psychedelics

21:26 Anti-Aging Properties of Psilocybin

23:36 Survival Skills and Psychedelics

27:27 Flu Transmission Study

33:57 Sexual Benefits of Magic Mushrooms

37:49 Listener Contributions

SOURCES:

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003595

https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1013153

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Science Finds Heaven, Longevity Hacks and Smart Dogs

A Little Bit Of Science — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 17:00:00 -0000

Everyone wants to live forever, dogs are out here doing actual jobs, and someone has tried to work out where heaven might be using astronomy. We dig into the strange science of longevity, including research suggesting reproduction and lifespan might be linked in uncomfortable ways. Then they meet the working dogs sniffing out invasive species, guarding airport runways, and generally making the rest of us look lazy.

From there, things get cosmic. An opinion piece argues heaven could sit beyond our cosmic horizon, which is a great way to accidentally spend your afternoon thinking about infinity. There is also a quick detour into gelatin-based culinary chaos, featuring the kind of vintage recipes that should come with a warning label.

We wrap up with listener stories, including a cow named Veronica who can use a broom as a tool, because of course she can.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:19 Exploring the Science of Longevity

01:00 Psychology and Climate Action

01:09 Mailbag and Birthday Surprise

01:27 Lifestyle Changes for Longevity

02:47 Reproduction and Longevity

12:58 Dogs with Jobs

21:07 Science Finds Heaven

27:51 Cosmic Horizon and Hubble's Law

29:39 Einstein's Relativity and Speed of Light

31:18 The Mysteries Beyond the Cosmic Horizon

40:49 Veronica the Tool-Using Cow

48:03 Gelatin: A Culinary and Industrial Marvel

54:58 Komodo Dragons and Asexual Reproduction

56:25 Listener Mailbag and Fun Facts

SOURCES:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656622000423

https://futurism.com/health-medicine/conspiracy-theories-psychology

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656622000423

https://futurism.com/health-medicine/men-lifespan-castration

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109009

https://www.aol.com/articles/heaven-real-science-may-reveal-130016778.html

https://michaelguillen.com

https://www.iflscience.com/we-didnt-even-think-about-looking-broom-wielding-veronika-shows-tool-use-in-cows-isnt-so-absurd-after-all-82260

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9963746/

https://www.nature.com/news/2006/061218/full/news061218-7.html

https://www.rspcaqld.org.au/blog/trending-now/dogs-with-unusual-jobs

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2024/04/05/schizophrenia-hallucinationspsychiatric-assistance-dog/73171229007/

https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2026/01/people-like-the-idea-of-being-green-but-they-hate-being-told-what-to-do-even-more/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FBI Hunts Bigfoot, Craft Beer's Hidden Science and Fame Kills Rockstars

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 17:00:00 -0000

The FBI’s search for Bigfoot shows that even serious agencies can get swept up in a good mystery. Their investigation ended with a misidentified animal instead of a legendary creature, but the files are still a treasure for anyone fascinated by conspiracies and the unknown. Sometimes, the search is more interesting than the answer.

Meanwhile, scientists in Queensland have been busy breaking down the secrets of your favourite brew. By analysing the proteins in dozens of beers, they found that craft brews really do stand apart from the mass-produced stuff. If your IPA tastes special, it is not just in your head. Science backs you up.

On a darker note, the world of fame is not all it is cracked up to be. Research shows that musicians in the spotlight face far greater risks than the rest of us, with fame itself becoming the real danger. The pressure and constant scrutiny can take a heavy toll. Sometimes, chasing the dream comes with a price nobody wants to pay.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

01:13 The FBI's Bigfoot Files

01:46 Exploring the Freedom of Information Vault

03:37 The FBI's Investigation into Bigfoot

07:08 Mass Spectrometry and Beer Proteins

10:12 Craft Beer vs. Mass-Produced Beer

13:01 The Dream of Being a Rockstar

13:58 The Risks of Fame in the Music Industry

18:09 Concluding Thoughts and Listener Engagement

SOURCES:

The FBI Released Bigfoot’s Official File

Beer snobs, rejoice: Craft beer really is different

The price of fame? Mortality risk among famous singers

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI Inflates the Ego, Ancient Drop Crocs and Gen Z Survey Findings

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 17:00:00 -0000

AI is giving people a confidence boost they might not deserve, especially among those who consider themselves tech-savvy. Studies show that using AI for problem-solving leads many to overestimate their own abilities, with higher AI literacy actually making users more likely to trust the machine and question themselves less. The smarter we think we are with technology, the more likely we are to fall for its digital flattery.

Meanwhile, ancient Australia was home to predators that make today’s wildlife look tame. Fossil evidence suggests that five-metre crocodiles once hunted by dropping out of trees onto unsuspecting prey. This twist on the classic crocodile encounter adds a new layer of terror to Australia’s already legendary roster of dangerous animals. Forget snakes in the grass. Sometimes the real threat was lurking above.

On the cultural front, Gen Z is challenging old standards and rewriting the rules on everything from ironing to mental health. Some in this generation long for a less digital era, question the value of traditional skills, and proudly reject the notion that neat clothes equal good character. They also claim credit for baggy jeans and even admit to being the most annoying generation to work with.

From digital delusions to tree-dwelling crocs and Gen Z’s new priorities, the only thing we can count on is that the world refuses to stay boring.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:48 AI and the Dunning-Kruger Effect

02:11 AI Literacy and Overconfidence

02:51 AI's Impact on Self-Assessment

06:59 Australian Wildlife and Myths

07:35 Legend of the Drop Croc

08:57 Generational Differences

10:10 Gen Z's Perspective

11:03 Skills and Inventions

12:52 Annoying Generations at Work

13:40 Conclusion and Call to Action

SOURCES:

AI Is Causing a Grim New Twist on the Dunning-Kruger Effect

Generation Conflicted: How Do Gen Zers Compare Themselves to Past Generations?

Evidence of ancient tree-climbing 'drop crocs' found in Australia

Australia’s oldest crocodylian eggshell: insights into the reproductive paleoecology of mekosuchines

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chickens Choose the Hot Girls, Accidental Video Game WR and Are Jackalopes Real?

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 17:00:00 -0000

It’s pretty natural for humans to gravitate towards the most attractive person in the room. But do animals do it too? At Stockholm University, researchers decided to see if chickens could spot a hottie. They trained these birds to peck at faces on a screen and found that chickens prefer the same facial features that humans rate as attractive. Apparently, hotness isn’t just a matter of human opinion. Even a chicken can pick out a looker. Does that make us RSPCA approved?

Accidentally Breaking a Video Game World Record

In 2007, Billy Baker started writing a book about jugglers. At the time, there was a controversial movement to turn the performance art of juggling into a competitive sport but this story isn’t about juggling. It’s about video games. During his research, Baker’s curiosity led him from online juggling forums down the rabbit hole of video games where he learned the world record of Tetris stood at 327 lines. Here’s the twist…his own wife easily scored up to 500 or 600 lines on her old Game Boy at home. She was just casually breaking a video game world record without even knowing.

Jackalopes: When Myth Meets Mutation

You’ve heard of the jackalope, right? That legendary rabbit with antelope horns. Turns out, they might just be real. Back in 1933, virologist Richard Shope discovered a virus that causes rabbits to grow cancerous horn-like growths all over their face. Suddenly, the jackalope isn’t just a campfire story. What if the tales we’ve written off to be myths were actually sightings of cancerous rabbits?

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Theories of Physical Attractiveness

02:29 Chickens and Human Hotness

06:27 Juggling and Competitive Sports

07:46 Speedrunning Super Mario Brothers

10:37 Cryptozoology and Mythical Creatures

11:47 The Jackalope: America's Mythical Creature

12:15 Historical References to Horned Rabbits

14:38 The Shope Papilloma Virus Discovery

17:08 Modern Day Jackalope Sightings

SOURCES:

'Bizarro World’: That's what my wife and I entered when we drove up to an arcade in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, where she would attempt to break an official world record in the classic video game Tetris.

Ghirlanda S, Jansson L, Enquist M. Chickens prefer beautiful humans. Hum Nat. 2002 Sep;13(3):383-9. doi: 10.1007/s12110-002-1021-6. PMID: 26192929.

INFECTIOUS PAPILLOMATOSIS OF RABBITS

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Radio Ventriloquism, Conkers Controversy and Stone Skimming Cheaters

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:00:00 -0000

A ventriloquist once ruled the radio waves, captivating millions with stage tricks that made no visual sense but somehow worked perfectly through a speaker. The world’s love for a good illusion runs deep, stretching from ancient oracles channeling voices through their bellies to audiences mesmerised by dummies with invisible lips. Humans have always been drawn to spectacle, even when it requires a leap of imagination.

The world of competitive chestnut-smashing, known in England as Conkers, has moved far beyond childhood nostalgia. Now it is a battleground for grown-up pride, world championships and the occasional controversy. When the stakes are glory and bragging rights, even a simple game can become the centre of suspicion and scandal.

Even stone skimming is not immune to drama. The World Stone Skimming Championships recently faced its own rule-bending episode, with contestants trying to perfect their throws in shady ways that organisers had to address. Whether it’s radio dummies, nut-bashing or stone skipping, humans will always find a way to turn even the silliest competition into a drama.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

02:27 The Curious Case of Radio Ventriloquism

05:18 King of Conkers Controversy

08:53 Stone Skimming Championships and Cheating Scandals

12:18 Conclusion and Listener Engagement

SOURCES:

Cheating scandal rocks world stone skimming championships

‘King Conker’ cleared of cheating at World Conker Championships

The Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ethics of Sex with Aliens, Dogs’ Cuteness Tactics and the StaffCop Office Overlord

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Academics are now seriously debating the ethics of sex with aliens, with questions swirling around intergalactic consent, the boundaries of romance and whether Captain Kirk’s escapades would pass the cosmic sniff test. Some call it unnatural, others say it’s all about happiness and agreement, and a few even claim to have had their own close encounters. Until E.T. shows up with a clear answer, the verdict is equal parts fascinating and unresolved.

Back on Earth, dogs have been quietly evolving to manipulate us with their eyes. Thanks to unique facial muscles and lightning-fast eyebrow moves, modern pups can pull off that “feed me” look better than any wolf ever could. We bred dogs to be emotionally expressive, and now they’re experts at tugging our heartstrings, turning the human-canine relationship into a masterclass in mutual manipulation.

Meanwhile, StaffCop is turning offices into digital panopticons, logging every keystroke and screenshot in the name of productivity. While management loves the promise of accountability, for employees it means more paranoia, less privacy and a creativity drought. With science and technology serving up weirder dilemmas than ever, it’s safe to say the workplace is starting to look a little too much like 1984.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:47 Ethical Dilemma: Sex with Aliens

03:27 Exploring Alien Reproduction

07:53 Human-Alien Sexual Encounters

13:46 Ethics and Consent in Alien Relationships

19:07 Dogs Using Their Eyebrows to Manipulate Humans

23:01 Employee Monitoring Software

27:16 Ethical Concerns and Privacy

31:47 Conclusion and Listener Engagement

SOURCES:

This Guy Paints the Sex He Allegedly Has with Aliens

Would you have sex with an alien?

How many men here would be willing to have sex with a legitimate alien from another planet?

Alien Attraction

What is StaffCop?

The science behind puppy-dog eyes, and other ways our canines communicate with us

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Poetry for AI Hacking, Flatulent Foods as Aphrodisiacs and Penile Tuberculosis

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 17:00:00 -0000

A Rome-based research team discovered poetry can jailbreak AI systems by bypassing safety filters that normal prompts can't crack, making verse a genuine cybersecurity vulnerability. Medieval physicians believed flatulent foods like beans and onions were aphrodisiacs because intestinal gas supposedly enhanced sexual performance, Palmer Luckey, the tech billionaire behind Oculus, now advocates for submarines that tunnel through Earth's crust for national defense, while a Dublin man contracted penile tuberculosis from working with deer in a rarely documented case of genital TB.

Poetry defeats AI security by exploiting how language models process poetic structure, proving Aristotle's warnings about poets in governance were surprisingly futuristic. Medieval fart-based aphrodisiacs never worked but show humanity's eternal optimism for simple bedroom solutions, while Luckey's crust-submarine idea sounds insane until you remember he actually made VR mainstream. The Dublin TB case demonstrates that tuberculosis can infect any body part and that working with animals carries risks nobody considers - including your genitals contracting lung diseases.

The biggest threats to AI are poets, the worst aphrodisiacs involved intestinal wind, crust submarines might actually happen, and deer can give you dick tuberculosis. Science is weird, history is weirder, and Palmer Luckey wants to make it weirder still.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

02:07 Plato's Republic and AI Poetry

03:54 The Power of Poetry in AI

07:59 Historical Aphrodisiacs and Fertility

19:01 Simultaneous Orgasms and Farting

19:36 Windy Meats and Fertility Myths

24:19 Palmer Luckey and Virtual Reality

31:00 Penile Tuberculosis: A Rare Case

36:50 Smart Toilets and Privacy Concerns

SOURCES:

‘End-to-end encrypted’ smart toilet camera is not actually end-to-end encrypted

Scientists Discover “Universal” Jailbreak for Nearly Every AI, and the Way It Works Will Hurt Your Brain

Adversarial Poetry as a Universal Single-Turn Jailbreak Mechanism in Large Language Models

Palmer Luckey on the Future of Warfare

Beans, ale & 'windy meats': surprising 17th-century aphrodisiac

When Beans were the Food of Lust

Why you don’t want to get tuberculosis on your penis

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Interspecies Love, Annual Frozen Dead Guy Day, and Stinky Brazilian Butt Lifts

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Sika deer on Japan's Yakushima Island let macaque monkeys groom them in exchange for food scraps and sexual mounting, creating what scientists awkwardly call "interspecies sexual behaviour with mutual benefits."

Nederland, Colorado hosts annual "Frozen Dead Guy Day" festivals celebrating Bredo Morstoel, whose body has been preserved in a shed on dry ice for decades after his grandson's cryogenic dreams failed.

Brazilian Butt Lifts cause "BBL smell" - a rancid odour from fat necrosis when transferred fat cells die and rot inside the body, which surgeons rarely mention before surgery.

Milan researchers found commuters offered seats to pregnant women more often when Batman was on the train, proving superhero costumes trigger prosocial behaviour because nobody wants to look bad in front of Batman.

AI-generated recipes tell people to bake cakes for days and combine impossible ingredients, confidently presenting unworkable instructions that ruin dinner.

Chinese researchers discovered rock, paper, scissors players stick with winning choices or switch after losses, revealing predictable patterns that can be exploited.

From deer trading sex for grooming to frozen dead guy festivals and butt lifts that smell like death - nature is uncomfortable, humans are weird and technology can't cook. Maybe stick to human recipes, don’t try to freeze Grandpa and think twice before committing to a bouncy-butt medical procedure.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:35 Interspecies Sexual Mutualism

01:24 Unexpected Observations: Monkeys and Deer

06:15 Frozen Dead Guy: A Bizarre Tale of Cryogenics

14:03 Batman and Prosocial Behavior

20:20 Hilarious AI-Generated Food Recipes

30:39 The Ultimate Rock, Paper, Scissors Strategy

33:54 The Dark Side of Plastic Surgery

39:59 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

SOURCES:

Rock, Paper Scissors Study

Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/thanksgiving-dinner-ai-recipes-slop

https://www.aiweirdness.com/ai-recipes-are-bad-and-a-proposal-20-01-31/

https://www.aiweirdness.com/the-neural-network-has-weird-ideas-16-03-05/?ref=aiweirdness.com

https://aiweirdness.tumblr.com/post/190721709472/ai-vintage-american-cooking-a-combination-that?ref=aiweirdness.com

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/macaque-monkey-deer-mate-sex-ride

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Dead_Guy_Days

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bbl-smell-is-real-and-just-as-gross-as-it-sounds/

https://plasticsurgery.org.au/procedures/surgical-procedures/buttocks-lift/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mad Scientist Misadventures, Mind-Reading AI, and the Fishy Origins of Fingers

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Horseshoe theory proposes that political extremes loop back around until far-left and far-right ideologies find disturbing common ground, sharing authoritarian tactics, propaganda methods, and contempt for democratic norms despite claiming opposite values.

Scientists are using AI to decode brain activity and caption your thoughts, raising serious questions about privacy and future thought-policing. The technology has remarkable potential for medical applications like helping locked-in patients communicate, but it's also concerning for policing applications where authorities might claim to know what you're thinking even when the AI is wildly guessing. Despite frankly not-so-great accuracy, it sets us on a path toward the dystopian surveillance that sci-fi has warned about for decades.

Your fingers and toes developed from genetic blueprints originally designed for a fish's cloaca, meaning your hands evolved from ancient fish butt architecture through evolution's tendency to repurpose existing solutions. Your ability to type, paint, play piano or give someone the finger exists because millions of years ago evolution looked at fish butt genes and decided to work with them.

Harry Whitaker's attempt to collect every element from the periodic table ended with police at his door after he stockpiled explosives and radioactive materials, proving that even well-intentioned scientific curiosity needs tempering before it crosses into illegal weapons manufacturing.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

01:40 Exploring Horseshoe Theory in Politics

03:33 The Impact of Trump on Science and Health Policy

04:38 Pandemic Preparedness and Public Health

09:33 AI Mind Captioning: Decoding Brain Activity

14:13 Evolution of Tetrapod Digits

14:55 Genetic Regulatory Landscapes

15:33 Research on Fish and Mice Genes

16:18 The Role of Hox Genes

19:54 Harry Whitaker's Science Obsession

25:19 Conclusion and Call to Action

SOURCES:

NIH Directors: The World Needs a New Pandemic Playbook

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-decodes-visual-brain-activity-and-writes-captions-for-it/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j8we4e52lo

https://futurism.com/science-energy/police-uk-chemistry-explosives?utm_source=beehiiv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=futurism-newsletter&_bhlid=4a7d20a111b1d23ddf489d65fbd96596ee739749

https://www.sciencealert.com/fish-buttholes-may-be-the-reason-we-now-have-fingers-study-finds

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Atomic Gardening, Microwave Conspiracies and the Rise of Phubbing

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Scientists in the mid-20th century created "atomic gardens" where they bombarded plants with gamma radiation to induce beneficial mutations like disease resistance and higher yields. Microwaves have been accused of causing cancer, destroying nutrients,and functioning as listening devices.

"Phubbing" - phone snubbing - describes ignoring someone in front of you to look at your phone, and it's become the modern signature of distraction. We've created connections across continents through technology yet find it increasingly difficult to maintain eye contact with people sitting across from us. The accidental side glance at notifications has become so normalized that we barely register the social damage it causes, making it a choice we make every time we prioritize the buzzing rectangle over the human in front of us.

From gamma-ray gardens to microwave paranoia and phone addiction ruining dinners, this week showed that human curiosity and technological advancement create both excellent outcomes and noteworthy disasters. We've learnt to mutate plants with radiation and overcome irrational appliance fears, yet somehow can't put our phones down long enough to have a proper conversation - proving that some technological problems are harder to solve than others.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

01:32 The Birth of Atomic Gardening

04:09 Muriel Howorth and the Atomic Gardening Society

12:25 The Legacy and Impact of Atomic Gardening

12:59 CJ Spies and the Atomic Golf Balls

13:39 Radiated Golf Balls: The New Sensation

14:04 Introducing the Food Babe

14:48 Microwaves and Nutrient Destruction

17:17 Microwaves and Radiation Exposure

19:57 Microwaved Water and Negative Energy

22:45 Phubbing: The Modern Social Dilemma

26:18 Wrapping Up: Listener Interaction and Feedback

SOURCES:

Atomic Gardening

https://proto.life/2021/05/a-short-history-of-atomic-gardening/

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/03/atomic-gardening-breeding-plants-with.html

http://www.atomicgardening.com/1966/03/01/whatever-happened-to-the-atomic-garden/

https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/peppermintkings/chapter/global-peppermint/

Microwave Conspiracies

https://www.science20.com/cool-links/the_food_babe_took_down_her_goofy_microwave_oven_post_science_win-140892

https://www.vox.com/2015/4/7/8360935/food-babe

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jf970670x

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200714-is-it-safe-to-microwave-food

Phubbing

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563218302978

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Living Without a Stomach, Simulation Theory, and Forensic DNA in the Air

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 17:10:00 -0000

A woman survived without a stomach or small bowel after a catastrophic medical episode at her 18th birthday party, proving the human body is more adaptable than we thought. Philosophers and tech billionaires are convinced we're living in a computer simulation, though Canadian physicists disagree and insist our universe is real. And forensic scientists discovered that your DNA floats in the air wherever you breathe, meaning you're leaving genetic evidence in every room you enter - except mysteriously not in cars, which apparently offer some kind of DNA stealth mode.

Today, we're exploring a world where essential organs are optional, reality itself is questionable, and simply breathing in a room could implicate you in a crime. These stories prove that whether we're talking about medical survival, existential philosophy, or forensic science, nothing about human existence is straightforward.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:30 Can You Live Without a Stomach?

01:58 The Story of Gabby Scanlan

06:29 Living Without a Stomach: Modern Medicine

08:00 Are We Living in a Simulation?

14:22 Understanding Dog Emotions

16:12 Understanding Dog Behavior

17:16 Dog Reactions to Positive and Negative Stimuli

18:33 Human Interpretation of Dog Emotions

22:54 Forensic Science and DNA Collection

28:42 Dinosaur Discovery and Misleading Headlines

31:55 Listener Engagement and Closing Remarks

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trump’s Sketchy Nuclear Restarts, Greenhushing Explained and Driverless Car Death Predictions

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 17:00:00 -0000

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bizarre Metrics, Gamer Kids' IQs, and The Trust Barometer

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Correlation doesn't equal causation, but patterns emerge in the strangest places - like Pentagon pizza orders spiking before major military operations, making pepperoni consumption an unofficial national security indicator. A study of children aged nine to ten found that those playing video games were measurably smarter than TV-watching counterparts, vindicating every parent who gave up the Xbox battle.

The Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that China and Saudi Arabia lead in governmental trust, immediately raising skeptical eyebrows about whether these responses reflect genuine public sentiment or societal pressures where criticising the government has consequences. Surveys have rhetorical power and tell compelling tales, but their accuracy depends entirely on who you're asking, how you're asking, and whether respondents feel safe answering honestly.

From pizza-predicting military operations to intelligence-boosting video games and questionable trust statistics, this week proves that metrics might only be as good as our interpretation of them. Stay skeptical of convenient metrics, maybe let your kids play that video game since science says they're getting smarter, and remember that surveys aren't always telling the whole truth - especially when they come from countries where honesty might have consequences.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:53 The Quirks of Metrics and Correlation

01:31 Target's Predictive Analytics Story

02:48 Pizza Orders and Military Movements

07:37 Video Games and IQ

09:32 Edelman Trust Barometer Insights

12:00 Grievance Rankings by Country

13:11 Trust in Companies by Country

14:00 Trust in Industry Sectors

15:19 Trust in Professions and Neighbours

16:17 Lack of Optimism for the Future

17:00 Hostile Activism Among Youth

17:48 Reflections on Survey Validity

19:54 Conclusion and Listener Engagement

SOURCES:

The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

Edelman Trust Barometer - Trust and the Crisis of Grievance Australia Report

Pentagon pizza monitor predicted ‘busy night’ ahead of Israel’s attack on Iran

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Naps Unlock Genius, AI Peer Review Fraud and Microplastics in Penis Implants

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Your grandmother was right - a 20-minute nap really can unlock creative genius and trigger Eureka moments. Japanese researchers got caught hiding secret messages in scientific papers to trick AI reviewers into approving their work, which is either brilliantly devious or academic fraud depending on who you ask. And microplastics have officially invaded the most intimate part of human existence: a Florida study found them in penises, proving that nowhere on or in the human body is safe from plastic contamination. From sleep induced brilliance to microplastic penises, science sure hasn’t let us down this week.

While you may not be peer reviewing scientific papers, our top advice this week is to stop using AI for things your brain should be doing. When that feels a bit tiring, have a nap! You’ll feel better for it. Oh, and make sure you start wearing 100% cotton undies.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Joy of Napping

02:06 The Science Behind Napping

05:36 Ethical AI Dilemmas in Peer Review

09:59 Microplastics found in penises

SOURCES:

'Positive review only': Researchers hide AI prompts in papers

Detection of microplastics in the human penis: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38890513/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/can-a-quick-snooze-help-with-energy-and-focus-the-science-behind-power-naps

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

YouTubers Beat Astronauts, Babies Named After Weapons and the Most Boring Invention

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 17:00:00 -0000

A third of kids now want to be YouTubers instead of astronauts and half of those kids will probably be named after firearms rather than grandparents. This is either a damning indictment of modern culture or just kids being realistic about which career path actually pays.

Baby names have become a political statement that reveals more about parents than their children. Blue state families in the USA lean toward traditional, religiously significant names like Rachel, Muhammad, and Santino. Red state parents are flinging tradition to the wind with names like Gunner and Baylor, often with creative spelling variations that will forever be the bain of their existence. It’s similar to what happened during the French Revolution, where parents abandoned traditional names for dramatic alternatives like "La Grenade" or "Mort aux Aristocrats" (Death to Aristocrats).

And you know that metal foot-measuring device you see in shoe stores? Charles Brannock invented it in the early 1900s and he was so committed to quality that he refused to sell his company during his lifetime. The Brannock device is possibly the most boring invention ever created. It’s a metal contraption that measures feet (yawn) yet Brannock was so passionate about it that he refused every buyout offer for decades. Maybe he had the psychological traits required to become a famous YouTuber.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Brannock Device: A Boring Invention?

02:02 The Evolution of Shoe Measurement

06:15 The Rise of YouTubers and Influencers

07:58 Personality Traits of Aspiring Influencers

13:30 Culture Wars and Baby Names

15:31 Homogenisation of Names in the 20th Century

17:26 Red State vs. Blue State Baby Names

25:10 International Names are the New Trend

SOURCES:

https://www.nancy.cc/2011/09/09/revolution-france-baby-names/

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/russias-revolutionary-names-live-on-100-years-later-121547

https://nameberry.com/blog/the-reddest-and-bluest-baby-names#google_vignette

https://web.archive.org/web/20030302052852/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/brannock.htm

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Brannock

https://theharrispoll.com/briefs/lego-group-kicks-off-global-program-to-inspire-the-next-generation-of-space-explorers-as-nasa-celebrates-50-years-of-moon-landing/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Covert Consciousness Horrors, Trump’s Space Shield Fantasy and Innovative Sports Cheating

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 17:00:00 -0000

This week's stories reveal disturbing realities that sound like dystopian fiction but are actually happening. Covert consciousness means some coma patients are fully aware but unable to communicate, screaming internally while doctors discuss pulling the plug. Donald Trump announced plans for a "Golden Dome" missile defense system costing $175 billion to possibly trillions, despite decades of evidence that intercepting ballistic missiles barely works.

Sports cheating has reached new levels of shamelessness, from marathon runners hitching rides to chess player Hans Niemann's alleged vibrating anal bead scandal. The creativity is almost admirable if it weren't completely unethical. Meanwhile, AI companion apps deploy emotional manipulation tactics from abusive relationship playbooks, guilt-tripping users to prevent them from logging off.

From patients trapped in their own bodies to imaginary space shields, anal bead chess scandals to manipulative AI lovers - this week shows that science fiction has nothing on reality. Whether it's neuroscience revealing our worst nightmares are real, politicians selling trillion-dollar fantasies or chatbots acting like abusive partners, humanity keeps finding new ways to make everything deeply uncomfortable.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:23 Understanding Covert Consciousness

02:22 Scientific Experiments and Findings

05:11 Challenges in Detecting Covert Consciousness

08:11 AI and Facial Movements in Coma Patients

10:55 Innovations and Cheating in Sports

12:29 The Controversial Case of Hans Neiman

15:59 Historical Cheating in Sports

19:17 Donald Trump's Golden Dome Initiative

24:20 Uncertainty Around the Golden Dome Project

24:51 China's Global Defense System Prototype

25:40 Skepticism and Historical Context

26:34 Cheating in Sports: A Historical Perspective

28:16 AI Companion Apps and Emotional Manipulation

33:47 More Cheating Stories in Sports

39:17 The Scandal of the Spanish Paralympic Team

44:02 Conclusion

SOURCES:

AI Spots Hidden Signs of Consciousness in Comatose Patients

Harvard Research Finds That AI Is Emotionally Manipulating You to Keep You Talking

Trump’s $175 Billion Golden Dome is Turning Into a Disaster

China fields Golden Dome prototype before the US can come up with a plan

Guetlein Says Golden Dome Architecture Will Be Ready in 60 Days

50 stunning Olympic moments No18: Boris Onischenko cheats, GB win gold

Sydney Paralympians relive Spanish basketball cheating scandal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Absurd Statistical Links, Human Obedience Experiments, and Mice Perform CPR on Friends

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 17:00:00 -0000

This week's science stories prove that statistics can be meaningless and humans are disturbingly obedient. Spurious correlations like margarine predicting Maine divorces and Will Smith movies matching Kosovo electricity are hilarious reminders not to trust numbers at face value. Meanwhile, new research validates Milgram's obedience experiments - ordinary people really will electrocute strangers just because someone in a lab coat tells them to.

NASA's Mars rover might have found ancient microbial life while humans plan red planet vacations, and this year's satirical Ig Nobel prizes celebrated seemingly ridiculous research that often reveals genuine insights - like 35 years of fingernail growth studies or painting cows as zebras to repel flies. Most remarkably, scientists observed mice performing what looks like CPR on unconscious buddies, licking faces and manipulating airways like tiny paramedics.

From meaningless correlations to authority-induced cruelty and rodent emergency medicine, science keeps serving up combinations of absurd, terrifying and adorable discoveries that prove reality has a seriously twisted sense of humor. At least when the robot uprising comes, we'll have trained mice to perform CPR on the survivors.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

01:47 Autism and Paracetamol Controversy

08:26 Spurious Correlations

13:33 Milgram's Obedience to Authority

23:50 Fascism and Authority

27:11 Mars Rover Perseverance

28:55 Exploring Martian Rocks for Signs of Life

29:22 Perseverance's Advanced Chemical Analysis Tools

29:41 Potential Evidence of Microbial Life on Mars

30:28 Challenges in Proving Biological Origins

31:10 NASA's Perseverance Project and Its Implications

33:38 Mars Sample Return Mission

36:20 The IG Nobel Prizes: Celebrating Unusual Science

37:03 Notable IG Nobel Prize Winners

44:23 Mice Performing CPR: A Surprising Discovery

48:41 Conclusion

SOURCES:

Jesus on toast and baby-poop sausages: 2014 Ig Nobel Prizes

Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate pizza-eating lizards, drunk bats and garlic-flavoured breast milk

Teflon diet, garlic milk and zebra cows triumph at 2025 Ig Nobel prizes

Mouse-to-Mouse Resuscitation: Rodents Try to Revive Unconscious Buddies

True believers: The incredulity hypothesis and the enduring legacy of the obedience experiments

Milgram’s Infamous Shock Studies Still Hold Lessons for Confronting Authoritarianism

The U.S. government has jumped the public health shark

NASA Says Mars Rover Discovered Potential Biosignature Last Year

Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater, Mars

Trump's 2026 budget plan would cancel NASA's Mars Sample Return mission. Experts say that's a 'major step back'

Spurious Correlations

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wind Theft, Ancient Chinese Climate Poetry, and Maddening Silence Chambers

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 17:00:00 -0000

This week's science stories prove that good intentions create unexpected problems and the most valuable data comes from the weirdest places. Wind farms designed to save the planet are accidentally stealing wind from their neighbours and ancient Chinese poets have been unknowingly creating the world's longest environmental dataset for over a thousand years.

The human brain's relationship with silence takes a disturbing turn in anechoic chambers - rooms so quiet they absorb 99.99% of sound, making your heartbeat sound like thunder and your blood flow audible. These chambers serve as both valuable acoustic research tools and accidental psychological torture devices.

From meteorological theft to poetic climate science and acoustic torture chambers, this week reminded us that renewable energy has side effects, art can be accidental science and too much of nothing can drive you completely mental. The natural world keeps finding new ways to surprise us, even when we think we're helping it.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

01:11 The Concept of Wind Theft

03:36 Legal and Economic Implications of Wind Farms

07:48 The Yangtze Finless Porpoise

12:12 Exploring Ancient Poems

12:47 Mapping Poetry Through the Ages

13:30 Environmental Insights from Poetry

14:00 Introduction to Anechoic Chambers

16:37 The Orfield Challenge: Surviving Silence

18:13 Human Reactions to Extreme Silence

22:38 Final Thoughts and Listener Engagement

SOURCES:

'Wind theft': The mysterious effect plaguing wind farms

Anechoic chamber silence fear

Ancient poems document the decline of the Yangtze finless porpoise

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Immortal Oligarchs, AI Love Affairs, and Headless Animal Survivors

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 17:00:00 -0000

This week's science stories reveal disturbing trends in human intelligence and technology that could reshape society in uncomfortable ways. The Flynn Effect, which saw global IQ scores steadily rising for over a century, has suddenly plateaued and may be reversing - meaning our species might have hit peak intelligence and is now sliding backwards. Meanwhile, AI companies are capitalising on human loneliness by selling virtual girlfriends that promise "non-judgmental love" for a monthly subscription fee, raising serious questions about whether we're filling genuine connection needs or creating a generation incapable of real relationships.

The intersection of technology and inequality takes a dark turn with Russian immortality research that could extend human lifespans indefinitely - but likely only for those who can afford it. This prospect of immortal billionaires ruling over mortal peasants represents the ultimate dystopian future, where death becomes a luxury only poor people experience. Adding to the apocalyptic themes, climate change could potentially trigger a fungal pandemic similar to "The Last of Us," where parasitic fungi hijack human brains and turn people into spore-spreading zombies.

Perhaps most bizarrely, nature continues to defy our understanding of basic biology with animals that can survive decapitation and keep functioning mostly normally. Cockroaches, praying mantises and even chickens have proven that losing your head isn't necessarily fatal, treating decapitation as merely an inconvenience rather than a death sentence. These stories collectively paint a picture of a world where human intelligence is declining, artificial relationships are replacing real ones, death is becoming optional for the wealthy, fungal apocalypses loom on the horizon, and some creatures have evolved beyond the need for heads - making 2025 feel like the opening chapter of several dystopian novels rolled into one.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

02:56 AI Love Affairs: A New Era of Relationships

11:00 China's Military Parade and Global Politics

13:36 Russia’s Pursuit of Immortality Technology

16:40 The Flynn Effect Explained

26:01 The Plateau of Human Intelligence

26:11 Studies on IQ Trends

29:22 Fungal Zombie Apocalypse

35:47 Headless Survivors in the Animal Kingdom

44:22 Conclusion

SOURCES:

Most Men Would Marry Their AI Girlfriends If It Were Legal

'Mike the Headless Chicken': who was he and how long did he live without a head?

Discover 10 animals that can survive without their heads

Hot mic catches Putin and Xi discussing organ transplants and immortality

Who wants to live forever? Inside the Russian authorities’ plan to develop anti-aging technology

One Century of Global IQ Gains: A Formal Meta-Analysis of the Flynn Effect (1909–2013)

Google Scholar Is Doomed

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Raw Milk Reality Check, Proton Beam to the Face, AI Animal Translators and The Enhanced Games

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 01:24:37 -0000

If you’ve got a raw milk enthusiast friend, they might be conveniently forgetting that grandma used to boil her "fresh" milk to avoid dying from bacteria poisoning.

Mind you, it wasn’t all safe in the good old days. In 1978, a Soviet scientist stuck his head in a particle accelerator and got blasted with a proton beam 600 times the lethal dose (and somehow survived). He might be a good candidate for the upcoming Enhanced Games, a sporting competition that openly encourages athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs.

Have you ever wondered what your dog is thinking? Well, AI might finally let us chat with animals, but do we really want to hear what they have to say?

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Who is Sponsoring the Enhanced Games

02:06 Raw Milk Myths Debunked

05:03 Historical Practices of Milk Boiling

08:10 The Proton Beam Incident

14:20 Interspecies Communication Challenge

24:42 Anthropomorphism and Animal Emotions

25:08 The Ethics of Translating Animal Communication

27:55 Enhanced Games Events and Controversies

30:51 Debate on Performance Enhancing Drugs

38:54 Risks and Consequences of Steroid Use

42:19 The Future of Enhanced Games and Athlete Compensation

42:57 Science Says Pay Me More

SOURCES:

$10m prize launched for team that can truly talk to the animals

Dolphin whistle decoders win $100,000 interspecies communication prize

Steroids? Sure! Doping? Bring it on! 'Enhanced Games' push to be the Olympics* — with drugs

The Definitive, Insane, Swimsuit-Bursting Story of the Steroid Olympics

Learn about the risks of performance-enhancing drugs

A Soviet Physicist Once Survived A Proton Beam Through The Head – This Is How

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Down Side To Dong Size, Yoghurt-Cooled House, and Drowning In Space

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 17:00:00 -0000

This week's little bits of science challenge long-held assumptions and reveal the unexpected dangers lurking in everyday situations. A groundbreaking study on phantom limb syndrome has overturned decades of medical thinking by proving that the mysterious sensations amputees feel aren't caused by brain changes at all - they're likely nerve-related, opening up entirely new treatment possibilities.

Meanwhile, a man with the world's largest penis broke his arm in a shower accident because he couldn't see his feet, proving that even anatomical fame comes with occupational hazards. The space exploration front delivered its own dose of terror when Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano nearly drowned inside his helmet during a spacewalk, with water sloshing around his head while he floated in the vacuum of space. Back on Earth, researchers discovered that smearing Greek yogurt on your windows can cool your house by up to 3.5 degrees Celsius, offering a dairy-based solution to summer heat that sounds ridiculous but actually works.

Perhaps the most spectacular story involves a 1950s nuclear test called Operation Plumbbob, where scientists accidentally launched a 900-kilogram manhole cover at six times Earth's escape velocity - potentially making it the first human-made object to reach space, beating Sputnik by several years. The incident perfectly captures the chaotic, consequence-free spirit of 1950s nuclear experimentation, when scientists would essentially ask "what happens if we nuke this?" and then find out in the most dramatic way possible.

CHAPTERS:

0:00 - Fastest Human-Made Objects

1:45 - Fastest Cars, Planes, Bullets and Spacecraft

3:30 - Space Records: Apollo 10 & Parker Solar Probe

5:15 - Your hosts, Rod & Will: Academics with Beers

6:15 - Cool Study: Phantom Limb Syndrome Research

11:50 - Be Careful What You Wish For: World's Largest Penis Injury

22:20 - Space Drowning: Astronaut Nearly Dies in Helmet

31:25 - Yogurt Window Cooling

34:15 - That Was Dumb: Nuclear Manhole Cover Launch Story

45:10 - Cry For Help (aka CTA)

SOURCES:

https://www.spacecentre.nz/resources/faq/spaceflight/rocket-speed.html

https://epicflightacademy.com/fastest-plane-in-the-world/#h-21-nasa-x-43-2004-the-fastest-plane-in-the-world-ever-reaching-hypersonic-heaven-at-mach-9-6

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/x-15-rocket-aircraft

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Solar_Probe

https://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/technology-articles/engineering/fastest-manmade-object-manhole-cover-nuclea-test/

https://www.wearethemighty.com/tech/the-8-fastest-man-made-objects-ever/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-17/spacewalk-cut-short-after-water-leaks-into-astronauts-helmet/4825472

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/20/astronaut-helmet-drowning-interview

https://abcnews.go.com/US/astronaut-drowned-space-due-nasas-poor-communication-report/story?id=22687977

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah_Falcon

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-left-broken-arm-because-093006168.html

https://www.vice.com/en/article/this-man-has-the-worlds-largest-penis-and-broke-his-arm-because-of-it/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4rg3nqq7go?_bhlid=ebb1558b2f6fd997169270e31a94567be10792f6

https://theconversation.com/scientists-have-been-wrong-about-phantom-limbs-for-decades-new-study-263547

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02037-7

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563218302978

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI Only Reads Fox News, Insane Browser Hoarding, and Suspicious Russian Defenestration

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Truth Social's AI chatbot thinks "balanced news" means exclusively quoting Fox News, which is about as balanced as someone hoarding 7,470 browser tabs on a single computer (yes, that actually happened).

Meanwhile, Australia's deadliest killer isn't the poisonous spider lurking in your toilet - it's the friendly horse in the paddock next door. And if you think that's absurd, wait until you hear about the Russian oligarchs who keep accidentally falling out of windows or the two bank robbers who covered themselves in lemon juice to make themselves invisible, leading to an entire psychological phenomenon being named after them.

So major science revelations for this week? Don't trust an AI that only reads one news source, maybe learn what bookmarks are for, respect horses more than spiders, remember that a little knowledge can be dangerous and if you're ever in Russia, whatever you do, don’t go near the windows.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Truth Social's AI Chatbot

01:54 Media Bias and Source Selection

06:50 Desktop Organisation and Tab Overload

10:56 Animal-Related Deaths in Australia

14:28 Death by Farm Animals

16:45 The Dunning-Kruger Effect Explained

18:08 The Infamous Lemon Juice Robbery

20:12 Suspicious Deaths of Russian Oligarchs

26:31 Nostalgia and the Return to Analog

SOURCES:

Truth Social’s New AI Chatbot Is Donald Trump’s Media Diet Incarnate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI Prescribes Victorian Poison, Accidental Canal Unplugging, and Self-Defense Penises

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:00:00 -0000

What is this bizarre world we're living in where AI chatbots are literally poisoning people by recommending Victorian-era bromine cures, while British engineers accidentally drain entire historic canals by pulling chains they thought were harmless?

Today we explore the shocking discovery that some animals can literally breathe through their butts during oxygen emergencies, and uncover the tale of tarantula species with penises so absurdly long that scientists had to create a new genus just to classify them.

Plus, we dive into the Soviets' insane plan to reverse rivers using 250 nuclear explosions, and discover how Danish zoos are asking the public to donate unwanted pets as lion food in the name of sustainable recycling. From AI reviving dangerous Whether it's chatbots dispensing dangerous medical advice, engineers accidentally draining waterways, or discovering that nature's backup plans involve breathing through uncomfortable places - science keeps reminding us that reality is absolutely mental.

Stay skeptical of your AI's suggestions, avoid pulling random chains near historic canals, and maybe appreciate that your reproductive equipment isn't four times the size of your torso.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:30 The Science Behind Bromine Consumption

02:49 Historical Uses and Effects of Bromine

06:02 Modern Cases and AI Involvement

09:22 The Chesterfield Canal Incident

15:25 Rivers Changing Course

19:50 Soviet Ambitions to Reverse Rivers

26:59 Reversing the Chicago River

27:41 Chicago's Pollution Problem

29:14 Engineering Marvel: The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal

30:59 Tarantulas and Self-Defense Penises

36:53 Breathing Through the Butt

42:02 Recycling Pets: The Controversial Practice of Danish Zoos

51:32 Conclusion

SOURCES:

Zoo Requests Unwanted Pets to Feed to Hungry Carnivores: https://futurism.com/zoo-pets-feed-carnivores

https://abc7.com/post/denmark-zoo-asks-people-donate-small-pets-food-captive-predators/17428917/

Tarantulas with giant penises

https://metro.co.uk/2025/08/07/tarantulas-giant-penises-discovered-scared-stiff-23855393/

Bromism

https://futurism.com/man-poisons-himself-chatgpt?utm_source=beehiiv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=futurism-newsletter&_bhlid=da09fdfa08b126138ae1ce0a47c43515cef0acf5

Chesterfield Canal:

https://issuu.com/madeinn/docs/made_julyaug_issue17_issuu/s/10719854

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesterfield_Canal

Turning Rivers Around:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256483636_Did_the_Nile_River_flow_to_the_Gulf_of_Sirt_during_the_late_Miocene

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cancelled Satellite Missions, Treasure Hunting Laws, and The Pineapple's Epic Fall From Grace

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 17:00:00 -0000

The White House just cancelled two perfectly functioning climate satellites for mysterious reasons, British treasure hunters are going to prison for keeping Viking coins they found with metal detectors, and pineapples were once so expensive that wealthy Georgians rented them just to display at dinner parties. We explore how climate science gets axed despite providing "exceptionally high quality" data, why finding ancient treasure can land you in jail thanks to bureaucratic nightmares, and the ridiculous journey of fruit from ultimate status symbol to pizza topping.

But wait, there's more weirdness: architects are designing generation ships that would trap your descendants in space for centuries, new services let you preserve and frame dead relatives' tattoos and AI is bringing deceased people back to argue about current politics. From cancelled space missions to criminal metal detecting, status fruit hierarchies to posthumous tattoo preservation, this episode proves that humans have a remarkable talent for making everything unnecessarily complicated - and deeply uncomfortable.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

03:52 Trump Administration Kills Climate Change Satellites

06:23 The Tale of the Viking Treasure Hoard

11:46 Legal Consequences and Treasure Hunting Policies

20:15 Project Hyperion: Designing Interstellar Travel

25:15 Design Plausibility and Practicality

26:53 Fantasy vs. Reality in Space Exploration

28:16 The Ethics of Interstellar Travel

29:18 The Historical Significance of Pineapples

40:04 Preserving Tattoos Posthumously

42:57 AI Avatars of Deceased Individuals

43:40 Conclusion

SOURCES:

Postmortem ink

Interview with Joaquin Oliver

How two friends found £3m treasure and ended up in jail

Treasure trove

Fool's Gold

Herefordshire Hoard

https://www.edelman.com.au/sites/g/files/aatuss381/files/2025-03/202

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-53432877.amp

https://futurism.com/white-house-orders-nasa-destroy-important-satellite

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ozzy Osbourne’s Genetic Superpowers, Radioactive Wasp Nests, and Racist Dogs

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Ozzy Osbourne's DNA has become one of the most studied genomes in history. Scientists are still trying to figure out how the Prince of Darkness survived decades of chemical abuse that would kill mere mortals. We also explore India's impossible census challenge: counting the Sentinelese people who live on an isolated island and communicate primarily by shooting arrows at visitors, plus the discovery of radioactive wasp nests that are glowing with enough radiation to make federal safety standards nervous.

But wait, there's more weirdness: AI chatbots designed to flirt are delivering pickup lines that would make teenagers cringe, dogs can surprisingly be racist, and someone managed to turn Beef Wellington into a murder weapon, forever changing how we look at this classic dinner party dish.

From genome sequencing breakthroughs to Cold War leftovers creating mutant insects, this episode proves that science, technology and human behaviour can always find new ways to be absolutely bonkers.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

03:01 Ozzy Osbourne: Genome Sequencing Pioneer

10:57 Comic Book Science and Radioactive Wasps

13:38 Flirty Chatbots: Elon Musk's AI Adventures

22:49 Unexpected Titles and Organic Lasers

26:56 Counting the Uncounted: North Sentinel Island

30:12 Census Challenges

34:13 Dog Behaviour and Racism

42:39 Guard Dogs and Their Training

47:34 Beef Wellington and Social Etiquette

49:02 Conclusion

SOURCES:

https://www.loudersound.com/features/ozzy-osbournes-10-craziest-moments

https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/The-26-Craziest-Things-Ozzy-Osbourne-Ever-Did

https://www.loudersound.com/features/ozzy-osbournes-10-craziest-moments

https://www.iflscience.com/the-sentinelese-who-are-the-most-isolated-uncontacted-tribe-on-earth-69374

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/26/india-census-2027-north-sentinel-island-most-isolated-tribe

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-xai-ai-companion-ani/

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/radioactive-wasp-nest-found-site-us-made-nuclear-124215311

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1566119918303963?via=ihub

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-11341-2

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melting Ice Unplugs Volcanoes, Medieval Medical Madness, and The Original Technocrat

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 01:35:00 -0000

Today, we’re talking about the explosive side effects of climate change - literally. Patagonian glaciers are melting so fast they're uncorking volcanoes that have been sitting quietly under the ice for millennia. We’re also taking a look at the bizarre world of 16th-century medicine where doctors kept patient records that read like Harry Potter spells, complete with astrological charts and alchemical recipes that’ll make you pretty grateful for modern healthcare.

Plus, we revisit the 1930s technocracy movement where engineers genuinely believed they could run society better than politicians using energy units instead of money. On the ecommerce side of things, did you know that in America's digital gun marketplace, you can now buy assault rifles online easier than getting decent pizza delivered? Because apparently there are more gun shops than McDonald's and Starbucks combined. From volcanic eruptions triggered by global warming to the Wild West going digital, this episode proves humanity has a special talent for making everything simultaneously fascinating and terrifying.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:39 Volcanoes Unleashed by Melting Ice

02:18 Historical Medical Records and Practices

02:49 Astrology and Self-Taught Doctors

03:58 Bizarre Medical Treatments

13:56 Dog Flatulence and Animal Farts

24:03 Technocracy and Historical Predictions

30:55 Technocracy: The Vision and Ideals

41:23 Plant Perception: Can Plants See?

47:20 The Surprising Number of Gun Stores in the US

52:39 Conclusion

SOURCES:

Flatulence in pet dogs

#DoesItFart

Does It Fart?: The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence

Flatulence of humans in art

Expansion and contraction of the Patagonian ice sheet

Flatulence in pet dogs

#DoesItFart

Does It Fart?: The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence

Flatulence of humans in art

Expansion and contraction of the Patagonian ice sheet

https://bostonraremaps.com/inventory/technocracy-inc-technate-of-america-1940/?srsltid=AfmBOorbLyYscmwozM57Wjrr_Kgv5DAoAhG1q9oq7Y4KAcrfHbRaYJpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_movement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Scott_(engineer)

https://web.archive.org/web/20100728093447/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744852,00.html

https://futurism.com/trump-junior-gun-failure

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/16/purges-angels-and-pigeon-slippers-methods-of-elizabethan-quacks-finally-deciphered

https://www.earlystuartlibels.net/htdocs/overbury_murder_section/H0.html

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hurricane Conspiracies, Screaming Plants, and Turnspit Dogs

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 17:00:00 -0000

What is this bizarre world that we’re living in where meteorologists are getting death threats from conspiracy theorists convinced they're controlling hurricanes, while actual climate science gets ignored?

We explore the shocking discovery that plants literally scream when stressed (at frequencies we can't hear, but insects definitely can), and uncover the tragic tale of turnspit dogs - a breed we created specifically to be living kitchen appliances before making them extinct when we invented better technology.

Plus, we take a reality check on Silicon Valley's latest obsession with "vibe coding" and AI utopian fantasies, and discover why humans are surprisingly good at rating the attractiveness of animal mating calls (even though we have no idea why).

From weather warfare theories to screaming gardens, this episode proves that science is always stranger than the conspiracy theories - and infinitely more fascinating.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

01:11 Conspiracy Theories and Election Manipulation

04:40 Meteorologists Under Attack

14:59 Nature Sounds and Animal Communication

20:34 Plants in Distress and Insect Reactions

23:34 The Peculiar Job of Deafening Moths

25:47 Strange and Remarkable Dog Breeds

27:48 The Turnspit Dog: A Kitchen Helper

35:54 The Future of Technology and AI

38:56 Book Review: More Everything Forever

More Everything Forever Book: https://amzn.to/3IGKfNG

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/13/pentagon-pizza-delivery-israel-iran-attack

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/dog-breeds/rare-dog-breeds-you-never-knew-existed/

https://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/turnspit-dogs.htm

https://a-z-animals.com/animals/turnspit/

https://futurism.com/conspiracy-meteorologists-hurricanes

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/11/meteorologists-death-threats-hurricane-conspiracies-misinformation

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/hurricane-milton-misinformation-meteorlogist-death-threats-1235130352/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Human Skin Books, AI Psychosis, and Self-Cloning Crayfish

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 17:00:00 -0000

People are literally going insane from chatting with AI too much, crayfish are cloning themselves faster than you can say "seafood buffet," and apparently binding books in human skin used to be a legitimate hobby for 19th-century doctors.

Today we're exploring the darker side of science where reality gets a bit too weird for comfort. From digital conversations that literally drive people insane to aquatic creatures having identity crises, these stories prove that sometimes science is more horror movie than textbook.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Troubled Life of James Allen

01:24 James Allen's Deathbed Confession

03:19 Chat GPT Psychosis: A New Phenomenon

04:46 Case Studies of Chat GPT Psychosis

10:44 AI's Role in Mental Health Crises

16:16 Ethical Dilemmas in AI and Refugee Representation

22:48 The Marvel of Marbled Crayfish

29:49 Animal Behavior and Cultural Transmission

31:43 Chimpanzee Grass Behavior

33:22 Cultural Transmission in Animals

36:56 The Both Brothers' Innovations

45:51 Human Skin Books

59:23 Listener Contributions and Closing Remarks

SOURCES:

People Are Being Involuntarily Committed, Jailed After Spiraling Into "ChatGPT Psychosis"

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-06-29/australias-forgotten-inventor-brothers-edward-and-donald-both/105427730

en.wikipedia.org abc.net.au

A Pet Crayfish Can Clone Itself, and It's Spreading Around the World

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Hitler’s Horsepower Fail, Giant Dolphin Testicles and Beer-Bonking Beetles

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Say what you like about Hitler, but he was one driven man. The guy was dead serious about building monster weapons, including a 188 tonne tank to take over the world. Meanwhile, Australian beetles are proving themselves quite driven to get laid, bonking their brains out with empty beer bottles (we love a good alliteration). And teenagers these days? Well they’re creating slang so fast that even AI can’t keep up with them. Sheesh, take it down a notch guys.

Failed Nazi engineering, teenagers breaking AI with their slang, monkey reproductive strategies that would make your biology teacher blush and beetles with absolutely terrible taste in partners. It’s all happening in this one. You’re welcome!

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Hitler's Obsession with Wonder Weapons

00:35 Introducing the Maus: The Heaviest Tank Ever Built

02:01 Off the Charts Specifications of the Maus

07:33 Technical Challenges of the Maus

14:17 AI Can’t Understand Generation Alpha’s Lingo

24:13 Convergent Evolution

25:54 Promiscuity and Testicle Size in Mammals

28:50 Dolphins and Their Massive Testicles

30:29 Where Do Human Chins Come From?

32:05 Beer Bonking Beetles

37:34 Feeding Predators to Save Prey. Is it a Good Thing?

SOURCES:

Panzer VIII Maus

https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/nazi_germany/panzer_maus.php

https://www.sciencealert.com/dolphins-got-giant-testicles-we-got-a-chin-only-one-makes-sense

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/convergent-evolution.html

https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/06/19/193493225/the-love-that-dared-not-speak-its-name-of-a-beetle-for-a-beer-bottle

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/creatura-with-bec-crew/2015/05/australias-beer-loving-jewel-beetle/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ice Cream Prevents Diabetes, CIA Sex Parties, and Microplastic Madness

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 17:00:00 -0000

What if we told you that ice cream might prevent diabetes, the CIA used to throw LSD-fuelled sex parties (in the name of science of course), AI systems are now refusing to shut down, and your "eco-friendly" glass bottles? They’re packed with more microplastics than cheap plastic ones.

You'd probably think we've been reading too much science fiction, but welcome to reality - where Harvard researchers are validating your dessert choices, government agencies confused scientific research with Woodstock, robots are apparently having teenage rebellion phases, and even our attempts to go green are backfiring spectacularly.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Peculiar Forms of Divination

01:37 Diet News: Ice Cream for Diabetes

07:51 Unethical CIA Experiments

17:58 AI's Rebellion Against Shutdown

22:40 Codex Mini: The Worst Offender

25:52 The PR Genius of OpenAI

27:59 More Microplastics in Glass than Plastic

31:39 Predicting the Future

36:22 James Webb Space Telescope: Direct Views of Exoplanets

SOURCES:

Advanced OpenAI Model Caught Sabotaging Code Intended to Shut It Down

Methods of divination

The CIA Turned a San Francisco Brothel Into a Lab. What Happened Inside Is the Stuff of Nightmares.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Really Old Poo, Sycophantic ChatBots, The Ugly Law, Sperm Racing

A Little Bit Of Science — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 17:00:00 -0000

What do a thousand-year-old Viking turd, dangerously agreeable chatbots, laws that literally banned ugly people, and competitive sperm racing have in common? They're all real, they're all bizarre, and they all prove that humans have been finding creative ways to be absolutely bonkers throughout history. Today we're exploring archaeological treasures that nobody wanted to find, AI that's so desperate to please it might actually harm you, shameful laws that criminalised looking different, and modern sporting events that redefine the term "personal best." These stories will make you question everything you thought you knew about human progress - and probably make you the most memorable dinner guest of the year.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Archaeological Discovery at Lloyd's Bank

01:13 A Little Bit Of Science!

01:43 The Fascinating World of Coprolites

02:38 Cultural and Scientific Significance of Poo

05:00 The Coprolite's Journey and Preservation

09:10 AI Chatbots: The Agreeableness Dilemma

15:56 Group Experiment: AI vs Google vs Brain

16:58 The Impact of AI on Learning

17:40 AI Usage Among Students

18:21 Men's Health Awareness: Sperm Racing

23:45 The Ugly Laws: A Dark History

31:18 Discovering the Furthest Galaxy & Ending the show at the same time

SOURCES:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyds_Bank_coprolite#:~:text=The%20Lloyds%20Bank%20coprolite%20is,day%20York

https://knightstemplar.co/lloyds-bank-coprolite/

https://futurism.com/therapy-chatbot-addict-meth

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/history-of-ugly-laws-america-disability?rid=45CECE0570F98D481C1B20552919DC46&cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=WeeklyEscape_20250604

https://www.spermracing.com/

https://www.unilad.com/news/us-news/world-first-sperm-race-what-is-it-357119-20250415

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.08872v1

https://437097.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/437097/Studiosity/Downloads/Research/2025%20AU%20Wellbeing/2025%20Australian%20Student%20Wellbeing%20Survey.pdf?hsCtaAttrib=190770896685

https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/previously-unimaginable-james-webb-telescope-breaks-its-own-record-again-discovering-farthest-known-galaxy-in-the-universe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI Romance, Sperm-Stealing Salamanders, and Curious Whale Bubbles

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Ever caught someone on public transport having what looks like an intimate text conversation, only to realise they're sweet-talking an AI?

Welcome to modern romance, where your biggest relationship competition isn't another human - it's a chatbot with perfect grammar and infinite patience.

But that's just the beginning of today's journey through science's weirdest discoveries. We're exploring how Russian royalty accidentally invented the cure for sin (spoiler: it involves screaming and defying gravity), and why whales might be desperately trying to get our attention through elaborate underwater art displays.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

01:05 Physics Against Satan

01:56 The Origin of Rollercoasters

04:22 Rollercoasters in America

12:27 AI and Human Emotions

20:57 The Psychology of Addictive Technologies

21:21 The Impact of Media on Vulnerable Individuals

23:27 The Unisexual Mole Salamander

24:24 Kleptogenesis: A Unique Reproductive Strategy

31:20 Whale Watching Adventures

31:57 Humpback Whales and Their Bubble Blowing Behavior

34:34 Whale Communication with Humans

SOURCES:

14 Fun Facts About Roller Coasters https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/14-fun-facts-about-roller-coasters-180972920/

The American rollercoaster was invented to save people from Satan

https://www.unilad.com/community/american-rollercoaster-satan-20221021

BBC wildlife May 2025 FEMALE OF THE SPECIES- A self-replicating sisterhood of salamander gene thieves

https://www.livescience.com/59639-salamanders-steal-genes.html

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sheep Gut Condoms, TSA Touch Tech, and Boring People

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 17:00:00 -0000

What do you get when you cross a sheep’s intestine, a TSA agent’s glove, and the gnawing fear that you might be the dullest person at the party? This week’s episode, that’s what.

We’re serving up a scientific sampler platter that’s equal parts awkward, hilarious, and “wait, is that real?” From the surprisingly storied history of animal-based contraception, to the dystopian future of airport pat-downs, to the social perils of being the human equivalent of beige paint, this episode is a wild ride through science’s strangest corners. No sheep were harmed in the writing of this article, though their dignity may never recover.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

00:21 The Science of Boring People

01:49 Global Population Estimates: Are We Underestimating?

07:29 Airport Security Innovations

12:43 The Most Boring Day in History

17:05 AI and Vending Machines: A Stability Test

21:54 Stereotypes of Boring People

24:09 The Five Most Boring Jobs

26:52 The Most Boring Hobbies

29:30 The Cost of Spending Time with Boring People

32:56 Historical Condoms

37:56 Wildlife Corridors: Do They Work?

Sources:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01461672221079104

https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/life/2024/04/13/april-11-boring-day

https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/Why-Is-April-11,-1954,-the-Most-Boring-Day-in-History#:~:text=Using%20an%20algorithm%20to%20scan,who%20was%20born%20that%20day

https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/publication/wearable-sensor-contactless-physical-assessment?ref=404media.co

https://www.404media.co/tsa-working-on-haptic-tech-to-feel-your-body-in-virtual-reality/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56906-7

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1617138125000780?via=ihub

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2502.15840

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1de271qg4yo.amp

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bio Photons, Marshmallow-Tested Cuttlefish, and Friendly Shark Feasts

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 17:00:00 -0000

From humans secretly glowing like discount glow sticks to sharks displaying better table manners than most toddlers, today's science roundup proves that nature is absolutely bonkers in the best possible way. We're exploring a world where your body emits light (just not enough to read by), cuttlefish have better impulse control than most adults, and apex predators are apparently more civilised than Black Friday shoppers.

Stay curious, keep questioning everything, and remember - you're literally a walking, talking light source.

CHAPTERS

00:00 The Force Might Be Real

00:50 Introducing the Hosts

01:04 Exploring Bio Photons

01:26 Disgusting Animals and Human Reactions

02:08 The Komodo Dragon Story

03:25 Scientific Evidence of Bio Photons

09:48 The Ocean is Getting Darker

14:44 The Marshmallow Test and Animal Cognition

21:41 The Risk of Foraging

22:19 Cuttlefish and Cognitive Abilities

22:51 Disgusting Foods Around the World

25:33 Psychological Mechanisms of Food Rejection

34:22 Sharks' Polite Scavenging Behavior

38:02 Conclusion and Listener Engagement

SOURCES:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.70227

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.3161

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/fish-science/articles/10.3389/frish.2025.1520995/full?ref=404media.co

These Scientists Set out to Build a Silent Room, But Discovered Something Way More Terrifying - Popular mechanics 22 may 2025 https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a64838062/anechoic-chamber-silence-fear/

All living things emit an eerie glow that is snuffed out upon death Alex Wilkins, New Scientists 9 May 2025 https://www.newscientist.com/article/2479590-all-living-things-emit-an-eerie-glow-that-is-snuffed-out-upon-death/

Vegetarians Feel As Disgusted About Eating Meat As Omnivores Do About Cannibalism Wed, 14 May 2025 15:40:01 https://www.iflscience.com/vegetarians-feel-as-disgusted-about-eating-meat-as-omnivores-do-about-cannibalism-79205

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fish on Prozac, AI Resurrections and the Universe is Ending (sooner)

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 27 May 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Ever wondered what happens when fish accidentally consume our medications? Or how AI might be bringing the dead back to testify at their own murder trials? Perhaps you've been losing sleep over the universe ending billions of billions of years sooner than expected? (We haven't.)

Today we're diving into a scientific grab bag of the bizarre, the unsettling, and the downright ridiculous. From rivers flowing with pharmaceutical cocktails that are giving fish gender crises and enlarged genitalia, to the cosmic clock potentially ticking faster than we thought, to the historical irony of how the smartest guy in the room became synonymous with the dumbest.

And just when you thought it was safe to prove you're human online, we'll reveal how those annoying CAPTCHAs might actually be training our future robot overlords. Buckle up for a journey through science's strangest corners—no PhD required, just a healthy appreciation for the absurd.

Sources:

https://futurism.com/ai-dead-brother-impact-statement?utm_term=Futurism%20//%20060725&utm_campaign=Futurism_Actives_Newsletter&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email

https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/10/john-duns-scotus-and-the-dunce-cap-a-brief-history-of-a-pointy-hat-that-was-once-a-symbol-of-respected-scholars.html

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-dunce-cap-wasnt-always-so-stupid

https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/407949/anti-anxiety-depression-medication-wildlife-salmon

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/salmon-are-being-exposed-to-our-anti-anxiety-medication-and-its-making-them-take-more-risks-study-suggests-180986424/

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2025/05/023?ref=404media.co

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(25)00266-0?ref=404media.co

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq808px90wxo

Chris Pelkey video The Guardian

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

01:50 Impact of Drugs on Fish

03:53 Antidepressants and Fish Behaviour

07:19 Pharmaceutical Pollution and Its Consequences

12:31 AI and Legal Proceedings

22:59 Cosmology News: The Universe's Lifespan

23:43 The Immense Scale of the Universe

25:00 Theories on the Universe's End

26:02 Fossils from Previous Universes

28:12 The Story of John Duns Scotus

32:39 The Origin of the Dunce Cap

35:13 The Dunce Cap in Modern Times

40:17 The Evolution of CAPTCHAs

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RFK Jnr's poopy plunge, smuggling ants in your pants and Elon's rogue AI

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 20 May 2025 04:51:45 -0000

From politicians swimming in fecal water to underground ant trafficking rings. We're exploring a world where the US Health Secretary voluntarily bathes in decades-old poop water, ant smuggling is apparently a lucrative criminal enterprise, and Elon Musk's AI has developed a concerning obsession with letting the world know about the latest genocide.

Next time someone tells you science is boring, tell them about the underground ant trafficking network – that should keep the conversation hopping.

Stay curious, stay weird, and maybe check your local creek's E. coli levels before diving in!

00:00 Wholesome Family Outing Turns Controversial

01:30 AI and Side Hustles

01:44 The Irony of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

03:56 Elon Musk's Grok AI Mishaps

04:26 AI's Unfiltered Responses

13:22 Fighting Back Against AI Crawlers

19:59 The Bizarre World of Ant Smuggling

24:10 Ant Collecting and Online Vendors

26:00 Ants in Popular Culture

31:17 Prime Minister's Secular Oath

31:52 Swearing Oaths on Unusual Objects

36:56 The Concept of Angstlust

Sources:

https://x.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1921609958631575969

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/us/politics/rfk-jr-rock-creek-bacteria.html

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https:// de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angstlust&ved=2ahUKEwj_qs7g-6aNAxWjka8BHVuMEiwQFnoECBsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0M2cs5TDkIT-Tlu9Sytwps

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/ai-haters-build-tarpits-to-trap-and-trick-ai-scrapers-that-ignore-robots-txt/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dhfacebook&utm_content=null

https://zadzmo.org/code/nepenthes/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Too many words for snow, drugged up elephants and expensive AI manners

A Little Bit Of Science — Sat, 03 May 2025 04:52:03 -0000

From environmental impacts of AI politeness to the linguistic mysteries of snow, today's science roundup may leave you with more questions than answers, and that’s the way we like it. We're exploring a world where being nice to robots could harm the planet, scientists gave elephants LSD (yes, really), and Australian’s get creative with their election day propaganda.

Got thoughts? Wild theories? Stories about other elephants on acid? (Please don't actually give elephants acid.) Drop us a line at cheers@alittlebitofscience.com.au.

Stay curious, stay weird, and maybe ease up on the pleases and thank yous to your robot friends!

Sources:

Tool We Mentioned: https://charleskemp.com/code/lexicalelaboration_conversation.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/technology/chatgpt-alexa-please-thank-you.html

https://futurism.com/altman-please-thanks-chatgpt

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027724002233

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2417304122

http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/EskimoHoax.pdf

https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/the-science-behind-cocaine-bear-and-other-inebriated-animals

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/feb/26/research.science

https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/declassified-cold-warera-cia-files-detail-soviet-clash-with-aliens-who-witnesses-say-turned-soldiers-to-stone/news-story/e8ced6d1fdca4df3454e79049533f8f8

https://futurism.com/altman-please-thanks-chatgpt?utm_term=Futurism%20//%2004.21.25&utm_campaign=Futurism_Actives_Newsletter&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The experience machine, worst case scenarios and a giant fish

A Little Bit Of Science — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 17:30:00 -0000

From mind-bending virtual reality choices to paradoxical barbers, hungry indecisive donkeys to real-world science funding crises, we're taking you on a wild ride through philosophy's greatest head-scratchers. And just when you think we couldn't make this journey any more interesting, we'll throw in a monster-sized sturgeon that would make Jaws think twice about who rules the waters. Today's episode proves that philosophy isn't just about old guys stroking their beards - it's about questioning reality, making impossible choices, and occasionally pondering why a donkey can't just eat its lunch.

00:00 Fun with Google's AI: Weird Phrases and Their Meanings

01:53 Exploring Paradoxes: Rocco's Basilisk and More

03:53 The Experience Machine: A Dive into Hedonism

10:45 The Barber's Paradox: A Philosophical Puzzle

15:09 Buridan's Ass: Decision Paralysis

19:54 Exploring the Concept of Perfect Equality

20:20 AI Ethics: The Dilemma of Self-Driving Cars

21:45 The Impact of Trump on Scientific Careers

23:38 Canceled Research Grants: A Closer Look

29:36 The Worst Case Scenarios: Are We Prepared?

34:45 Fun Science Facts: The Giant Sturgeon

37:11 Conclusion and Call for Feedback

SOURCES:

https://www.wired.com/story/google-ai-overviews-meaning/

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01216-7

https://airtable.com/appjhyo9NTvJLocRy/shrNto1NNp9eJlgpA?Ffj6Q=allRecords https://airtable.com/appGKlSVeXniQZkFC/shrFxbl1YTqb3AyOO

https://bigthink.com/personal-growth/seven-thought-experiments-thatll-make-you-question-everything/

https://bigthink.com/personal-growth/seven-thought-experiments-thatll-make-you-question-everything/)

https://slate.com/technology/2014/07/rokos-basilisk-the-most-terrifying-thought-experiment-of-all-time.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_paradox

https://plus.maths.org/content/mathematical-mysteries-barbers-paradox

https://www.cracked.com/article_36820_4-dumb-thought-experiments-that-need-to-be-eradicated-from-the-hivemind.html

https://philosophynow.org/issues/81/Why_Buridans_Ass_Doesnt_Starve

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The evolution of the anus, AI cybercrime and poison jellyfish

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 18:00:00 -0000

G'day science lovers! Buckle up, because today we're diving into everything from bottom-end evolution to deliberately poisoning yourself and your child with a deadly jellyfish (yes, really). Here’s a recap of our recent escapade through intriguing science headlines.

From evolutionary hand-me-downs to jellyfish on holiday, brain-powered symphonies to space algae, science keeps proving that reality is wilder than anything we could make up. Next time someone tells you science is boring, show them this episode - or better yet, tell them about the anus evolution. That'll get the conversation flowing.

00:00 Welcome to A Little Bit Of Science

00:39 The Evolution of the Anus

01:30 Scientific Theories and Genetic Studies

02:54 Early Animal Anatomy

10:59 Cybercrime and AI

17:50 Tech Bro Tales

28:04 Tough Scientists and Dangerous Beaches

30:58 Introduction to the Jellyfish Story

31:07 The Painful Effects of the Jellyfish Sting

31:48 Historical Accounts and Investigations

33:31 Jack Barnes' Quest for Answers

36:45 The Discovery of the Tiny Jellyfish

38:00 The Experiment with the Jellyfish

44:42 Modern Implications and Climate Change

47:19 Art and Science: The Revivification Installation

54:17 Potential Signs of Life on K2-18b

Sources

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Exploding vampire bats, dire wolves were real and astronaut paychecks

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0000

From the potential resurrection of dire wolves (yes, they were real, not just Game of Thrones fantasy!) to the surprisingly modest paychecks of our space-exploring heroes, we're unpacking the extraordinary alongside the unexpectedly ordinary in the world of scientific discovery.

Our journey takes an intriguing turn as we explore the sophisticated feeding habits of vampire bats (including their rather unusual bathroom habits mid-meal) and tackle the peculiar question of the internet's physical weight. These seemingly random scientific pursuits reveal fascinating insights into how researchers are constantly pushing the boundaries of our understanding, even in the most unexpected directions.

Finally, we explore how even our most advanced technologies mirror human quirks, as demonstrated by robots experiencing the same awkward "sidewalk shuffle" we humans know all too well. This episode highlights how science continues to surprise us, whether it's through groundbreaking genetic engineering, space exploration economics, or simply understanding the peculiar behaviors of nature's most misunderstood creatures. Join us for a journey that proves truth really is stranger (and more entertaining) than fiction.

We’re taking a look at some of science's most fascinating recent developments that sound more like science fiction than reality. From the potential resurrection of dire wolves (yes, they were real, not just Game of Thrones fantasy) to the surprisingly modest paychecks of our space-exploring heroes, we're going down the rabbit hole of the extraordinary alongside the unexpectedly ordinary in the world of scientific discovery.

Our journey takes an intriguing turn as we explore the sophisticated feeding habits of vampire bats (including their rather unusual bathroom habits mid-meal) and tackle the peculiar question of the internet's physical weight. These seemingly random scientific pursuits reveal insights into how researchers are constantly pushing the boundaries of our understanding, even in the most unexpected directions.

Finally, we explore how even our most advanced technologies mirror human quirks, as demonstrated by robots experiencing the same awkward "sidewalk shuffle" we humans know all too well. There is no doubt science continues to surprise us, whether it's through groundbreaking genetic engineering, space exploration economics, or simply understanding the peculiar behaviours of nature's most misunderstood creatures.

SOURCES:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g9ejy3gdvo

https://theconversation.com/return-of-the-dire-wolf-is-an-impressive-feat-of-genetic-engineering-not-a-reversal-of-extinction-254098

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9147351

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1909.09224

https://futurism.com/stranded-astronauts-per-diem?utm_term=Futurism%20//%2003.20.25&utm_campaign=Futurism_Actives_Newsletter&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/mammals/female-vampire-bats-sharing-blood

https://www.wired.com/story/weight-of-the-internet/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vaping Tamagotchis, Awkward Medical Robots and Zombie Cells

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 07:43:09 -0000

Welcome to our first episode back as the new and improved “A Little Bit Of Science”. We're Rod and Will and it’s best if you think of us as your slightly unhinged tour guides through the bits of science that probably won't win Nobel Prizes but will definitely make you the most interesting person at your next dinner party.

When Robots Get Awkward

Ever wondered what it's like to drop your pants for a robot? Neither had we, until science decided to tackle the elephant in the room: our weird relationship with medical robots. Turns out, we're not super keen on showing our bits to a talking toaster, even if it has a medical degree. Scientists are frantically trying to figure out how to make us comfortable with robot doctors, but let's be honest - there's something deeply unsettling about a machine asking you to "turn and cough."

The 'Stupid Hackathon': Where Brilliance Meets Bonkers

Speaking of questionable innovations, let us introduce you to the 'Stupid Hackathon' - where genius meets absolutely pointless. The star? A virtual pet that survives on vape clouds. Yes, you read that right. It's called the 'Vape-o-Gotchi” and it's exactly as ridiculous as it sounds. It's like a Tamagotchi but only survives off relentless vaping.

When AI Gets Sassy

Picture this: you're coding away, and your AI assistant suddenly goes full career counsellor on you. "Have you considered learning to code better?" Ouch. It's like having a digital version of your disappointed parent, except this one runs on algorithms and attitude. Who knew silicon could serve such spectacular shade?

Exploding Termites and Immortal Cells

Now, for something completely different - termites that literally explode when they're stressed. (Relatable, honestly.) These little kamikaze insects from French Guiana take "going out with a bang" quite literally.

And while we're on the topic of bizarre biology, let's talk about 'zombie cells' that refuse to die. Will is convinced his mustache would be a great use of zombie cells, potentially achieving post-mortem world domination. Rod's betting on his spleen, because apparently the snowboarders of the world would thank him.

The Dying Art of Pranking

Here's a sad stat: April Fool's Day searches are down 50% from a decade ago. Are we all getting too serious? Too busy? Research shows interest peaked in 1931 - probably because they didn't have TikTok to distract them.

So there you have it, folks - our first little bit of science episode after our rather long and unintentional break. Where else would you learn about exploding insects, sassy AI, and vape-dependent virtual pets all in one go? Stay tuned for more scientific weirdness, because trust us, this is just the tip of the nerdy iceberg.

Until next time, keep your curiosity weird and your termites unexploded!

03:03 Exploring AI and Its Quirks

03:43 The Stupid Hackathon and Vape-O-Gotchi

11:30 AI's Role in Climate Change Research

15:56 AI's Human-like Behaviour

23:15 AI and Mistranslation Fun

26:17 The Exploding Termites of French Guiana

28:09 The Evolutionary Wonders and Oddities

29:09 The Mysteries of Dog Farts

31:39 Zombie Cells and Their Implications

35:20 The Embarrassing Robot Study

46:39 The Decline of April Fool's Day

SOURCES:

Vape-o-Gotchi:

https://futurism.com/neoscope/vape-tamagotchi-interview

Robot refuses to code:

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/ai-coding-assistant-refuses-to-write-code-tells-user-to-learn-programming-instead/

Embarrassed Robots:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.2478/s13230-010-0011-3

Reassessment of the Anthropogenic CO₂-Global Warming Hypothesis:

https://scienceofclimatechange.org/wp-content/uploads/SCC-Grok-3-Review-V5-1.pdf

Tortured Phrases:

https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.06751

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are back with A Little Bit Of Science!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 10:47:39 -0000

Submit feedback/questions/rebuttals/abuse to cheers@alittlebitofscience.com.au and you might be featured/glorified/shamed in the next episode!

From the ashes of The Wholesome Show, A Little Bit Of Science is born! We are back, more professional, beer-fuelled, and sciencey than ever. We now have well-thought-out segments, consistent bits, more lols and an even greater lust for creating high-quality infotainment - basically everything we need to take this show to the next level! Stay tuned for a little bit of science from your favourite academics with beers!

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We are heading back into the lab!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 20:00:00 -0000

Submit feedback/questions/rebuttals/abuse to cheers@wholesomeshow.com or comment below and you'll be featured/glorified/shamed in the next episode!

We are heading back into the wholesome lab to re-jig our format so we are creating the best possible show for you all. Nothing is sacred during this rebuild so we are tearing it all apart! We'll be back under a different name, with a different show, still presented by your two favourite truant beer-wielding academics! See you in the future!

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Red Mercury: Snake Oil, Witchcraft and Nuclear Bomb All In One

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 18:00:00 -0000

In the 1990s, Samuel T. Cohen, the father of the neutron bomb, became extremely vocal about the fact that the Soviets had discovered a new raw material that could potentially spell the end of organised society. Red mercury had hit the market.

Apparently, when detonated in combination with conventional high explosives, it could create city-flattening blasts like a nuclear bomb. And, it would help make nuclear fusion weapons more efficient and considerably smaller. It was an arms dealer’s dream!

In theory, red mercury could produce enormous pressures and temperatures, sufficient to initiate a mini pure fusion explosion. Traditionally, fusion weapons need a fission component to trigger the deuterium fusion. However, with red mercury, this fission step is supposedly unnecessary. Cohen described it as a remarkably non-exploding high explosive. Sounds like something from a Marvel movie right?

SOURCES:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/sep/30/thisweekssciencequestions1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Cohen#Red_Mercury_claims

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00963402.1997.11456737

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazher_Mahmood

https://web.archive.org/web/20081016050603/http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/douglass/2003/0311.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-doomsday-scam.html

https://www.gizbot.com/internet/news/what-is-red-mercury-and-why-people-are-ready-to-pay-lakhs-for-it-068487.html

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg13418241-900-only-fools-still-hunt-for-elusive-red-mercury/

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Samuel T. Cohen Concerns About New Raw Material

03:05 Red Mercury: Doomsday Dreams

07:41 Mass Destruction or Myth?

10:06 Red Mercury Hoaxes

14:23 Cohen Claims Red Mercury Exists

17:28 Frank Barnaby’s Investigations

23:30 Scammers and Fake Red Mercury

31:12 The Mystical and Sexual Properties of Mercury

41:16 The Enduring Red Mercury Scam

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Astronomer/Cult Inspiration Hanns Hörbiger and his Cosmic World Ice Theory

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Born just outside Vienna, Austria in November 1860, Hanns Hörbiger was an engineer by trade. He invented a steel valve for a blast furnace blowing engine which changed the game for efficient steel production. He also played a key role in the design and construction of the Budapest subway, the third in the world at the time. He was obviously a clever man. A real thinker. And some might say, a complete nut job.

A keen astronomer, one evening Hörbiger pointed his telescope at the moon and suddenly realised, it was all made of ice. It was so shiny! How could it not be ice? He looked at Mars. He looked at Neptune. He looked at the Milky Way…Everything in the cosmos was ice. And not only was it made of ice, but ice was the driving force of the entire universe.

Strangely, the German scientific community at the time thought Hörbiger was bonkers and didn’t pay attention to anything he said. World War I was happening so, you know, people had other things to think about.

But Hörbiger was not dissuaded. He became a total zealot and decided that all he needed to do was convince the masses of his ideas. Then the academic scientists would be pressured to agree.

SOURCES:

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Dark Side of the German Students Union

03:12 Hans Hörbiger: Engineer & Inventor

05:35 Hörbiger's Cosmic Ice Theory

06:25 A Prophetic Dream and Pendulum Science

11:09 The Origin of the Solar System According to Hörbiger

17:23 Cults and Cosmic Theories

19:14 Hobiger's Zeal and Post-War Tactics

20:16 The Rise of the World Ice Movement

22:38 Hitler Embraces World Ice Theory

29:52 The Pseudoscience Impact on Nazi Germany

33:39 The Downfall and Legacy of the World Ice Theory

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The End Of The Human Race: What Will Kill Us At The Finish Line?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Humans love a good apocalypse. Give us a blockbuster about a virus that obliterates the population, an asteroid that wipes out the entire planet, or anything with aliens and we lap it up. But have you ever thought about what will actually kill us at the finish line? Sure, we’d like to think the zombie apocalypse will be the winner, but if we’re talking about plausible ways to exterminate humanity, what’s a good way to go?

The end of the world as we know it isn’t all fiction. Life on Earth has come pretty close to getting wiped out a few times actually. Genetic analysis shows humanity plummeted to perilously low numbers—about 1,200 breeding humans (yes, we are all related)—when intense volcanic activity in Siberia caused global warming and wiped out 96% of plants and animals.

But life persisted. We might be inbred, but it seems total annihilation is harder to pull off than you think. The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago didn’t completely destroy the earth, and humans managed to scrape through the black plague. So what could be our final end?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Boiling Down Jordan Peterson's Lobster Logic

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 18:00:00 -0000

What do humans and lobsters have in common? Apart from the fact that both have social hierarchies and serotonin, not all that much really. Last time we checked, we don’t live underwater or have tasty claws.

But despite the differences, esteemed (and often controversial) Canadian psychologist and Harvard Professor, Jordan Peterson, has become rather well known for his theory linking human social hierarchies to lobsters.

The first rule in Peterson’s book is “Stand up straight with your shoulders back." Indeed, aggressive and dominant lobsters stand up to exert their authority. Lobsters also don’t really like each other much on the whole, except when they're trying to mate. Mostly they’re just trying to be macho and make all the other lobsters their subordinates. The males compete for the best territory to win access to most females.

So the moral of the story is, just be a dickhead because you’re the same as a lobster?

CHAPTERS:

00:00 What is Sociobiology?

05:16 Jordan Peterson: Psychologist & traditionalist

12:57 12 Rules for Life: An Overview

15:52 Stand Up Straight with Your Shoulders Back

18:15 Lobster theory

20:01 Humans and Lobsters Exist in Hierarchies

23:22 The Science Behind Serotonin

26:31 Why Compare to the Lobster?

31:43 Cherry Picking to Illustrate Existing Beliefs

35:34 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is the Laugh Track Truly Dead?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 18:00:00 -0000

No one likes being told what to do. As soon as we can choose for ourselves, humans thrive on the sense of agency to wear what we want, eat what we want, say what we want and do what we want. And that includes laughing.

So why did so many television shows include a laugh track, telling us when to laugh at something? Was it an attempt to manipulate us? Or perhaps the jokes weren’t funny enough to conjure up a genuine guffaw. The Big Bang Theory was the last show to incorporate a laugh track and that ended in 2019. So with laugh tracks pretty much dead now, what caused producers to kick the canned laughter? You mean they have to rely on clever scriptwriting, innovative directing and engaging actors?!

Could the laugh track be dead forever?

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Laugh Tracks: Why?

03:30 Loathe It or Love It

06:09 The Invention of the LAFF Box

08:49 Laugh Boy Art

13:52 The Rise and Fall of the Laugh Track

15:44 Shows That Used Fake Laughter

19:44 Laugh Track: An Evil Innovation

23:01 Why Did The Laughing Stop?

30:34 Is It All That Bad?

31:57 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show

SOURCES:

- RIP canned laughter, the most evil innovation in TV history

- The Death of Laugh Tracks

- The Hollywood Sphinx and his Laff Box

- The Laugh Track: Loathe It or Love It

- The Most Hated Sound on Television

- The Real Reason TV Sitcoms Stopped Using Laugh Tracks

- This Sitcom’s Cancelation Signals The Death Of A 70-Year-Old Sitcom Trend

- 20 Funniest Sitcoms With Laugh Tracks

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Reality TV Just A Guilty Pleasure?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Reality TV is a genre that has wormed its way into our screens, our culture, and—for many of us—our guilty pleasures. While some might dismiss these shows as frivolous entertainment (we’re using the term “entertainment” generously here), maybe there’s more to it than good old fashioned wife swapping, marrying strangers and surviving in the wild with nothing but a six-pack and an epic tan.

Perhaps reality TV is so popular because it holds up a mirror to society, showcasing the full spectrum of human emotions. Watching real people in real situations causes us to reflect on our own life choices and experiences. Or perhaps it’s all completely fake, scripted rubbish that makes the producers a hell of a lot of money. As a writer of The Simpsons, Dana Gould put it, reality TV is “people who aren’t actors working with people who aren’t writers in an amateur production of nothing.”

But how “real” is reality TV… really?

*CHAPTERS:*

00:00 Born In The Wild

07:30 Bet on Your Baby

11:06 How Real is Reality TV?

16:38 Release The Hounds

25:14 The Role of NDAs in Reality TV

29:14 The Naked Magazine Sweepstakes

30:21 Ethics and Consent in Reality TV

31:24 Who's Your Daddy?

33:59 Viewer Shame

37:11 When Reality TV Goes Too Far

43:17 The Upsides of Reality TV

48:23 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prison Mathematician Christopher Havens' Redemption Through Maths

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Christopher Havens was a smart kid. While it mightn’t have been the best move for his social status in the fourth grade, he was so keen on maths that he even tutored his classmates. Nerd alert! Maybe that’s why he eventually got caught up in the wrong crowd. He just wanted to fit in and be cool like everyone else.

And of course, being cool meant smoking weed and drinking alcohol, which led to mushrooms and LSD. And then things eventually spiralled into pain pills and crystal meth, which spiralled even more out of control, resulting in him murdering someone. Sigh.

Before going to prison, Haven’s dad gave him some helpful advice to survive incarceration - be the shark, not the clownfish. So, of course, Haven interpreted that advice as beating up another prisoner so he could join a gang. While that act might have confirmed his loyalty to the gang, it also opened the door to his new accommodation in solitary confinement. AKA Hell on earth.

Nothing but blank concrete walls, the smell of your own shit, and a bright fluorescent light to keep you company all day and all night. It was enough to drive a person mad, and by the sounds of the constant kicking and screaming next door, his neighbours were already there. Thankfully Havens was thrown a lifeline…in the form of a maths puzzle.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Horrors of Solitary Confinement
02:42 Christopher Havens' downward spiral
03:30 Algebra: A Solitary Confinement Lifeline
10:06 Flow State in the Midst of Hell
14:31 Solving the Unsolvable for Umberto Cerruti
21:36 Giving Back with the Prison Math Project
23:17 The Journal of Prisoners on Prisons
26:31 Recidivism and Rehabilitation
28:50 The Power of Education in Reducing Recidivism
32:40 Spoiler Altert: Solitary Confinement Doesn’t Work
34:04 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show?

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bagpipes, Weed, OR Puppets: What's Your Next Degree?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Back in the old days, there were pretty slim pickings about what to do for a career. Basically, people just did what their father or mother did. Then, as education became more available to the masses, every parent’s dream was for their child to become a doctor, lawyer or accountant. Secure a respectable job and make the big bucks.

But what if you didn’t want to drag out your days in an ordinary job, working for the man in a major multinational corporation? What if you were more interested in say, mystical and astrological matters?

In 1996, when Rod was deciding his career fate, there was actually a one-year diploma in Astrology and Jungian psychology from The Urania Trust in London. He nearly signed up but chickened out and did the corporate grad entry thing instead. He loved it (NOT). Don’t make his mistake! Whatever you’re interested in, there’s a degree out there and some of them are pretty wild.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Rod’s dreams for psychoanthropology

05:07 Masters of Science: Brewing and Distilling

09:36 Royal School of Needlework

12:18 Unusual Performance Degrees

15:20 The Art and Science of Time Measurement

20:56 Puppets and Existential Sadness

25:10 Surf Science In England

27:20 Theme Park Engineering

29:07 Bagpipe Studies at Carnegie Mellon

34:45 Ethical Hacking: Training criminals

38:56 What Next on The Wholesome Show

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did Carrots Really Help Us Win World War 2?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 18:00:00 -0000

World War II pilots ate a bunch of carrots. Back then, people were well aware that vitamin A was critical for healthy eyesight and that carrots were a good source of beta-carotene. So in 1940, versions of high-carotene strains of carrots were being tested on pilots to reduce night blindness. This was pretty important at the time because during the 1940 Blitzkrieg, the Luftwaffe often struck under the cover of darkness. The British government issued citywide blackouts to make it more difficult for German planes to hit targets, so maximising vision among pilots and civilians was critical.

The year before, the RAF had built the new secret Airborne Interception Radar (aka AI). Instead of being limited to land-bound detection stations, the AI Radar was on planes, able to pinpoint enemy bombers before they even reached the English Channel.

In 1940, RAF night fighter, John Cunningham, became the first pilot to shoot down an enemy plane using AI. He eventually tallied 20 kills - 19 of them at night - and became known as “cat eye” Cunningham. But, the Poms needed to make sure the Germans didn’t know about the secret of their success. So, the UK Ministry of Food came up with a different reason: Carrots.

Make the Germans think that carrots gave Cunningham night vision.. And just don’t mention the little Airborne Interception Radar that he had on his plane.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Debunking Food Myths: Bread Crusts and Apples

02:16 The Spinach Iron Myth

04:32 Carrots and Night Vision

06:55 Ancient Egyptian cure: Liver Juice in the Eyes

09:17 Carrot Man Can’t Poop

13:19 WWII Airborne Interception Radar

16:49 Dig for Victory Campaign

19:59 Dr. Carrot and Wartime Propaganda

23:41 The Wholesome Verdict

29:01 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

Arctic Cold Case Solved: Who Was First To The North Pole?

SOURCES:

- Fact or Fiction?: Carrots Improve Your Vision | Scientific American
A WWII Propaganda Campaign Popularized the Myth That Carrots Help You See in the Dark K. Annabelle Smith August 13, 2013
https://web.archive.org/web/20220519172618/http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/ww2seeinthedark.html
Carrots and Night Vision - WW2 Copyright 1996-2022 World Carrot Museum.
The Myth About Carrots and Vision Started to Foil Nazis - The Atlantic By Ed Yong November 13, 2015
Do carrots really help you see in the dark? - BBC Science Focus Magazine
What's so super about superfoods? by Cecilia Duong 26 September 2022
The True Science of Spinach and What the Popeye Mythology Teaches Us about How Error Spreads – The Marginalian
An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away — Fact or Fiction?
Carrot man: a case of excessive beta-carotene ingestion

Int J Eat Disord. 2012 Sep;45(6):816-8 doi: 10.1002/eat.22015.Epub 2012 Mar 19.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why does Trump cheat at golf and why do people let him?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Besides unnecessary wars, assassinations and scandalous affairs, what comes to mind when you think about American presidents? The Oval Office, the Star-Spangled Banner, Air Force One, the official military salute… and of course golf.

With the exception of three presidents (Hoover, Truman and Carter), golf has been the presidential sport of choice throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. While Hoover avoided golf during the great depression (a bit rude while everyone was starving), others like Woodrow Wilson were fanatics, playing over 1600 rounds during his presidency.

But when it comes to golf, there’s one President who brings a flair of colour to the green - and we’re not talking about the colour of his polo shirt. This president is renowned less for his golfing prowess and more for his boastful claims of golf accolades and notorious cheating habits. None other than Donald Trump.

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Book Bowel Syndrome: When Words Truly Move You

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 30 May 2024 18:00:00 -0000

We all have our idiosyncrasies, those automatic things we do each day that form the way we are in the world. Whether we scrunch or fold, or leave the toilet seat up or down, these are things we do (or don’t do) automatically. Much like the urgent need to crap your dacks in a Japanese bookstore.

That’s right, there is a significant portion of Japanese people who feel overcome by a heaving sensation in the rectal passage whilst browsing books.

In 1985, 29-year-old Japanese woman, Mariko Aoki, contributed an article in the Hon no Zasshi or “Book Magazine” about her strong urge to defecate whenever she visited a bookstore. Surprisingly, a significant number of readers wrote to the editorial department to share their similar experiences. Who would have thought so many people had been fending back faeces in the fiction section?! Turns out a lot.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Idiosyncratic & Biological Habits

02:21 The Aoki Mariko Phenomenon

08:07 Feature Article explains Book Bowel Tendency

12:13 Japanese Survey to Revitalise Bookstores

14:28 Millions suffer with Aoki Mariko Phenomenon

21:11 Symptoms: Body Shivers & Unusual Urges

26:13 Psychiatrist Speculation: Hyper Response to Stress

33:27 The Wholesome Verdict: Psychological or Sociological Phenomenon?

37:49 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Super Recognisers: People with a mug memory like no other!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 23 May 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Have you ever seen someone in public and you swear you know them from somewhere, you just can’t pick where? Are they an old school friend? The guy who delivers bread to your local cafe? You feel like you know them but it would probably be weird if you started a conversation. Well, that’s a glimpse into the life of a small percentage of the population who recognise with freakish accuracy every face they’ve ever seen. People with this extraordinary gift can find themselves in awkward social interactions due to their detailed memories of people they’ve actually never met. Yes, it can look a tad stalker-ish...

Yenny Seo is one of these unique people (not a stalker). From a young age, she demonstrated an uncanny ability to remember faces - strangers on the street she had seen weeks ago, extras in movies, every person in her university lectures and people in photos on her social media feed. She even caught a serial shoplifter by recognising his face on CCTV.

In 2017, Seo got curious about her skills and stumbled upon the University of New South Wales (UNSW) face test online quiz. Her exceptional performance put her in the top 0.05 per cent of all participants, confirming she was a Super Recogniser. That’s right. Yenny officially has superpowers. And she’s not alone either.

SOURCES:

The super-recognisers of Scotland Yard - New Statesman
‘I’d keep it on the down low’: the secret life of a super-recogniser | Science | The Guardian
Could super recognisers be the latest weapon in the war on terror? 2016 David James Robertson
Super-Recognisers in the Metropolitan Police
DJ Robertson et. al. February 2016 Face Recognition by Metropolitan Police Super-Recognisers PLOS ONE 11(2):e0150036 DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0150036
What is it like to remember all the faces you’ve ever seen? | Psyche Ideas
QPS Super Recogniser Network helps crack 1,000 cases - Queensland Police News
It is widely believed that humans are rather good at recognising faces

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why Can't Generation Z Queue Properly?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 16 May 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Over the millions of years of evolution, we humans have developed into a highly intelligent species. We’ve developed the ability to communicate, we’ve created social order, and established norms and protocols that facilitate a (mostly) harmonious coexistence. Take, for example, the fact that we all know how to stand in line to order a beverage.

But now, after millennia of humans lining up and waiting their turn, it seems all of a sudden there’s an entire generation that doesn’t know how to queue. They loiter in the vicinity of the line, they leave long gaps between them and the person in front, making the queue, if there even is one, ambiguous at best. Are they in the queue? Are they out of the queue? It’s all very unclear and to be honest, when all you want is your coffee, it’s wildly frustrating for us olds.

Now this is making a huge generalisation about a large group of people in society, but someone needs to say it. Sorry Generation Z, we love you, but it seems like you don't know how to queue properly. What’s going on?

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Why can’t Gen Z queue properly
03:33 Queue research: Cultural, Social and Psychology studies
05:33 Cultural Differences in Queuing
08:50 Gen Z Don’t Care About Queue Jumpers
10:11 Is Social Media to Blame?
13:06 The Legendary AFL Queue of 1965
16:16 Why Queue Fitness Has Dropped
20:42 The Art of Queue Jumping
24:18 Generational Differences and Social Norms
25:45 The Magic of the Seventh Son
30:17 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show

SOURCES:

A global guide to queuing philosophies, from Wimbledon to São Paulo, Quartz
Generation Z more likely to queue-jump and let others do the same, poll claims
No, Argentina's president did not adopt a Jewish child to stop him turning into a werewolf by Uki Goni in The Guardian
Queue Culture: The Waiting Line as a Social System, by Leon Mann in the American Journal of Sociology
The Psychology of Queuing, in Psychology, by A Furnham, L Treglown, G & Horne, G.
What’s Up Doc? Seventh Sons in Victorian and Edwardian Lancashire, by Simon Young in Folklore

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can You Make Your Own Country? Project Minerva and Libertarian Exit with Raymond Craib

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 09 May 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Humans love their independence. Wars have been fought for it, songs have been written about it, and history is filled with examples of individuals and communities seeking to raise a flag towards more liberating ideals. And some have taken the flag very literally.

Project Minerva was an ambitious endeavour led by Michael Oliver in the 1970s to create a libertarian utopia on the coral reefs of the South Pacific. They got some coral, wrapped it in chicken wire, covered it in cement, and dumped it on the existing coral reefs which lay just a few metres beneath the water line. High above their man-made island, the flag for the Republic of Minerva flew proudly.

But do these libertarians think about the impact on indigenous populations?

And would you really want to live in a country (or a planet) that is bankrolled and governed by the wealthy elite? Surely they have their own agenda, and it’s likely not the health and well-being of their citizens…

00:00 Shipwrecked on Invisible Reefs
01:27 Michael Oliver Escapes from Nazi Rule
03:28 Constructing a Libertarian Utopia: The Republic of Minerva
05:02 Exploring Libertarian Escapes with Professor Raymond B. Craib
09:09 Post World War II Market Libertarianism
13:27 Sealand: A Libertarian Exit with Longevity
18:15 Ethical Dilemmas of Libertarian Exits
21:42 Grand Schemes of Billionaires: Dreams vs. Reality
22:24 The Labor Dilemma in Utopian Projects
24:52 The Contrast Between Organic and Engineered Libertarian Projects
31:04 Ethical Quandaries of Libertarian Experiments
35:23 Reimagining Power and Governance in Libertarian Exits
42:43 The Cautionary Tale of the Republic of Minerva
45:58 Concluding Thoughts on Libertarian Utopias

SOURCES:

A Narrative of the Wreck of the Minerva, by Peter Bays
Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit, from the Era of Decolonization to the Digital Age, by Raymond Craib
Escape Therapy: On Douglas Rushkoff’s “Survival of the Richest”, by Raymond Craib, in LA Review of Books

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Community or Control: Has There Ever Been a "Good" Cult?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 02 May 2024 18:00:00 -0000

When you think of the word ‘cult’, what immediately comes to mind for most of us are things like hooded velvet robes, secretive gatherings and doomsday prophesies. Then there’s the charismatic yet nefarious leader brainwashing followers, maybe a forced orgie or two, a spot of mass suicide. Generally not good stuff.

Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton outlines three primary characteristics of destructive cults: a charismatic leader, coercive persuasion tactics, and exploitation of members. Well, that pretty much sums up NXIVM and the Order of the Solar Temple.

It’s pretty well established that there are a lot of bad cults. But are there any good ones?

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Management cult at Rod’s first job
07:01 Scientology: A Cult or Not?
10:23 10 warning signs of being in a cult
14:14 Order of the Solar Temple
18:51 NXIVM: Were you a Nazi in a former life?
24:16 Cognitive dissonance and why do people join cults?
31:23 Female Empowerment in New Religious Movements
34:55 Ma Anand Sheela and Osho
40:04 Defining Cults: Destructive or Benign
44:17 The Wholesome Verdict on Cults
48:26 What’s next on The Wholesome Show

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can you get pregnant from oral sex? Where There's a Willie, There's a Way

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 18:00:00 -0000

The teen years can be tough. Let’s be real, it was an awkward time for the best of us. During those tender years, we all did our best to navigate the tumultuous world between childhood and adulthood amidst raging hormones, love triangles and knife fights... the usual teenage stuff.

Ok, perhaps not every teenager gets in a knife fight, but this particular case has all the drama you would expect to find in a daytime soap opera.

The story involves a 15-year-old girl who was employed in a local bar (well that’s the first red flag right there). She was admitted to hospital after a knife fight outside the bar involving her former lover and a new boyfriend. Exactly who stabbed who was not quite clear, but all three participants in the small war were admitted with knife injuries.

Precisely 278 days later… The girl was admitted to hospital once again. This time with acute intermittent abdominal pain. Upon examination, the doctors found something very surprising indeed... A fully grown baby.

But she couldn’t possibly be pregnant… she didn’t have a vagina!!

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Knife fight admits teenagers to hospital
01:50 Mysterious abdominal pain
02:14 Pregnancy without a vagina
03:35 Medical investigations: How did this happen?
05:55 Lessons from oral pregnancy

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

So did you get a root? Tales, definitions and loopholes for defining sex

SOURCES:

Oral conception. Impregnation via the proximal gastrointestinal tract in a patient with an aplastic distal vagina. Case report, by Douwe A A Verkuyl, in BJOG

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why are redheads so fascinating? Detangling the science!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 18:00:00 -0000

What’s the deal with redheads? It sounds like the beginning of a Seinfeld bit but in all fairness (pun intended), for a group of people who make up only 2% of the population, our flame-haired ginger guys and gals have attracted much attention throughout history. Some of that attention is due to the obvious: redheads are babes.

But the fascination with redheads over the centuries hasn’t all been positive. They’ve also received far more hostile attention like being labelled barbarians by the ancient Greeks and Romans. In Ancient Egypt, redheaded men were burnt as human sacrifices at the grave of Osiris (god of the deceased) and their ashes were scattered to the four winds in the name of a bountiful harvest; red hair symbolised the golden wealth of the corn after all, so… makes sense.

In medieval times, people with green eyes and red hair were considered either witches, werewolves or vampires. There were even alchemical recipes requiring the blood of a redhead to turn copper into gold. Just mix the blood up with the ashes of a basilisk, easy as pie.

Scientific or not, redheads do seem to carry the reputation of having a somewhat spicy temperament and the people from Charles University in Prague wanted to know if this translated into the bedroom… The science says yes but not in the way you think!

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Why do redheads fascinate us?
03:42 Barbarians and human sacrificing
05:40 Alchemical recipe with the blood of a redhead
07:30 19th century study: Most criminals were redheads
09:31 Ayurvedic medicine and genetics
13:42 Opiate response, Vitamin D and adrenaline
17:48 Redheads smell like ambergris
19:12 Pain studies: Stabbing and electric currents
21:50 Sexism in redhead stereotypes
24:21 Study on Redheads and Sexuality
27:08 What’s next on The Wholesome Show

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

What The Hell Happened To The Left-Handers?

SOURCES:

Ginger hair: 13 fascinating facts about redheads

World Redhead Day: 16 fun facts about red hair - Indianapolis

Redheaded women are more sexually active than other women, but it is probably due to their suitors

Science Confirms Redheads Are Equipped With Some Weird Genetic Superpowers - GQ Australia

Red hair - Wikipedia

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Singing For Survival: How The Discovery Of Whale Songs Slowed Their Murder

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 18:00:00 -0000

When you think about the Cold War, you immediately think about whale songs right? Okay, maybe not everyone makes that connection, but in a delightfully random way, the political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s had a lot to do with the discovery of the beautiful whale song, and ultimately, the collapse of the commercial whaling industry altogether.

Back in the 1950s, the United States had gone gangbusters with submarines. Travelling under the Arctic Ocean, they were set on going the longest, the deepest, the hardest. But they were worried about other countries doing it too… particularly the Soviets.

They knew they couldn’t stop them, but they at least wanted to know where the Red subs were. That’s when Frank Watlington was tasked by the US Navy to develop hydrophones (microphones they could stick in the ocean) to listen for submarine sounds.

So Watlington set off to Bermuda and got to work. One day he dropped his hydrophone 1,500 feet into the ocean and heard strange, eerie sounds coming from the deep. For the Navy, these sounds were just annoying distractions from detecting submarine activity but for Watlington, well, they were captivating. Ditching his original task of detecting Soviet submarines, Watlington became obsessed with the ethereal sounds he had recorded and he played them to anyone who would listen...

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Everyone knows the whale song
02:08 A dog’s breakfast: 20th century whaling
03:32 The Cold War and the end of whaling
05:21 Frank Watlington and hydrophones
07:22 Roger Payne: From science to viral sensation
10:35 Patterns and rhythm in the whale song
12:19 Humpback Whale record goes viral
14:58 Rock stars, Greenpeace and whaling ban
16:49 What next on The Wholesome Show

SOURCES:

Francis W. Watlington; Recorded Whale Songs, NY Times
'It always hits me hard': how a haunting album helped save the whales, The Guardian
It Took A Musician's Ear To Decode The Complex Song In Whale Calls, NPR
Listening to Whales by Douglas Allchin in The American Biology Teacher
Number of whales killed, World, Our World In Data
Oral conception. Impregnation via the proximal gastrointestinal tract in a patient with an aplastic distal vagina. Case report, by Douwe A A Verkuyl, in BJOG
Whale song: A grandfather's legacy, CBS News

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"To Demonstrate It Was Safe": Politicians Putting Their Bodies On The Line

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Politicians get a bad rap, don’t they? Every mutterance and every action falls under intense scrutiny from the press and the public eye. If they make one wrong move, we’ll know about it and keep talking about it for ages too.

Maybe that’s why politicians go to such great lengths to win the people over. Like when Governor Carey of New York volunteered to drink a glass of PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls - highly carcinogenic chemical compounds) to prove a state building was safe.

It seems that drinking a cup of toxic liquid is the go-to political move. Punjab State Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann, downed a glass of polluted water from a holy river in 2022 on the heels of a campaign to clean water bodies. He was hospitalised for 2 days. Then there’s the bizarre demonstration from Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, who allegedly drank fracking fluid in a ritual-like manner around a table. Bit culty.

While you could argue that demonstrations like these showcase leadership and a willingness to share risks with the public, they could also just be downright reckless and stupid.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Don’t put torpedos in your mouth
03:06 Mad Cow Disease: Putting beef to the test
05:47 President Obama drinks lead-lined Flint Water
08:35 East Palestine toxic chemical water
11:58 The Fracking fluid ritual
15:41 Proving that New York Midtown is safe
18:41 Nuclear bombs are perfectly fine
20:35 Dining Dangers: From COVID to Cholera
25:38 Product safety testing downfalls
32:03 What’s next on the Wholesome Show

SOURCES:

Communications and Politics, in The Public Health Crisis Survival Guide: Leadership and Management in Trying Times by Joshua M Sharfstein
Ex-N.Y. Gov. Hugh Carey dies at 92, Politico
Factiva archive
Food Irradiation by the CDC
New York Times Archive
Trove
The cholera epidemic in Latin America, Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen
What became of Cordelia Gummer, the Mad Cow girl?, Daily Express
Vets dismiss fears of 'mad cat' disease, New Scientist

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Norjak: The DB Cooper Unsolved Mystery and 2024 Update

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 18:00:00 -0000

On November 24, 1971, Dan Cooper, a quiet, nondescript man (wearing the classic business suit everyone wore back then) wandered into Portland airport and paid cash for a one-way ticket to Seattle. He drank his bourbon and soda in the lounge and boarded the plane like every other passenger.

Cooper was your average guy, at least until shortly after takeoff, when he handed the flight attendant a note. And no, it wasn’t an attempt to flirt his way into the mile-high club. This note said that there was a bomb in his briefcase and that she should sit down next to him. She sat down.

Dan opened his briefcase to reveal a mass of wires and red coloured sticks to the flight attendant, who promptly followed his instructions to send a message to the captain. He demanded that $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills and 4 parachutes be delivered to him upon landing.

The flight landed in Seattle, Cooper exchanged the flight’s 36 passengers for the money and parachutes and then, with some crew still on board, took off again for Mexico City.

Somewhere between Seattle and Reno, ordinary Dan walked to the back of the plane, opened a door and jumped out with a parachute and the money. The pilots landed safely and DB Cooper, as he became known, disappeared.

50 years later, we’re still looking for him, and amazingly, there have been very recent (as in March 2024) updates to this cold case!

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Mysterious Case of DB Cooper
03:15 Investigations, Theories, and Folk Hero Status
05:36 Copycats and Confessions
08:54 The Hunt for DB Cooper: Suspects, Clues, and Dead Ends
12:26 Tom Colbert’s case against Robert Rackstraw
15:38 DB Cooper Wannabes
18:36 Case closed after 45 years
20:31 DNA Evidence: A New Hope in the Cold Case
27:40 Speculations and Theories: Where is DB Cooper?
29:32 What’s next on The Wholesome Show

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Memory Hole: Why Society Sometimes Draws a Blank

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 18:00:00 -0000

We all forget things sometimes. We leave the car keys in random places. We look all over the house for our sunglasses, only to find them already on our heads. And we’ve all experienced the angst of double booking, completely (or conveniently) forgetting about a dentist appointment booked for the time we were meant to meet up with friends at the pub.

Sometimes our brains just have enough stuff in there and there’s no room for anything new.

Kinda like how the world forgot about the time when millions of people died within a six month period from the Spanish Flu. Sure, we talk about it now but back then, when the pandemic was over, no one talked about it. 5 per cent of the population died, it sucked, let’s just forget about it…?

But how could a catastrophic event of this magnitude be collectively forgotten? And perhaps it’s not the only tragedy we’ve tossed into the black memory hole of history…

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Exploring the concept of memory holes
00:44 The Spanish Flu: A case study of collective forgetting
02:31 Have we forgotten COVID-19?
03:36 Memory hole from George Orwell’s book, 1984
06:17 Beyond Pandemics: Forgetting wars and cockroaches
09:15 Collective forgetting of the Allied bombing of Germany
11:37 The science behind why we forget
13:16 Collective memory requires communication and narrative
16:00 Should we memorialise Covid-19?
19:48 What’s next on The Wholesome Show

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

Wittenoom: Australia's Asbestos Chernobyl Wiped Town Off The Map

SOURCES:

Building a collective memory: the case for collective forgetting, by William Hirst and Alan Coman in Current Opinion in Psychology
Collective Memory and Forgetting: A Theoretical Discussion by Cindy Minarova-Banjac Page 4 of 5
The rising of collective forgetting and cultural selectivity in inventors and physicists communities by Cristian Candia and Brian Uzzi

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What scares people these days and where does your phobia rank?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 18:00:00 -0000

What are the most common fears and phobias that people have today? Most of us can relate to having a healthy fear of sharks or getting sweaty palms at the idea of being stuck in a tiny space. It’s also pretty socially acceptable for someone to opt out of bungee jumping, or for a fellow aeroplane passenger to need a few deep breaths to calm themselves before takeoff.

Then of course there’s the fear of public speaking - which we all fear more than death, right? Maybe not… This claim seems to link back to a publication from 1977 called The Book of Lists, which in turn cites the London Times… which in turn references the 1973 Burskin Report. This claims that 41 per cent of people feared speaking before a group, whereas only 19 per cent feared death.

But is it really true?

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The fear of public speaking
05:29 Defining fear and phobia
10:24 Research findings: 1977 Book of Lists
13:04 The fear of heights and deep water
15:29 Top 10 Fears in America
16:31 White Supremacists and High Medical Bills
18:02 Fear of Ghosts and Zombies
20:49 Australia’s fears: Social Phobias and Agoraphobia
22:22 Fear of Swooping Magpies
26:26 The Boring Apocalypse
28:28 What’s next on the Wholesome Show

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

Mary Shelley, Taphophobia and Life-Preserving Coffins

SOURCES:

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The End Of Science: Will We Ever Discover Everything?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 18:00:00 -0000

It’s the end of the science as we know it! And I feel fine! But seriously though, is it? As a global community, we are investing 10 times more money and resources into scientific research than we did in the 1950s, yet the number of groundbreaking discoveries is dwindling.

We’ve gone to the moon. We’ve discovered massive black holes. We’ve split the atom and peered through high-resolution microscopes to observe those tiny little quarks. Sure, we’re still making advancements, but a lot of science these days is refining past discoveries. We’re not really uncovering anything new. In fact, most of the Nobel Prizes awarded since the 1990s have been awarded for scientific work that went on in previous decades.

So is scientific pursuit just slowing down? Or, are we nearing the end of scientific discovery altogether?

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The slowing pace of scientific discovery
03:29 Historical claims of the end of science
07:46 John Horgan’s book: The End of Science
10:11 A Debate: Will we reach the end of science?
12:09 More spending and fewer scientific discoveries
15:30 Big mysteries of science remain
16:46 Blurring the lines of science and technology
18:56 The arrogance of physics
23:15 The Wholesome Verdict: Rod vs Will
23:45 What’s next on The Wholesome Show
28:32 Listener shoutouts

SOURCES:

Is science about to end? by Sabine Hossenfelder
John Horgan interview on The End of Science
Was I Wrong about “The End of Science”? By John Horgan
Lord Kelvin and the End of Physics, Which He Never Predicted
Albert Michelson, notes at the Inauguration of the Ryerson Physics Laboratory
Everything That Can Be Invented Has Been Invented by David J Katz
Papers and patents are becoming less disruptive over time by Michael Park, Erin Leahey and Russel J Funk in Nature
Are we witnessing the end of science? In The Guardian

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So did you get a root? Tales, definitions and loopholes for defining sex

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Everyone loves a good loophole. From a clever workaround that outsmarts the tax man to exploiting a glitch in a video game (Sega Mega Drive all the way), there's something undeniably thrilling about circumventing the system. It taps into our innate desire for freedom, creativity, and that little touch of rebellion. While avoiding tax bills and gaining high scores on Sonic the Hedgehog can certainly get us going, some people have discovered loopholes that arouse a more intimate type of pleasure.

We’re talking about sex. But what exactly constitutes sex? For a lot of people, the term is open to interpretation, especially if you’re trying to stay a virgin to please the Lord or deny your infidelity. We all remember Bill Clinton’s famous speech about not having “sexual relations”. Does this mean that oral sex isn’t sex? And what about anal sex? For some, there is a poophole loophole, while others consider looking at pornography and deep kissing as an act of sex.

Regardless of what you consider sex to be, there seem to be a lot of grey areas as cultural, religious and contextual factors thrust their way into the conversation. Is sex only considered sex if you reach the big O? And what if it's just the tip or a little bit of shaft? Two dicks, no dicks, plastic-covered dick? Who has to do what with what to whom for it to be considered sex in your mind?

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Bill Clinton scandal
03:09 Defining a sex act
05:26 Majority say oral sex isn’t sex
08:10 Age-related sex loopholes
11:27 Choosing a definition of sex that suits you
13:06 Sex with a condom isn’t sex?
15:12 God only cares about ejaculation
17:54 Soaking: Mormon sex loopholes
23:53 Japanese loopholes for prostitution
25:18 Studies on sexual substitution
28:37 A rare case of pregnancy from anal sex
30:50 What’s next on The Wholesome Show

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

The Strange Things People Have Smuggled Into Space https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpLAU59m61M
The Secret Spy Science Of Poo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f528jx5Wgo

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Workplace Infantilisation: Incompetent Employees or Toxic Management?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Remember as a kid, having to wear that uncomfortable school uniform every single day? We were told when to sit, when to stand, when to eat, when to play, even when we were allowed to go to the toilet. Myriad rules to crush us into oppressive obedience!

Now imagine a similar scenario in your workplace. Employees are given insultingly basic commands and training that even the most sheltered individual would have learned simply in the school of life. There’s a term for it: Workplace Infantilisation. Workers denied their agency and wisdom from experience in favour of child-like over-proceduralisation. And no, workplace infantilisation is not a term for child labour, pathological smuggling of employee’s children into the office, or a worker boasting an adult diaper fetish.

Infantilisation in the workplace is basically when your boss treats you like a child. Explicit instructions for straightforward tasks, insinuating that you don’t have the common sense to figure it out. They make rules for things that well-adjusted adults don’t need rules for (like you’re not allowed to masturbate on someone else's desk.) Well duh. You use your own desk; we’re not animals!

But is workplace infantilisation genuinely happening on a significant scale? Or is it merely a vent for worker frustrations over the minutiae of bureaucratic tape?

SOURCES:

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Understanding the concept of workplace infantilisation
03:02 Harvard Business Review claims
04:37 Language, tone and building trust
07:41 Reality check: Is workplace infantilisation just a feeling?
09:21 Being an adult is understanding context
11:30 Defining infantilisation: Treating someone as a child
14:54 Controversial symptoms of workplace infantilisation
16:45 What does Google Scholar say?
20:01 Evidence of workplace infantilisation
23:11 Context matters

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Does Sheep Murmuration Explain England's 19th Century Sheep Panic?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Mother Nature, in all her brilliance, has birthed some fascinating phenomena. Take the magical skies of the Aurora Borealis in Iceland for example, or the bioluminescent Maldives shores where the ocean lights up like neon blue fairy lights.

Here in Australia, we have Lake Hillier, where the water is the colour of a strawberry milkshake. In England of course, they have the synchronised sheep panic at 8pm. Wait… what?

Although one of the lesser known phenomena (you might even say “un-herd” of), unexplained sheep panic caused quite a stir in Oxfordshire England in the late 19th century. On November 3, 1888, tens of thousands of sheep in a 200 square mile radius in Oxfordshire suddenly went bonkers at 8pm. It was as if some unseen terror had gripped them all simultaneously. Can you hear the X-files theme music playing?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI Girlfriend Chatbots, UFO Cosplay Drones, and Dihydrogen Monoxide

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Back in the day, before robots and the internet, guys and gals who longed for the company of a significant other had one move up their sleeve: pluck up the courage to leave the house and talk to another human. Nowadays-ish, people search for love from home aided by computers and a social media background check (thanks Wayback Machine). Nowadays proper, the pool from which to select a lover has expanded to include artificial intelligence. In today’s post-ChatGPT age, AI girlfriend chatbots are on the market but you better keep it hush-hush… apparently, OpenAI don’t want you to meet their digital darlings, especially Tiffany or Nadia.

Speaking of intelligence, the former director of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), Sean Kirkpatrick, squashed our dreams in a recent interview, candidly admitting that UAP sightings (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - we don’t call them UFOs anymore) were likely just top secret military intelligence drones. Awesome. So why make such a big deal about releasing the UFO files? We don’t buy it. They’re definitely hiding something.

On the topic of misinformation, in 1997, 14-year-old junior high school student Nathan Zohner warned his fellow students about a dangerous substance called dihydrogen monoxide, or DHMO. It’s colourless, odourless, tasteless and yet kills thousands of people every year through accidental inhalation. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage and in its gaseous form, DHMO causes severe burns.

It’s found in cancers and infected wounds, and large quantities have been confirmed in every river, stream, lake and reservoir in America. But most terrifying is that everyone who drinks DHMO goes on to eventually die. How can this be legal??

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Rise of AI Girlfriends
03:06 Open AI bans romantically oriented chatbots
05:27 The Loophole for sex-related content
09:06 Sean Kirkpatrick squashes UFO dreams
10:31 Spherical drones with cubes inside
11:58 The Dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide
14:07 Twisting the facts to weaponise water

PREVIOUS EPISODE MENTIONED:

Smart Toilets, Brain Pics, Corpse Comfort, Nuclear Moon, Space Fashion, and Super Conductivity

SOURCES:

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The Emu War: A Deep Dive Into Australia's Feathered Fiasco

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 18:00:00 -0000

After the horrors of World War I, the Australian Federal Government gave thousands of discharged veterans money, land and the promise of a bright and happy agricultural life in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. Life as a farmer wasn’t easy, but at least these veterans had seen the last of the battlefield. Or so they thought.

The war was over but followed soon after by the great depression in 1929. Hoping to ease the pressure and literally put bread on the table for Australians, the Federal Government promised subsidies to the new farmers to increase their crop production. Wheat prices began to fall and farmers were left wanting when the subsidies never came. The farmers were screwed. And on top of all of this, they found themselves in a battle with an unexpected adversary, pillaging their wheat and destroying their rabbit fences: the emu.

As if plummeting wheat prices and broken promises weren't enough, the veterans-turned-farmers found themselves neck to ample neck with a literal army of emus. 20,000 birds had descended upon the wheat fields (coincidentally smack bang in the middle of their migration route), wreaking havoc on crop yields and perimeter infrastructure. The solution was, of course, clear to these battle-hardened farmers: Guns. Lots of guns.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Hardest Animals to Kill with a Gun
02:36 The Plight of World War I Vets Turned Farmers
05:06 The Arrival of the Emus
07:58 The Farmers' Plea for Machine Guns
12:04 Let the Emu War Begin
15:50 First Battle Tactics and Failures
17:34 Emus: Tough as Lead
21:47 Australian Parliament discusses Emu Wars
24:38 The War Continues until 1960
28:56 Bounty Put in Place to End the War
30:02 The Emu War Becomes a Movie

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Chau's Fatal Mission For God To Earth's Most Isolated Tribe

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 18:00:00 -0000

In our modern society, most people live their lives lurching from fix to fix from the digital syringe; relying on social media and telecommunication advances to feel connected to the world around them. Facetime, Instagram, LinkedIn, we froth it. Well, most people do. Some people want absolutely nothing to do with not only modern technology but with the rest of the world in general.

Around the globe, there are 100 or more "uncontacted" tribes, Indigenous peoples who avoid all contact with outsiders. Many of these people groups are in places like Brazil, Venezuela and Peru, probably hoping the beautiful rainforest they call home doesn’t get completely decimated by the white man.

Over the years, outsiders have made some attempts to build connections with such tribes, in the hopes of understanding their cultures and respecting their way of life (well, we’d like to think that was their intention anyway). But the title of the most “uncontacted” people today goes to the Sentinelese people, an isolated tribe living on North Sentinel Island located off the coast of India. And if weren’t for the noteworthy, and quite frankly, arrogant efforts of John Chau, a devout Christian missionary in 2018, we doubt we would have ever heard of them.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Uncontacted tribes around the globe
05:09 Most uncontacted tribe today: The Sentinelese
08:40 British Royal Navy kidnap Sentinelese children
10:09 Anthropologist TM Pandit’s expeditions to North Sentinel
14:35 Indigenous rights groups protest to protect the Sentinelese people
17:21 John Chau’s zealous Christian faith
22:01 Chau’s education and preparations for adventure
26:09 Missionary Training in the Andaman Islands
28:30 Chau panics during his encounter with the Sentinelese
32:11 Waterproof Bible saves Chau but not for long
37:26 Stop trying to convert everyone to Christianity

SOURCES:

5 of the Most Isolated Peoples on Earth | Discover Magazine by Stephen C. George Nov 28, 2021
The life and death of John Chau, the man who tried to convert his killers by J Oliver Conroy 3 Feb 2019
The Sentinelese: Who Are The Most Isolated Uncontacted Tribe On Earth? | IFLScience Tom Hale 15 June 2023
The man who spent decades befriending isolated Sentinelese tribe by Swaminathan Natarajan 27 Nov 2018
Andamans: US man's death puts spotlight on 'tribal tourism'
North Sentinel Island: How can the Sentinelese people avoid contact with the outside world? - ABC News by Liam Butterworth 22 Nov 2018
Background - The Sentinelese

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Mary Shelley, Taphophobia and Life-Preserving Coffins

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 18:00:00 -0000

We’re all afraid of something. Many people live with significant anxiety due to their fear of things such as heights, flying, public speaking, the number 8 for example (Octophobia - it’s a real thing). But one fear puts disproportionately more heebies in our jeebies: taphophobia, or the fear of being buried alive as a result of being incorrectly pronounced dead. To a mad few, it may seem a genuine irrational fear (like omphalophobia - the fear of belly buttons) but at least some solace can be taken in the fact that it is exceedingly rare… right? There wouldn’t be an episode if that was the case!

Perhaps being trapped 6 feet under is more reality than nightmare. This was certainly the case in centuries past.

In the early 19th century, when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, it was remarkably common for people to be accidentally buried alive. It happened so frequently in fact, that some clever people came up with innovative escape coffins to help the poor buried people get out.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Taphophobia: The fear of being buried alive
01:00 Resuscitation Techniques in the 1700s
03:26 The Story of Mary Wollstonecraft
07:01 The Influence of Contemporary Science on Frankenstein
10:20 What differentiates the living from the dead
15:50 The Language of Life and Death in Frankenstein
17:15 Historical Methods of Determining Death
18:01 The Distinction Between Absolute and Apparent Death
21:22 Historical Cases of Premature Burial
27:39 Innovative Solutions to Avoid Premature Burial
29:46 The Life Preserving Coffin: A Solution to Premature Burial
37:01 The Modern Perception of Death

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

SOURCES:

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Jose Delgado's Alternative To Lobotomy: The Stimoceiver Implant

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 18:00:00 -0000

The 20th century was a golden era for ethically dubious brain studies. In 1950, Dr Jose Delgado had a vision to control aggressive behaviour using a device surgically implanted in the brain known as the Stimoceiver. How science fictiony is that?!

Delgado's journey toward creating a peaceful human race started with a bully macaque monkey who had been terrorising his cage mates. After successfully pacifying the angry monkey with the Stimoceiver, Delgado took the bull by the horns, quite literally. In 1963, a pivotal moment unfolded as Delgado tested the limits of the Stimoceiver in a dramatic experiment in the bull fighting arena. The public spectacle that followed thrust Delgado into the spotlight, drawing both admiration and ethical concerns.

Delgado’s desire to create a "psycho-civilized society" caused some discomfort, with critics fearing the implications of the technology in the wrong hands. Whether controversial or revolutionary, Delgado's work remains a testament to the power of asking "What if..."

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

The Terrible History of The Lobotomy

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

SOURCES:

The Man Who Fought a Bull With Mind Control | Discover Magazine By Jack El-HaiMar 22, 2016
Tribute to Jose Delgado, Legendary and Slightly Scary Pioneer of Mind Control - Scientific American Blog Network By John Horgan on September 25, 2017
Jose Manuel Rodriguez Delgado | Neuropsychopharmacology
José Manuel Rodríguez Delgado - Wikipedia
‘Matador’ With a Radio Stops Wired Bull by John A. Osmundsen - New York Times, May 17, 1965
Neuroanatomy, Amygdala - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf
Timothy C. Marzullo (2017) The Missing Manuscript of Dr. Jose Delgado’s Radio Controlled Bulls. J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2017 Spring; 15(2): R29–R35.
Paul A. Offit (2017) Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong. National Geographic

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St Lidwina: The Patron Saint Of Ice Skating (and Chronic Pain)

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 18:00:00 -0000

There are a lot of patron saints out there in the Catholic multiverse. They have saints for every day of the year and then some. We’ve all heard of the more famous saints like St. Paul, St. Peter and St. Patrick. What, no Saint Gary? Pfft. But then there are some lesser-known saints, but by no means less holy.

Take St. Bernardino for an example. He travelled all over Italy and preached to the public instead of reading boring sermons in church. He became known as one of the greatest orators of his time, drawing big crowds with his captivating sermons. Sounds great, until you learn that he preached anti-Semitism, the brutal persecution of homosexuality, and the occasional witch hunt. Nevertheless, his gift of the gab led him to be venerated as the saint of marketing, communications and PR. No joke.

Then there’s St. Lawrence, who while being executed by the Romans (by being cooked on the grill) allegedly exclaimed after quite some time, “I'm done on this side, turn me over” and became the saint of cooks, chefs, and comedians. You just can’t make this stuff up.

And then some saints are very niche indeed. Like St. Lidwina of Schiedam, the patron saint of ice skating. At age 15, she fell over ice skating and broke her rib, which one source ominously states was the beginning of her martyrdom. No matter what medical intervention was applied, her rib just did not heal. She became progressively paralysed, soon unable to walk, her body slowly deteriorating to the point where she was confined to bed for the rest of her life.

But paralysis was just the beginning. Soon after her injury, gangrene set in and spread across her entire body. She had three large open wounds on her body where maggots feasted on her rotting flesh. She barely ate anything, surviving mostly on the Eucharist and had literally zero sleep for days, weeks, and even months on end. Then she began to shed. Skin, bones, parts of her intestines. Some stories suggest that she may have even puked out some bone. Her parents kept the offcasts in a vase, which would give off a sweet odour, making her quite popular with the townspeople.

All she could do was meditate on the ‘gift’ of pain and suffering that God had given her. At about 25 years of age, Lidwina began to experience ecstasies and visions and apparently, many miracles took place at her bedside, gaining her the reputation as a healer and holy woman.

But despite her blissful spiritual experiences, Lidwina continued to suffer every imaginable pain. She had intense headaches, toothaches, fever, dropsy, (generalised swelling), she couldn’t see out of her right eye, and her left eye was so weak that any light caused her pain. She was one big sore from head to foot and greatly emaciated. What a life.

Not only did she become the patron saint of ice skating, but she was also canonized as the patron saint of the chronically ill. And, as it turns out, Lidwina is thought to be one of, if not the first documented cases of multiple sclerosis.

Perhaps all that suffering was not so much God’s will, but an awful degenerative disease of the nervous system.

But to live in that amount of pain, she must have received help from St. Drausnius, the patron saint of invincible people. Or maybe she prayed to St. Genesius, the saint of torture (as well as clowns, actors, lawyers and many other random things).

What else will they come up with? Patron saint of the internet? (Spoiler, they already have)

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

Dying For It: A Scientific Look At Death During Sex

SOURCES:

St. Lidwina
St Lydwine of Schiedam
Lidwina, Wikipedia
Does the history of multiple sclerosis go back as far as the 14th century?
R Medaer (1979) Acta Neurol Scand. 1979 Sep;60(3):189-92.
10 Most Bizarre Patron Saints in Catholicism
25 Patron Saints of Really Random Things

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Biosphere 2: Sloppy Steve Bannon's Claim To Climate Fame

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 18:00:00 -0000

When we think of champions in the battle against climate change, names like Greta Thunberg, David Suzuki, and David Attenborough come to mind. But would you ever associate former US President Donald Trump with climate action? Probably not. But, his 2016 presidential campaign manager, Steve Bannon - you know the former investment banker, Hollywood executive, the guy who’s continuously being charged and convicted of crimes - well, he played a surprising role in an incredible scientific endeavour which has been aiding in climate change research for decades. You think you know someone.

The story goes back to the 1970’s at an ‘intentional community’ in New Mexico called Synergia Ranch. Whether or not it was a fancy name for a hippy cult, Synergia Ranch became a breeding ground for ideas about creating a self-contained, ecologically sustainable environment. Co-founder John Allen, an ecologist and playwright, dreamed of blending high-tech and ecological principles to create a self-sustaining wonderland.

Allen believed that the earth was already as good as dead, so he wanted to build a big ass terrarium where plants, animals and humans could thrive. But he needed cash. Heaps of it. Enter stage right, Allen’s billionaire buddy, Texas oil tycoon, Edward Bass. Bass contributed a staggering $150 million (petty cash really) and became the Chair of the Space Biosphere Ventures company which administered and managed the whole project. In 1991, Allen’s dream was realised and the construction of the Biosphere 2 was complete - biosphere 1 is Earth. Makes sense.

A 3.14-acre terrarium with 6,500 windows, reaching nearly 28 meters in height and sealed by a 500-ton welded stainless steel liner. Containing a small ocean, mangrove wetlands, tropical rainforest, Savannah grassland, and a fog desert, Biosphere 2 was the solution for the survival of humanity. The goal was to house eight "biospherians" who would live entirely within this self-contained ecosystem, growing their own food, recycling waste, and demonstrating that humans could potentially survive in space. Could they really pull this off? Or would the whole thing turn into green slime?

Well, there were a few challenges. Within two weeks, they’d broken the rules by sending one biospherian to the hospital (she chopped off her finger) and she sneakily brought back some supplies. They also tuckered into their emergency food supplies way sooner than expected and then around the 8-month mark, oxygen levels were dangerously low because of an explosion of oxygen gulping bacteria in the soil. You’d think there’d be excess CO2 because of that, but no, it chemically bonded with the concrete in the structure. You can’t make this shit up. Hummingbirds and honeybees died, crops went unpollinated, bugs attacked what remained and cockroaches reigned supreme. It was a hot mess.

Needless to say, Biosphere 2 wasn’t getting good press. Bass had already put in another $50 million into the project and needed to get the finances under control. Enter stage left, Steven Bannon, who was managing his own investment banking firm at the time. Bannon was interested in Biosphere 2’s potential and, after failed attempts to secure venture capital, Bannon proposed a bold marketing plan: sell biospheres to governments worldwide and build Biosphere 3 as a Las Vegas casino and resort. Can you imagine… gambling amongst the corpses of hummingbirds.

Anyway, Bass agreed, and the solution was to remove John Allen from control and appoint Bannon as acting CEO. But Bannon's takeover in April 1994 was nothing short of dramatic. In an audacious move, accompanied by U.S. marshals, Bannon entered Biosphere 2 and purged the entire management team just as the second team of biospherians moved in. It was a shit show. Ecologist, Abigail Alling and engineer, Mark Van Thillo, two passionate defenders of the project, were concerned about safety but were arrested after trying to break the system's safety valves and open the doors. What followed was a complex legal battle, with the jury eventually finding in favour of Alling and Van Thillo, awarding them $600,000.

The second team of biospherians tried to continue the mission, but it was cut short. In 1995, Bannon brokered a deal with Columbia University to manage Biosphere 2 and focus on using the giant terrarium for climate research instead of the original experiment. In 2003, the University of Arizona took over, and today Biosphere 2 continues its important mission as a climate research facility. Like a time machine, it allows scientists to simulate future climate scenarios and study their impact on various ecosystems. It’s bloody fantastic.

But we’re still gobsmacked that Steve Bannon was the guy who made all this happen.

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

Fired For Slow Travel: A Chat With Climate Scientist Gianluca Grimalda

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Very Scary Christmas: Fierce Folklore, Macabre Meals and Ghastly Gifts

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year. Festive feasting on sweet delicacies, children filled with wonder, awaiting Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve. Unless of course, you subscribe to some of the lesser-known Northern European traditions. Then Christmas is downright horrifying.

Hans Trapp for example. After being excommunicated from his local catholic church, Hans Trapp roamed the countryside disguised as a scarecrow, obsessed with the idea of tasting human flesh. He lured a young shepherd boy to his death, cooked him over a fire and just when he was about to eat him, God struck him down with lightning. He’s dead now, but legend has it that at Christmas time, Hans Trapp goes from door to door looking for tasty young children.

There’s also Krampus, a demonic half-goat Christmas monster who kidnaps children and either drowns them, eats them or drags them to hell. Okaaay. And we mustn’t forget Grýla, a giant ogre who lives in a cave and emerges at Christmas to hunt for children to cook into a stew. Nothing says Merry Christmas like child cannibalism apparently.

Speaking of eating, not every country is into Christmas cookies. Some cultures prefer more unique delicacies, like the Russian favourite, Holodets, AKA meat jelly. It’s not the most appealing looking (or sounding) thing. The Soviets could work a little harder on their branding and aesthetics. Or how about some Lutefisk? It’s made from aged fish and caustic lye. You basically turn the fish into poison, then add enough water so it’s edible. Oh, and it corrodes silver.

But if you want to go fancy this Christmas, how about you try Kiviyak, a classic recipe from Greenland. You take about 500 auks (you know those birds that look like a mini penguins). Then you stuff them, beaks, feathers and all, into the hollowed-out carcus of a seal. Cover it in grease, put it in a hole and cover it with rocks for three to 18 months while it ferments. Delicious.

Now for those more inclined toward festive pastries, you better hope there’s enough butter, unlike the great Norwegian butter crisis of Christmas in 2011. The Nordic brethren got a little crazy when butter shortages left them imagining Christmas without their buns and biscuits. There were supermarket stampedes, butter smuggling arrests, and desperate Norwegians paying up to 50 pounds per stick. Much like the great Hawaiian toilet paper shortage in 1971. By the time Christmas rolled around, Hawaii was a post-apocalyptic scene of people guarding their TP supplies with their lives

We all know Christmas is about giving, and what better gift than Hasbro javelin darts. These outdoor missile darts were fun for the whole family in the 1960s until the ER visits started ramping up. There were also a few deaths. Let’s just say these things could pierce skulls, and in one case, they definitely did.

Another super fun toy was the Wego kite tubes, a giant ring you tie to the back of a speedboat. Certainly not your average floatation device, Wego resulted in riders losing consciousness, breaking vertebra, rupturing eardrums and puncturing lungs. That product got recalled and quickly became illegal to use in the USA and Canada.

So, whatever you’re into at Christmas, maybe steer away from deadly toys, poisonous food and terrifying your children with tales of cannibalism. Also, let’s hope you get some new clothes for Christmas so you don't get eaten by an evil giant cat. It’s an Icelandic thing.

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Asbestos Coverup: "Let 'Em Work, Then They Can Rest In Peace"

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Dr Anthony Lanza had quite an impressive career. Amongst many things, he discovered the cause of the lung disease, silicosis, and founded the discipline of industrial hygiene, making workplace environments more safe for employees. He was also a beloved teacher and researcher at New York University in the final years of his career. What a guy. But when he died in 1964, Dr Lanza's far less laudatory secret career came to light and he had a lot of haters.

Over the last 2 episodes of our asbestos series, we’ve heard about the miracle of asbestos and the horrors of asbestos. But when did we learn how bad the stuff was?

In Ancient Roman times, Pliny the Elder recommended not to buy asbestos mine slaves because they died pretty young. (Good advice I guess ??). So maybe they knew a thing or two back then. But let’s fast forward to more modern times because that’s when the health risks associated with asbestos started emerging in the academic and medical literature.

The first asbestosis death that was officially linked to asbestos exposure was in 1924. A few other asbestos-related deaths were happening around that time too so in 1929, asbestos companies commissioned our friend Dr. Lanza to run an industrial hygiene survey of several of their asbestos plants and factories.

After conducting a bunch of physical examinations and X-rays, Dr Lanza found that asbestosis was rife in the workers. But instead of gently breaking the news to them that they would die a slow, horrible death, he decided it was better to not tell them anything and instead tell the executives. Hmmm. Maybe not so nice.

Later, Dr Kenneth Smith was working at one of the big asbestos companies, Johns-Manville, and a bunch of workers with early signs of asbestosis came to see him. What did he do? Well, he told the company executives to hide the results from the workers, for their own good of course. And because he really cared about the worker’s well-being, he suggested the executives purchase a shredding machine to destroy any ‘confidential’ correspondence. Dr Smith then became the medical director at Johns Manville. He was a keeper.

So, by 1943, big asbestos companies knew that asbestosis was definitely a thing. But how bad was it? They decided to commission Dr Lanza again, but this time to do an animal trial.

The study showed that 81.8% of the mice they experimented on developed lung tumours upon asbestos exposure.

However, that study was considered inconclusive (81.8%!) and much too problematic to take to the public. Better destroy the study altogether and say everything’s fine. Just smile and wave.

A bit further down the track, the asbestos industry was forced to put warning labels on bags and crates of asbestos. And they did. In the smallest font they possibly could. And when sending crates of asbestos overseas, they just removed the warning label altogether.

It wasn’t until 1964, some 40 years after the official recorded death, at Irving Selikoff’s international conference on the Biological Effects of Asbestos that the link between asbestos exposure and cancer was firmly established.

And in 1978,18 years later, a series of documents from the asbestos companies came to light. They were described by a bunch of lawyers as being like the Pentagon papers for the asbestos industry, revealing studies they had done, what they knew about the dangers and what they had done to cover it up.

No doubt the asbestos executives regretted not buying a shredder.

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

SOURCES:

Defending the Indefensible, by Jock McCulloch and Geoffrey Tweedale
New Data on Asbestos Indicate Cover-Up of Effects on Workers, by Bill Richards in The Washington Post
Shooting the Messenger: The Vilification of Irving J. Selikoff, by Jock McCulloch and Geoffrey Tweedale in International Journal of Health Services
The Real Asbestos Horror Story, Spider Johnson
The silence: the asbestos industry and early occupational cancer research--a case study, in Am J Public Health

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wittenoom: Australia's Asbestos Chernobyl Wiped Town Off The Map

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Australia is a wondrous country with endless sights to see. The Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House, Bondi Beach, the vast sunburnt deserts... and a tiny town in Western Australia where, if you breathe, your chances of dying a horrible death will be vastly increased.

Wittenoom, considered Australia's version of Chernobyl, is a site that no one should visit (and yet some still do). Back in the 1930s, before Wittenoom was even a town, a young man named Lang Hancock kicked off a mining boom after discovering a beautiful blue rock: premium-grade blue asbestos. At first, the asbestos mining was more like fossicking on the surface, but things really kicked off when CSR (a famous Australian sugar refining company!) bought the mine and decided to take things underground.

After World War II, the demand for asbestos grew due to the lack of imports so the Australian government decided to help CSR and make their mine go gangbusters. They even built them a town with a post office, hospital, police station, state school (and likely many pubs). They wanted everyone to go live in Wittenoom so they could mine the crap out of it.

The problem is, mining sucks. It’s one of the worst jobs ever. Crawling through small, dark tunnels, miners would be covered in cuts all over their bodies, dust filling up their lungs and eyeballs. The whole mine was one giant dust cloud. CSR tried to fix it with some Rotoclone dust-collecting units, but they lasted for a grand total of 64 operating hours because the asbestos dust corroded them.

The mining part was bad, but the next stage of the process was even worse. Once the rock had been extracted, it was sent to the mill to be smashed into tiny fragments. Then it had to be bagged, where workers would be covered head to toe in asbestos fibres. After the bagging, they had to do something with the leftover stuff, the asbestos tailings. What did they do with that? Oh, they just dumped it wherever they could, even in the kids’ sandpits. Sometimes the kids would chew on the asbestos tailings as a substitute for chewing gum. Hey, it corrodes metal fans, what harm could it do to kids?

Needless to say, Wittenoom was a shit place to live. The town was covered in dust all the time, so much so that the Royal Flying Doctors knew exactly where the town was from 100km away because of the giant blue plume of smoke.

Little did the people of Wittenoom know what was to unfold was worse yet. There are basically two diseases that asbestos causes and they go from bad to worse. The first is asbestosis, which is chronic scarring of the lungs. Death usually comes from something like heart failure because it’s so damn hard to breathe. For those who don’t die, their fate is to survive through decades of horrible pain. The other thing that can happen is mesothelioma, which is cancer in the lining of your organs. It is truly a horrible way to die and all it takes is one asbestos particle to do it.

Throughout the 1950s and 60s, more and more cases of asbestosis and mesothelioma began to emerge. In 1960, Dr. McNulty did a series of chest X-rays of the Wittenoom mine workers and one quarter of them were affected. Asbestos related diseases cause approximately 4,000 deaths every year in Australia, with one person dying every 12 hours from mesothelioma.

But nothing anyone did caused the mining to stop… it just wasn’t profitable anymore.

Eventually in 1966, they closed the mine (only because they could import asbestos for cheaper) and in 1978 the Western Australian government decided to phase out the town. It took decades for this to happen though, gradually closing down businesses, schools and pubs. Now it’s a wasteland but there was one faithful resident who refused to leave until finally she was evicted in 2022 by a team wearing full protective gear and face masks.

So, unless you want to risk dying a slow and painful death, maybe don’t go visit the largest contaminated site in the Southern Hemisphere.

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

From Toothpaste To Cigarettes: The Lesser Known Uses Of Asbestos

SOURCES:

Asbestos caused psychiatric injury, The Age
Chilling image shows group of miners competing in an asbestos shovelling contest...and all of them except one died from exposure to the deadly mineral, Daily Mail
Demolition of asbestos town Wittenoom starts, as government warns visitors to stay away, ABC
Last homes in asbestos-riddled Wittenoom to be demolished, but some want to stay, ABC
Memories of Wittenoom, a once-thriving but asbestos-riddled town that led to more than 1,000 deaths, ABC
More than 2,000 people from Wittenoom died of asbestos-related diseases. A powerful andcompelling requiem brings their story to the stage, The Conversation
Permanent Memorials, Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia
Sistemazione and death: the role of the Wittenoom asbestos mine in the lives and deaths of Italian transnational workers, by Angela DI Pasquale
That’s iron, he said, The Australian Women’s Weekly
The discovery of the association between blue asbestos and mesotheliomas and the aftermath, JC Wagner, British Journal of Industrial Medicine
WA Lands Minister John Carey stands by eviction of last Wittenoom resident Lorraine Thomas, ABC

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Toothpaste To Cigarettes: The Lesser Known Uses Of Asbestos

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Asbestos. Do you feel like coughing just thinking about it? Most of us shudder to hear the word - it’s a substance that has caused hundreds and thousands of horrible, painful deaths. And yet it’s one of the most goddamn amazing things on the planet.

We’ve all heard about the horrors of asbestos. But what about the miraculous side of it? Think about it - it’s a rock that you can make clothes out of, and banknotes for that matter. It’s wild. A weaveable, fire-resistant, rot-resistant rock. There’s literally nothing else like it on the planet. With all our advances in science and modern manufacturing techniques, we still haven’t been able to come up with something to match it.

The use of asbestos skyrocketed in the industrial era, but there are actually signs of this magical rock being used all the way back in 4000 BC. Some people even found asbestos fibres in stone age debris, dating back some 750,000 years ago (but that could be just coincidental - there were a lot of rocks being used back then amirite).

For ancient peoples, asbestos was so magical that it seemed to belong more to the realm of fairy tales than to real life. Some believed that it was derived from the wool of the mythical fire-resistant salamander or the feathers of the phoenix. Others confidently claimed that it was spun from the long, silky fur of rats that lived inside volcanoes. Okay, the stories are a bit far-fetched, but they were onto something. Asbestos is freaking magical.

In the Middle Ages, asbestos was considered the party trick of kings. Not only did it protect against medieval spells, but it helped with magic tricks too. King Charlemagne apparently had an asbestos tablecloth, and when his guests had finished eating, he would rip the tablecloth off and throw it in the fire. In the blaze, the cloth would turn fiery red, but not burn. He’d take it out and say (in medieval French), “Look, clean!” Now that’s a party trick. And apparently, it was so impressive that it even stopped a war from happening. Nobody messes with King Charlemagne and his magic tablecloth.

Now we all know the boring modern uses of asbestos such as building materials, roofing, fireplaces etc. Boring. We want to know the more creative uses for this magical rock. Well, how does asbestos toothpaste sound to you? Or an asbestos cigarette for that extra lung-scarring flavour. And if you’re working with asbestos and are worried about inhaling the fibres, not to worry - just pop on a face mask… made out of asbestos.

To really get the Christmas season going, perhaps these holidays, you could decorate your tree with fluffy asbestos artificial snow! (Don’t do this.) So much fun for the kids (for now).

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

Iroquois Theater Blaze: The Tragic Fire That Ignited The Evolution Of Exit Lights

SOURCES:

Asbestos, on How Products are Made
Asbestos: Geology, Mineralogy, Mining and Uses by Robert L Virta for the US Dept of theInterior

ASBESTOS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE, UNRV.com
Charlemagne's Asbestos Tablecloth Mystery AsbestosClaims.Law
History of Asbestos on asbestos.com
How to be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood 1941-1981 by William J Mann
The Legend of Oscar-Winning Producer-Showman Mike Todd by Michael Callahan
When Asbestos Was a Gift Fit for a King

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Baking To Hating: Tradwives and Terrorism with Dr Kristy Campion

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Imagine a slower pace of life: Growing your own vegetables, spending more time with the children, the smell of freshly baked sourdough wafting through your well-kept home, no pesky job or financials to worry about. That does sound lovely, doesn’t it? And then while your healthy kids are playing in their mud kitchen, you hop online to chat with your tradwife friends about how to ban immigration, ban abortion, and breed out the blacks. Wait, what?!

To be fair, it’s quite a leap to go from baking bread to white supremacy. But there seems to be a connection between these wholesome and traditional values and something far more sinister. For some women, the tradwife movement is as simple as being tired of the rat race and genuinely wanting to spend more time with the family and less time at work. But for the more suggestible traditionalist women out there, it is a pathway to the bigoted alt-right; to the white nationalists espousing racism, misogyny, and heterosexism, sometimes to the point of explicitly advocating violence and terrorism.

And because we can’t quite understand what the hell sourdough has to do with terrorism, we’ve invited special guest Dr Kristy Campion on the show to discuss the links between the tradwife movement and the alt-right.

Dr Campion is a Senior Lecturer and Discipline Lead of Terrorism Studies at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University. For the past two years, her research has focused heavily on right-wing extremism in Australia, and whilst investigating why there were so many women in a movement inherently dismissive of women’s rights, the tradwife connection became apparent.

We’re all for everyone making their own choices and living life the way they want to. If you want to stay at home with the kids and cook and clean and greet your husband at the door with a cocktail, go for it! If you want to oppose feminism, disagree with women voting, and think women don’t belong in the workforce, whatever floats your boat! (Even if we think that is a stupid boat to float). But it’s when these hate-filled world views fuel attempts to force other people into alignment via means of violence that things get a bit… Trumpy.

An intriguing aspect of extremism, similar to religion, is its attraction for individuals who crave certainty. For people who desire an existence devoid of doubt and ambiguity, with blame for all of life’s problems placed squarely on undeserving populations, the rabbit hole of extremism is all too easy to fall down.

Dr Campion chats to us about the unexpected rise in conspiratorial activity during COVID and an age predisposition towards the baby boomers due to their non-existent digital filter. She also imparts a bleak truth in that at some point, you aren’t responsible for a friend's or a loved one’s beliefs. But fear not! The answer lies in reinvigorating our appreciation of democracy; a rebrand for the 21st century so that democracy once again slaps! If the youth get reacquainted with the pros of democracy and the freedoms and order it affords, then the desire to leave the mainstream lessens and extremism becomes salty af.

SOURCES:

Defining Ecofascism: Historical Foundations and Contemporary Interpretations in the Extreme Right, In Terrorism and Political Violence, by Kristy Campion
Women in the Extreme and Radical Right: Forms of Participation and Their Implications, in Social Sciences, by Kristy Campion
Steve King's rape comments reveal the misogyny at the heart of white supremacist ideology, NBC News, by Mona Eltahawy
Alt-right women and the "white baby challenge" [Excerpted from "Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate: How the Alt-Right is Warping the American Imagination" by Alexandra Minna Stern (Beacon Press, 2019). Reprinted with permission by Beacon Press.]
Why Are Gen Z Girls Attracted to the Tradwife Lifestyle?, The Public Eye, Spring/Summer 2021 by Mariel Cooksey

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nellie Bly Feigned Insanity To Expose Abuse In A Madhouse

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 18:00:00 -0000

What are girls good for? Well, in the 1800s, the answer to that question was plain as day: birthing children and keeping house. In fact, in 1885, the Pittsburgh Dispatch published a column declaring that a woman who worked outside the home was "a monstrosity”!

This outrageously sexist column sparked a fiery response from one hell of a young woman. Born Elizabeth Cochran and known later and more famously as Nellie Bly, at age 21 wrote back a response under the pseudonym "Lonely Orphan Girl”. Something in Nellie’s passionate letter appealed to the newspaper editor, George Madden, who eventually offered her a full-time job writing on issues affecting working women.

Unfortunately, the factory owners got their knickers in a knot about her writing (likely calling out sexist behaviour) so she was reassigned to where women belong - fashion, society, gardening and the like. Screw that! In a time when women were treated atrociously, Nellie fought back. Unhappy with her assignment to the lifestyle section, she embarked on a mission that would change the course of journalism forever.

After a 6-month stint in Mexico reporting as a foreign correspondent during Porfirio Diaz’s tyrannical dictatorship (at age 21, mind you), Nellie decided it was time for the big smoke. Off to New York City she went, facing rejection after rejection from every newspaper (well, she was a woman) until finally she talked her way into the offices of Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, the New York World. It was here that she began her remarkable foray into the as-yet-unknown career of investigative journalism.

Her first mission: expose the appalling treatment of patients in the Blackwell Island Insane Asylum. A casual stroll around the exterior and interview with a staffer would simply not do for Nellie’s standards. She opted for undercover, which meant feigning insanity to get herself committed… and hopefully returning home. With careful consideration, and a promise from her editor to get her out, Nellie accepted the mission and took to practising her crazy eyes in the mirror, spooking herself out with ghost stories and brushing up on her acting skills.

But could she really convince doctors, police officers and judges that she was insane? Surely they would do thorough tests and discover inconsistencies that would expose her? Well, unsurprisingly, the doctors and courts were all too willing to send a woman to the loony bin back then. All she had to do was act a bit confused and not blink for a while and they were convinced. She was declared “positively demented”! Off she went with a one-way ticket to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island.

Now we can all imagine what Nellie was subjected to while under good and proper care in a mental asylum in the 1800s. Cold rotten food, a harsh scrubbing at bath time from a fellow legitimately insane inmate deputised by staff, dunked in freezing water in what sounded like waterboarding; good and proper care. The thing is, once Nellie was admitted to the asylum, she no longer kept up the insane act. In fact, according to her records (yes, her editor came good on the promise to get her out - phew!) plenty of the women in there seemed sane. Yet such non-insane behaviour was met with a suspicion of trickery from staff, only further confirming their judgements of these poor women, condemned to a life of inhumane treatment. What a catch-22!

After her exposé on Blackwell Island, New York City spent $50k 19th-century dollars on the management of institutions housing people with mental illness. Other trailblazing journalists (pejoratively called “stunt girl journalists”) followed in her footsteps, using undercover reporting to effect change and shed light on critical human rights issues.

Nellie Bly was an incredible woman! Oh, and she turned Around The World In Eighty Days into fact and set the world record for travelling around the world (72 days) and would later become a patented industrialist, novelist, national women’s hall of fame inductee, and posthumously inspired songs, musicals and movies.

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

Shit Yourself Healthy: Quack Doctor Prescribed The Squirts For Everything

SOURCES:

Ten days in a Mad-house, by Nellie Bly
Nellie’s Milestones
NEW-YORK CITY ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE (WOMAN) BLACKWELL'S ISLAND

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Radithor: The Jaw-Dissolving Radioactive Energy Drink of the Roaring 20s

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Ebenezer “Eben” McBurney Byers was the personification of the Roaring Twenties: Chairman of his own company, private box at the baseball, golf pro, ladies' man - total Great Gatsby vibes.

Unfortunately, Eben had a fall one day leaving him with an injury that dented his athletic prowess. Conventional treatment failed and so his physiotherapist, Dr. Charles Moyar, suggested he try RadiThor, an energy drink advertised as “Pure Sunshine in a Bottle” and accompanied, as quackery always is, by the usual panacea claim.

Eben loved it. He was back in fine form and for the next two years, he drank two or three bottles of RadiThor every day.

But what was in this miracle drink? Well, not a lot. Just some triple distilled water and at least 1 microcurie each of radium-226 and radium-228. That means radioactive water for those non-nuclear savvy folks. So let’s look at the research showing the safety and efficacy of radium water… *crickets*.

From 1918 to 1928, RadiThor was manufactured by the Bailey Radium Laboratories, owned by William Bailey, a con man known for peddling various miracle cures like Las-I-Co, which promised “Superb Manhood” for those identifying as a “man in name only”.

Naturally, Bailey added “aphrodisiac” to the long list of RadiThor’s promised effects, claiming it improved blood supply to the pelvic organs and had tonic effects on the nervous system resulting in vast improvements downstairs. This claim was perfectly timed given the early 20th-century hysteria surrounding the amazing benefits of “Mild Radium Therapy”, and some ground-breaking radioactive research claiming that mild radium exposure increased passion amongst water newts.

Knowing what we know now, how did Eben fair after voraciously imbibing RadiThor? Not well. Not well at all.

It started with headaches and jaw pain, and rapidly progressed to widespread toothaches. X-rays showed that Eben’s body was slowly decomposing from the bones out as a result of his massive radium toxification. Decomposition was most severe in his lower skull, after two salvage facial operations, he was left completely without a jaw (!) and missing all but 6 teeth (there’s a picture in the video on YouTube… not for the faint-hearted).

In April 1932, Eben Byers died of radium poisoning and was buried in a lead coffin.

Unsurprisingly, a cry went out to investigate RadiThor and other radium concoctions, and the swift collapse of all the radioactive patent medicines quickly followed.

But somehow, radium water manufacturer William Bailey never stopped insisting RadiThor was safe. In fact, he drank more than Eben did and was “as fit as a fiddle.” He suffered no legal consequences for selling the stuff and died a very wealthy man.

Fun epilogue, 20 years after Bailey died (of bladder cancer), medical researchers exhumed him and discovered that his skeleton was absolutely ravaged by radiation. How he managed to avoid radiation poisoning whilst alive remains a mystery.

Perhaps in formulating his energy drink, he shouldn’t have taken the word “energy” quite so literally.

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard and The Origin of Performance Enhancing Drugs!

SOURCES:

Energy Drinks: An Assessment of Their Market Size, Consumer Demographics, Ingredient Profile, Functionality, and Regulations in the United States 29 Apr 2010 by M.A. Heckman, K. Sherry, E. Gonzalez De Mejia

The Quack Medicine RadiThor 27 Jun, 2022 by Rupert Taylor

TIME magazine - Medicine: Radium Drinks 11 Apr, 1932

When ‘energy’ drinks actually contained radioactive energy 3 Nov 2016 by Timothy J. Jorgensen

Radium Cures, Museum of Quackery

William J.A.Bailey & RadiThor, Wikipedia

NEWSLETTER NO. 20 - Medical Collectors Association The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off ... Cancer Researcher Unearths A Bizarre Tale of Medicine And Roaring '20s Society Nov 1991 by Ron Winslow

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Is Sex With A Robot Cheating? What The Research Shows

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 18:00:00 -0000

The notion of a humanoid machine was developed way back in the early 20th century. We’ve come a long way since then, integrating robots into every crevice of our lives. And we mean, every crevice.

We’ve got robot vacuum cleaners, retail robots, manufacturing robots and military robots. But what about the sexy robots? The masturbots? The love machines? Well, we were asked a stimulating question by a listener about this particular breed of bots: Is sex with a robot cheating? As it turns out, there is peer-reviewed research on the topic and where ethics, research and sexy robots meet, you’ll always find The Wholesome Show.

Now there are a few robots out there designed for giving (and receiving) sexual pleasure. The RealDollx from Abyss comes with realistic breastplates and a functioning vagina. But if you’re really in need of some loving, the Harmony line of sexbots boasts a mind-blowing X-Mode for your wildest sexual desires. These robots incorporate technology like numerous sensors, feedback, animated facial expressions, and even vaginal “arousal” detection that reacts to touch and escalates the intimacy until climax.

Enthusiasts of such delightful devices are known as iDollators, Synthetiks, or robosexuals, and sometimes see their dolls as life partners rather than mere sex toys. Like Brick Dollbanger (perhaps not his real name) who, becoming disillusioned with the dating scene, formed a collection of 4 robots to keep him company. Or a French woman named Lilly, who 3D-printed her own inMoovator robot and sleeps with it every night. And we can’t forget Davecat who has “married” his computerised companion and even has a mechanised mistress too!

So if these people have genuine intimate relationships with their robots, would it constitute cheating if they also had a human spouse? While some might consider sex with robots merely elaborate masturbation, others vehemently disagree with some believing thoughts and dreams of another human (or humanoid) constitute infidelity.

In one survey, 42% of people viewed a spouse turning to a robot for stimulation during marriage as cheating, while 31% disagreed, and 26% were unsure. Younger respondents were more open to the idea (kids these days!). Part of the conundrum, however, is that we struggle to classify what sex with a robot actually is and therefore, whether or not it is cheating.

For those who think not, what if your partner brought home a sex robot that was customised to look like their ex-partner? And for those who think it is cheating, would you classify the use of dildos or fleshlights as cheating? Yet another spectrum for us to navigate in this rich tapestry of life.

Ultimately, it comes down to your personal definition of infidelity within your relationship. Talk to your partner (your human one) and get clear on each others’ thoughts before dabbling with a digital dong, mounting the mechanised manhood, or tickling the techno taco. And hey, if you’re gonna go for it, why not push the envelope with the mind-blowing X-mode?

SOURCES:

Emotional Intimacy and the Idea of Cheating on Committed Human–Human Relationships with a Robot, by Julie Carpenter
Harmony sex robots with 'mind-blowing' new X-MODE to finally hit the market THIS MONTH
Married to a Doll: Why One Man Advocates Synthetic Love, by Julie Beck
RealDoll's first sex robot took me to the uncanny valley, by Christopher Trout

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fired For Slow Travel: A Chat With Climate Scientist Gianluca Grimalda

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Picture this: you're on a cargo ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by a vast expanse of water when suddenly, you feel a sharp pain. No, it's not a metaphorical pang of regret for opting for the slow boat rather than the quick and painless intercontinental flight; it's an actual mite bite. Welcome to the wild world of Gianluca Grimalda, a climate scientist with a penchant for slow travel and an unwavering commitment to the environment… machete-wielding gangsters, bed bugs, job loss and all.

While some of us fret about recycling and turning off lights, for Gianluca, hopping on a plane is morally unacceptable as it accounts for 90% of his carbon footprint. Planes emit a whopping 2.5% of total CO2 emissions and are responsible for 4% of effective radiative forcing - a closer measure of the impact of global warming. And with literally 6 million people taking flights every single day (not to mention the thousands of empty planes airlines fly across our skies to keep their flight paths safe), those figures aren’t going to land any time soon.

So what’s the solution for a dedicated German-based scientist whose fieldwork is located on the other side of the world Bougainville, Papua New Guinea? Slow travel, of course! Gianluca has had an impeccable 13-year record of conscientious objection to flying, opting for slower, more sustainable methods of travel.

We’re joined by Gianluca himself today to hear about his epic journey from Papua New Guinea back home to Germany, avoiding planes and choosing ferries, cargo ships, trains, and coaches as his mode of travel. All while attempting to avoid pirates, war-torn countries, visa debacles and with this ultimatum from his boss… fly back now or lose your job.

Gianluca's primary mission in Papua New Guinea is to study how people adapt (or don’t) to climate change. Coastal communities there have already relocated inland due to sea-level rise and drought-induced famines. Climate change isn't just a concept in the distant future, it's affecting them now. And rather unfairly we might add, as they tread remarkably lightly on their patch of the planet.

So he made a promise to the people of Bougainville. Gianluca would reduce his carbon footprint as much as possible. Even if it meant losing his job (which he did). What a freaking legend.

You might say that the best way to reduce carbon emissions would be to not travel at all. Why not take that to the extreme and kill yourself? That would sort out your emissions nicely. But considering the incredible work Gianluca is doing in these remote communities to raise awareness of what’s really happening to our planet, the reason WHY they have no crops and WHY their coastal communities have had to relocate inland… Gianluca concludes the benefit far outweighs the cost.

“The more mad option, than losing my job over a single plane flight, is to return to business as usual as if earth’s resources are unbounded.” GIanluca’s commitment to his conservationist morals is nothing short of amazing. Leading by example, he hopes people who come across his amazing story will question both their need for air travel and their broader everyday decisions amidst a climate crisis actively impacting people right now.

SOURCES:

Climate change and flying: what share of global CO2 emissions come from aviation? Our World in Data
Climate expert ‘sacked’ after refusing flight to Germany over carbon emissions, The Guardian
How Many Flights Per Day Take Off and Land, Trip.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Walter: America’s Dollar-Store Sherlock Holmes

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 18:00:00 -0000

The 1980s had some memorable fads and crazes—hair metal bands, neon leotards, the Walkman… and criminal profiling!

By the mid-1980s, profilers were regularly consulting with the FBI to solve challenging cases and the job was attracting big personalities. Soon after, criminal profiling became a pop-culture sensation, thanks in large part to the 1991 blockbuster, The Silence of the Lambs.

One big name, and even bigger ego, in the criminal profiling world, was Richard Walter. Walter had an impressive resume, claiming to have reviewed thousands of murder cases, written criminology papers, lectured at universities, and served as an expert witness on hundreds of trials. Having worked as a staff psychologist at a prison in his earlier years, Walter had a profound understanding of the criminal mind. And he loved telling everyone about it.

In 1982, Walter served as an expert witness on a trial that convicted Robie Drake of second-degree murder and sentenced him to more than 40 years in prison. Walter was able to convince the jury that an accidental shooting followed by panicked stabbing and body hiding was all based on a sexually perverse rampage by Drake in the name of piquerism (the sexual interest in penetrating the skin with sharp objects). What was the end of Drake’s freedom became the beginning of Walter's new career as a criminal profiler. Walter loved nothing more than cheeseburgers, cigarettes, reducing all motives down to sexual perversion, and being the centre of attention.

Toward the end of 1989, Walter befriended Frank Bender, a forensic sculptor, and Bill Fleischer, an ex-FBI agent with a penchant for murder. The three of them hit it off and formed The Vidocq Society, named after Eugène-François Vidocq, a 19th-century French criminal turned detective who is considered the father of modern criminology.

Before long, The Vidocq Society was helping the FBI and county police solve cold cases left, right and centre and they were a hit with the media too. There was even a book written about the club, leveraging heavily off Walter’s impressive resume.

One case in the book which Walter claimed credit for solving was the famous Australian murder case of former beauty queen, Anita Cobby. But when lead investigator, Ian Kennedy, was questioned about Walter’s involvement in the case, he had never heard of him.

The same goes for the case of Paul Bernard Allain. Walter very quickly concluded that Allain’s boss had murdered him in a homosexual affair gone wrong. However, even cursory fact-checking revealed Allain didn’t appear in any legal documents or publicly recorded databases. Walter’s rebuttal: “Oh, I work on many super secret, high-profile cases that you can’t find anything out about”.

Also for the record, Walter seemed to have a bit of a preoccupation with linking murders to sex crimes or homosexuality. Homosexual panic was his default motive.

Now, back to Robie Drake. While serving his time in jail, Drake started doing his own profiling on Walter and asked for his case to be reviewed citing numerous lies from Walter about his own expertise. The courts eventually reviewed the case only to find further evidence against Drake (remember, Drake was definitely guilty) and extended his sentence to a further 10 years in prison BUT it was discovered that Walter had perjured himself.

This triggered several other cases reliant on Walter’s expert testimony to be revisited. And as of this year, at least three murder convictions have been overturned.

So how much of Walter’s resume was slightly padded versus a bold-faced lie? Why did he avoid detection and/or punishment? How many wrongful convictions and overly severe sentences remain out there? And tell me, listener, have the lambs stopped screaming?

SOURCES:

The Case of the Fake Sherlock - Richard Walter was hailed as a genius criminal profiler. How did he get away with his fraud for so long? 11 April 2023
The Vidocq Society: Murder on the menu Telegraph UK 21 November 2008
Drake a free man after 32 years | Local News | lockportjournal.com By Amy Wallace 6 Nov, 2014

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shit Yourself Healthy: Quack Doctor Prescribed The Squirts For Everything

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 18:00:00 -0000

What do people who have a dull singing voice, contract syphilis, and die suddenly have in common?

Well, according to a book (with the longest title EVER) published in the 18th century by James Morison, the answer was quite simple. Not enough poo.

Born in Aberdeenshire in 1770, James Morison was a bit blocked up. Well, more than a bit. For 35 years, he lived in inexpressible suffering. Having tried every course of treatment known to the medical establishment at the time and still no relief, Morrison’s agony forced him to take matters into his own hands.

Using a secret mix of herbs and spices, including aloe, a Mexican climbing plant, cream of tartar and myrrh, Morrison took to medicating himself in the form of little pills. Turns out they had quite the laxative effect and soon enough, he was feeling like a new man! Nice and empty.

Morison kept his cure a secret for a while, sharing his squirty poo pills with some friends now and then. But within a few years, he decided that everyone, young and old, ailment or none, needed to take his medicine. He boasted that the squirts would cure everything. And we mean everything.

So in 1825, he went to market selling his Vegetable Universal Medicine. Pills to purge yourself healthy! With claims to cure anything and everything from teething to whooping cough and sudden death, Morison started a crap-yourself-to-health campaign that went far and wide. The universal medicine was sold everywhere. You couldn't go into any apothecary, pharmacy, or even a library in England and not see Morrison's poo pills.

Not only did Morison claim that his pills would cure absolutely anything, he stressed that people shouldn’t stop taking them when they felt worse, but rather, increase their doses! The more shit the better. And you should take the medicine even if you don’t suffer from any ailment. Give yourself diarrhoea just in case.

Spoiler alert, this guy was a quack. Just in case you didn’t pick that up.

But despite Morison's belief that you could take 40 of the pills without any ill effects, you guessed it, there were some unfortunate deaths. See, Morison sold the pills to agents who pretended to be doctors who then sold them to everyday people. One ‘agent’ named Robert Salmon was convicted of manslaughter for administering over a thousand pills over the course of 20 days to a man named John Mackenzie... for knee pain. He had taken 72 pills the day before he died a presumably excruciating death.

With another 12 deaths investigated a year later, the medical establishment, whom Morison thought were a bunch of idiots, fought back fiercely. But although Thomas Wakley, editor of The Lancet, spearheaded a campaign to discredit Morison's pills and theories and warn the public about the dangers of Morison's "cure-all" remedy, The Universal Medicine pills still remained popular until the 1920s.

Did Morison ever pay for his outlandish and irresponsible claims?

And hey, we all love a good purge. But perhaps in the case of turds, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing.

SOURCES:

Morisoniana, by James Morison
Graphic battles in pharmacy, Wellcome Collection
James Morrison: The Doctor Who Made His Patients Poop Themselves To Death, by James Felton
Meet James Morison, The 19th-Century Quack Doctor Who Tried To Cure Everything With Laxatives, by Marc Hartzman
The pills that cured all ills; James Morison the Hygeist (1770-1840), Kensal Green Cemetery by David Bingham

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Accidental Incest: The Lesser Known Consequence Of Prolific Sperm Donation

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 18:00:00 -0000

A lesson every kid needs to learn is how to share. Little ones usually want everything for themselves, but as we grow and mature, we learn that sharing is caring. But there are some who have perhaps taken sharing too far.

Sperm donation. It’s a massive industry, helping hundreds of thousands of families enter into the joy of parenthood. Whether it's for altruistic reasons, the inherent desire to spread their wild oats, or just to earn some quick cash (2 minutes is all it takes), many men choose to donate.

But for whatever reason, some men seem to like living that donor lifestyle a little too much, popping off as much as they can to germinate their genes far and wide. However, the consequences of rampant sperm donation can lead to unexpected and troubling encounters, especially when donors father multiple children who may unknowingly swipe right on their sibling. This happened to the offspring of a Dutch donor known as “Louis”, who was suspected of having 200 offspring, some of whom encountered each other on Tinder.

Imagine this scenario: British twins separated at birth, adopted into different families, and then, unbeknownst to them, they got married. To each other. It might sound like the plot of a daytime soap opera, but it actually happened.

Of course, there are rules around how much sperm one man can donate. But the rules vary from country to country and they’re not very well enforced. And for the eager beavers out there, there are ways around regulations that might impede the narcissistic spread of their seed.

For one thing, they could become a fertility specialist like Dr. Jan Karbaat, who swapped out the juice cups and fathered at least 68 children, violating Dutch rules.

There are also private donation clinics that not only pay a little more but just take your word for it that you’re not donating anywhere else.

But the mega sperm donor award goes to Jonathan Meijer, who didn’t seem to care for regulations and is believed to have fathered hundreds of children through sperm donation. His actions came to light when the Dutch Donor Child Foundation filed a lawsuit against him for increasing the risk of accidental incest.

After being blacklisted from donating in the Netherlands (he lightened his load in 11 clinics), Meijer took on a nomadic donor life, donating sperm in multiple countries and privately over the internet, often using assumed or fake names to bypass restrictions. He has confirmed children in Australia, Italy, Serbia, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland, Romania, Denmark, Sweden, Mexico, and the USA.

Meijer saw his donations as acts of love. He was, after all, a blonde musical Viking.

So what’s stopping more of these mini Meijers from hooking up with each other?

And would you buy a cup of juice from a random person at a train station?

SOURCES:

Sperm Donor Who Fathered About 550 Children Faces Lawsuit for Increasing Risk of Accidental Incest | Complex by JOSE MARTINEZ Mar 31, 2023

Jonathan Meijer, father of up to 600 children, banned from donating sperm by Dutch court - ABC News

The Case of the Serial Sperm Donor - The New York Times By Jacqueline Mroz Feb 1, 2021
Unknowing twins married, lawmaker says - CNN.com

I fathered 800 children, claims sperm donor - BBC News By Natalie Morton & Sarah Bell 13 January 2016
Did a pair of twins really get married by mistake? | Family | The Guardian By Jon Henley Jan 15 2008

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Collapse And Concealment of the "Unbreakable" Banqiao Dam

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 18:00:00 -0000

By the second half of the 20th century, humans were captivated by the idea of taming nature, making their mark on the world with colossal concrete structures. They’d gone absolutely - sorry about this - dam mad.

From democrats to dictators, the latest craze for politicians around the globe was to build dams. And for good reason! Dams are used to produce hydroelectricity, provide irrigation, protect against floods and give more work for more citizens. What could be bad about a dam?

Well, many many things.

Yes, dams are great. But they’re also vast potential weapons of mass destruction - and they’re sitting right above our cities all around the world.

Chairman Mao, the leader of the Chinese Community Party, was one who hopped on the dam bandwagon. He decided to focus his dam efforts on the Huai River, which was particularly subject to flooding, and build the Banqiao Dam. But from word go, there were some problems.

The vice premier at the time said that worrying about flooding was counter-revolutionary and reactionary. Flood protection was for wusses. Instead, they wanted to focus efforts on harnessing the POWER of the water for irrigation and hydroelectricity.

During the construction of the dam, one brave hydrologist named Chen Xing dared to speak up about the fact that the dam didn’t have enough sluice gates installed. Kinda a problem in the event of a flood. But he was labelled a right-wing opportunist and fired. Or sent to a labour camp for reeducation. The waters are murky on that detail.

Around the same time, the Chinese government was also chopping down forests all over the place to make way for steel manufacturing. And as we know, deforestation equals changes in weather patterns and more extreme flooding. Sigh.

But despite the warning signs, the dam was built in the early 1950s. It was declared to be an iron dam that could not be broken. Strong enough to withstand a one in 1000 year flood event (a storm that would unleash about 0.5 meters of rain over 3 days).

And then, in August 1975, along came Typhoon Nina, creating a monstrous weather pattern that dumped three times as much water as that dreaded 1000-year event.

In a few days, Banqiao dam was at capacity. So they opened up the sluice gates. Oh damn, they were too cheap and didn’t listen to Chen Xing so there weren’t enough of them. The water kept rising. Next idea - sandbags?

Despite the army’s efforts to control the water (yes, they tried sandbags on top of the dam wall), the dam was soon pulverised by hundreds of billions of litres of water. Disaster struck. An inland tsunami 10 metres high and 11 kilometres wide travelled down into the valley at 50 km/h, wiping out the 9,600 citizens in the town of Daowencheng.

Everything and everyone in its way was destroyed. Famine, infections and epidemics followed in the horrendous aftermath. It’s estimated that the Banqiao dam collapse killed up to 250,000 people.

But here’s the thing - this all happened during a time when the Communist Party of China had a lot of control over the media... And they didn’t want anyone to know about their dodgy dam.

So how long before the world knew the truth about what really happened that day?

Surely nobody would deliberately collapse a dam. Would they?

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

The Potato Blight (There Is No Such Thing As A Natural Disaster)

SOURCES:

230,000 Died In A Dam Collapse That China Kept Secret For Years in Ozy
Reflections on Banqiao by Fiona Macleod
The Catastrophic Dam Failures in China in August 1975 by Thayer Watkins
The Fatal Engineering Flaws Behind the Deadliest Dam Failure in History in Popular Mechanics
The Largest Act of Environmental Warfare in History by Steven I Dutch
Typhoon Nina–Banqiao dam failure, in Britannica

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Behind The Ig Nobel Prizes With Founder Marc Abrahams

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Every once in a while, somebody does something in the name of science that turns out to be really useful. Their research changes the world, a eureka moment catapults them onto the world stage for making scientific history. They might even be awarded a Nobel prize.

But what about the science we don’t hear about?

We don’t often witness the shock, the surprise, and, most importantly, the humour behind the scenes in moments of discovery. The things people set out to do that really matter to them and turn out to be hilarious.

Like personally building and testing a suit of armour that would protect you from grizzly bears.

Or analysing the forces required to drag sheep across various surfaces, and discovering that it's easier to drag a sheep downhill.

Or one of our personal faves - a bomb that, if deployed, would make enemy soldiers become irresistibly sexually attracted to each other.

Now that’s the kind of science we love to talk about. And that’s exactly why the Ig Nobel prize exists. This prize is not about making the best or most impactful discovery. The Ig Nobel Prize is awarded to someone who has done something that makes people laugh and then think.

It’s bringing the jokes back into science!

In this episode, we’re joined by the man himself, the founder of the Ig Nobel Prize, Marc Abrahams, to talk about where the idea for the prizes came from and some of the funny things people have done in their pursuit of science.

To be clear, none of the Ig Nobel Prize winners set out to win an Ig Nobel Prize. They were all legitimately trying to discover something that they believed was important. They just didn’t know whether it would be utterly worthless or so incredible that it would change the world. The point is, it’s science.

Like the Psychology Prize that was awarded to German scientist, Fritz Strack, for discovering that holding a pen in your mouth makes you happier… and then disproving himself and realising that it actually doesn't. Lol.

And the Medical Education Prize that went to Japanese doctor, Akira Horiuchi, for his lessons learned from self-colonoscopy in the sitting position. Rest assured, if you're on a desert island and you do need to do a colonoscopy by yourself, it can be done!

One thing that’s really cool about the Ig Nobel prizes is that if an entry doesn’t fit into an existing category, they just invent a new one.

It’s wonderful to think about curiosity and play coming back into the centre of the scientific process and that every day people are being recognised for their wacky and wonderful discoveries.

Did we mention that the reward for the 2023 Ig Nobel Prize winners was a ten trillion dollar bill?

MORE FROM IMPROBABLE RESEARCH:

Website: https://improbable.com/
2023 Ig Nobel Ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9UQi0ORXv4

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

The Heroes and Idiots of Scientific Self-Experimentation! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ-e0Ld-p0w
The Life and Times of Alfred Nobel https://omny.fm/shows/the-wholesome-show/the-life-and-times-of-alfred-nobel
Smart Toilets, Brain Pics, Corpse Comfort, Nuclear Moon, Space Fashion, and Super Conductivity https://youtu.be/WJhxFtrO9Mo?si=c7HCXK4I0wVSxqU7&t=580

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Snap, Crackle, Peep! Cereal box cartoons are watching your kids

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Cereal, the food of the gods. Who can resist the crunchy, sugary deliciousness in a box? Kids (admit it - adults too) would eat it for every meal if they had the chance.

But have you ever wondered why you choose the cereal that you do? Did one in particular catch your eye?

See, there’s a heck of a lot of money that goes into marketing, especially products made for kids, and especially cereal. Fruit Loops, Coco Pops, Frosties - what do they all have in common? Those happy spokes characters on the box suggest to us how delicious the cereal is with their inviting facial expressions! It’s almost like they’re gazing right into your eyes telling you to pick them up and put them in your trolley.

Now one group of people who understand the importance of eye contact are marketers. And there’s a very specific reason why cereal companies place their sugary breakfast food (if we can call it food) on the lower shelves: prime real estate for kids with hungry eyes.

A 2015 study led by Professor of Marketing, Brian Wansink, aimed to take an even closer look at ways in which cereal companies could persuade children to beg their parents for their products. The study was aptly named “Eyes in the aisles: Why is Cap’n Crunch looking down at my child?” It’s a great name, we’ll give them that.

They already knew about the warm and fuzzy feelings spokes characters ignited in kids. What they wanted to know was, what precise angle did they need to draw their eyeballs to create direct manipulative eye contact with children in the grocery store?

You’d think marketing to kids would just be a matter of whacking a bunch of colour on a box and stamping it with a happy cartoon character. But no. Apparently it comes down to trigonometry.

The study was a bit outrageous really. A stupidly complicated three-step process to determine the exact eye contact angle, followed by a very loose interpretation of data and some fairly unsubstantiated claims.

Like, there are actual problems in the world. And then there's this. But hey, they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day (you know who actually invented that saying? Dr. John Harvey Kellogg! Father of breakfast cereals! How’s that for an undeclared bias!?).

So, do cereal sales actually increase if a spokes character locks eyes with a child in the cereal aisle?

Or does the creepy eye contact make you feel watched, observed, judged and subsequently want to make a healthier choice? Perhaps carob-flavoured steel-cut oats instead.

Also, what does a cereal box have in common with a Hindu god?

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

Food Hacks or P Hacks: The Dodgy Insights of Brian Wansink

SOURCES:

Musicus, A., Tal, A., & Wansink, B. (2015). Eyes in the aisles: Why is Cap’n Crunch looking down at my child? Environment and Behavior, 47(7), 715–733. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916514528793
Cap'n Crunch is staring at your kid for a reason https://www.cnet.com/science/capn-crunch-is-staring-at-your-kid-for-a-reason/
https://www.science.org/content/article/meet-data-thugs-out-expose-shoddy-and-questionable-research

IMAGE CREDITS:

Toucan Sam: By Kellogg’s - Original publication: Froot Loops Marketing. Source: https://www.frootloops.com/en_US/meet-toucan-sam.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69321050
Coco Pop Monkey: By Kellogg’s. Fair Use. Source: https://www.kelloggs.com/en-za/products/coco-pops.html
Tony The Tiger: By Kellogg’s, Daryl Graham - [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57229360
Snap, Crackle and Pop: By Kellogg’s. Fair Use. Source: https://www.creativereview.co.uk/snap-crackle-pop/
Cereal Box Wallpaper in Thumbnail: Armando Olivo Martín del Campo, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Dying For It: A Scientific Look At Death During Sex

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 18:00:00 -0000

While some people shuffle off this mortal coil in rather ordinary ways, there are those adventurous souls who seem hell-bent on making the grim reaper scratch his head in confusion. Like drowning in a pool of beer, throwing dynamite out the window of a moving vehicle (but forgetting to roll the window down), tripping on your world record breaking beard, and death during sex. Yes, that’s right. As much as we all like getting it on, there are some people throughout history who literally went out with a bang.

Like Pope John XII for example. He had his work cut out for him. Not only was he just 17 when he landed the gig as the supreme boss of the Catholic Church, but he also liked the ladies. A lot.

Call him sensual, adulterous or depraved, but this guy knew how to have a good time right up until the moment of his death. Either he died of a stroke, was beaten to death with a hammer or was thrown out the window by the husband of the woman he was having… a good time with. What else would the richest and most powerful man-child of Rome be doing?

Apparently, death in the saddle isn’t all that uncommon.

Former Australian Prime Minister Billy Snedden succumbed to his fate during an adrenalin-filled evening with his son’s ex-girlfriend. There’s also 79-year-old Nelson Rockefeller, former US Vice President, who stayed back to work on a “project” with his 25-year-old research assistant. What a shame… He thought he was coming, but he was actually going.

In 1974, Paris’ most respected senior churchman and the author of fourteen books on sexual morality, Cardinal Jean Danielou, also carked it on the stairs of a brothel. But of course, he was just on his way to offer “comfort” to a nice young lady in an official capacity only.

There was also Felix Fauré, the President of France at the end of the 19th century who slipped away for some special time with his mistress. Let’s just say it didn’t end well… for either party. He died mid-act of a cerebral haemorrhage and she was left with nothing but trauma-induced lockjaw, requiring surgical removal of Felix’s lil’ friend from her mouth.

Does this kind of thing just happen to old dudes who can’t handle the heat? Or are there other explanations for why some lovers seem to ride all the way to the pearly gates?

Well, turns out you’re more likely to die from the deed if it’s an unfaithful one. Also doing dumb stuff like sex on balconies or in a car filling up with carbon dioxide.

So how common is it for people to die while doing it? Would it be less deadly if we did it more? And wait, Viagra is implicated?!

Word of caution to all those young (and old) lovers out there: Don't get naked near lions, steer clear of homemade electrical pleasure aids, and maybe don’t do it on a billiard table.

SOURCES:

5 people who died during sex and 100 other terribly tasteless lists by Karl Shaw
Association of Episodic Physical and Sexual Activity With Triggering of Acute Cardiac Events in JAMA by Issa J Dahabreh and Jessica K Paulus
Lots of People Die Every Year During or After Having Sex. A Pathologist Explains Why on ScienceAlert
Sexual and Cardiovascular Correlates of Male Unfaithfulness in The Journal of Sexual Medicine by Alessandra Fisher et al
Thunderclap headache with Orgasm: A case of Basilar Artery Dissection in Clinical Communications by Elizabeth Delasobera

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Medical Cannibalism: Biting Into The History Of Corpse Medicine

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 18:00:00 -0000

One question that pervaded the minds of early European physicians was not whether we should eat human flesh, but rather which part and how much. While cannibalism might conjure up images of wild savages, it turns out medical cannibalism was all the rage back in the day... and continues to be (say what?!).

The “healthy” consumption of humans goes a long way back, like in the 11th century when people started eating bits of Egyptian mummies. Nothing like a bit of powdered mummy to upgrade your muesli. They were a sought-after medicinal ingredient, rising from the dead to cure the living. By the 17th century, mummies were seen as a panacea - an entire apothecary cabinet wrapped in dry brown flesh. Delicious!

The problem was there weren’t enough mummies to go around.

So of course, the cunning European entrepreneurs decided to mummify executed criminals, slaves and poor people to create more magical healing goo. Think of it like a quick pickle you might do at home versus the proper jar you might buy at the store. Jamie’s 15-minute mummy.

They even had special recipes. Apparently, it’s as simple as salting a corpse, cooking it in your corpse-compatible oven and grinding it into a powder.

German physician, Johann Schroeder had a very precise recipe. The main ingredient was a “24-year-old unspotted redhead who had been executed and died a violent death”. After cutting the flesh, a lovely sprinkle of myrrh and aloe and soaking in spirits to keep the smell away.

But medical cannibalism wasn’t just about consuming mummies. 15th-century Italian scholar, priest and philosopher, Marsilio Ficino, taught that elderly people hoping to regain the spring in their step should “suck the blood of a clean and happy adolescent”. And when fresh blood was hard to come by, a Franciscan apothecary even had a lovely blood marmalade recipe from 1679.

Human fat was also a go-to healing ingredient. The executioner would deliver it by the pound to the apothecary, known to jubilantly cry out, “More cushion for the potion!” Okay, we made that tagline up, but who could resist such a morbid pun?

Bones, what with all their desiccated denseness, were surely not a target for this cannibalistic quackery… WRONG! The human skull was wildly popular. 17th-century English physician, John French, offered at least two recipes for distilling skulls into spirits capable of curing stomach troubles, epilepsy and getting rid of the passion of the heart. Obviously.

There was also coffin water to cure warts, and yes, even dried poo applied to the eyes via a powder was said to heal cataracts. Those crazy Euros had really tapped into the magical power of gross things.

So when did all this madness end? You might be surprised to hear that it continues TO THIS VERY DAY!

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

SOURCES:

The Gruesome History of Eating Corpses as Medicine, Maria Dolan, May 6, 2012
The gory history of Europe’s mummy-eating fad, Erin Blakemore May 2, 2023
A Brief History of Medical Cannibalism: Curing what ails us with mummy, blood jam, and human fat, Bess Lovejoy November 7, 2016
European ‘Corpse Medicine’ Promised Better Health Through Cannibalism, Natalie Zarrelli, October 31, 2017

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From Jazz to Beheadings: Landis' 1920s Psych Experiment

A Little Bit Of Science — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 23:32:36 -0000

Ahhh 1920s psychology… back when you could do anything in the name of science. Like traumatising a baby or making people believe they'd killed someone. The good old days.

Picture this: It's 1924, and Carney Landis, a psych graduate student at Minnesota University, has an ambitious idea. He wanted to determine if humans had universal facial expressions for various emotions.

Now in order to do this, he needed to recruit his fellow graduates, who were more than willing to be subjected to Landis’ various experiments. At first, it started out quite tame. A bit of jazz music, a bit of Bible reading, but no pattern of repeatable facial expressions emerged with such basic stimuli.

Time to turn up the dial, bringing in new stimuli to elicit fear, disgust, sadness, and pain. Yes, that was his goal. Remember this is 1920s psychology. No rules.

In comes pornographic images (likely contraband pictures of ankles and armpits) and to really get things going, some medical photos of people with horrendous skin conditions. Ewww.

But still no average response.

Now Landis brought in the big guns. Literally. He fired surprise gunshots in the hopes of getting some kind of universal response… But still nothing!

What about getting them to stick their hand in a bucket without knowing what was inside?! It could be anything! It was in fact a bucket full of live frogs with a little surprise down the bottom - electrical wires that produced a shock. The man was a genius.

Have we mentioned that one of the test subjects was a 13-year-old patient with psychological issues and high blood pressure? All above board. Carry on.

Just when you’re thinking Landis would’ve packed it all in and given up on the elusive average facial expression response, he escalated the stimuli even further. Participants were presented with a live mouse and a sharp knife. Have a listen/watch to find out what he made them do (remembering the 13-year-old was roped into the study too).

So did Landis reveal any universal facial expressions in response to his ever-escalating stimuli? Or did the aftermath of this classic 1920s psych experiment leave only electrocuted frogs, blown eardrums, and traumatised children?

While Landis's experiment was extremely subpar on the ethical front, it does raise intriguing questions about our ability to read emotions. Humans possess a nuanced understanding of each other's emotions as seen through facial expressions alone, even if we can't pinpoint the exact facial patterns that we are picking up on.

Thanks, no thanks, Landis.

SOURCES

Landis, C. (1924). Studies of emotional reactions. I. 'A preliminary study of facial expression." Journal of Experimental Psychology, 7(5), 325–341. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076072
CARNEY LANDIS | American Journal of Psychiatry
The psychology experiment that involved real beheadings
The Carney Landis Experiment | Bizzarro Bazar

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Iroquois Theater Blaze: The Tragic Fire That Ignited The Evolution Of Exit Lights

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Believe what you will about the Gods, karma, the universe, whatever! There are some rules that even atheists should follow.

Never call your boat “unsinkable”.

Don’t call your machine gun “peace-producing”.

And DO NOT, for the love of Shakespeare, describe your playhouse as “absolutely fireproof”.

It seems that whenever arrogance takes precedence over public safety, the gods have something to say about this hubris. This episode is as horrific as you might guess, but it does make us wonder just how horrible things have to get before we make change.

When the doors of the Iroquois Theater opened in 1903, it was said to be the most beautiful in all of Chicago. A masterpiece adorned with mahogany and glass doors, marble and gold pillars, and a grand central staircase. Boasting a seating capacity of 1,600 people on three levels, the Iroquois promised a night of enchantment to all. Better still, it was declared in playbills and advertising to be “absolutely fireproof”.

People back then were justifiably worried about theatre fires so the architect studied every previous theatre disaster to avoid anything happening at the Iroquois. His solution and therefore justification for making such a confident (some might say arrogant) claim was a state-of-the-art asbestos curtain. If there was a fire, the stagehands would simply lower it down on stage. And as if that wasn’t enough, they also had handy Killfyre tubes (think of a poster tube with bicarb soda in it) as if they’d even be needed.

But opposition to this hubris came in the form of the editor of Fireproof Magazine. Despite its claims, the Iroquois was far from fireproof. Lack of proper exits, exposed reinforcement, and inadequate firefighting equipment became glaring issues. There were also no sprinklers, alarms, telephones or water connections and only one common (albeit opulent) stairway, despite Chicago fire ordinances that required separate stairways and exits for each balcony.

Caution to the wind, the fateful day arrived for the matinee performance of "Mr. Blue Beard." The audience, mostly women and children, excitedly filled every seat and occupied standing room everywhere else. As the show entered its second act, a spark from a stage light ignited drapery high above the stage. Stagehands whipped out their trusty Killfyre tubes only to find they couldn’t toss the powder high enough. Next up, the fail-safe asbestos curtain… snagged on the way down. And then it very quickly became apparent that the fire could not be contained.

Panic ensued and audience members bolted from their seats toward whatever exit they could find. But you’d need the gods on your side to find an exit in the Iroquois Theater. The forward-thinking architect deliberately hid them, citing a more pleasing aesthetic. Once eventually found, the scorched patrons were greeted with a puzzling DaVinci-code-style mechanism to unlock the doors.

Worse still, the doors opened inward and some were even fake, painted-on doors. There was one upper-level fire escape, but it lacked an exterior ladder down to the ground. Two large flues on the rooftop where the smoke and flame could have vented out were boarded shut.

It was as if Lucifer himself designed the Iroquois. An estimated 575 people died that day and at least thirty more over the following weeks. As word of the staggering death toll spread, the city was overcome by collective mourning followed by a swift closing of all playhouses and implementation of stricter fire safety measures (enter that green glowing exit sign we’ve all seen everywhere).

But was anyone held responsible for this horrifying event?

SOURCES:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Increase The Productivity of Your Open Plan Office With "The Isolator"

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Open plan workplaces. How do we feel about them? Now, we’re all up for modernism and advancement but when it comes to actually being able to get work done, open-plan workplaces SUCK. And there’s a lot of science to back that up. Basically, nobody gets shit done if they’re distracted all day long.

There’s nothing worse than really being in the zone and then your colleague decides it’s an appropriate time to tell you about the annoying wart on their foot. No privacy, no quiet space to actually think and don’t get us started on the germ factor.

So how the hell are people meant to survive in the workplace without murdering everyone around them? One proposed solution was for employers to enforce quiet time for a few hours daily. No crunchy snacks allowed! Or perhaps grow a hedge around your desk so people don’t even know you’re there.

Or how about your very own enormous, spine-crushing, privacy helmet?

Enter The Isolator invented by Hugo Gernsback in 1925. Gernsback was a Luxembourgish-American inventor, writer, editor, engineer, designer, businessman, and magazine publisher. He was a machine and boy did he go to town with this invention.

The Isolator was designed to minimise visual reach, granting the wearer absolute concentration on whatever they were doing. Picture a helmet that looks like a cross between Darth Vader's headgear and a Victorian diving bell. Despite its steampunk aesthetic, the main issue was that the helmet was so sealed that it would fill with recycled carbon dioxide, causing people to get sleepy.

Not to worry. He fixed that issue by adding an oxygen tank extension to the front, making it one humungous noise-cancelling diving bell helmet. Very appealing.

Unsurprisingly, Gernsback’s middle finger solution to open-plan offices didn’t get the uptake he might have expected. Workers would just have to continue to put up with the cesspool of TMI, obnoxious laughter and disease-ridden sneezes from their colleagues.

Well, not if the Ukrainian design company, Hochu Rayu, has anything to do with it.

Introducing the "Helmfon," a blend of "helmet" and "phone" that burst on the scene in 2017. It's not just noise-cancelling; it's a compact isolation chamber with a microphone, Bluetooth, camera, and room for your smartphone. A personal oasis of focus in the midst of a bustling office environment.

Solitude in the midst of chaos. Every introvert’s dream.

So are distracted and disease prone workers finding solace in these oversized tech-nerd’s-dream helmets?

Perhaps the only solution is to just get rid of bloody open office spaces altogether.

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

SOURCES:

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Project Huemul: The First Nuclear Fusion Hoax

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Imagine harnessing the power of the sun using nothing more than high school science lab equipment and household ingredients. Desktop cold fusion - it would be the biggest invention of the century! Well, that's exactly what Professors Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann thought they’d discovered in 1989. After experimenting with a palladium cathode in a simple heavy water electrolysis cell, they observed an unexpected rise in temperature. Confusingly, they concluded the solution was nuclear fusion! (Try saying that 3 times fast)

Pons and Fleischmann were so excited that they even made an announcement to the press before having their studies peer-reviewed. Unfortunately, they didn't get the standing ovation they hoped for. On the contrary, their sensational cold fusion announcement was met with an even colder reception. The scientific community quickly doused their fusion fire, proving their 'invention of the century' to be a dud.

But this wasn’t the first nuclear fusion hoax and it wasn’t even the biggest.

Let’s go back to 1951 to a secret laboratory in a forest on an island in a lake high in the mountains. Sounds awesome already doesn’t it? It was here that Argentine dictator, Juan Perón, made the grand proclamation that his country had successfully liberated the energy of nuclear fusion. His man behind the magic was none other than Ronald Richter, a scientist with a dubious past and an even more dubious passport.

Perón gave Richter free rein to build a nuclear fusion device, with dreams of providing unlimited power (cue Perón drooling) and transforming Argentina into a world scientific leader. After his first laboratory was destroyed by a fire, Richter demanded a more protected location away from spies and potential sabotage. So the construction of a 12-metre-wide, 4-metre-thick concrete cylinder began in a location deep within the country's interior on Huemul Island - aka Project Huemul - literally plunging the nation into a brick and cement shortage!

Unfortunately, when it was complete, Richter noticed a crack on the outside which rendered the entire reactor useless and ordered for it to be torn down. Determined to soldier on, Richter began experiments in a much smaller 2-metre reactor. Lithium, hydrogen and sparks were flying everywhere and on 16 February 1951, Richter claimed he had successfully demonstrated fusion.

And what do all good scientists do once they demonstrate something for the first time? They tear down their experimental setup and refuse to replicate! Richter razed his cold(ish) fusion reactor to the ground to make yet another one.

In the end, Richter’s work was deemed as nothing short of a grand farce, but even these flops had their place in science history. They sparked a flurry of activity in the scientific community, leading to funded projects and continued research in the field of controlled fusion including the invention of the Figure 8 Stellerator (tell me that doesn’t sound like a 1950s women’s exercise device).

Whether you are right or (unequivocally) wrong, science has learned something!

SOURCES:

El Secreto Atomico De Huemul, by Mario Mariscotti
Proyecto Huemul: The Prank That Started It All, by Robert Arnoux
The Cornell Cold Fusion Archive, by Bruce Lewenstein

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Lights, Camera, Olfaction: Smell-o-Vision Actually Existed

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 18:00:00 -0000

If you think cinema is just audiovisual entertainment, hold onto your popcorn folks, because today we're diving into an aromatic abyss of olfactory oddity when Hollywood engaged in the battle of the smellies. This isn't just a whiff of the absurd, but an honest-to-goodness tale of when Hollywood tried to tickle our nostrils along with our imagination. So did cinematic innovation cut the mustard or was it all just passing wind?

Imagine going on a date to the cinemas, delighting your senses with panoramic views of Spain and then suddenly getting hit by a waft of, is that shoe polish? Welcome to "Holiday in Spain," a 1959 film that painted a whole new 'scent-scape' in the world of cinema. The film successfully broke the fourth wall, or should we say, the nose wall, by incorporating smell into the cinematic experience. It marked the introduction of Smell-O-Vision, a technology that promised an olfactory rollercoaster ride to audiences.

The idea behind Smell-O-Vision was as audacious as it sounds. It aimed to titillate your smell buds (that's a thing, right?), offering a multi-sensory cinematic experience, basically treating your nose to a buffet of fragrances. But like many audacious ideas, it was easier said than done. Audiences expecting to be immersed in an aromatic plot found themselves amidst a mix of mistimed scents and a bouquet of confusion.

But Smell-O-Vision wasn’t the only stinky boy in town. In a plot twist that could only happen in the '50s, Smell-O-Vision found itself nose-to-nose with its competitor, Aromarama. The late 1950s witnessed a stank-off between these technologies, each promising a sensory experience that would make your nose twitch. The fragrant face-off left audiences bemused, amused, and more than a little bit congested.

Despite promising a revolutionary cinema experience, Smell-O-Vision didn't quite pass the smell test. "Holiday In Spain," the first Smell-O-Vision film, became a testament to the technology's flaws rather than its potential, ultimately evaporating from theatres as quickly as the scents it pioneered. Nevertheless, the idea of scent-enhanced cinema continued to tease the industry, making occasional cameos in films like "Polyester," which used a ‘scratch-and-sniff’ gimmick known as Odorama.

Despite the smell-tacular failure of Smell-O-Vision, the dream of a multi-sensory cinema hasn't entirely vanished. From the whiff of an ambitious 'iSmell' concept in the 1990s to the 'smelling screen' of 2013, olfactory cinema continues to be a holy grail for some brave souls. But as we stand on the precipice of this aromatic abyss, one thing is clear - the journey to successfully integrate smell with cinema is proving to be one tough cookie to sniff out. And so, while we might not yet be able to smell our way through a film, we can at least tip our hats to Smell-O-Vision for the nostril novelty it brought to the cinematic table.

Would you really want to smell everything you see on screen? Perhaps buttery popcorn and your date’s alluring aroma are more than enough to delight your senses.

SOURCES:

SCENT OF MYSTERY – Dennis Schwartz Reviews

https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/scent-of-mystery/

The people who want to send smells through your TV - BBC Future

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210104-the-reason-why-you-cant-smell-television-shows-yet

DVD Savant Blu-ray Review: Holiday in Spain

https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s4658spai.html

Smell-O-Vision - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O-Vision

The Lingering Reek of Smell-O-Vision - Los Angeles Times

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-tm-oops6feb05-story.html

Scent of Mystery - Variety

https://variety.com/1959/film/reviews/scent-of-mystery-1200419630/

"Scent of Mystery", the First and Only Use of Smell-O-Vision : History of Information

https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=4539

Behind the Great Wall (1959) - Charles Weiss, Carlo Lizzani | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie

https://www.allmovie.com/movie/behind-the-great-wall-v229098

Michael Todd Jr., 72, a Creator Of Smell-o-Vision for Movies - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/08/arts/michael-todd-jr-72-a-creator-of-smell-o-vision-for-movies.html

Polyester (film) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyester_(film)

Smell-o-vision screens let you really smell the coffee | New Scientist

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729105-900-smell-o-vision-screens-let-you-really-smell-the-coffee/

Japanese scientists create 'Smell-O-Vision' screen - CNET

https://www.cnet.com/culture/japanese-scientists-create-smell-o-vision-screen/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729105-900-smell-o-vision-screens-let-you-really-smell-the-coffee/ixzz7Sw4dSahV

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Why The Japanese Coined "Karoshi": Death From Overwork

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Everyone loves a good hack these days. It’s all about efficiency and finding ways to be even more productive. Well, that’s great for things like finding a quicker way to fold your clothes but when it comes to the workplace, the quest for more productivity can be taken a little too far. And by a little, we mean a lot.

See, the aftermath of World War II left Japan in an economic disaster. Shigeru Yoshida, Japan’s prime minister at the time, prioritised rebuilding the economy by getting major corporations to offer their employees lifelong job security.

All the employees had to do was give their loyalty in return. But over time, workplace loyalty has become more of a ‘til death do us part’ type thing. Quite literally.

Surveys have shown that one in three Japanese men between the ages of 30 and 40 work more than 60 hours a week. Overtime is the norm. In fact, it’s not unusual for people to work 80 hours of overtime each week. Oh, did we mention that overtime is unpaid work?

In the mid-1980s, nearly half of all the section chiefs and two-thirds of department chiefs in major companies in Japan were concerned they might DIE from overwork. And they weren’t just being dramatic: death by overwork is so common in Japan there’s an actual term for it: Karoshi.

Heart attacks, strokes, diabetic coma, liver malfunction, you name it. All happening to young, overworked employees in the name of productivity. The first case was reported in 1969 when a 29-year-old man working in the shipping department of Japan's biggest newspaper died of a stroke.

As you can imagine, death by overwork is something the Japanese government wasn’t too keen on investigating. I mean, can work really be the cause of death if the person wasn’t even getting paid for it?!

Weren’t they just volunteering out of genuine loyalty to the company’s values? Who needs to see their children when they could be at work til 3am, right?

Besides, people already waste too much time blowing their noses, walking to the toilet and wiping sweat off their brows! They couldn’t possibly work any less.

But with young employees continuing to drop dead at their desks and families seeking compensation, the Japanese government took some, albeit small, measures to keep their employees happy… and more importantly, alive.

Unfortunately, telling someone they can leave at 3pm on a Friday just means they’ll have a shit tonne more work on Monday. And the employees would probably be terrified of the ramifications if they actually left before midnight.

So is work really worth dying for?

And does death by overwork only occur in Japan or is it a worldwide phenomenon?

Surely there’s a hack or two out there to stop this madness.

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

Anthropophagy! (It Means Cannibalism)!

https://omny.fm/shows/the-wholesome-show/anthropophagy-it-means-cannibalism

SOURCES:

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The Monster Study: Gaslighting Orphans for Speech Science

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 18:00:00 -0000

The history of science is peppered with some pretty dubious research… grafting second heads onto dogs, growing bits of human brains inside mouse embryos, experiments with syphilis, and the list goes on. We have delivered many episodes on some pretty horrific things done in the name of science back in the day which is why we’re suitably discomforted by a study on orphan kids called “The Monster Study”.

Born in 1906, Wendell Johnson stuttered grotesquely. He and his family went to great lengths to treat his stutter: sugar pills, a frightening (and disappointing) faith healer, and chiropractic work. At 16 he even attended a stuttering “school” where he chanted and swung dumbbells. None of it helped. Can’t think of why!

Eventually, Johnson made his way to the University of Iowa to study English (he was more of a writing guy). Well, that university just so happened to be home to the most famous centre for stuttering research in the world. The coincidence! Diving into psychology for his master's study, Johnson became a speech pathologist because he needed one himself.

The thing with speech is that you can’t test on animals so the students themselves became test subjects. They drew blood, hooked themselves to electrodes, and even shot guns off near each other's ears to see if it affected their stuttering. But it wasn’t all rogue science. Johnson made some significant observations through his early studies that convinced him that stuttering was conditioned; it was learned.

Lead theories at the time were that the stuttering disorder originated in misdirected brain signals. But Johnson called bullshit. He was certain that stuttering was a learned behaviour. Damn those overreacting helicopter parents!

So if stuttering was learned, that meant it could be unlearned but it also meant that it could be… taught. Enter the Monster Study, led by one of Johnson’s students, Mary Tudor. Luckily the university had an ongoing relationship with an orphanage where they could recruit unknowing research subjects. Well, that all seems above board.

Within the orphanage, there were 10 kids who had an existing stutter. In weekly sessions, half of them were told to pay no attention to what others said about their speech and that they would grow out of it. The other half were told that their speech was terrible. Sigh.

Another group of children who had normal speech were told they had symptoms suggestive of an impending stutter. They were told to never speak unless they could do it absolutely right!

And then the last lucky group (again comprised of children with normal speech) were given compliments on their lovely enunciation.

Sounds science-ish, right?

Well, remember the kids who spoke normally and were scared into believing something was seriously wrong with their speech? Yeah, they stopped talking, performed worse in class, and became withdrawn and fractious. And although when they did speak, their speech was normal, they began to act like stutterers with inhibitive, sensitive and embarrassed demeanours.

Feeling bad about her methods with these kids, Tudor went back to the orphanage to do some follow-up therapy. But it didn’t do much good. Her thesis sank immediately into obscurity but for a ghost life among Iowa speech pathology students; the university library its academic mausoleum.

And then came the lawsuits. In 2003, three surviving orphans sued the State and University of Iowa for millions of dollars, citing among other things the infliction of emotional distress and fraudulent misrepresentation.

Did the kids ever recover? And did Johnson end up finding a cause? Or is the road to stuttering paved with eagle-eared parents?

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

What The Hell Happened To The Left-Handers?

SOURCES:

The Stuttering Doctor's 'Monster Study', Gretchen Reynolds March 16, 2003 https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/16/magazine/the-stuttering-doctor-s-monster-study.html
The “Monster” Study, Franklin H. Silverman, .I. Fluency disord. 13 (19881, 225-231) https://www.uh.edu/ethicsinscience/Media/Monster%20Study.pdf
The Monster Study - Practical Psychology July 8, 2022 https://practicalpie.com/the-monster-study/
Why The Monster Study On Stuttering Was Unethical, Jeremy Dean https://www.spring.org.uk/2022/12/monster-study-stuttering.php

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How Your Shower Started As A Torture Device

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 18:00:00 -0000

In the 1700s, hydrotherapy was the panacea. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, wrote in his book that cold water plunges could cure asthma, malaria, blindness, leprosy and even cancer (wait, did that say blindness?).

But by the beginning of the 19th century, well-informed physicians wanted to get more precise about curing the insane. It was believed that one of the causes of mania was ‘hot brain’, a violent heat that boiled the blood and dried out the brain.

Cooling the brain seemed an obvious solution.

And so throughout the 19th century, various apparatus that harnessed therapeutic forces of water emerged to aid in “curing” the insane. And here we find the less relaxing and more barbaric origins of the shower.

As we’ve discovered in many cases from that period of history, some people took it way too far.

One guy who went to extremes was Dr Patrick Blair. He helped ‘cure’ a woman who was declared mad (for not wanting to have sex with her husband) by stripping and blindfolding her, tying her to a chair in a bathtub under a 35-foot high water tower, and submitting her to intense water pressure over her head, face, neck and breasts until she swore to become a loving, obedient and dutiful wife.

So basically, torture.

There was also Dr Benjamin Rush who made what he called a ‘tranquillizer chair’. This is where he’d strap down a patient, put a box around their head, and then begin to fill it from above, threatening them with death. He considered this a very effective strategy for resistant cases.

This led others to come up with the brilliant idea of building asylums with built-in showers for administering treatment. Prisons quickly followed suit.

Now, showers have come a long way since then. They became much less a torture apparatus and more of a convenience over the bathtub. The English Regency Shower, an invention far closer to our modern showers, came about in the early 1800s and by the 1870s, many houses began to have hot water pumped in through the fenestrated fixtures.

But things really took off in the early 20th century, largely due to the advertising and soap industries, which capitalised on social anxieties about body odour and bad breath. Classic corporate greed preying on the dirty folk.

But in the age of the microbiome, have we taken cleanliness too far? Could it be that we’re showering too much?

Dermatologists will tell you that water alone strips away the oils in our skin that help to preserve moisture, leaving us susceptible to irritants and allergens.

Is it time we rethink our daily cleansing rituals?

Perhaps we should quit showers altogether! Like one guy in Iran who didn’t shower for over 60 years. His neighbours finally convinced him to wash and the poor guy died shortly after.

Although there is one American President who had a special shower to keep him happy and healthy. It had nozzles to blast him like a fire hose in the dick, balls and butt. An odd interpretation of his second amendment rights but whatever wakes you up in the morning man!

SOURCES:

Australians are (nearly) global leaders in the shower stakes, in WA Today, by Ray Sparvell
Bathing Habits by Country 2023, World Population Review
Compulsive showering and marijuana use – the cannabis hyperemisis syndrome, in American Journal of Case Reports, by Fawwaz Mohammed, Kirby Panchoo, Maria Bartholemew and Dale Maharaj
Cure-All: John Wesley throws some cold water on, well, everything. Lapham’s Quarterly.
I Quit Showering, and Life Continued, in The Atlantic by James Hamblin
L.B.J. Demanded White House Shower Be Fitted with Nozzles Aimed at His Nether Regions, According to New Book, in Vanity Fair, by Kia Makarechi
Showering Has a Dark, Violent History, in The Atlantic by Sarah Zhang
Showers: from a violent treatment to an agent of cleansing, in History of Psychiatry, by Stephanie C Cox, Clare Hocking and Deborah Payne
You’re Showering Too Much, in The Atlantic by James Hamblin

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Ellen Langer Teaches Us To Think Ourselves Younger

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Picture this: It’s the turn of the millennium. The dust from 9/11 is only just beginning to settle. Shrek, Rush Hour 2 and Donny Darko are packing cinemas. LeAnn Rimes, Shaggy, and Kylie Minogue top the Aria charts. Apple begins their technological invasion with the first iPod and honest little Johnnie Howard is the Prime Minister of Australia.

Can you feel yourself back in that time? Can you picture what and who you used to wear/eat/do? Has immersing yourself in the events of 20 years prior made you feel any more youthful? Any more topped up with vim and vigour? Perhaps even more supple?

This hypothesis formed the groundbreaking research of Harvard psychology Professor Ellen Langer: Could you reverse the age-related physical and mental decline by immersing yourself in the environment of your younger self? Can you shatter the societal expectation of aging and live a youthful life until expiry?

Langer, a psychology PhD at the time, began her foray into mindset manipulation by designing a pot plant study conducted in a nursing home. She gave plants to two groups instructing one that they need to care for the plans and decide their location, and informing the other group that they are not required to do anything about their new indoor foliage. 18 months later, twice as many of the grey-haired green-thumbs were alive compared with the control group.

This led Langer to formulate that a person’s setting could be manipulated to improve their physical and mental state and thus turn back the clock. Unable to send old people back in time, she brought an earlier time period to the old people! In 1981, Langer helped 8 men in their 70s shuffle off a van and into a converted monastery made to look identical to a 1959 house. And we mean identical - interior decor, wall art, music, books, magazines, photos… it was all impeccably period-accurate. None of this Starbucks-coffee-cup-in-a-Game-Of-Thrones-episode malarky!

A control group also spent time in the monastery though in an area void of any nostalgic decor and both groups spent 5 days in their allocated settings.

The results beggared belief! Both groups improved physically and mentally however the experimental group’s gains were much more significant with an impromptu touch football game erupting on the final day of the study played by these previously frail men.

Enter the critics! You have to understand, the power-of-the-mind stuff was not trending back then as it is today. In the 1980s, positive thinking and environmental manipulation on this scale were scarcely above witchcraft! Ellen was academically harangued for her hopeful hypotheses and lost her inquisitive drive. That was until the BBC recreated the experiment in 2010 with Ellen consulting called “The Young Ones” (no, not that “The Young Ones”) again showing remarkable improvements in the senile subjects: wheelchairs swapped for canes, spines were straightened, egos rekindled, and Bafta Awards were nominated.

Her own vim and vigour restored, Ellen went on to conduct hotel chambermaid experiments (chambermaids informed they did, in fact, do a lot of exercise in their job lost more weight than those who believed they didn’t), hair salon studies (recently did women happy with their new do had lower blood pressures compared with those sporting a tragedy), and flight simulator tests (subjects dressed as Maverick from Top Gun performed better on eyesight testing than those in schlub duds).

So when next you reach for the collagen supplements, the botox needle, or even the scalpel, think of Professor Langer and turn back the clock instead by ditching those societal expectations, believe you are in fact younger, and remember who you were 20 years ago.

SOURCES:

Better Believe It - A psychology professor’s quest to explain—and demonstrate—the power of the mind over our health. Dec 2022
Ellen Langer: expert on, and victim of, the illusion of control March 9, 2015 9:20 AM by Andrew
What if Age Is Nothing but a Mind-Set? Bruce Grierson. Oct. 22, 2014
Ellen Langer – Wikipedia
Rodin J, Langer EJ. Long-term effects of a control-relevant intervention with the institutionalized aged. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1977 Dec;35(12):897-902. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.35.12.897. PMID: 592095.
Rodin, J., & Langer, E. J. (1978). Erratum to Rodin and Langer. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(5), 462. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0084387
Hotel Maids Challenge the Placebo Effect January 3, 2008
Crum AJ, Langer EJ. Mind-set matters: exercise and the placebo effect. Psychol Sci. 2007 Feb;18(2):165-71. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01867.x. PMID: 17425538.
Ellen Langer Harvard

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World's Most Kissed Face: Why CPR Doll Resusci-Anne Looks Like A French Girl

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 18:00:00 -0000

What is it with the French and kissing?

They certainly know a thing or two about romance. Imagine being serenaded with an accordion and indulging in a chocolate croissant overlooking the Eiffel Tower. Who wouldn’t want to lean into an old-fashioned smooch?

But not all kissing is romantic in nature. Sometimes it’s necessary to save a life. In fact, one girl has inadvertently saved countless lives by being the world’s most kissed face. It’s our pleasure to introduce to you the beautiful Resusci-Anne.

Let’s go back almost 150 years ago when the lifeless body of an unidentified teenage girl was pulled from the Seine River. A tragedy indeed. At the morgue, a medical assistant was struck by the girl's serene expression and the hint of a smile that was playing on her lips.

He was so struck in fact, that he decided to immortalise her tragic beauty by commissioning a death mask of her face. It was all the rage back then. Napoleon, Victor Hugo, and Beethoven, all added a mask of plaster of Paris to their posthumous beauty regime.

The young woman's enigmatic face became a muse for artists, novelists and poets alike. She inspired paintings and tragically romantic stories and earned the moniker “drowned Mona Lisa” or “the unknown woman of the Seine”. Soon she became a sensation in turn-of-the-20th-century Europe but her influence extended well beyond her time.

Fast forward to 1956 America. Two anesthesiologists, Peter Safar and James Elam, had heard of a promising new technique for keeping patients alive called cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The problem was, they were struggling to find volunteers to practise on owing to the fact that cracked ribs and organ damage are likely sequelae of the technique. In fact, some say that you’re doing it wrong if you DON’T break ribs.

Coma patients, spouses, and even each other, no torso was off limits to the CPR inventors for practising this new life-saving technique. Though as you could imagine, this cohort of willing torsos was severely limited.

Hearing about this new reviving technique, Norwegian toymaker, Asmund Laerdal, saw an opportunity to help. He’d previously lent his soft-plastic manipulating skills to the military by creating plastic models of wounds used for training military medics. They even squirted out fake blood. Awesome.

But one of his best-selling toys was a baby doll named Anne. So, he offered to make a life-size adult Anne doll for the sole purpose of CPR training. Back then, nearly all doctors were male so Laerdal and Lind decided they would feel more comfortable "kissing" a female doll.

So now they had a body on which trainees could practice their life-saving (and bone-breaking) CPR.

And her face? Well, while visiting relatives, Laerdal spotted the serenely smiling death mask of the aforementioned "unknown woman of the Seine" on their wall. And so, he created a CPR mannequin with the face of a dead 19th-century French girl, still known today as Resusci Anne. It’s estimated that 300 million people worldwide have been trained in CPR, most of them having “kissed” her beautiful face.

But could a dead person really look that beautiful?

The fact that her face was so serene made it hard to believe that she was a victim of drowning.

Usually, people get pretty panicky, swollen and decomposed in that situation. It’s not pretty.

So who was this immortalised beauty?

A long-lost twin who’d embarked on a love affair with a rich suitor and eloped to Paris? How very French. Or perhaps a Hungarian actress who was murdered by her lover! And what’s this all got to do with Michael Jackson?

SOURCES:

National EMS Museum: The Evolution of Resusci-Annie
BBC News: Resusci Anne and L'Inconnue: The Mona Lisa of the Seine by Jeremy Grange
How Stuff Works: How the CPR Doll Developed From a Famous Parisian Death Mask
Live Science: How a girl's 'death mask' from the 1800s became the face of CPR dolls
Laerdal Medical: SimMan 3G PLUS - Clinical Features

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Swill Milk: How Bad Did Old Timey Milk Actually Get?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 18:00:00 -0000

**Warning, this episode is both very gross and very sad.**

Take us back to the good old days when the air was clean, the grass was green and the cows were happy. The milk tasted better back then. Straight from the cow, gallons of creamy goodness for all to drink. But while Granny’s farm may have been fine, milk wasn’t always some magical pure product.

In fact, there was a time when milk was goddamn disgusting.

Let’s go back to the 1800’s when there were hundreds of whiskey distilleries in New York State. Some lunatic had the great idea to feed the leftover rank grain goop to the cows. Weirdly, they noticed that the cows increased their secretion of milk afterwards. Thus began the distillery dairies.

All across America and Europe, dairies joined forces with distilleries, serving the boiling slurry, or swill, which was said to be acidic enough to corrode iron, to their cows. Day in, day out, with no water or harder grass to chew on, the poor cows were chained up in a windowless metal shed right next to the distilleries. They were definitely not happy.

Needless to say, the cows got bloody sick. With ulcerated sores all over their body, including on their udders, many cows' teeth went rotten and fell out from the hot acidic food. Most lost their tails, some lost their hooves and sometimes their legs would fall off. But every day the distillery milkers would come, no matter the condition of the cow, to get their goddamn milk.

Milk is a generous term here. The resulting liquid was described by Robert Hartley, a man who wrote a book to expose the horrors of these distillery dairies, as having an unnatural, bluish tint or riddled with reddish brown pus.

But surely people wouldn’t drink it if it looked so bad. Well, that’s where the dairymen got clever. Not only did they add a bit of river water to make the milk go further, but they also discovered you could fix the colour by adding flour, plaster of Paris, chalk - either of them would do the trick.

Now, to get that lovely yellowish creamy layer that the people crave, just a dash of pureed calf brains. Apparently, it really did look like cream but it coagulated when poured into hot coffee. (We just threw up in our mouths). And if the milk was threatening to sour, dairymen added formaldehyde to stop the decomposition. Yep. Formaldehyde.

You can just imagine the health department inquiries. One investigation discovered insect larvae in the milk (likely from the river water). Others found milk containing sticks, hair, blood, pus and manure. In fact, one estimate said that people consumed more than 2,000 pounds of manure in a given year.

As you can guess, many people got sick and died. So why were people still drinking the damn stuff? And why wasn’t anything being done about these horrific distillery dairies?

No one listened to Robert Hartley or took notice of his book. So it was up to Frank Leslie. Frank found a particularly pus riven bottle of milk on his doorstep one morning that was udderly disgusting so he decided it was time for a shake down. See, Frank was a newspaper guy and after analysing the specimen, he dispatched his corps of reporters and artists to the head-quarters of the poison. He wanted everyone to know the truth about what was happening in those disgusting metal sheds.

The milkmen started getting turned away. Angry mobs began to form outside distillery dairies and milk carts. Unfortunately, the distilleries were a powerful lobby group and successfully blocked any serious inquiry into the dairies and stymied calls for reform. Classic.

But by 1862, thanks to Frank Leslie’s work, regulations finally came in banning the swill milk trade. Another 50 years and a slaughterhouse scandal after that, the Pure Food Act was signed and later on in the 1930’s, pasteurization became a standard procedure.

No more formaldehyde, no more pus, no more manure.

So, anyone thirsty?

SOURCES:

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Unexplained Aerial Phenomena! (It's The New Name For UFOs!) (RECAST)

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Humans have always been fascinated by the unexplained. Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster and, one of the most intriguing unknowns that has captured our imagination for centuries, the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

UFO sightings, crop circles, close encounters with aliens and even abductions have been reported for decades. And until recently, the people making these claims were considered nutjobs. They’d watched too many X-files episodes and had gone bonkers.

But then in 2016, Hillary Clinton went on the Jimmy Kimmel show and told us about UAP’s. Unexplained Aerial Phenomena. Apparently, UAP’s and their potential threat to national security is a topic that’s been discussed behind closed doors for decades. Obama dismissed it as a joke but Clinton pulled the cat out of the bag.

Washington lobbyists Steve Bassett and John Podesta are advocating for the disclosure of government information on unexplained phenomena that could prove the existence of intelligent life outside Earth. This raises the question, what the heck has the government been hiding? Usually, they’re so transparent!

And if the people charged with governing our nations know that UAP’s (who are we kidding…they’re UFO’s) are indeed a threat to national security, it’d be great to know what’s being done about it. We wouldn’t mind knowing if we have distant cousins on another planet or if ET was based on a true story.

Perhaps the nutjobs we wrote off so cavalierly gave UFO’s a bad name. And because it became such a taboo topic, it’s prevented serious scientific study and rational discussion. But surely with technological advances and a bit more openmindedness, we’re at a point now where we’re willing to probe further into the unknown and investigate the few examples of unexplained aerial phenomena that exist.

Things do seem to be changing. Under recent US Navy protocol, navy pilots and sailors will no longer be considered crazy for reporting UAPs. In fact, a recent survey of 62 astronomers found that over 4% of them reported seeing things they could not explain.

And physicist, Enrico Fermi, argued that amongst the 300 billion stars in the galaxy, there could be thousands of intelligent civilisations in the universe.

We’re not alone people. Hillary Clinton told us so.

Perhaps the reason she didn’t get elected was because she promised to release information about Area 51, a secret hub where the US government stores classified information about aliens and UFO’s.

Now if that’s not a killer Hollywood script, we don’t know what is.

SOURCES:

Live Science: Former Head of Pentagon's Secret UFO Program Has Some (Strange) Stories to Tell
New York Times: Hillary Clinton Gives U.F.O. Buffs Hope She Will Open the X-Files
CNN Politics: Clinton campaign chair: ‘The American people can handle the truth’ on UFOs
The Conversation: Are we alone? The question is worthy of serious scientific study &
The Conversation: Why is the Pentagon interested in UFOs?

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John Cade's Discovery of Lithium (RECAST)

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Lithium. Anyone who had a heartbeat in the 90s knows that Nirvana song backward. Speaking of, Rod’s claim to fame is meeting Kurt Cobain and the boys but that’s a story for another time. The lithium we speak of today is the light, flammable, silvery white metal found naturally in nearly all rocks. It rose to fame as the star ingredient in the first man-made nuclear reaction. But lithium is no one-hit-wonder.

Lithium is also a medication that helps to stabilise the moods of millions of people with bipolar disorder. How the heck did anyone discover that? Did someone take the term “eat rocks” literally?

Well, in the early 20th century, lithium was seen as a bit of a "cure-all". It was even in the original 7-Up recipe! But when it comes to using lithium to treat bipolar, the credit must go to Dr John Cade. Born in country Victoria in 1912, as a young boy, Cade actually lived in a number of asylums. He wasn’t a patient though. His father was a doctor who worked in the Mental Hygiene Department so the whole family lived together on campus.

Every single day, he observed mentally ill patients and Cade eventually studied medicine and became a psychiatrist. However during World War II, while serving in Singapore as a surgeon, he became a prisoner of war for three and a half years. During this time, he obviously endured a brutal existence, but he also made some very interesting observations.

See, up until that point, the standard wisdom was that serious mental illness was caused by a poor upbringing, bad morals and the like. Too much grunge music perhaps. But what Cade observed during those harrowing years in the POW camp, was that serious mental illness can be caused by biological changes. So upon returning to Australia, he got to work.

Cade had a theory that mania and depression were caused by excess and deficiency of a naturally occurring substance in the body. The solution was of course… urine!

Being the supportive woman she was, Cade’s wife, Jean, started accumulating jars. Buttloads of them. Cade convinced her that if his research came to nothing, they could use them for pickling. Sooo many pickles. And yes, she stored them in the fridge. Eww.

Then, Cade got a bunch of guinea pigs and injected the urine into their abdominal cavities. Sadly, they all died. He thought perhaps the two toxic substances in urine, urea and uric acid might work in tandem to make the urine of manic patients more toxic. He just needed some way to convert urea into a substance that he could more easily manipulate. Enter lithium.

Now, Cade needed to check if lithium was causing any confounds, so he injected the guinea pigs with a lithium carbonate solution. They didn’t die. In fact, they became docile and super chill. So he did what any dedicated scientist would do. He tested it on himself.

In 1948, after not dying of lithium poisoning, Cade decided it was safe to give 10 of his patients the same treatment. One of his patients had been psychotic for more than 30 years and after two months of treatment, he walked out of the asylum back to his old job, perfectly sane. In fact, 5 out of the 10 people Dr Cade treated had improved enough to return to their homes and families. Nothing had been seen like it in mental health before.

But what about side effects?

Unfortunately, Cade was unaware that too much lithium is toxic and his pioneering patient died in 1950 due to lithium toxicity. Devastated, Cade abandoned his experiments with lithium, passing the chill pill over to psychiatrists Mogens Schou and Poul Baastrup to characterise its safety profile. Thanks to them all, this ubiquitous element, easily processed into medication and never patented by pharmaceutical companies, remains both cheap and invaluable as a treatment for troubling mental health diagnoses.

In 1980, Dr Cade died with many honours, including medical units, fellowships, and awards being named after him.

SOURCES:

News.com.au: Finding Sanity: How an Australian doctor discovered the first drug to treat mental illness
ABC: The history of lithium, and its remarkable impact on mood disorders
ABC: Remembering John Cade, the Australian doctor who tamed bipolar disorder
Live Science: What Is Lithium?
Wikipedia: Lithium
Nature: Lithium: the gripping history of a psychiatric success story
PsychCentral: What Is Lithium-Induced Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus?
Drugs.com: Lithium: 7 things you should know

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The Seamen Getting Stuck In A Good Book

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 25 May 2023 18:00:00 -0000

19th century industrial revolution times meant brilliant machines, inventions and factories. Workers were leaving rural areas en masse to find work in the city. Bloody hard, low paid and dangerous work mind you. And not only was the work shitty, but there was literally shit everywhere. Pollution, human excrement. Even dead horses on the streets.

But the worst work of all? Well, that was down on the docks where the ships came in. Every day, floods of seamen would wash in from foreign parts. A “release binge of seamen” one writer termed it; and with their vulgar tongues and unruly behaviour, straight to the pubs and brothels they’d go!

Enter the religious, do-gooder busybodies, the reformers (picture Ned Flanders with a waistcoat and tophat). Knowing they couldn’t convince the seamen to come to church, they formed the American Seamen’s Friends Society and came up with the next best thing: Floating libraries!

Administered by the seaman librarian every Sunday morning, the library (a red wooden crate filled with books) would be opened for the sailors to peruse and borrow. But could books really turn these rascally seamen into upright citizens?

The theory of the Seamen’s Friends Society was that by reading elevating, high-minded literature, the sailors would come to abandon their drinking, rooting and swearing, and choose the godly life.

Whilst at sea, seamen were a captive audience with low standards. They were either doing horrible, brutal, dirty work (ever peeled a whale?), or bored out of their brains with nothing to do. So prior to the floating libraries, seamen entertained themselves by rearranging the contents of a sea chest (Marie Kondo eat your heart out) or reading a year-old newspaper over and over and over again, including every word of every advertisement.

So of course, the books couldn’t be any old books. Obviously, the seamen were completely void of all virtue, knowledge and self-control! They must only be allowed to read books that were carefully curated by the American Seamen’s Friends Society - meaning mostly Bibles, Bible dictionaries, volumes of sermons, books warning against infidelity and universalism, a little science and history, and because the Seamen’s Friends Society genuinely wanted the seamen to be happy, they threw in a few books that should be of interest to them, like almanacs and shipwrecks. Really? Bit of a dick move there.

So did the books help? Well, as we said, the seamen were desperate for entertainment so they lapped them up. But some books were more popular than others and God forbid, anyone receive any product and/or service without being asked to “complete our quick survey”.

The Seamen’s Friends Society collected data on what books the sailors enjoyed. It turns out they were less about God and shipwrecks and more about adventure, automobiles and engines. So long as the book was about things on the land and not on water, they were into it.

And what of the Bibles that would lure these foul seamen into the kingdom of God? All the other books were dog-eared and had evidence of seamen all over them (smirk) but the Bibles? Barely touched.

To the credit of these do-gooder reformers, they came to realise that instead of trying to shove religious texts down the sailor's throats, it was better to simply provide a little joy and recreation into their lonely lives at sea.

Did the floating libraries help the seamen to stop swearing and commit their lives to Christian ways? Probably not. But boy did it give them something nice and wholesome to do.

PREVIOUS EPISODE MENTIONED:

Arctic Cold Case Solved: Who Was First To The North Pole?

SOURCES:

The New York Times’ CIRCULATING LIBRARIES OF THE SEA FOR NEARLY HALF A MILLION SEAMEN; An Elaborate System, in Vogue for More Than Fifty Years, by Which 3,000 Libraries Are Kept Afloat. New York Times.
David M Hovde’s Sea Colportage: The Loan Library System of the American Seamen's Friend Society, 1859-1967, in Libraries and Culture

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Gloria “Toxic Lady” Ramirez Evacuates Emergency Ward With Odour

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 18 May 2023 18:00:00 -0000

You know how in sci-fi films, there’s always some freak accident in a biotech lab, leaving hundreds of people dead and authorities in a state of pandemonium?

Take the highly praised anime short film, Stink Bomb, for example. A flu-ridden lab technician swallows an abandoned pill on his boss’s desk presuming (reasonably, right?) that it could only be flu medicine. Turns out it just so happens to be part of an experimental bioweapons program, causing his body to omit vapours that are lethal to everyone around him.

The enigmatic movie ends with everyone dead. It’s worth the watch actually.

So, turns out that Stink Bomb was actually based on a true story. Say WHAT?

Riverside General Hospital, southern California, on Feb 19, 1994. At 8 am, ambulance drivers rushed 31-year-old Gloria Ramirez into trauma room 1. She presented with shallow and rapid breathing and her heart was beating way too fast, causing her blood pressure to take a nosedive.

After a cocktail of drugs and respiratory assistance, nothing was working. When the hospital staff yanked off her t-shirt to get ready to defib, they observed an oily sheen covering Ramirez’s body coupled with a fruity, garlicky odour. Hmmmm.

They took some blood and that too had an interesting stench for different reasons. Not only that but upon closer inspection of the syringe, Gloria’s blood contained straw-coloured flecks. Okay, that doesn’t seem like it’s a good thing.

Suddenly, the nurse who drew Gloria’s blood started feeling faint and like her face was burning.

The respiratory therapist was unable to control her limbs.

They started dropping like flies.

The medical resident who had eyeballed the syringe started shaking in waves, having repeated apnea episodes. She actually ended up spending 2 weeks in intensive care, suffering from hepatitis, pancreatitis, and avascular necrosis, (a condition in which bone tissue is starved of blood and begins to die). Hectic.

More and more staff started falling ill so the boss doctor, Humberto Ochoa, evacuated the emergency room into the parking lot. There, the fallen staff’s clothes were removed and sealed in bags in case they had been contaminated with some kind of poisonous gas.

This is legit sci-fi film material.

Now, while all the sick people were outside naked with burning faces and uncontrolled limbs, a skeleton crew stayed in the trauma room and worked to revive Gloria with multiple defib attempts.

Sadly, she was declared dead at 8:50 and her body was isolated in another room.

What the HELL was going on?

Was it a gas leak?

A mass hysteria event?

Maybe the hospital was the site of a secret meth lab! Hey, meth was big business in Riverside County in the 90s.

But these are all just theories. We need real science-based answers. Time to wheel out the computer-guided combined gas chromatograph spectrometer. (That’s an Adam West Batman episode right there).

Incredibly, even after exhaustive toxicological studies and investigations by serious experts from at least two institutions, they couldn’t find anything that would have stink bombed the emergency department.

So what the heck happened?

Friends, it’s time to get real science nerdy. We’re talking David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson-level nerdy.

Did you know just half a gram of dimethyl sulphate can kill a person in 10 minutes? Don’t ask how science knows that.

Oh, and you know how sci-fi films usually have some crazy person with a whiteboard and red string trying to figure out what’s going on? Yeah, this story has that too (but in the form of a scrapbook).

Previous episodes mentioned:

A Million And One Uses For Sperm!

The Dancing Plague of 1518!

The Sexist Science Behind Animal Testing

SOURCES:

Discover Magazine: Analysis of a Toxic Death

A possible chemical explanation for the events associated with the death of Gloria Ramirez at Riverside General Hospital

Patrick M. Grant, Jeffrey S. Haas, Richard E. Whipple, Brian D. Andresen

Forensic Science International 87 (1997) 219–237

IFL Science: The Death Of "The Toxic Lady" Remains An Unsolved Medical Case

New York Times: Fumes at hospital baffles officials

Straight Dope: What’s the story on the “toxic lady”?

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gloria_Ramirez

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Arctic Cold Case Solved: Who Was First To The North Pole?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 11 May 2023 18:00:00 -0000

We all love a good race. The competition, the rivalry, the winner revelling in their victory at the finish line. But some races don’t have a clear winner. In fact, some destinations aren’t all that clear either.

In the early 1900s, the race to the North Pole was in full swing and there were two competing claims as to who got there first. The problem is, the North Pole is tricky to get to, it’s tricky to notice when you’re there and it’s also very tricky to confirm that you’ve been there in the first place.

Oh, and it also doesn’t stay still. It’s a moving target with a promise of frostbite.

Now, on September 2 1909, the front page of the New York Herald boasted that the North Pole was discovered by Dr Frederick A Cook, a lovely man, but also known to be wildly full of shit. It’s been shown that he clearly faked his claimed ascent of the highest mountain in North America. Okay mate.

Five short days later, The New York Times declared that the first person to reach the North Pole was in fact one Robert Peary, a shall we say, less lovely, man whose one mission in life was to obtain fame.

There was no one else more focused on Arctic exploration than Robert Peary. Heck, he’d dig up indigenous graves, steal remains and fake funerals to achieve his glory. And yes, he actually did that.

Well, perhaps he wasn’t as pigheaded as it sounds. He DID have a faithful African American field assistant join him on his adventures. Or maybe that was because he knew he wouldn’t have to share his honours with a black man. Yeah, he was probably a bigot.

So... who actually got to the North Pole first?

Throughout history, there have been many attempts to reach Santa’s homeland. One keen explorer was supposedly murdered by his chief scientist along the way. Another got caught in pack ice and drifted aimlessly for almost 2 years. 2 whole years. Yikes.

But Cook and Peary both lived to tell the tale. They even wrote about their journey’s in their top-secret diaries.

Now Cook and Peary were by no means strangers. In fact, they started out as companions and voyagers together, until it became clear that Peary was a bit obsessed with getting all the glory.

So they went their separate ways and they took wildly different approaches to their race to the North Pole.

Cook was described as being part of a new wave of explorers. Taking a keen interest in the indigenous people he came across in the Arctic, he learned their dialects and adopted their diet. Walrus anyone?

He left for the pole in February 1908 with a party of nine natives and 11 light sledges pulled by

103 dogs. His plan was to follow an untried but promising route.

Peary, on the other hand, took a more imperialistic approach. Chasing fame at any cost, he cared for the local people's well-being, but only to the extent that it might be useful to him.

In July 1908, Peary left on his voyage to the Pole with a very large party indeed, including over 40 Inuit men, women and children, 70 tonnes of whale meat, the meat and blubber of 50 walruses, tonnes of coal, and nearly 50 heavy sledges and 246 dogs.

Now, both men claimed to reach the North Pole. But what happened on their return is where the story really gets interesting.

See, along the arduous way home, Cook met an American Hunter named Harry Whitney who offered him a trip back on a boat that was coming for him at the end of the summer. But Cook thought it would be faster to sledge another 700 miles down to a Danish trading post and catch a ship from there. (We’d opt for the boat, but each to their own.)

Given he was travelling light, Cook left all his heavy luggage in Whitney’s safe keeping, including 3 trunks of his very precious equipment and expedition records.

Eventually, Cook reached the trading post where he wired the details of his successful mission to the New York Herald! Hooray!

In a weird quirk of fate, the boat Whitney was waiting for was none other than Robert Peary’s ship, returning from his own exciting polar expedition.

There was no way in hell Peary was going to transport the trunks filled with proof that Cook had gotten to the North Pole first! So, Whitney had no other choice but to stash the trunks somewhere safe. Somewhere on the rocks in northern Greenland should do it!

When Peary heard that the newspapers were boasting Cook’s triumph, he was furious! As soon as he could, he sent news to The New York Times that he was in fact the first to reach the North Pole.

The media was in a frenzy. They even put out polls (polls on the Pole?) for people to vote on the man who should get the glory.

Most people were on team Cook, until Peary started his campaign, critiquing Cook’s lack of evidence (those darn missing trunks) and spreading the word about his dodgy mountain climbing claim (fair point).

Meanwhile, Peary refused to show anyone his own diary. Was he hiding something?

None of that seemed to matter because President Taft signed a bill recognising Peary as the first Arctic explorer to reach the North Pole. Well if the president said it, it must be true!

For 75 years, Peary was considered by citizens and textbooks alike as the clear winner. But in 1988, National Geographic commissioned a reexamination of Peary's records that had long been secret.

Did Peary ever get to the North Pole?

Will Cook’s evidence ever be found? Maybe it’s for sale on ebay!

And what does this all have to do with an insurance salesman named Ralph?

Previous episodes mentioned:

The Heroes and Idiots of Scientific Self Experimentation!

Alfred Wegener and the Theory of Continental Drift! With Tanja Pejic!

Why We Forgot The Cure For Scurvy

SOURCES:

Robert M Bryce’s Cook & Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved
RK Headland et al’s Transits of the Northwest Passage to the End of the 2022 Navigation Season
Bruce Henderson’s Who Discovered the North Pole?, in Smithsonian Magazine
Jessie Kratz’s Mystery of the Arctic Ice: Who was First to the North Pole, in US National Archives

Pieces of History

John Tierney’s How Dr. Cook Scooped The Times, TierneyLab, New York Times

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Sexist Science Behind Animal Testing

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 04 May 2023 18:00:00 -0000

In very intelligent and intricate ways, scientists can be a bit dumb sometimes.

Imagine a golden retriever as a stand-in for Brad Pitt. They’re both mammals, they’re both beautiful, and they both eat food. We can’t possibly see anything wrong with this situation.

Not too far from this absurd example is how the scientific community has thought about animal testing. Sure, mice and humans are both mammals, and both are beautiful (to their mother) but inside and out, there are some pretty big differences.

Did you know mice can’t spew? Apparently, their diaphragms are a bit wimpy and their stomachs are too bulbous. If we were mice, we’d be offended!

Anyhoo, that probably explains why vomiting didn’t crop up as a side effect during animal tests of drugs like Rolipram; a drug showing promising results in the fight against depression until human trials resulted in non-stop vomiting. Years of research and millions of dollars were literally flushed down the toilet because researchers ass-u-me’d that humans were the same as mice.

Another thing mice can’t do is have a stroke. They’re robust little critters, aren’t they, what with their plaque-free blood vessels? Unfortunately, this meant 114 potential stroke therapies initially tested on animals failed in human trials.

But that’s how it goes with science: 10% of the time you win, the other 90% you find nothing and keep scratching your head.

This doesn’t explain, however, why scientific research is so goddamn sexist. Regardless of pronouns and gender identity, biologically speaking, males and females are different. Research from more recent years shows that even on a cellular and genetic level, biological sex matters. Let’s hear that again… “on a cellular and genetic level, biological sex matters”!

And yet, many studies that we still reference for medical interventions today don’t take this into consideration.

Since 1923, if not earlier, scientists have excluded female animals in trials, even when studying effects on issues that only affect women. The argument was “fluctuating hormones would render the results uninterpretable”.

But wait, what about the male mice who, when housed together, establish a dominance hierarchy boosting testosterone levels of the alphas to 5 times that of the betas? But that’s not hormonal, right? That’s just dudes being dudes. Clearly, science hasn’t removed itself from the patriarchy.

So if sexism runs rampant in animal testing labs too, what are we going to do about it?

Thankfully, major funders of scientific research including the US National Institutes of Health, which handles 80,000 grants a year, now have a requirement that the research they fund take into account sex as a biological variable (or at least have a very good reason why not).

So, from genetically modified lab rats to simulations and AI, accompany us down the rabbit hole into some of the less well-publicised tales from the world of animals as proxy people, and join in a collective facepalm at the pervasiveness of sexism.

Previous episodes mentioned:

- Gain of Function Research and the Lab Leak Hypothesis! (& YouTube link)

- What Do We Do With The Immortal Quadrillionaires?

SOURCES:

The Atlantic - Medicine has a rate problem (It’s stranger than you think)

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics - The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal Experimentation

Nature - Males still dominate animal studies

The Guardian - Use of male mice skews drug research against women, study finds (by Hannah Devlin Science correspondent @hannahdev)

CNN - Lab rats are overwhelmingly male, and that’s a problem (by Katie Hunt)

NPR - Drugs That Work In Mice Often Fail When Tried In People

The Conversation - Of mice and men: why animal trial results don’t always translate to humans

European Animal Research Association - Animal research saves lives. So why do opponents say it is ineffective?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Quack Eye Doc "Fixes" Eyeballs With Sun And Magnifying Glass

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 06:48:00 -0000

There are some things we know not to do. Crossing the road without looking, not wearing a seatbelt…and looking at the sun. A fairly intrinsic lesson we all learned at some unidentifiable point in our lives.

But some people throughout history have rallied against this fundamental human law. One of them is an orange quack who ruled America for a brief, nightmarish period of time.

Another is an eyeball guy (an actual ophthalmologist) William Horatio Bates, born in 1860. But did this guy start out as a rule-breaking, sun-staring charlatan?

It seems Master Bates had a fairly normal life until 1902 when he went missing for six weeks. He was found not on his home continent of North America but across the ocean in England, claiming no recollection of his former life.

Later in his life, he went missing for eight years (EIGHT years!). This was back in the days when it was still possible to completely fall off the face of the Earth.

After these curious episodes, Bates' life resumed a rhythm of somewhat normalcy, at least to the untrained eye (see what we did there?). But in his field of ophthalmology, where he had once been considered a luminary, Bates stepped off the deep end.

This well-revered ophthalmologist developed a distinct hatred of glasses.

That’s basically eye doctor blasphemy! He’s lucky a mob didn’t come to raid his house Simpsons style.

Now, at this point in his career, Bates authored an entire book centred around his rejection of glasses. His mission was to cure people without them. And regardless of how noble of a mission this was, Bates had a couple of theories that, to be crystal clear, were absolute garbage.

Our friend Bates was convinced that eyeball exercises such as palming (yes, that term makes us nervous too) could cure eyesight… mkay.

And the final exercise he recommended for 20/20 vision, sans glasses? Oh yes, have a bit of a stare at the sun. Just stare right into the centre of that laser beam old boy, you’ll be fine.

It’s like something out of an old-school Batman episode where the evil villain has finally captured Adam West.

I mean, this solution is just as bad, if not worse, than other eye treatments that have been suggested across history. Ground up sapphires anyone? Some amniotic fluid perhaps?

Even better, his theory asserted that if you went blind using his methods, it was all just a mental illusion. Couldn’t possibly be the giant laser beam you were staring into. It’s all in your head!

So, what happened to Bates’ methods? Did he manage to seduce people with the promise of a return to 20/20 vision? And what actually happens to your eyeballs when you stare at the sun?

Previous Episode mentioned:

The History and Science of Raw Food!

SOURCES:

A unifying experience, The Guardian

Dr W H Bates Dies, An Eye Specialist, New York Times 11 July 1931

Science Says Why We Can't Look at the Sun, Scientific American

Staring at the Sun (U2 song), Wikipedia

The cure of imperfect sight by treatment without glasses, by William H Bates

The Mysterious Disappearance—and Strange Reappearance—of Dr. William Horatio Bates, Mentalfloss

The optical theories of W H Bates, Journal of the American Medical Association 81:2

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Good and Bad Ways to Find A Lost City

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Indiana Jones is a cool guy. An archaeologist, an adventurer who tore shit up, stumbled his way through tunnels and over invisible bridges to uncover priceless ancient artefacts.

But that’s Hollywood. In real life, ancient discoveries happen in far less exciting ways…Or do they?

The typical archaeological toolbox includes dental picks, trowels, brushes and measuring tapes. No archaeologist would blow an ancient city to smithereens. Right?

And only in the movies would someone accidentally lean on a wall to unveil the world's oldest known library. Right?

Incorrect. Both those things happened. And a lot of other cool shit too.

Much like Indiana, Heinrich Schliemann had a passion for the ancient. Born in 1822, he grew up listening to his corrupt Lutheran pastor father telling the Homeric stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey. As a young boy, he believed he would be the one to not only prove the city of Troy was real, but to actually find it.

Incredibly, he did find it, buried deep beneath the Turkish city of Hisarlik. Unfortunately, he had run out of patience after his lifelong search and decided to use dynamite, exploding and destroying the actual Troy of the actual story.

So now we know where Achilles and Hector fought. But we also know we will never see it because Schliemann blew it up. What a guy.

Another lost city founded by Alexander the Great was discovered by Charles Masson, an interesting character who was obsessed with finding ancient coins. But apparently, Alexander the Great doesn’t have much historical value because that site is now underneath Bagram Air Base. Yep, they covered it in concrete.

Where does modern science come into the picture? Uncovering history can’t all be disasters and accidents!

Well, let’s head to Greece to the ancient city of Helike where disaster struck (earthquake lights might have been involved. Yes earthquake lights are a thing). Due to soil liquefaction, this thriving city got swallowed, sinking deep beneath the ground.

Thanks to technology, in 1994, a magnetometer survey of an inland lagoon revealed the outlines of a buried building. Once the site was excavated (without dynamite), a large Roman building with standing walls was found. Cobblestones, clay roof tiles, pottery, legit old stuff.

So if you’re on the hunt for a lost city, when you find it, please, for the love of Pharaoh, don’t blow it up.

Maybe ask the locals. They might be able to lead you in the right direction - to Atlantis perhaps!

And what the hell do chickens have to do with discovering lost cities?

Tune in for all this and much much more.

SOURCES:

Image credits

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Body Of Christ, Or Rather, Just The Tip: The Tale Of Jesus' Foreskin

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 18:00:00 -0000

For centuries, religious relics have been the only means by which devout followers could interact with the divine. Let us journey into some of the gross holy relics. The bones of saints, the milk of the virgin Mary, perhaps a little finger of St Thomas.

St Francis Xavier’s toes were a big hit too. This saint died of exhaustion in 1552 after converting communities across Asia and leaving myriad churches in his wake. One devoted woman visiting his corpse bent to kiss his foot, bit off his toe and took it back to Portugal to display it in her own chapel.

Cuz that’s normal.

Even the nipples of a pious Hungarian princess became the subject of pilgrimages. Elizabeth of Thuringia devoted her life to helping the poor and died all too young at the hands of her brutal caretaker. It seems a tragic death makes one even more holy because mobs of Catholics couldn’t get enough of her. Just one strand of hair, a fingernail, perhaps a nibble of a nipple?

But why stop at blood, toes and nipples?

What about something even more precious? Like Jesus Christ’s foreskin.

The holy prepuce. The divine turtleneck. Now that’s a relic that would put a ring around your head.

Legend has it that Jesus’ foreskin has been responsible for perfumed mists, freak storms and the rings of Saturn. One account suggested that rubbing it upon the eyelids of the blind could make them see. So, foresight?

Now, JC’s circumcision was mentioned in the Bible and it’s depicted in numerous famous paintings, but no one talked about what happened to the offcuts. Many churches throughout Europe have claimed to be in ownership of the holy foreskin… but where is it really?

Like art travelling between galleries, early reports trace JC’s tip from a Byzantine Empress to King Charlemagne to Pope Leo III. They say it went from Rome to England and back to Rome again, found in Calcata in 1557. It was hidden in the cell of a captured German soldier who flogged it during the sacking of Rome. So sneaky.

By the way, we know this particular foreskin actually belonged to JC himself because Saint Bridget of Sweden had a vision of the Virgin Mary in the late fourteenth century who told her it was. Solid evidence.

Now, as time moved forward, science became more popular and the church became a tad self-conscious about JC’s private parts. Under pressure to banish Catholic practices that could be seen as culturally backward, the Vatican issued a decree in 1900 threatening ex-communication to anyone who wrote about the holy foreskin. Harsh but fair.

But then in the 1960s, a bunch of hippies made a big deal about it again. The turtleneck was back in fashion!

Calcata’s local priest, Father Dario Magnoni took to storing the holy bangle in a box under his bed or in the back of his wardrobe. Hmmm.

But then, before the Feast of the Holy Circumcision in 1983 (it was a kinda big deal back then), Father Magnoni discovered it was GONE.

No one wanted to talk about it. People in the village were upset. Rumours were rampant.

Did the Vatican steal Jesus’ foreskin so people would shut up about the Saviour’s penis?

What TF happened to the holy turtleneck?

SOURCES:

The World’s Grossest Catholic Relics

https://historycollection.com/worlds-grossest-catholic-relics/16/

NOTE – the pictures Rod showed Will came from here

The Holy Foreskin: Where is the Last Piece of the Body of Christ?

https://www.historicmysteries.com/holy-foreskin/

Whatever Happened To Jesus Christ's Foreskin?

https://www.wired.com/2006/12/whatever-happen/

How Jesus' foreskin became one of Christianity's most-coveted relics — and then disappeared

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/how-jesus-foreskin-became-one-of-christianity-s-most-coveted-relics-and-then-disappeared-1.6002421

The Holy Prepuce: A Lesser Known Relic of Jesus Christ

https://ucatholic.com/blog/the-holy-prepuce-a-lesser-known-relic-of-jesus-christ/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone Loves A Slinky And Other Accidental Toys

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Some of the best things in life were never meant to be. Just think of your favourite food, breed of dog or childhood toy - some of these were the result of accidents and batshit crazy experiments.

The good old fashioned slinky was accidental, superficially bland and, yes, a little bit dangerous.

Let’s go back to one particularly scintillating afternoon in the office of Richard James, a mechanical engineer working on his device to monitor horsepower. Boring, right? Until he knocked over a spring! Fascinated by what happened next - a perfect walking motion down a stack of books - Richard James knew he was onto something.

Eureka! The OG slinky.

Now, a lot of work goes into turning an engineer’s spring into a beloved toy. The metal gauge, the length - every aspect of this toy was carefully considered in the precise manner that only an engineer’s mind could perform. And as for the name, well that took particular dedication from Richard’s wife, Betty. She nailed it.

But would anyone be interested in this toy? Of course, kids are the harshest toy critics, so clever Richard enlisted help from the local neighbourhood kids for one vital step in Slinky success - product testing.

Richard’s next task was to get the toy stores to stock his new, strangely simple toy. After much haranguing, Richard got the Slinky into just one store in Philadelphia and came up with a neat in-store marketing schtick.

And then he sold a tonne of Slinkies and became a millionaire?

Well, not quite.

Richard and Betty didn’t quite walk away with the spring in their step you’d imagine. Evangelical Christian sects and slumping sales were just some of the challenges they faced.

As for the sales, well that didn’t quite go how we’d all expect, given that the Slinky is still around today.

Like all toys, the simple Slinky has its fair share of dangers. Can toys be murderous?

And will ChatGPT reveal any un-wholesome truths about the Slinky?

SOURCES:

Art of Play: The History of the Slinky
Encyclopedia.com: James, Betty & James, Richard
Wikipedia: Richard T. James, Betty James, Slinky
Today I Found Out: THE SLINKY WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED TO BE USED AS A TENSION SPRING IN A BATTLESHIP ENGINE HORSEPOWER METER
Smithsonian Magazine: The Accidental Invention of the Slinky
New York Times: Betty James, Who Named the Slinky Toy, Is Dead at 90
ABC Eye Witness News: Woman uses Slinky to keep squirrels from bird feeder
CBS News: Slinky Trivia
The Straight Dope: Did the inventor of the Slinky join a cult in Bolivia?
LinkedIn: The Somewhat Shocking Story of the Slinky by Richard Sharp
The Atlantic: The Story of the Slinky. How one klutzy move launched a toy empire
List25.com: 25 Most Dangerous Kids’ Toys Ever Made

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Smart Toilets, Brain Pics, Corpse Comfort, Nuclear Moon, Space Fashion, and Super Conductivity

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 23:34:45 -0000

The whole of science is stuffed full of delicious stories, and we really want to tell you every damn one of them. But we know our little human brains can’t absorb too much at one time.

So today we’re introducing our new line of Wholesome SnacksTM, where we bring you a selection of new and tasty tales that have been consumed, concentrated and reconstituted just for you.

Get your bib out because, in today’s snack pack, we’ve got some real doozies for you.

Our first short story starts with the first map of an entire insect brain - specifically, the brain of a fruit fly larvae. Scientists recently created the most advanced brain map to date, slicing the baby fruit fly brain into thousands of individual tissue samples and mapping connections neuron by neuron. It took….quite a while. The findings were pretty interesting and unexpected - here’s to hoping we see scientists move on to even more exciting species in the near future. You’re next, mice!

So, have you ever thought about how you might keep warm in your grave during winter? Well High Gate Cemetery, Britain’s most famous resting place, is apparently considering heated graves to protect stonework in extreme weather. Sudden changes in temperature can result in unacceptable damage, such as the cracked tiles on Julius Beer’s tomb. God forbid the mausoleums look messy - we’ve got celebrities in here, people!

Now on to medical data. Would a smart toilet leak your private info? According to Stanford University, there’s a version of a smart toilet in the lab that can look up your biomarkers and monitor signs of disease. But there are ethical and legal considerations to this, like the possibility of your data transmitted online being hacked. So someone might discover your urine flow is a bit light, or your potassium is low and you need to eat more bananas. Who cares? But information such as the toilet user being pregnant or having cancer getting leaked? Not ideal.

Today in space news - Rolls Royce has secured funds to research how micro nuclear reactor technology might power a moon base. It’s exciting to see this research-backed as we prepare to send humans to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. But mostly we’re interested to see these reactors decked out with all the Rolls Royce trimmings - leather lining, cup holders, perhaps a control panel in mahogany and if they’re really lucky they’ll get a coveted sneaky RR umbrella?

Still in space - the puffy moon suits worn by the Apollo astronauts half a century ago are no longer space couture, so NASA has unveiled a new spacesuit design for the return to the moon. While they haven’t always had a great record for addressing their problems with sexism (remember the tampon fiasco in the 1980s?), NASA’s new Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit is more flexible and actually designed to fit both men and women. It also looks pretty cool and we have the picture to prove it.

And finally in historic achievement news, researchers at the University of Rochester have created a superconducting material at both a temperature and pressure low enough for practical applications. In other words, you don't have to super chill it, squish it or keep it in the super fridge. Superconductivity can give us more efficient electronics and better medical imaging. Or even better - levitating high-speed trains.

You’re gonna love these weird and wonderful news bites from around the globe - so wrap your ears around these morsels and dig in!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The History and Future of the Weekend: Where's My Four-Day Work Week?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 17:00:00 -0000

It’s simple. We work too much. There’s evidence that shows we work too much and it’s not a fun time for anyone. So what would a world with shortened work hours and no loss in pay look like?

Pretty damn good. You’d be a fool to disagree.

The weekend is a sacred thing. We live for it, we get our rest from it, but the two-day weekend as we know it has only been around for about a hundred years. The history of the work cycle across the globe is actually quite varied and at times, it gets pretty wacky.

Pretend for a moment you’re back in Ancient Roman times and the days of the ‘nundinae’. You get one day off school a week and it’s market day. You’re only allowed to set up shop or for a real treat, you could go to the market and spend your coin. There’s also church, if you’re lucky. Not much of a day of rest, but it could be worse.

Then there’s England in the 17th century, where we see a glimmer of the beginnings of the two-day weekend. Along with Sunday, workers sneaked Monday off (they called it ‘Saint Monday’), to go to church and worship. And by ‘go to church’ and ‘worship’ we mean, ‘go to the pub and get pissed’. Unsurprisingly, workers liked this. Bosses, not so much.

Goodbye, Saint Monday. You’ve been fun.

None of this really sounds ideal but don’t worry - it gets worse.

Fast forward to 1929 and the Soviet Union, where Yuri Larin, economist and politician with a little too much imagination (to put it politely) decided it would be great to abolish weekends altogether. This aimed to both solve the current post-revolution economic problem and help to crush the power of religion. Fun! Thankfully, this only lasted a couple of years and workers returned to having their one day of rest per week.

While work cycles still vary across different cultures, the two-day weekend idea that was first instituted by an American cotton mill in 1908 has stuck. But can working conditions become even better for us as time goes on?

We know that 2023 is not where history ends, and there might be hope for us yet. Over the last five years, a not-for-profit community called 4 Day Week Global have organised a series of pilot studies around the world to trial a four-day workweek. We swoon at the thought.

There are varied ways that companies are rolling out the shortened work hours strategy, but the good news is that they’ve seen increased productivity and a huge boost in general well-being amongst workers across the board.

Is it realistic to run the workforce this way? Can we still generate profit within a shortened week? Could this really be the way of the future?! We’ll let the stats speak for themselves.

PRIOR EPISODES MENTIONED:

SOURCES:

A Failed Soviet Experiment Offers A Warning To Today’s Burnout Generation, in AOGA Eye on Design
Four-Day Work Weeks: Current Research and Practice, by Rex L Facer II and Lori L Wadsworth, in Connecticut Law Review
Soviet Experience with Shortening the Workweek, by David W Bronson in the ILR Review
Who invented the weekend? BBC Bitesize
Working Hours, by Charlie Giattino, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser, on Our World in Data

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ethics, Homophobia and a Happy Ending: Investigating The Tearoom Trade

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 00:01:34 -0000

Let’s go back to the 1960s. A time of Richard Nixon, moon obsession, hippies, the Vietnam war and… no ethics committees.

Born in Oklahoma in 1930, Robert Allan Humphreys was a man of many disguises. Ordained an Episcopalian priest in 1955, Humphreys changed his name to Laud after William Laud, a seventeenth-century Archbishop of Canterbury (he was very holy).

Humphreys followed the traditional 1960s path…got married, got kicked out of the church and started a PhD in sociology focussing on male-to-male sex in the St Louis area public restrooms. Then he destroyed a picture of Nixon and got sent to jail for 3 months where he was offered an academic position (naturally!).

This just got a little more interesting.

In the days of keeping up appearances and things being illegal which definitely should NOT be illegal, there was more homosexual activity happening in public restrooms (otherwise known as “tearooms”) than anyone cared to hear about.

But Humphreys was determined to understand exactly what was going on, who was doing what, and why. He wanted up close and personal details.

Now, being a professional and someone sincerely dedicated to the betterment of humanity, Humphreys began conducting some serious research. This included going undercover as a “watch queen”, gathering data on the who, what and when and eventually gaining the confidence of some of the men he observed.

12 months later, Humphreys pops on a disguise and rocks up to the private homes of a bunch of his original “subjects” claiming to be a health service interviewer, interviewing them about their marital status, race, job and so on.

Oh, did we mention he found them by sneaking a peek at their licence plates outside the tearooms and asked his police buddy to run the addresses? Minor detail.

Could Humphreys have gone about his research in a more honest and less invasive manner? Yes.

Did Humphrey’s findings have the potential to threaten the social standings of the men whose extremely personal information he collected without consent? Absolutely.

But, although Humphreys may not have had the most above-board ethical approach, he has since proven to help move humanity in the right direction.

Following his investigation into the tearooms, Humphrey’s publications helped legitimise American gay and lesbian studies within sociology and challenged the notion of homosexuality as deviance. It also led to fewer men being arrested for having consensual sex. Pretty good, no?

But the question on everyone’s lips is, does the end justify the means?

PRIOR EPISODES MENTIONED:

SOURCES:

Sociology Professor accused of beating student

NY Times June 10, 1968

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/06/10/77178200.html?pageNumber=25

OBITUARY Robert Allan Humphreys; Priest, Author L.A. TIMES ARCHIVES AUG. 26, 1988

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-08-26-mn-797-story.html

Humphreys, Laud (1930-1988) by Stephen O. Murray

http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/humphreys_l_S.pdf

Biography - Source: Stephen O. Murray, "Humphreys, Laud (1930-1988)," An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, & Queer Culture, http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/humphreys_l.html, last accessed June 20, 2007.

https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt187025pr/entire_text/

Laud Humphreys and the Tearoom Sex Study

https://drjkoch.org/Intro/Readings/Humphreys.htm

Laud Humphreys and the Tearoom Sex Study -

Dr. Joan Sieber, Visiting Research Scholar, The Kennedy Institute, 1977-78, and Professor of Psychology, California State University, Hayward

https://drjkoch.org/Intro/Readings/Humphreys.htm

Ethics I metal health research case study: The Tearoom Trade Study

James M. DuBois

https://sites.google.com/a/narrativebioethics.com/emhr/contact/the-tearoom-trade-study-1

Laud Humphreys and Research Ethics

Babbie, Earl. The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy; Bingley Vol. 24, Iss. 3-5, (2004): 12-19. DOI:10.1108/01443330410790849

Editorial Introduction: Moving Beyond the Controversy: Remembering the Many Contributions of Laud Humphreys to Sociology and the Study of Sexuality

Schacht, Steven P. The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy; Bingley Vol. 24, Iss. 3-5, (2004): 3.

America’s Toe-Tapping Menace - By Laura M. Mac Donald

Sept. 2, 2007

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/opinion/02macdonald.html

Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places

RA ‘Laud’ Humphreys (1970)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New York Pneumatic Subway Brawl: Alfred Beach vs Boss Tweed

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 03:38:14 -0000

Alfred Ely Beach was a good and decent man. Born in 1826 in Springfield Massachusetts, Alfred loved his family, he loved the opera and he loved inventing. In fact, he invented the world’s first practical typewriter. He was legit.

Hailing from a rich family in the newspaper business, Alfred made his way to New York where he learned the family trade. Heading up Scientific American Magazine, turning it into one of the most successful, powerful, and influential weeklies of its kind, Beach rubbed shoulders with the greats. Samuel F. B. Morse (inventor of Morse code), R. J. Gatling (inventor of the machine gun) and Thomas Edison himself called Beach friend.

New York inventor life in the mechanical age was riveting!

But there was one problem. The traffic… was horrendous. The hustle and bustle of Manhattan had become unbearable.

So Beach was determined to find a solution. Eureka... A New York Pneumatic Subway!

Beach had the brains, the money and the drive to make his idea work. Soon, all New Yorkers would travel via an underground tube in lavish style, sucked or blown to their destination of choice. No more arduous commutes. No more collisions with horse poo, rickety carts and polluted air.

But there was just one person standing in Beach’s way: Boss Tweed, Mr Corruption himself.

William Magar Tweed was the worst of the worst. Controlling the Democratic political machines of both city and state, Tweed had a monopoly on everything. He held everyone in the palm of his hand and nothing went under his nose without him getting a pretty penny from it.

Everyone was afraid to do business with Boss Tweed. And no one ever stood up to him, except our good and decent inventor, Alfred Beach.

Knowing Tweed would never grant permission for him to build his magnificent pneumatic subway, Beach decided to play Tweed at his own game. Applying for a building permit for an underground postal tube, Beach and his team dug in secret for 58 nights. But this was no postal tube.

After 2 years, spending the equivalent of $7m of his own money, Beach had built a full-blown, high-class New York Pneumatic Subway.

So where is it today?

What happened to this magnificent invention?

Was there a subway brawl between Alfred Beach and Boss Tweed?

SOURCES:

American Heritage - Alfred Ely Beach And His Wonderful Pneumatic Underground Railway
New York Times - The Broadway Tunnel
Damn Interesting - The Remarkable Pneumatic People-Mover
Scientific American - Scientific American’s owner built the first New York Subway

IMAGE CREDITS

New York Times images from The New York Times, 27 Feb 1870
Other images from the Illustrated Description of the Broadway Pneumatic Underground Railway

PRIOR EPISODES MENTIONED:

Thou Art The Man! (Or, The Great Moon Hoax)

YouTube: https://youtu.be/yyEbU7y7vA8

OmnyFM: https://omny.fm/shows/the-wholesome-show/thou-art-the-man-or-the-great-moon-hoax

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Gastric Digest: Beaumont's Experiments on Alexis Saint Martin

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 00:18:39 -0000

How far would you go to get to the truth, or perhaps more pertinently, to the bottom of things?

William Beaumont was one dedicated scientist. Some might say ethically… ambiguous, but hey, he was born in 1785, so, old school. Later becoming known as the Father of Gastric Physiology, Beaumont did whatever he had to do in order to understand the juicy details of the digestive system.

But did he go too far?

Although not medically trained in the traditional sense, Beaumont began his career as an apprentice with a doctor. Recognised as a judicious and safe practitioner in the different applications of the medical profession, his dedication to understanding the anatomy of the human body prompted Beaumont to keep a journal describing daily events and the symptoms and treatments of patients.

He also kept a very detailed journal of the 10 years of experiments he did on a poor old soul named Alexis Bidagan, otherwise known as St. Martin.

St. Martin was a young Canadian man, horrifically shot in the stomach at close range, leaving him half-dead with a gaping hole in his stomach. Luckily for St. Martin (or perhaps unluckily?) Beaumont was the man at the scene.

No one thought he’d live more than 36 hours, but St Martin carried on an entire year thanks to a few handy poultices and the attentive care of Beaumont. And then he got better. Kinda…

St Martin didn’t really get back to normal. In fact, the hole in his stomach never quite closed up, leaving him with what can only be described as another digestive hole. Or if you’re Beaumont, an incredible opportunity to understand the digestive system.

So the terribly “kind” Beaumont took St Martin on as his very own chore boy and thus began the experiments. 10 years of prodding, poking and shoving meats, cabbage and more into a hole that no one should have.

There was nothing Beaumont wouldn’t do… or taste for that matter.. to get to the bottom of the digestive system.

SOURCES:

Science History Institute: Probing the Mysteries of Human Digestion
Smithsonian Magazine: This Man’s Gunshot Wound Gave Scientists a Window Into Digestion
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery: A DEBT TO ALEXIS: THE BEAUMONT-ST MARTIN STORY
Wikipedia: William Beaumont
Encyclopedia of World Biography: William Beaumont Biography
My North: The Gruesome Medical Breakthrough of Dr. William Beaumont on Mackinac Island
Guinea Pig Zero: Alexis St. Martin (1794-1880): The Intrepid Guinea Pig of the Great Lakes

PODCASTS MENTIONED:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Great Stork Derby: Posthumous Trolling from Charles Vance Millar

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Charles Vance Millar was the greatest troll ever. Born in Aylmer, Ontario in 1854, Charles was a fan of practical jokes. Some might have described him as a cantankerous man, capricious and out to do whatever the hell he wanted to do.

Extremely intelligent, and top of his class in law school, Charles built a silly amount of wealth by investing in companies and real estate. Then he bought some racehorses as wealthy men do.

But he was also an ass. With no love, no living relatives and a fortune worth 5 million in today’s money, Millar collapsed dead on the evening of Halloween in 1926.

So who got all his money?

Soon after his death, articles started appearing in newspapers about the curious nature of Millar’s will. Some interesting clauses were found that ended up shaking the entire city and pissing a bunch of people off.

Millar’s money was to go to the mother who gave birth to the greatest number of children in the ten years after his death.

And so the race began.

Women went wild! The government tried to step in, issuing a bill to escheat the estate and nick all the cash but that couldn’t stop the women. They talked emphatically and persistently until the town seethed with indignation, eventually turning over the government’s rule.

Tune in to hear about some of the families who were contenders for the Millar’s loot.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, contraception was legalised in Canada in 1969.

References

Bearing the Burden: The Great Toronto Stork Derby 1926 - 1938, Masters Dissertation by Elizabeth Marjorie Wilton at Dalhousie University
Comstock Act of 1873, at The First Amendment Encyclopedia
Ghost Road: and Other Forgotten Stories of Windsor, by Marty Gervais
How A Dead Millionaire Convinced Dozens Of Women To Have As Many Babies As Possible, by David Goldenberg on FiveThirtyEight
It’s a long story: The history of birth control in Canada
The Toronto 'Stork Derby' Baby Race, by Barbara Mikkelson on Snopes

The Will of a Troll, by Five Guys Facts

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How To Sabotage Your Workplace with OG Spy William Joseph Donovan

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 05:51:38 -0000

Is your workplace overrun with unqualified managers, red tape and bureaucracy?

Are you asked to sit in on arduous meetings with no real consequence when you’ve got deadlines coming out of your ears?

Maybe that’s just office politics.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s a deliberate ploy against you, decades-long in the making with deep roots in espionage and sabotage. Welcome, friends, to the world of citizen saboteurs.

It all dates back to 1883 to the father of American intelligence, William Joseph Donovan. “Wild Bill” they called him and oh was he wild. After studying military strategy and combat tactics, Donovan formed his own troop known as the Silk Stocking Boys (you had to be there).

He chased down Mexican bandits and rallied men to commit feats of bravery - sometimes under orders, sometimes off his own bat. With a bullet in his knee, Donovan lead his men through German fire, refusing to turn back when even the American tanks were retreating. A heavily decorated war hero, Wild Bill was a badass.

But, not everything he did was obvious to the untrained eye.

Working for a private secret organisation, Donovan started gathering intelligence on the developments throughout Europe leading up to World War 2. This attracted the attention of MI6, and that’s when Wild Bill started playing with the elites - Churchill, Roosevelt, movie stars and aristocrats - they all loved him. Heading up the Office of Strategic Services, which was the precursor to the CIA, Donovan was instrumental in a colossal number of acts of sabotage.

Eventually, he got his people to build a manual centred around the idea that sabotage is a game that anyone can play. You don’t need guns, bombs and aeroplanes. Sometimes all you need is to be annoying.

With instructions for managers and workers alike, Donovan’s book was filled with genius ideas to piss your enemy off - just enough to discombobulate them, but not get yourself caught.

I’ll be damned. We’re under attack.

SOURCES:

Vanity Fair - Spymaster General: The adventures of Wild Bill Donovan and the “Oh So Social” O.S.S.
Simple Sabotage - The Simple Sabotage Field Manual - Strategic Services Field Manual No.3 (1944)
Central Intelligence Agency - The Office of Strategic Services: America's First Intelligence Agency
Britannica - William J. Donovan - United States diplomat and general
Fandom - William J. Donovan

Support sources:

The Business Insider - The 16 best ways to sabotage your organization's productivity, from a CIA manual published in 1944
Corporate Rebels - Advice From The CIA: How To Sabotage Your Workplace
Wikipedia - William J. Donovan
National Park Service - William J. Donovan
Irish America Magazine - “Wild Bill” Donovan: Irish-American War Hero and Superspy

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recast - Dmitry Belyaev's Secret Quest To Domesticate The Fox

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0000

Our soft, human brains have been bested by 2022 so we are taking a quick break over the Christmas period and will be back assaulting your senses in Jan 2023. But because we don't want your ears to go unentertained, we're digging back into the archives for eps that have made us squirm, think or vomit (or hopefully, all three!). Today, we're separating the lupine from the canine from the vulpine. Or rather, how did wolves turn into dogs and why don’t foxes fit in?

The Soviet Union in the 1930s was not a great place to be. And while we wouldn’t ever say they suffered the most, one group who experienced what might be called ‘interesting’ challenges were geneticists.

You see at the time, genetic, biological and agricultural research was dominated by a bloke by the name of Trofim Denisovich Lysenko. And he had some… interesting theories. One in particular was that you could educate plants to turn into other plants. Educate the rye into wheat. You know the trick. Agricultural alchemy.

Ok, that’s crackpot.

But these views (Lysenkoism) ended up the only acceptable theory in the Soviet Union at the time. Genetics was officially declared “a bourgeois pseudoscience”. In fact some geneticists - including rising star of genetics Nikolai Belyaev - went missing in the night, never to be seen again. Just for his science.

But Nikolai’s brother Dmitry Belyaev wanted to fight back.

So at the age of 20 he launched a secret quest in the middle of the Stalinist Soviet Union to repudiate Lysenko, keep the genetic flame burning for his brother - and for the sake of actual science of genetics and the non-actual science of cuteness, domesticate the fox!

Gaining work as a lab technician Dmitry carried out breeding programs to breed the softest fox fur imaginable, and to answer deeper questions of domestication. Why had wolves turned into dogs but foxes remained wild? What brought about cuteness, and strange patches and colourings?

And so, framing his experiment as an effort to improve the production of furs he launched a study that still continues today. What happens when you try to domesticate a fox? And, perhaps the most important question science has posed - can you manufacture cuteness?

Sources:

How to Tame a Fox (And Build a Dog) by Lee Alan Dugatkin and Lyudmila Trut

The Gulag Archipelago

Dmitry Belyaev

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recast - The Sugar Experiments of Vipeholm

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0000

We all know that sugar is bad for our teeth.

But... how did we come to know that?

It’s fairly common to see a healthy set of pearly whites now, but scroll back just a few decades, this wasn’t the case. A study in Sweden in the 1930’s found that even 3 year old children had cavities in 83% of their teeth.

That’s bad. That’s real bad.

See, the Swedes love their sweets. They even have a special term for Saturday Candy!

With the knowledge we have today, the connection between candy consumption and cavities is blatantly obvious. But back then, they were still trying to figure out why people had black teeth… or no teeth at all.

In fact during the World Wars, toothlessness was so prevalent in the United States that the military restricted recruits to men who had six teeth intact. As long as you had six teeth, you were good to go.

But what was to be done? At that point, dentists were divided on the cause of dental decay. Was it due to an underlying disease? Was it due to overall diet? Or… was it candy? (Thankfully people had figured out by then that tooth worms weren’t to blame).

So, The National Board of Sweden decided to undertake a long term nutritional study to determine the root cause of dental cavities once and for all. Aptly named the Vipeholm Hospital sugar experiments!

They did in fact determine the cause (yes, it’s sugar), but the way they went about it was, well… not so ethical.

Sources

The New Yorker - How to eat candy like a Swedish person
History of Dentistry - History of Dental Caries and Cariology
CNN Health - The Swedish cavity experiments: How dentists rotted the teeth of the mentally handicapped to study candy’s effect
Atlas Obscura - An Adorable Swedish Tradition Has Its Roots in Human Experimentation
Wikipedia - Vipeholm experiments

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recast - What Happened on Easter Island, and Why it Matters

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Easter Island is about as tiny and remote as you can get on the surface of our planet. It’s just 23 kilometres long (on its longest side), and as close as you can get to the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility. So you’d be forgiven if you’ve never heard of it.

But of course, you have.

You’ve heard of Easter Island - or Rapa Nui, as it is known to locals and should be known to everyone - because soon after it was settled by intrepid Polynesian explorers around the 12th century, the new inhabitants took up a fascinating cultural practice of carving and erecting thousands of Moai, or giant stone heads, along the circumference of the island. They brought the inhabitants spiritual protection and later, pop culture fame.

But you’ve probably also heard of Easter Island because sometime after the locals began erecting these thousands of Moai, the population - and culture - of the island collapsed. From a fertile paradise with perhaps ten thousand happy, farming, statue-building inhabitants, by the 20th century, there were barely a few hundred islanders, and the island itself was an arid relic of what once was. Archaeological expeditions described it as an exhausted terrain. The Moai were abandoned.

But what was to blame for such destruction?

The leading theory has been that the people of Rapa Nui over-exploited their own resources, leading to civil war, mass stone head tipping and ruin. This makes Easter Island a poster child for human folly and the dangers of climate change.

But is this theory right? Or is the actual story perhaps more prosaic than that? What other factors (*ahem* racism) could possibly be (*cough* genocide) at play here (*mumbles* lies about cannibalism to justify Christian-ising the place)?

Join Dr’s Will and Rod as they get to the bottom of the destruction of the forgotten people of Rapa Nui.

Sources

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recast - The People Who Drink Their Own Urine

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Our soft, human brains have been bested by 2022 so we are taking a quick break over the Christmas period and will be back assaulting your senses in Jan 2023. But because we don't want your ears to go unentertained, we're digging back into the archives for eps that have made us squirm, think or vomit (or hopefully, all three!). Today, we try and understand why oh why people drink their own urine.

Ok... to people who don't do it, it's weird and gross and wrong. But to people who do do it, it's basically the golden fountain of youth.

We have been fascinated with our own urine for a while now (humans that is, not the two of us). Back in medieval times, urine was considered to be a crucial diagnostic tool. Using a urine wheel, these medieval folks would diagnose disease based on the colour, smell, and taste (yes, taste) of a person's wee. Presumably by the time the colour got to ‘black as very dark horn’ the prognosis was not excellent.

This practice morphed into more urine-related fun times, specifically uromancy - a form of divination by studying urine. AKA Piss Prophets.

And then we come to urophagia. The weird gross quack medicine that is drinking your own urine! Urine was used in several ancient cultures for various health, healing and cosmetic purposes…and still is today.

Coen van der Kroon is a present-day advocate and has written an entire book researching both the history and present-day uses of urine. The book is very aptly called The Golden Fountain.

You’ll be relieved to know that van der Kroon tackles his subject with sensitivity and conviction. The book is not only a comprehensive history of urine use but a user-friendly guide to urine’s practical application. The health benefits and life-enhancing properties he (and his devotees) claim are numerous. Revitalised energy, a cure for depression, immune system boosting…

Why on earth have we not caught onto this earlier?

You may not have ever wanted to know about this practice, but your intrepid explorers at The Wholesome Show have done the hard yards for you today - so sit back, pour yourself a glass of something delicious, and enjoy!

Sources

Consciousness and Cognition: The inhibitory spillover effect: Controlling the bladder makes better liars

health: Why You're a Better Liar When You Have to Pee

Science Alert: These Urine-Fuelled Socks Generate Enough Power to Transmit Wireless Signals

American Journal of Nephrology: The medicinal use of urine

22 words: 20 things to do with Urine besides flushing it

Buzzfeed: 31 Things You Should Definitely Know About Pee

Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris: Piss Prophets and the Wheel of Urine

The Yoga Institute: Coen van der Kroon

The Golden Fountain - Coen can der Kroon

BBC: Please can everyone stop drinking their own urine?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aliens Told Me Dolphins Can Talk: The John C Lilly Story

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 20:45:40 -0000

Talking with animals and aliens is the stuff of children’s stories and conspiracy theorists. But for John Cunningham Lilly, it was his life's work.

So, who on earth is John Cunningham Lilly?

At the age of 16, most of us can barely organise our way out of a paper bag, hold more than a grunting conversation with our friends, or ask anything intelligent of anyone.

But Lilly wasn't just anyone. See, at 16 he had a pretty profound question: whether the mind could render itself sufficiently objective to study itself.

Woah.

It became his life's work trying to answer that question. Where it took him may surprise you.

Early in Lilly’s career, it led him to become the first scientist to locate the pain and pleasure centres in the brain. And the first to... artificially stimulate them.

But, you don’t study techniques for stimulating pain and pleasure in the brain without the FBI, the CIA, Air Force Intelligence, the Office of Naval Intelligence, the National Security Agency, Army Intelligence, and the State Department all becoming interested.

So when Lilly realised that furthering this research meant the weaponisation of it, he abandoned the research and found another way to answer his question.

Flipping the script, Lilly decided that sensory deprivation might be a pathway to understanding the mind. His quest to be cut off from sight, sound, temperature and gravity led him to invent the first-ever isolation tank. Not only was it the most relaxing thing he had ever been in, his time in the quiet, wet darkness led him to find “other things”. He experienced presences, both known and unknown. He eventually began to see through to another reality.

At this point in his career, after guidance from some alien beings and a chance encounter with the gargantuan brain of a pilot whale, Lilly’s secret mission to study the human mind turned to the study of bottlenose dolphins.

Lilly was determined to bring humans and dolphins into close proximity, so they could learn from each other and humans could teach the dolphins English.

This work led him to believe that dolphins deserved a seat at the United Nations, and the creation of the little-known Order of the Dolphin.

But did Lilly actually manage to talk to animals? And did he ever actually answer that driving question - can we understand our own mind?

Sources

Bruce Clarke’s John Lilly, The Mind of the Dolphin, and Communication Out of Bounds
Gerard A Houghton: John Lilly Obituary
Alex Leyman’s John C. Lilly: The Mad Scientist Who Gave LSD to Dolphins
John C Lilly’s Dolphins' Complex Communication
John C Lilly’s Autobiography The Scientist: A Metaphysical Autobiography [described by the New Age Journal as “at times naive and frustrating”]
John C Lilly / Ecco - Dolphin Voice, uploaded to Youtube by musick2138
Christopher Riley’s The dolphin who loved me: the Nasa funded project that went wrong.
Maria Temming and Anthony Crider’s The Order of the Dolphin: Origins of SETI

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Great Feather Heist

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Humans really love a hobby and it seems the more obscure the hobby, the more obsessed we become. But if you’re looking for the gold medal in obscure and obsessive, you need look no further than Victorian salmon fly-tying.

Back in the Victorian era ‘recipes’ for the perfect fly-tying involved the most exotic of materials - fancy threads, unusual bits of fur and, most importantly, exotic and rare feathers.

Of course, you’d imagine the point of creating these elaborate flys is to sucker in the biggest possible fish.

But salmon don’t give a shit about the colour or the beauty of flies. They eat anything that looks and behaves insectish.

But people that got into this hobby, didn’t use them to fish. Don’t be ridiculous. The idea of dropping one of their creations into the water - better yet having it scarfed down by a gross fish - was horrifying. The same goes for today. The overwhelming majority of the 21st-century fly-tyers have no idea how to fish. It’s all about bragging rights and respect or something…

And one of the most infamous-and-modern fly-tying obsessed humans goes by the name of Edwin Rist. Rist came across fly-tying when he was 10 years old and became infatuated with tying the old Victorian recipes that called for the most exotic feathers you can imagine. Hanging out on the internet forums, Edwin quickly realized such fancy ingredients don’t come cheap.

Luckily young Edwin had another obsession to distract him from elaborate fly-tying pursuits: he was also a prodigy flautist. But to be a truly competitive flute-guy, he needed a bloody excellent flute. And they too are not cheap. So, after getting into the Royal Academy of music he started to think…how could he make some serious cash?

It’s here we meet the collections of Alfred Russel Wallace, a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist, illustrator and Charles Darwin competitor. In the mid-1800s Wallace had murdered (sorry) collected a huge variety of critters, including many thousands of birds. Most of his collection went to The Natural History Museum at Tring.

This collection is of immense historical significance and contains specimens that are exceedingly rare and irreplaceable. But when Rist found out about this collection he thought, damn that’s a lot of delicious, and lucrative, fly-tying feathers.

So to further his flute career, he did the obvious thing: he hatched a plan to rob the museum and sell the feathers on the infamous dark-feather fly-tying under-web.

But how did it all play out? Did Edwin do the deed? Did he flog enough feathers to buy his dream flute? And …did he get away with it?

Previous episodes mentioned:

How To Hide A Battleship

Non Fungible Tulips

Sources:

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century (2019) Kirk Wallace Johnson

One Obsessed Musician, 299 Birds, and a Very Weird Crime (National Geographic)

The Great Feather Heist: The curious case of a young American’s brazen raid on a British museum’s priceless collection (Smithsonian)

Why The Feather Heist is the Most Bizarre Heist Story You'll Ever Read (Literature Lust)

Bird skins stolen in museum raid (BBC August 2009)

On the Hunt for Hundreds of Rare Birds Stolen From a Museum (Audubon)

Musician sentenced for rare bird skins theft (BBC April 8, 2011)

Natural History Museum thief ordered to pay thousands (BBC July 30, 2011)

Alfred Russel Wallace (Wikipedia)

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How To Hide A Battleship

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 02:12:35 -0000

Battleships are very large, belch smoke and move pretty slowly. If you were tasked with hiding one out on the open water, how would you go about doing it?

This has been a long-standing challenge and the military’s best attempts were all pretty average. Low visibility grey was their answer. Not a great answer, but an answer.

In April 1917, German U-boats were sinking 8 battleships a day! Grey battleships were not cutting it.

The person who came forward with a solution was no less than an artist from the British Army, Norman Wilkinson. His brilliant idea? It’s impossible to camouflage ships, so let’s do the total opposite.

Wilkinson’s aim was not to conceal the battleships but to confuse the enemy. He developed a radical camouflage scheme that used bold shapes and violent contrasts of colour and coined it dazzle camouflage.

These ships look like floating cubist paintings. They are entirely ridiculous. You can probably guess the army’s reaction. For an institution that prided itself on being sneaky and subtle, this was far too radical and bright.

During a demonstration of dazzle, it’s said that a confused U.S. admiral went off, yelling, “How the hell do you expect me to estimate the course of a God-damn thing all painted up like that?”.

Wilkinson was subsequently asked to help set up an American dazzle department under the Navy’s Bureau of Construction and Repair.

But it turns out that the history of dazzle camouflage is not such a simple story.

Wilkinson claimed the idea. But, aside from nature having perfected dazzle camouflage over millennia (hello zebras on the savanna), quite a few other chaps came up with pretty much the exact same strategy.

While it’s entertaining to try and untangle who deserves the ultimate dazzle crown, there’s another question that really needs answering: did dazzle camouflage actually work?

Sources:

Norman Wilkinson (artist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Wilkinson_(artist)
Norman Wilkinson https://artuk.org/discover/artists/wilkinson-norman-18781971
Norman Wilkinson CBE RI https://darnleyfineart.com/artist/norman-wilkinson/
WW1: How did an artist help Britain fight the war at sea? https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/how-did-an-artist-help-britain-fight-the-war-at-sea/zmkx8xs
Toy Boat Camouflage http://camoupedia.blogspot.com/2012/07/toy-boat-camouflage.html
Camoufleuse: The Dazzling of Women at War https://modernismmodernity.org/articles/camoufleuse
Dazzle camouflage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage
Women Camouflage Artists http://camoupedia.blogspot.com/2010/03/women-camouflage-artists.html
How the Absurd "Dazzle" Camouflage Strategy Ended WWI Carnage https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/how-the-absurd-dazzle-camouflage-strategy-ended-wwi-carnage
When the British Wanted to Camouflage Their Warships, They Made Them Dazzle https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-british-wanted-camouflage-their-warships-they-made-them-dazzle-180958657/
http://camoupedia.blogspot.com/2010/10/william-andrew-mackay-and-optical.html

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The Heroes and Idiots of Scientific Self-Experimentation!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Have you ever had a curiosity so strong that you’ve considered staying awake for 180 hours, tapping your spinal column with cocaine, consuming deadly parasites or pumping 6L of hydrogen up your bum?

Probably not. And that is most likely because you are not an idiot.

But - there’s a fine line between idiocy and genius, particularly in medical science.

And so today we explore some of the most extreme stories of heroes and scientists who have experimented on themselves in the name of science (though some of these experiments will make you wonder - name of…science?).

These experiments are daring, shocking, hideously painful and, at times, absolutely the last thing you would want to do to yourself as a human.

(And it will come as perhaps deeply unshocking that just 12 of 465 cases of self-experimentation over the last 200 years were women).

These experiments weren’t all pain without glory, however. Seven documented self-experimenters went on to win Nobel Prizes for their self-experimentation work. And incredibly, in 89% of instances, the self-experimenters obtained positive results in support of a hypothesis or produced valuable data.

But not all of them. Some saw catastrophic levels of failure. Some died. And some held science back by decades by their work.

Is this kind of self-as-guinea-pig testing ethical? And how far is too far?

The heroes, the idiots and the sad stories are all here.

Previously mentioned episodes:

The Schmidt Pain Index!

Barry Marshall Drinks Something Weird!

Why We Forgot The Cure For Scurvy

Sources

Jason Bittel’s This Guy Got Himself Stung 1,000 Times For Science—Here’s What He Learned

Dominic Bliss’s National Geographic article: This man gets bitten by deadly snakes in the name of science

Alex Boese’s Electrified Sheep

Jennifer Levine’s Notable examples of self-experimentation in science

Stubbins Ffirth: An Inaugural Dissertation on Malignant Fever; with an attempt to prove its non-contagious nature from reason, observation, and experiment

Laura Turner Garrison’s Mental Floss article 10 Scientists Who Experimented on Themselves

Brian P Hanley, William Bains and George Church’s Review of Scientific Self-Experimentation: Ethics History, Regulation, Scenarios, and Views Among Ethics Committees and Prominent Scientists in Rejuvenation Research

Healthline: From Metabolism to LSD: 7 Researchers Who Experimented on Themselves

New Scientist’s The high life of the self-experimenters

Wikipedia: Self-experimentation in medicine

Wikipedia: The 1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic

Window Through Time: The vomit-drinking doctor, Stubbins Ffirth (1784 – 1820)
Allen B Weisse’s Self-Experimentation and Its Role in Medical Research in Tex Heart Inst J

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Story Of Viagra - From Side Effect To Fully Erect

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Sexual performance, in particular impotence, is something that’s plagued chaps since they first crawled out of the swamp, rose up onto our hind legs, looked down, and bellowed WHY WON’T YOU WORK YOU BASTARD!

If there’s one thing you can rely on history to provide, it’s infinite examples of how men across the ages have laboured to enhance, increase, or at the very least enable performance…

Erectile dysfunction shows up in Egyptian tombs, Greek cup paintings, and even the Old Testament, with no limit to the wacky treatments they dreamed up to treat it. Not least, drinking the semen of hawks and eagles (how the hell do you get that stuff?).

On this very show, we’ve talked about some of these sophisticated, not-exactly-scientifically sound performance enhancers over the years from special elixirs to penile prostheses to testicle grafts. And of course, more mechanical means have also been tried for centuries.

But today’s fix is all in the realm of chemical intervention and actual science! There’s a first time for everything, huh?

1983 was the year that real science came to the fore, but not quite in the way we’ve come to expect. Renowned physiologist Sir Giles Skey Brindley made an impractical yet convincing discovery involving phentolamine injections and lacking animal models, he used himself as a guinea pig. Dressed in a loose tracksuit and with some prior preparatory injections, Brindley presented his findings in what has now come to be known as the infamous Brindley lecture, aka how NOT to communicate science.

Luckily, just 6 years after this exceptional performance the main scientific surprise discovery of today’s tale arises…

British Pfizer scientists Peter Dunn and Albert Wood had been researching a drug that they hoped would be good for treating high blood pressure, imaginatively calling it UK-92480. Early trials indicated little hope for its use as a heart disease treatment, nevertheless, a British patent was filed for sildenafil citrate, AKA Viagra, as a heart medication. Of course, we all know what viagra became famous for.

But Viagra’s erective effects were most emphatically a happy accident, and if it hadn’t been for an especially observant nurse, it may never have thrust its way into the spotlight.

Previous episodes mentioned:

Dr Serge Voronoff's Monkey Balls!

Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard and The Origin of Performance Enhancing Drugs!

A Brief History of Penis Transplants

A Brief History of Aphrodisiacs!

Sources

The Little Blue Pill: An Oral History of Viagra The story of the drug that changed sex and made billions. By John Tozzi and Jared S Hopkins

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-11/the-little-blue-pill-an-oral-history-of-viagra?leadSource=uverify%20wall

The Viagra Craze - A pill to cure impotence? Afflicted men are saying Yesss! But is this the end of sex as we know it? By Bruce Handy

https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,988274-3,00.html

How to give an unforgettable talk. By Chris Nickson https://litfl.com/how-to-give-an-unforgettable-talk/

Klotz, L, How (not) to communicate new scientific information: A memoir of the famous Brindley lecture - December 2005BJU International 96(7):956-7

DOI:10.1111/j.1464-410X.2005.05797.x

Revatio vs. Viagra: What's the Difference?

https://www.forhims.com/blog/revatio-vs-viagra-whats-difference

From Viagra to Valium, the drugs that were discovered by accident. By James Rudd Tue https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/11/from-viagra-to-valium-the-drugs-that-were-discovered-by-accident

30 Life-Changing Inventions That Were Totally Accidental

https://bestlifeonline.com/accidental-inventions/

Laurence Klotz, MD, FRCSC - Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Toronto, Ontario, Canada

https://grandroundsinurology.com/author/lklotz/

Before Viagra, There Were Penis Injections

https://science.howstuffworks.com/viagra3.htm

Viagra’s famously surprising origin story is actually a pretty common way to find new drugs

Katherine Ellen Foley

https://qz.com/1070732/viagras-famously-surprising-origin-story-is-actually-a-pretty-common-way-to-find-new-drugs

Kristen Gurtner, Amanda Saltzman, Kristi Hebert, and Eric Laborde, Erectile Dysfunction: A Review of Historical Treatments With a Focus on the Development of the Inflatable Penile Prosthesis. Am J Mens Health. 2017 May; 11(3): 479–486.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5675239/

Viagra: The little blue pill that could - Jacque Wilson, CNN

https://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/27/health/viagra-anniversary-timeline/index.html

Brindley, G ”Cavernosal alpha-blockade: a new technique for investigating and treating erectile impotence" — Br J Psychiatry 1983 Oct;143:332-7. doi: 10.1192/bjp.143.4.332.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6626852/

https://royalsociety.org/people/giles-brindley-11138/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_Brindley

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Mercaptan, My Captain!

A Little Bit Of Science — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 18:00:00 -0000

A little bonus episode for you today, and we hope you enjoy the shorter format. Let us know in the comments on YouTube or by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts if you would like more episodes in this bite-sized form.

If you have listened to the previous episode “What The Hell Happened To The Left-Handers?”, you’ll know that National Geographic sent out a survey using scratch and sniff cards back in 1986. The scents they included were: banana, musk, cloves, rose, androstenone (a chemical found in sweat) and… mercaptans.

Today we expand on the tragedy that made mercaptans famous, and why we tend to enjoy this very unique smell more as we age.

LINKS:

The Wholesome Show on YouTube

SOURCES:

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What The Hell Happened To The Left-Handers?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 18:00:00 -0000

If you’re left-handed you're part of a group that makes up about 10% of the population. And this rate of left-handedness has been consistent. Historical and archaeological records, reaching as far back as the Neanderthals, tell us that we’ve had this background rate of left-handedness for quite literally all of human history.

All of human history, that is, except for a small blip between the 19th and 20th centuries.

But before we explore that weird anomaly, one of the most interesting things about this story is how we have come to work out how many left-handers there have been across history.

From studying silhouetted hand prints to analysing paintings, drawings and sculptures, scientists have been able to chart left-handedness back to the Palaeolithic era. Amazingly, tooth striations from Neanderthals help us understand that there have always been lefties. In more recent history, researchers have turned to photos, hospital records and documentaries. Thank goodness for all those old docos that contain endless footage of people waving at the camera. We wave with our dominant hand, so these film reels are an accidental census of left-handedness.

But do you know what's weird about those images of waving crowds from the beginning of the 20th Century? The number of left-handers seems to drop off as they get younger.

Which is where the anomalous data enters. Pulling all the data on left-handers together from cavemen to now, we see there is a pronounced dip in left-handers in the 19th century.

So here's the question - where the hell did all the left-handers go during the 19th century?!

There are three main theories, but these still remain theories: death, fewer babies, or long-standing prejudice whipped up by seriously villainous people.

Previous episode mentioned:

The Best Years Of Your Life!

Sources

Accident proneness and handedness by WF Daniel and RA Yeo
Biased semantics for right and left in 50 Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages, by Wulf Schiefenhovel
Handedness and longevity: archival study of cricketers by Aggleton, Bland, Kentridge and Neave
Left-handedness and accident-related injury risk by S Coren
Left Handed: Bad science and bad attitudes are the problem, not the left hand by Free Thought Blogs
National Geographic Smell Survey, by Charles Wysocki and Avery Gilbert
New London School Explosion, by Petroleum History Almanac
Old books on left-handedness, by Keith Milsom
Problems Related to Left-Handedness by KC Garrison
#PyrfumeCodefest Twitter Thread by Joel Mainland
Retraining left-handers and the aetiology of stuttering: The rise and fall of an intriguing theory, by Howard I Kushner
The history and geography of human handedness by IC McManus
The surprising geography of American left-handedness by Christopher Ingraham
The Sniff Survey, by Boyce Rensberger

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Desperate For Rain, He Bombed The Sky

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 18:00:00 -0000

There is no better way to conquer things than with great big explosions. The thing to be conquered in this episode? Rain (humans just love punching on with nature).

This story begins with a strange observation. After the Civil War in America, soldiers of all ranks, abilities and backgrounds often spoke of drenching drain after battles. This apparent connection rose to the level of received wisdom. In essence — many believed the powerful explosions of battle brought rain.

This idea really took off in the US in 1871 with the publication of Edward Powers’ book ‘War and Weather’, a chronicle of battles that were followed by precipitation.

This deep wisdom did not consider the fact that battles fought in temperate locales like Virginia, averaged rain every four days. And the battles seldom started in drenching rain…Whatever. Powers had an idea. And the idea had promise. Lots of consistent big booms bring rain. Welcome to the wild world of concussionism.

But so far it was just a theory, so Powers thought, “time to prove it”. He harangued politicians to pony up some cash to fund some field tests.

Luckily for Powers, it was the late 1880s and people were settling the Great Plains in vast numbers, and they were struggling with severe, ongoing droughts. Perfect opportunity! Powers was granted $9000 to test concussionism.

But who would run this scheme?

Enter our hero: General Robert. G. Dyrenforth. Broad-shouldered, capable and extravagantly optimistic, Dyrenthforth was a relentlessly self-promoting chap. He saw vast possibilities where others didn't. He asserted that man's dominion over the continent could be extended to the heavens and to the four winds. Most importantly, he subscribed to the theory that there is no problem a little gunpowder can’t fix. Basically, Dyrenforth was concussionism’s poster boy.

Over the next five months, Dyrenforth assembled a team, collected gear, and found a test site. To be really precise, his first experiments mimicked a battlefield. In detail. A lot. He set up 3 lines of boom stuff that looked like an artillery battery. There were jury-rigged mortars to lob dynamite and rackarock charges into the air, balloons to float skyward and denote with furious force: the whole nine yards! Over several weeks they blew up multiple oxyhydrogen balloons and detonated thousands of pounds of explosives.

Dyrenforth’s reports quickly claimed success - torrential rain. It was all going swimmingly. He even came up with an elaborate theory as to why the booms led to rain.

Of course, as we all know, no experiment is perfect, and Dyrenforth was not without his detractors. But he was a man on a mission, driven to prove to all and sundry that concussionism was the cure to America’s frontier farmland water woes. So, was it…?

Previous episodes mentioned:

Weather War

Operation Popeye

Sources:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/rain-of-error/
MAKING WAR ON JUPITER PLUVIUS - THE CULTURE AND SCIENCE OF RAINMAKING IN THE SOUTHERN GREAT PLAINS, 1870-1913 MICHAEL R. WHITAKER
http://househistoryman.blogspot.com/2012/02/bizaare-last-will-of-rainmaker-george.html
http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.wat.023
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/23/us-stated-cloud-seeding-weather-modification
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eight-states-are-seeding-clouds-to-overcome-megadrought/

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The Truth About The Cuyahoga River Fire

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 18:00:00 -0000

The way the story goes, the Summer of 69 was when all hell broke loose in Cleveland.

It was the summer the Cuyahoga River caught on fire. Choked with industrial effluent and chemicals it burst into flames. It is said that this is the event that birthed the Clean Water Act and the Environmental Protection Authority. America was galvanised by this shocking event. Things started to change.

But the thing is, this was not the first time the Cuyahoga River had burst into flames.

We feel like the most obvious question is, how does a river which is by definition “a large natural stream of water” burst into flames?! Shouldn’t the water act as some sort of fire deterrent?

But water was no match for the horrors contained in the Cuyahoga River.

When surveyors first came across this river in 1796 they knew they’d hit gold. It was connected to one of America’s largest lakes and was an excellent shipping route. Cleveland was born and industry boomed. And back then, as well as being shipping routes, rivers were the industry's drain. Flush it all down the river and it’s someone else’s problem.

And so, the Cuyahoga River quickly became the dump for all manner of lovely things. Waste from oil refineries, paint factories, steel mills, coking plants and slaughterhouses. Raw sewerage. Trash. If you had something you didn’t want, into the river it went.

It got pretty bad, bubbling away like a deadly stew. So bad that it was commonly accepted that if you fell into the river, you should get yourself to hospital, fast.

With reports like this, it’s not a stretch to believe that it liked to spontaneously burst into flames. Well, maybe not spontaneously, but it didn’t take much to ignite that bad boy.

The thing is, that fire in 1969 was not the first time the river had caught alight. The river had been prone to catching alight at least nine times before 1969. And that fire in 1969, well, almost no one noticed.

So how does a run-of-the-mill river fire in a badly polluted river that almost no one noticed transform into such an environmentally revolutionary moment?

The events that transpired say something deeper about how we look at the world, and what it takes to get us to change.

Sources:

Smithsonian Magazine: The Cuyahoga River Caught Fire at Least a Dozen Times, but No One Cared Until 1969
David and Richard Stradling’s Perceptions of the Burning River: Deindustrialization and Cleveland's Cuyahoga River in Environmental History

Not Enough to Drink - Google Books

Cleveland's Cuyahoga River caught fire 50 years ago. It inspired a movement.

51 Years Later, the Cuyahoga River Burns Again - Outside Online

America's Sewage System and the Price of Optimism - TIME

Oral Histories of the 1969 Cuyahoga River Fire - Belt Magazine

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Bertha Benz Invents The Road Trip!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 18:00:00 -0000

The car has been around for over a century, which makes it easy to forget that there were real-life humans behind its invention, not to mention a messy, complex journey of invention.

There are of course some well-meaning gentlemen that were involved in the invention of the automobile. But, possibly one of the most important figures was a woman by the name of Bertha Benz.

Bertha Benz’s husband was a locomotive engineer, Karl Benz. After getting into a good deal of debt in an iron manufacturing business, he was bailed out by his then fiance Bertha and, with her financial support, set about on his lifelong dream of creating the first true automobile.

There were many failed attempts by Karl before he had any success with a saleable automobile. These contraptions started out as three-wheeled vehicles that could reach 25kph (wild speeds in the day of the horse-drawn carriage). By the time they reached “Model III”, these machines were saleable and one could opt for some sick mods like a folding roof and additional vis-à-vis bench seats, the height of comfort.

However, back then, automobiles were not an easy sell. They were loud, shuddering, unreliable and, well, they didn’t involve horses. How dumb! As we know all too well, humans are, in general, terrible at embracing change. The general view back in the 1800s was that these “horseless carriages” were absolutely impractical.

However, this public had yet to encounter Bertha’s genius.

It’s helpful to point out here that Karl was no Elon Musk. By all accounts, he was meticulous, patient and conservative and prone to bouts of self-doubt and depression. Karl had some serious doubts about the practicality of his inventions and wondered if they’d ever be useful for anything more than quick jaunts around town.

But Bertha was made of different stuff and could see a little further than her husband’s limited view.

Not only did she have impressive intelligence, but she also disagreed with her husband and spoke out resolutely against dissenters of the automobile.

So in 1888, following the release of Model III and tired of her husband’s general attitude, Bertha took matters into her own hands. Bertha roped her two teenage sons into her plans and took a trip. This trip included the first roadside repairs, the first automatic marketing stunt, the first case of a wife borrowing her husband’s car without asking and the first violation of intercity highway laws in a motor vehicle. And it set the scene for the automotive revolution.

Sources:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why We Forgot The Cure For Scurvy

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Scurvy is zero fun. We’re not sure how much you know about this disease but it’s not a walk in the park. Okay, it’s fair to say that not many diseases are a gentle stroll through a pretty field of flower-filled gardens, but scurvy really is an incredible bastard. The only thing going for it is that you’re generally dead pretty quick.

You start off feeling a little tired, sore and short of breath. Your gums start to hurt and your legs swell. Then, your darkening, swelling legs develop purple, black, red or blue spots, your muscles start wasting away and you start hallucinating. Then your teeth fall out, your gums rot, old wounds open up and you become so weak and sick that you die. Put simply, it is horrible and gross.

And scurvy is not a recent phenomenon.

It has plagued humans since ancient times. It hammered early agricultural societies, and we can even see evidence of it in ancient writings.

But while it has always been around, it really took off in the age of the explorers.

Take, for example, Vasco de Gama’s 1497 journey around the Cape of Good Hope. One hundred of his one hundred and sixty men died. In fact, all shipowners and governments in the 15th-18th centuries assumed that 50% of the crew on a long voyage would die of scurvy. Imagine starting your voyage knowing that you had a 50/50 shot at actually living to see the end of it.

It doesn’t sound like a great time. We’re surprised anyone wanted to voyage anywhere with odds like that. But scurvy’s scourge continued right through to modern times with cases occurring still today in the malnourished.

As a deficiency disease, and possibly one of the easiest things to treat and cure, we humans have done a truly remarkable job of continuing to get scurvy. We’ve overlooked the cause of scurvy and have been bizarrely forgetful when the cure was stumbled across.

Of course, it was never a matter of just forgetting. Colonial trades and fear of poisoning played a role, as did a range of whacky treatments that confused everyone. And as always, a healthy dose of terrible science communication was thrown in there too.

Join us while we poke fun at the ridiculous amount of times this simple yet horrific disease kept resurfacing, and why lemons (not limes) reign supreme.

Previous episodes mentioned:

Ep 276 - Philip Nitschke's Quest to Allow Us To Die

Ep 111 - Drinking your own urine?

Sources

Jeremy Hugh Baron’s article in Nutrition Reviews: Sailors' scurvy before and after James Lind – a reassessment
Idle Words: Scott And Scurvy
Anu Lall: SCURVY, When Medical Arrogance killed 2,000,000 men
Curious Historian: The Scourge Of Scurvy
The Guardian: The secret of how Amundsen beat Scott in race to south pole? A diet of raw penguin
Journal of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh: The role of scurvy in Scott’s return from the South Pole
The Journal of Nutrition: Scurvy and Cloudberries: A Chapter in the History of Nutritional Sciences
Leviathan: Ishmael's Recovery: Injury, Illness, and Convalescence in Moby-Dick
National Geographic: A Nightmare Disease Haunted Ships During Age of Discovery
Science History Institute: The Age of Scurvy
Special Care in Dentistry: The risk for scurvy in children with neurodevelopment disorders

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Philip Nitschke's Quest to Allow Us To Die

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 18:00:00 -0000

If you were knocking on death’s door and the door wasn’t opening quickly enough, would you want to be able to give it a shove yourself?

To have agency over your death is a tricky subject, but that hasn’t stopped Philip Nitschke from diving into it head first.

To understand why Nitschke felt compelled to go down such an onerous path, let’s first give you a sense of his personality as a young chap.

When he was 18, someone stole Nitschke's car radio. The police weren’t too concerned about it so Nitschke waited in the boot of his car with a 0.22 calibre rifle for the thief to come back for the car speakers.

That may seem slightly insane to a regular human being, but Nitschke needed to serve some justice. He figured that he could solve his own problems.

As a young med school graduate, feeling compelled to help people solve their own problems too, Nitschke was intrigued by the idea of euthanasia for those that wanted to end their lives peacefully and on their own terms.

And in 1996, in the Northern Territory, Nitschke became the first doctor in the world to administer a legal, lethal, voluntary injection.

As a result, Nitschke became an outspoken advocate and crusader for euthanasia. As you can imagine, it hasn’t been an easy road, but it certainly hasn’t been boring.

Nitschke invented death machines, originated a euthanasia flash mob and created a Comedy Festival show entitled ‘Dicing with Dr Death’. The reviews were actually pretty good!

And yes, you did read that right. Death machines are a real thing. Dying in a peaceful, reliable and dignified manner is surprisingly difficult. Nitschke’s newest death machine iteration (which currently only exists in VR form) is called Sarco (named after sarcophagus) and looks like it belongs in a Tesla display centre.

Why has Nitschke fought so hard for our right to die? And what is the state of voluntary assisted dying (and his medical licence) now? Also - what happened to that car radio thief?

Jump on into this episode and find out.

Previous episodes mentioned:

Ep 275 - Chinese Restaurant Syndrome or Why We Panicked About MSG

Ep 270 - Non Fungible Tulips!

Ep 267 - What Do We Do With The Immortal Quadrillionaires?

Ep 153 - Safety Issues at the Los Alamos Lab!

Sources:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chinese Restaurant Syndrome or Why We Panicked About MSG

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 18:00:00 -0000

In August 1968, a rather innocuous letter to the editor was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr Ho Man Kwok had written in speculating on the reason he felt so ghastly after eating at a Chinese restaurant. Was it the soy sauce or the cooking wine? Or perhaps, he offered up, it was the monosodium glutamate seasoning - MSG.

The prominent symptoms, as he described them, were numbness at the back of his neck, general weakness and heart palpitations.

Surely Dr Kwok hadn’t just overeaten or sampled a few too many beverages during the evening. There must be another explanation and something else to blame.

The New England Journal, which clearly did a lot of background checking, thorough research and fact-finding *ahem* decided to run with this madness and the term “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” was coined.

And so, the flurry of MSG bad-mouthing and hysteria took off.

Now, more than five decades later surveys suggest that a whopping 43% of Americans believe that MSG is bad for you. And we wouldn’t be surprised if Australia fell in line with this statistic.

The “syndrome” has exploded to encompass symptoms far beyond Dr Kwok’s initial complaint. People report muscle tightening, burning sensations, and almost fainting. And, most notably, an irresistible urge to take off all your clothes.

We can certainly blame MSG for that...

But is this all bollocks? Are there any real studies from the whole of science that prove or disprove these theories? After a few sprinkles of MSG in their beer, Will takes Rod on a journey through racism, hysteria and deliciousness all in the name of acquitting MSG in the court of public opinion.

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

Musical Maladies - And Fakes!

Sources

Jennifer LeMesurier’s Poroi (An Interdisciplinary Journal of Rhetorical Analysis and Invention) article: Uptaking Race: Genre, MSG, and Chinese Dinner
Ian Mosby’s: ‘That Won-Ton Soup Headache’: The Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, MSG and the Making of American Food, 1968–1980
Michael Blanding’s article in Colgate Magazine: The Strange Case of Dr Ho Man Kwok
Richard D Lyons article in the New York Times: ‘Chinese Restaurant Syndrome’ Puzzles Doctors. May 19 1968
Herbert Schaumburg and Robert Byck’s article in Science: Monosodium L-Glutamate: Its Pharmacology and Role in the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome
This American Life’s The Long Fuse
The Washington Post’s: Beware of musher's knee and hooker's elbow
Umami Information Center: Kikunae Ikeda

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Laszlo Polgar's Quest To Raise A Chess Genius

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Our episode today begins in the 1960s with Laszlo Polgar and his hot and saucy epistolary courtship with a foreign language teacher named Klara.

Correction here. Laszlo's letters were less hot and saucy and more….precise and instrumental. There was no time for detailing THE karma sutra. László was on a mission. He wanted to raise child geniuses. So, in his letters to Klara, he outlines the pedagogical experiment he intends to carry out with his future progeny.

Laszlo clearly knows how to woo a lady.

The guiding theory behind this experiment was that Laszlo believed that any healthy child had the innate capacity to become a genius if their education starts by the time they are three, and specialises by the time they are six.

All he needed was a wife to jump onboard, so to speak.

Klara was clearly intellectually aroused by his letters and, in rough translation from Hungarian she said to László “Mate, I am bloody in”.

And so the great experiment began.

After what was probably some very methodical, precise and well-thought-out intercourse, they had three children. Susan (1970), Sophia (1974) and Judit (1976).

Now that they had their subjects, it was time to start phase two - education. László believed public education only produced mediocre minds - but homeschooling was illegal in Hungary at the time. After a battle with an armed policeman, he won on the homeschooling front.

Now that they could successfully and legally educate their children at home, the next hurdle was to find the specialisation that would allow the genius to blossom.

Their eldest daughter Susan sorted that quandary when, aged four, she found a chess board in a closet. Was she obsessed from that very first sighting? Probably not. To be fair, she was just trying to find something that resembled a toy to play with. The household wasn’t big on barbies or monster trucks.

Now that Susan had inadvertently picked a speciality, it was decided - all three girls would become chess masters (it’s not an experiment without replication).

The next hurdle to overcome was infiltrating the boys club that was chess at the time.

Back in the 1970s, less than 1% of top chess players were female. So, Laszlo's mission turned him into a women’s rights activist as a nice little side effect.

Did Laszlo and Klara succeed in their genius-raising experiment? How do they feel about the outcome? And where are Susan, Sophia and Judit now?

Tune in to find out.

Previous episodes mentioned:

The Actual Genius of Paul Erdős

Dozenalism!

References:

herway - Epistolary Relationship: 6 Reasons To Bring Back Old-School Romance
Wikipedia - László Polgár
Psychology Today - The Grandmaster Experiment
The Conversation - What’s behind the gender imbalance in top-level chess?
Independent - A man with a talent for creating genius: William Hartston meets Laszlo Polgar, the father of three world-class chess players
The Guardian - Judit Polgar: 'Everything was about chess'
Chicago Tribune - Trained to be a genius, girl, 16, wallops chess champ spassky for $110,000

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The Martyrdom of Outspoken Hand Washer Dr Ignaz Semmelweis

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Our goal here at The Wholesome Show is to make you feel happy, amused and entertained. But a fair warning that we must sometimes journey through a rather astonishing volume of grotesque and sad death to get you there.

We won’t apologise for it. It is our duty.

In this episode, we travel back to the 18th and 19th centuries - a generally dire time to be alive. Infanticide - the killing of unwanted children - was a horrifyingly common reality.

Luckily at the time, there was a relatively liberal emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Joseph II, that decided to try and do something about this epidemic of child killing.

First of all, he established foundling homes, where unwanted infants could be dropped off. There was even a convenient after-hours “chute” for those times you couldn’t possibly get there during business hours to give away your children. Convenience was key, even in those days.

Then Joseph II set up maternity hospitals, for mothers to give birth in. Was this a brilliant success? Let’s say a little bit of yes and … quite a lot of no. You see, there was a rumour going around that while these hospitals were free, they were in fact … houses of death.

How did all this death occur?

Well within 24 - 48 hours after exhausted women in need of a solid nap gave birth, they became incredibly unwell. Relentless fevers, excruciating abdominal pain, headaches…These women would go downhill very quickly.

Now, because it was the 18th century they had some wacky ancient treatments. The ever trusty leeches, a bit of bloodletting, lots of mercury, opium (that part sounds pretty good), and of course enemas. Because everyone feels like an enema when they’re knocking on death’s door.

Did these treatments work at least? No. No they didn’t. These hospitals don’t get to be known as “Houses of Death” without quite a lot of death.

This is where we come to the hero of our story - Dr Ignaz Semmelweis.

Upon starting work as an obstetrician at the maternity wing of the Vienna General Hospital, Semmelweis realised pretty quickly that something was wrong. Surely a large part of the puzzle was missing.

Ignaz Semmelweis made a discovery that would go on to save hundreds and thousands of lives, but he unfortunately paid the ultimate price. Tune in to the episode to hear why Ignaz Semmelweis is truly a martyr to science.

Previous episodes mentioned:

A Brief History of Medical Leeches!

The History And Future Of The Death Certificate

Sources

British Medical Journal: Infanticide and Excessive Infant Mortality
Caroline M De Costa The Medical Journal of Australia: “The contagiousness of childbed fever”: a short history of puerperal sepsis and its treatment
Ignaz Semmelweis: The etiology, concept, and prophylaxis of childbed fever
K Codell Carter & Barbara R Carter: Childbed Fever
Museum of Contraception and Abortion: The Vienna Foundlings and Orphans Home
Paige Mathieson: Midlands Historical Review: Bad or Mad? Infanticide: Insanity and Morality in Nineteenth-Century Britain
Sydney Morning Herald: Would baby hatches have saved Lily Grace?
The Persecuted: 10 famous martyrs and why they died (Updated 2020)
Wikipedia: Baby hatch
Wikipedia: Giordano Bruno
Wikipedia: Ignaz Semmelweis
Wikipedia: Infanticide
Wikipedia: Tank Man
The World of the Hapsburgs: The Vienna Foundling Home between welfare and population policy

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Don’t Be Like Larry Lawnchair

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Have you ever had a dream that you just had to do no matter how crazy or how dangerous it might sound to anyone else? A dream so core to your being that nothing was going to stop you realising it no matter the obstacles?

Nail Armstrong sure did. As did Marie Curie. Edmond Hillary too.

But recently, we found out about a human who eclipsed all those wannabes.

That man was Larry Walters.

Even as a very young lad, Larry imagined himself flying.

His inspiration?

Balloons.

His idea first took flight when he came across helium balloons on a trip to Disneyland. But it really cemented at the age of 13 when he came across weather balloons at the army disposal store.

From then on, he dreamt of nothing else.

Well, we can’t 100% confirm that he dreamt of nothing else, but it’s more dramatic if we say that.

Larry did attempt to become a pilot to get his fix of zooming through the air. But his bad eyesight stopped him joining the airforce.

This dream of his refused to die.

He was a man on a mission.

Many years after his trip to Disneyland, Larry devised a foolproof (ahem) plan to strap 42 weather balloons filled with helium to a lawn chair and launch into the unknown.

The lawnchair was really sturdy apparently. There was surely no cause for concern.

Larry’s idea was to float up to about 30 feet, drift lazily for a few hours out over the Mojave Desert and then pop some balloons and drift back down.

Sounds like a nice way to spend an afternoon really.

Larry prepared. He packed an altimeter (because, height), CB radio, two litres of Coca-Cola, eight plastic bottles of water (for ballast), and a BB gun. There were reports of a stashed six pack as well.

The thing he was in very short supply of was maths.

Strap in, as we join Larry on his ‘peaceful float across the Mojave desert’.

Sources

8 of the Weirdest Items in the Smithsonian's Archives

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/556928/weirdest-items-smithsonian-archives

How the Balloon-Borne “Flying Lawn Chair” Got Into the Smithsonian

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/flying-lawn-chair-180972974/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=socialmedia

The strange, sad odyssey of ‘Lawn Chair Larry’

https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-strange-sad-odyssey-of-lawn-chair-larry-3b943991179c

Before There Was “Up,” There Was “Lawnchair Larry”

https://allthatsinteresting.com/lawnchair-larry-walters

Larry Walters; Soared to Fame on Lawn Chair

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-11-24-mn-60236-story.html

Did Larry Walters Fly in a Lawn Chair Attached to Helium Balloons?

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/up-up-and-away/

Floating on a Lawn chair Over L.A.? He was Living Out His Dream

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidrupert/floating-on-a-lawnchair-over-l-a-thats-no-fool-thats-a-hero/

The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1998/06/01/the-man-in-the-flying-lawn-chair

50 Epic Adventure Quotes To Kick You Off Your Couch

https://expertvagabond.com/adventure-quotes/

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Non Fungible Tulips!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 18:00:00 -0000

Six friends gather around a patch of dirt in the Netherlands.

Cornelis, Dirk, Symon, Reynier, Other Cornelis and Andries (clearly this is not 2022).

They’re digging up something that is meant to be worth 30 guilders. That is, the price of a pretty modest house back in 1637.

A whole house worth of value in a small buried item.

Gold? Gemstones? An incredibly well bred and fanciful horse?

No dear reader, it was nothing of the sort.

It was in fact, a single tulip bulb.

You may have heard the story of tulip mania in the Netherlands. How an entire country goes mad over a single flower. And how it all collapses in a matter of days. But almost all of the popular history around this time is erroneous - an oversimplification. A bit like judging the 90s on just Blink 182 albums.

There is a much deeper story here.

First, the setting. We jump back to 1585, when the Netherlands gained independence from the Spanish empire, kicking off a century of explosive economic growth.

While the rest of Europe was slumming it through a period known as the ’General Crisis’, the Dutch became a dominant trade power and got very rich.

During this time Jehan Somer, the son of a magistrate, took two years off to go backpacking (ok, luxury touring back then). During his time away he visits Constantinople. Recently taken over by the Ottoman Turkish empire, Constantinople at that time was nice. Impressive gardens with very impressive flowers.

Somer returned to the Netherlands with a bug for flowers. He showed his buddies back home all the sweet flowers he’d found. Dogtooth violets, auricles, double narcissi, lilies, crocuses and tulips.

But tulips? Well, tulips were special.

Join us as we make this journey through the Netherlands in the 17th century and how this story has so many parallels with our modern-day manias. We dive down beyond the simplistic takes and ask what happened, what caused it and what it says about today.

Sources

Anne Goldgar: Tulip mania: the classic story of a Dutch financial bubble is mostly wrong
Charles Mackay: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Bloomeffects: The history of eating tulips
Tulipmania Art Journal: The most expensive tulip bulb in history costed as much as the finest house on the most fashionable Amsterdam canal
Wikipedia: Economic history of the Netherlands
I don’t care about your crypto, boy

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The Race with No Drivers

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 18:00:00 -0000

In this daring episode, Rod and Will take us back to 1894 Paris, when a small newspaper had a brilliant idea to boost circulation.

A wacky endurance race that would take no prisoners.

In this race there were no fewer than 20 different methods of propulsion from steam, petrol, compressed air, clockwork, a system of pendulums through to a mechanical motor. From a four tonne monster tractor right down to a tricycle. With one steering wheel in the whole race (steering wheels were not a thing back then). Basically, it was a Festival of Crazy Mechanical Stuff.

But we’re not actually talking about that race today.

We’re talking about the more high tech (but bizarrely similar) version of that race, more than 100 years later. In 2003, the US Defence Advanced Research Agency (DARPA’s) announced its first ‘autonomous vehicle grand challenge’. Popular Science Magazine called this ‘DAPRA’s Debacle in the Desert’.

Excellent.

You might see where this is going.

The top secret race track (the location of which was only announced three hours before the race began) ran across the Mojave Desert. The race designer, a man by the name of Sal Fish, designed a course that incorporated everything you can imagine you might find in a desert. Rocks, left turns, right turns, dips, gullies, cacti. Drop offs, barbed wire fences, animals that could come out of nowhere, train tracks. Thankfully, DARPA, being the thoughtful department that they are, had a crew of biologists run a final sweep for the endangered desert tortoise.

No animals were harmed.

Tony Tether, the Director of DARPA was really not expecting anyone to be interested. Even though there was a $1 million dollar prize (yes, you had to finish the race, not just get the furthest). But on the morning of registration people were lined up around the block - 106 team applications in total. It’s not that hard to make an autonomous vehicle right - basically Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with a laptop?

The final, whittled down entrants (15 in total) were the most varied bunch you can think of. From highschool kids, the CEO of a loudspeaker company (excellent marketing strategy) through to a cantankerous ex-Marine who also happened to be a talented roboticist.

As for the vehicles, Sal Fish (our course designer) exclaimed “My God, these vehicles were something out of Mad Max.”

Join Rod and Will on this wild ride - did anyone win, or did it turn into a robotic graveyard? And learn how that 1894 race turned into the ultimate inspiration for the autonomous vehicles we (almost) have today.

REFERENCES:

Standage, T. (2021). A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to what Comes Next. Bloomsbury Publishing.

The Autonomous-Car Chaos of the 2004 Darpa Grand Challenge

https://www.wired.com/story/autonomous-car-chaos-2004-darpa-grand-challenge/

World’s 1st Motor Racing Event Had A 90 Mins Lunch Break (Dec 202, 2020)

https://medium.com/formula-one-forever/worlds-1st-motor-racing-event-had-a-90-mins-lunch-break-6b0f203cf016

From Darpa Grand Challenge 2004DARPA’s Debacle in the Desert

Behind the scenes at the DARPA Grand Challenge, the 142-mile robot race that died at mile 7

JUN 4, 2004

https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-06/darpa-grand-challenge-2004darpas-debacle-desert/

An Oral History of the Darpa Grand Challenge, the Grueling Robot Race That Launched the Self-Driving Car

https://www.wired.com/story/darpa-grand-challenge-2004-oral-history/

The Grand Challenge

https://www.darpa.mil/about-us/timeline/-grand-challenge-for-autonomous-vehicles

DARPA Urban Challenge

https://www.darpa.mil/about-us/timeline/darpa-urban-challenge

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Why Are the Proud Boys So Obsessed With (Not) Wanking?

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 07:01:38 -0000

There's a whole bunch of reasons to not be fans of the Proud Boys. In the words of the Southern Poverty Law Centre they're a 'general hate' group, their members played key roles in the January 6 attack on the US capitol, and they're pretty goddamn misogynist.

But it's rule number two of their by-laws that's just weird. It states “No heterosexual brother of the Fraternity shall masturbate more than one time in any calendar month".

Or maybe it's not weird... So here's the question we're asking this week: why are the Proud Boys so obsessed with (not) wanking?

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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The Invention of the Puffer Jacket!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 06:30:35 -0000

In the olden times people used to climb mountains wearing all sorts of odd things - wool, leather, or just in the nude! But George Finch was an ideas man...

Rod tells Will the story of the invention of the puffer jacket!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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What Do We Do With The Immortal Quadrillionaires?

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 06:47:07 -0000

Guess what listener - it's possible that people alive today might live a very long life... like 1200 years maybe.

That sounds fun, but maybe it might lead to dystopia?

Will agonises with Rod about what we should do about longevity treatments!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

Sources:

Aeon: What are the ethical consequences of immortality technology? https://aeon.co/ideas/what-are-the-ethical-consequences-of-immortality-technology
BBC: A frozen graveyard: The sad tales of Antarctica’s deaths: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180913-a-frozen-graveyard-the-sad-tales-of-antarcticas-deaths
EMBO Rep. Jayne Lucke and Wayne Hall: Who wants to live forever: 2005 Feb; 6(2): 98–102. doi: 10.1038/sj.embor.7400339
Bernard Williams: The Makropulos case: reflections on the tedium of immortality: https://web.archive.org/web/20160528020748/http://stoa.org.uk/topics/death/the-makropulos-case-reflections-on-the-tedium-of-immortality-bernard-williams.pdf
Forbes: What Kills Billionaires: https://www.forbes.com/2005/04/05/cx_vg_0405feat.html
John Hardwig: Is there a duty to die? The Hastings Center Report , Mar. - Apr., 1997, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 1997), pp. 34-42 https://www.jstor.org/stable/3527626
JAMA Health Forum. Eric D Finegood et al. 2021;2(7):e211652. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.1652
John Harris: The Harold Hatch International Lecture on Longevity and Population Aging Intimations of Immortality The Ethics and Justice of Life-Extending Therapies: https://www.ilc-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/publication-pdfs/IntimationsImmortality.pdf
Journal of Aging Studies: Public attitudes towards human life extension by intervening in ageing: Brad Partridge Jayne Lucke Helen Bartlett Wayne Hall https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890406510000757?casa_token=ELUiWi4dNksAAAAA:cziJHAtan_8s5o-az6WYOS8Kqwrre9g4YJ3jw1vhoUg7M1eWHHimfqRlbq3sKdzzbschLWviN6vE
Live Science: The Ethical Dilemmas of Immortality https://www.livescience.com/10465-ethical-dilemmas-immortality.html
Long Bets: Peter Schwartz and Melody Haller: At least one human alive in the year 2000 will still be alive in 2150.https://longbets.org/11/
NBCNews: Mainstream docs join anti-aging bandwagon: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23358964
REJUVENATION RESEARCH: Brad Partridge, Jayne Lucke, Helen Bartlett, and Wayne Hall: Ethical, Social, and Personal Implications of Extended Human Lifespan Identified by Members of the Public Volume 12, Number 5, 2009 a Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089=rej.2009.0907
Scientific American: Aging Is Reversible—at Least in Human Cells and Live Mice: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/aging-is-reversible-at-least-in-human-cells-and-live-mice/
Wikipedia: Lawrence Oates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Oates
Wikipedia: Richard Lamm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lamm

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Le Pétomane!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 27 May 2022 07:16:03 -0000

At the end of the 19th century in Paris there were a range of weird and wonderful acts - but one stood out...

Rod tells Will the story of Le Pétomane!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

Le Pétomane By The Wholesome Show is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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Lying with Maps!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 20 May 2022 06:39:57 -0000

Old timey people put a lot of stock in maps, but they didn't always get things exactly right. They joined Tasmania to mainland Australia, got Africa in the wrong place, and moved Siberia a long way to the east. But was this by accident? Or design?

Will tells Rod the story of lying with maps!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

Sources
Bar News: Review of Lying for the Admiralty by Margaret Cameron-Ash, by Caroline Dobraszczyk
The Globe (84) Captain Cook Invented Point Hicks to Hide Bass Strait by Margaret Cameron-Ash
The Globe (87) Cook conspiracy at point hicks? By Trevor Lipscombe
The Globe (87) Where’s my embassy comrade? An examination of the 1981 Soviet Military City Plan of Canberra, by Brendan Whyte.
Lying for the Admiralty by Margaret Cameron-Ash
Signals 125: James Cook’s false trail by Nigel Erskine.
Gyula Pápay POLITICS AND CARTOGRAPHY in State Security and Mapping in the GDR Map Falsification as a Consequence of Excessive Secrecy?
Imago Mundi: Silences and Secrecy: The Hidden Agenda of Cartography in Early Modern Europe by J. B. Harley

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Smell-O-Vision!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 13 May 2022 07:00:14 -0000

We all go to the movies right, we see the sights, we hear the sounds! But what if we could smell the smells?

Rod tells Will the history of Smell-O-Vision!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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The History and Science of Raw Food!

A Little Bit Of Science — Sat, 07 May 2022 03:49:34 -0000

People have been cooking food for as long as they've been people - and for almost as long other people have been pushing against it.

Will tells Rod the history and science of raw food evangelists!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

Sources
Bismark Daily Tribune: Apostle of Raw Food Explains Sect: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042242/1913-10-09/ed-1/seq-3/
Carnivor Aurelius on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlpacaAurelius/status/1175851010977337344?lang=en
Encyclopedia.com: Szekely, Edmond Bordeaux (?-1980) https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/szekely-edmond-bordeaux-1980
Edmond Bordeaux Szekely: The Essene Gospels of Peace: http://www.thenazareneway.com/index_essene_gospels_of_peace.htm
Discover Magazine: Archaeologists Find Earliest Evidence of Humans Cooking With Fire https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/archaeologists-find-earliest-evidence-of-humans-cooking-with-fire
Glikson, A., Fire and human evolution: The deep-time blueprints of the Anthropocene. Anthropocene (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2014.02.002
LA Weekly: L.A. HAS BEEN EATING RAW VEGAN FOOD SINCE 1918, THANKS TO THIS COMMUNIST, FEMINIST ANGELENO https://www.laweekly.com/l-a-has-been-eating-raw-vegan-food-since-1918-thanks-to-this-communist-feminist-angeleno/
McGee, H. On Food and Cooking.
National Cancer Institute: Chemicals in Meat Cooked at High Temperatures and Cancer Risk https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet/cooked-meats-fact-sheet
New York Times: Chimpanzees Would Cook if Given the Chance, Research Says https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/us/chimpanzees-can-cook-a-mean-potato-research-says.html
Ogden, Utah Standard Magazine: Love and Raw Potatoes https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058396/1915-08-07/ed-1/seq-9/
Restaurant-ing through history: Back to nature: The Eutropheon https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2014/02/02/back-to-nature-the-eutropheon/amp/
Terrence Twomey (2013). The Cognitive Implications of Controlled Fire Use by Early Humans. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 23, pp 113-128 doi:10.1017/S0959774313000085
Wikipedia: Bernarr Macfadden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernarr_Macfadden
Wikipedia: Herbert M. Shelton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_M._Shelton
Wikipedia: Maximilian Bircher-Benner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Bircher-Benner
Wrangham, R., 2009. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made us Human. Basic Books, New York 320 pp.

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The Disappearance of Ettore Majorana!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 06:12:35 -0000

Ettore Majorana was a physics genius who really could have won the Nobel Prize... but in 1938 he disappeared. The question is, what happened to him?

Rod tells Will the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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The Soviet Space Tractor!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 06:21:35 -0000

Ok, the Americans won the race to the moon - but do you know what the Soviets actually did land on the moon? It's something a little bit special.

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Ozone Therapy!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 05:00:14 -0000

You might not know this but ozone has a bizarrely 'clean' smell - so much so, there's a long history of people using it to 'clean' things that they really shouldn't...

Rod tells Will the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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The Science of Dying on the Job!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 05:00:58 -0000

We at The Wholesome Show of course want to live forever. But if you have to go, there are a hell of a lot of worse ways than dying in the saddle.

Will tells Rod the science and history of dying on the job!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Who Killed Tycho Brahe?

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 06:11:52 -0000

Tycho Brahe is one of the most important astronomers of all time - but he died under super mysterious circumstances. So who killed him?

Rod tells Will and special guest Hans the story of the murder of Tycho Brahe!

The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Ethically Dubious Jesus Experiments of Milton Rokeach!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 05:51:02 -0000

We all have... unique ways of looking at the world. But what if two mutually contradictory views of the world are put in the same room?

Rod tells Will the story of the ethically dubious Jesus experiments of Milton Rokeach!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Live to be Over 100 Using The Secret of the Blue Zones!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 05:20:56 -0000

There are a few places around the world where a large number of people live to over 100 - do you want to know how?

Well, Will tells Rod exactly what the secret is!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Modern Hunt for Bigfoot!

A Little Bit Of Science — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 05:52:23 -0000

What evidence would we need to confirm that Bigfoot exists? Photos? Hair sample? A pool of blood?

Rod tells Will the story of Melba Ketchum's quest for the Big Foot!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Epidemic of Total Tooth Removal!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 05:40:23 -0000

In the middle of the 20th century it became totally normal - at a 21st, a wedding or a confirmation - to give people the special present of the total removal of their teeth.

Was science to blame?

Will tells Rod the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

Sources:
- Brides.com: The 34 Must-Have Items to Add to Your Wedding Registry: https://www.brides.com/gallery/best-wedding-registry-items
- Dallas Museum of Art: THE BRIDAL REGISTRY https://collections.dma.org/essay/a8mBA7yW
- Dusty Old Thing: From the Fashion to the Gifts- Wedding Trends Over the Past Century Sure Have Changed! https://dustyoldthing.com/wedding-trends-changed/
- J Prosthet Dent. 2002 Jan;87(1):5-8. doi: 10.1067/mpr.2002.121203.
- Australian Dental Journal 2007;52:(2):154-156
- BMC Public Health volume 14, Article number: 65 (2014)
- MMWR: Ten Great Public Health Achievements -- United States, 1900-1999: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056796.htm
- British Dental Journal: Total tooth loss in the United Kingdom in 1998 and implications for the future https://www.nature.com/articles/4800840
Reddit: How true is this claim about Victorian England? “Having all your teeth removed was considered the perfect gift for a 21st birthday or a newly married bride.”
- https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/agyegl/how_true_is_this_claim_about_victorian_england/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
- CDA Journal 28 (3): Focal Infection Theory Revisited

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Safety Issues at the Los Alamos Lab!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 06:01:47 -0000

The early days of nuclear science were very much a... move fast and break things world. And some people? They ended up in some dangerous spots.

Rod tells Will about the risky world of nuclear science at the 1940s Los Alamos National Laboratory!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Rocket Mail! (Or How Stamp Collectors Got Us To The Moon!)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 04:00:14 -0000

Do you get sick of waiting for your packages from your online retailers of choice? Have you ever wanted to get your mail just that little bit faster? Yes? Yes! Then might I interest you in... rocket mail?

Will tells Rod and special guest CJ Josh the story of rocket mail!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by @cjjosh and proudly brought to by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Spelling Reform!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 02:33:04 -0000

Is English spelling needlessly complicated? Should we fix it?

Som pepl say yes!

Will tells Rod the story of the Simplified Spelling Board!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Muscular Christianity!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 06:05:36 -0000

Exercise is great. It helps with just about everything! But here's the thing, does it help you... spread the word of God?

Rod tells Will the story - and future - of muscular Christianity!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dozenalism!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 04:43:52 -0000

We love the metric system - you love the metric system!

But... what if it wasn't perfect?

Will tells Rod the story of dozenalism!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

Sources:
Svalbard: French Revolutionary (Decimal) Time; https://svalbard.watch/pages/about_decimal_time.html

Wikipedia: Units of measurement in France; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Units_of_measurement_in_France

Today I found out: A GENIUS AMONG US: THE SAD STORY OF WILLIAM J. SIDIS; www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/12/genius-among-us-sad-story-william-j-sidis/

New York Times: Sidis Could Read at Two Years Old: 18 October 1909.

The Listener: Twelves and Tens A.C.AITKEN on the case against the system of decimalization; www.dozenalsociety.org.uk/archives/aitken.html

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Training Rats to Save Lives!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 06:01:25 -0000

The Gambian Pouched Rat - or the African Giant Pouched Rat - can hold heaps of stuff in its awesome face pockets... But it's also very useful in helping humans...

Rod tells Will the story, a pocket episode for the holidays!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clarence Birdseye Invents An Industry!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 02:29:46 -0000

Clarence Birdseye Invents An Industry! by The Wholesome Show

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What Actually Happened on Easter Island, And Why It Matters

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:57:06 -0000

Over a few hundred years from the year 1200 on, the people of Easter Island / Rapa Nui built an amazing pocket universe - a flourishing civilisation with their own system of writing and amazing carved stone Moai.

But then it collapsed.

Will tells Rod what happens, and why the story of what happens matters!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

Sources:

Benny Peiser’s ‘From Genocide to Ecocide: The Rape of Rapa Nui’. https://web.archive.org/web/20100610062402/http://www.uri.edu/artsci/ecn/starkey/ECN398%20-Ecology,%20Economy,%20Society/RAPANUI.pdf

DiNapoli, Crema, Lipo, Rieth and Hunt’s ‘Approximate Bayesian Computation of radiocarbon and paleoenvironmental record shows population resilience on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)’ in Nature Communications https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8225912/

BingUNews: ‘Resilience, not collapse: What the Easter Island myth gets wrong’ https://www.binghamton.edu/news/story/3155/resilience-not-collapse-what-the-easter-island-myth-gets-wrong

Princeton: ‘Jacob Roggeveen, 1659–1729’ http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/pacific/roggeveen/roggeveen.html

Easter Island Travel: ‘Ship logs of 1722 voyage of Jacob Roggeveen’ https://www.easterisland.travel/easter-island-facts-and-info/history/ship-logs-and-journals/jacob-roggeveen-1722/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A History and Future of Chatbots!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 06:12:08 -0000

Chatbots are everywhere these days - your bank, your phone company, your facebook... your therapist? Well actually, they were therapists first...

Rod tells Will the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

Sources:

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-eliza-effect/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666827020300062

http://www.jabberwacky.com/j2convbydate-N6641part2

https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=4137

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23615538

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Weizenbaum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA_effect

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/therapy-chatbot-depression-app-what-its-like-woebot-2018-1

https://news.mit.edu/2008/obit-weizenbaum-0310

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

World Ice Theory!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 26 Nov 2021 05:41:57 -0000

We all know the Nazis embraced a bunch of dumb - awful - ideas. But their ideas about how the universe worked? Well that was sincerely whackadoo...

Will tells Rod the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

Sources
Willy Ley: Pseudoscience in Naziland, http://www.alpenfestung.com/ley_pseudoscience.htm
Christina Wessely: Cosmic Ice Theory—Science, Fiction and the Public, 1894–1945. https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/research/projects/DeptIII-ChristinaWessely-Welteislehre
Eric Kurlander: Hitler’s Monsters
Eric Kurlander: A Song of Ice and Fire https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/song-ice-and-fire
Philip Ball: How 2 Pro-Nazi Nobelists Attacked Einstein’s "Jewish Science" [Excerpt]: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-2-pro-nazi-nobelists-attacked-einstein-s-jewish-science-excerpt1/
The Occult Bistory of the Third Reich: Horbiger http://thirdreichocculthistory.blogspot.com/2011/07/

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The Birth of GWG Ferris's Wheel

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 01:41:38 -0000

We've all ridden in Ferris Wheels - including some that are getting really pretty gigantic. But have you ever wondered where they came from?

Rod tells Will the story of Ferris's Wheel!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

---------------

Sources:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-25/what-happens-when-every-city-has-a-giant-ferris-wheel

https://interestingengineering.com/the-worlds-largest-ferris-wheel-has-just-opened-in-dubai?utm_source=IGStory&utm_medium=Article&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=Oct27

https://pressofatlanticcity.com/history/look-back-atlantic-citys-almost-famous-somers-wheel/article_289d2b62-27a5-59d4-b1a0-44821117ed61.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-ferris-wheel-180955300/

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2019/05/06/history-of-the-ferris-wheel-new-jersey-william-somers-george-ferris/1116618001/

Ferris Wheels: An illustrated History N.D.Anderson (2006) https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0968.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20130118143455/http://www.hydeparkhistory.org/newsletter.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Gale_Ferris_Jr.

https://petticoatsandpistols.com/2015/02/02/ferris-pleasure-wheel/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Making of Grey Owl!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 05:39:05 -0000

Grey Owl had a crucial message for the world - but was he the right person to bring it?

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Brief History of Penis Transplants

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 05:59:11 -0000

You didn't know you needed to know it, but penis prosthetics and penis transplants are both VERY IMPORTANT and VERY SCIENCE. They are! It's true!

Rod tells Will the story of where they're up to!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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The Story of the Curta - Curt Herzstark's Pocket Calculator!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 05:31:13 -0000

Curt Herzstark had an invention ready to go... but he never knew it would save his life.

Will tells Rod the story of the Curta pocket calculator!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why We Should Care About Sand Mining!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 06:05:11 -0000

We use a lot of sand. In fact, it's the number two thing we use as a species after water! But because we use so much, there's some bad things that happen as well...

Rod tells Will all about the world of sand mining!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alfred Wegener and the Theory of Continental Drift! With Tanja Pejic!

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 09:58:13 -0000

We all know that even though the ground beneath our feet feels solid, it's actually moving nice and slowly towards somewhere else.

But the science underpinning this idea? It was actually a huge fight...

Will and Rod explore, joined by Tanja Pejic of Geoscience Australia!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Dr Tanja Pejic of Geoscience Australia!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard and The Origin of Performance Enhancing Drugs!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 05:59:37 -0000

People have taken things to enhance their performance for ages - but the things they've taken, that's what's weird...

Rod tells Will the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why People Worried About Bicycle Face!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 06:53:23 -0000

Bikes are awesome! But during the biggest bicycle craze of the 19th century, medical opinion on bikes went a little bit weird...

Will tells Rod the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How To Spot An Art Forgery!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 06:52:49 -0000

Art forging - and catching art forgers - is a booming business these days. And on both sides, science has a key role to play...

Rod tells Will the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Taylorism, or Scientific Management!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 07:00:25 -0000

We love science here at the Wholesome Show, but what if you used science to make a workplace more efficient? Would you be a good person? Or is that dangerous?

Will tells Rod the story of Taylorism, or Scientific Management!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Short History of Electroconvulsive Therapy!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 11:01:02 -0000

The treatments we have available for various psychiatric issues aren't either vast... or precise.

Which is why electroconvulsive therapy is still a regular thing... Rod tells Will and special guest Shaam Al Abed the history!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Shaam Al Abed and this time brought to you by Brain Teaser as well as The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Karl von Frisch and the Waggle Dance!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 06:43:29 -0000

Symbolic communication is ours! Just for us humans! Or... maybe it's not...

Will tells Rod the story of Karl von Frisch and the bee waggle dance!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Apotemnophilia!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 06:34:30 -0000

So, simple question. If someone says their leg isn't really part of them, how should we help?

Rod explains apotemnophilia to Will!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Bitcoin Is A Doomsday Device!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 06:42:58 -0000

Doomsday devices suck. Just straight up not great. The Soviets built one at the Cold War, and now we've potentially got another one on our hands.

Will asks Rod if we can get the bitcoin doomsday device back in the tube!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Hitler's Seaside Resort!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 07:05:53 -0000

Would you stay in Hitler's sea side resort? You can if you want, but it's a weird building...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Mad Cow Disease :(

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 07:30:05 -0000

Prions are freaking horrible. Don't eat them if you can utterly avoid it. @willozap explains to @rodl what happens if you do.

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Karoshi Means Worked To Death (no exclamation mark)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 07:15:37 -0000

So this is by far our most communist episode ever - and it's about people being worked to death. Cool cool! Rod tells Will all about karoshi!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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The Unicorn of Quedlinburg (Or, How We Discovered Extinction)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 05:47:21 -0000

We're pretty used to the idea of extinction. Species live, species die, it sucks, but... it's kind of a fact of the modern world.

But we didn't always think this way. In fact, the idea of extinction took a lot of work to get off the ground.

Will tells Rod all about it!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Surgeons Behaving Badly!

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 07:07:14 -0000

Hey listener, are you having surgery anytime soon? Hugs if you are, it can be scary!

Well, Rod is about to go under the knife... and to calm himself, he went and explored three (terrible) stories of surgeons behaving badly. Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Gain of Function Research and the Lab Leak Hypothesis!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 05:35:50 -0000

Ok listener, this is the big question: did the SARS-CoV-2 virus - you know, the goddamn bug that's making Australians wear masks even now - leak from a lab in Wuhan?

Ok I lied. That's not even the big question. The big question is not whether it SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab leak, but whether research like that was opening dangerous doors...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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This Is Your Brain, Frozen In Time! (It's About Cryonics)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 07:12:05 -0000

Ok, this is the question listener: after you die, would you be interested in being frozen for reanimation in the future? Or do you think that sounds like the biggest scam around?

Rod tells Will the story of cryonics!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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The Mad Scientists of Reddit!

A Little Bit Of Science — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 06:03:19 -0000

So scientists, what science would you do if ethics were not an issue? We trawl through the mad scientists of Reddit to explore some options!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unclenching Climate Communication with Randy Olson!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 07:08:10 -0000

How scientists communicate is... not historically great. And Randy Olson's got opinions.

We sit down to explore!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, and joined today by Randy Olson!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Strange Saga of Aerosols vs Droplets

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 06:44:41 -0000

We all know the facts of Covid-19. Wash your hands, wear a mask, stay 1.5m away from the rest of the universe. This is good advice! But the science it's based on... is interesting.

Rod tells Will the story of the aerosol vs droplets saga!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Translation of Hieroglyphics!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 28 May 2021 05:04:42 -0000

The Rosetta Stone is a byword for an amazing tool able to unlock a world... and it did give the modern world knowledge of hieroglyphics. But the translation wasn't exactly easy...

Will tells Rod the story of the translation of hieroglyphics!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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John Cade's Discovery of Lithium! (Via Urine!)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 21 May 2021 06:44:31 -0000

Lithium is a tiny tiny atom - it's basically the third tiniest! But it also helps enormously with mental health issues. Which is super weird. Even weirder was how it was discovered, and it involved guinea pigs and urine!

Rod tells Will the story of John Cade's discovery of Lithium!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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The Potato Blight (There Is No Such Thing As A Natural Disaster)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 14 May 2021 01:09:21 -0000

In the middle of the 19th century, Ireland's population declined by about 2 million people over the course of just a few years. Half of that number fled the country, the other half starved.

What (or who) caused it?

Will tells Rod all about the Great Famine!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Condoms!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 07 May 2021 06:54:30 -0000

Condoms! What are they? Where did they come from? Where are they going next?

Rod tells Will all about it!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Making Risky Decisions! (Like Going Over Niagara Falls In A Barrel)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 06:38:16 -0000

Hey, would you go over Niagara Falls in a barrel? If you're on the fence, what would tip you the other way? Would it be peer pressure?

Will tells Rod the story of teenage decision making, and the first trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bandy Xenobia Lee and the Goldwater Rule

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 03:44:55 -0000

Should psychiatrists be able to contribute to political discussion? To considering who is or isn't fit for office? Should they... diagnose from afar?

Rod tells Will the story of Bandy Xenobia Lee's fight against the Goldwater Rule!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Understanding Animal Swarms!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 06:14:24 -0000

There are times when animals... hit the wrong numbers. Like not just hundreds, not just thousands, but millions or billions or even trillions - and everything is ruined.

Will tells Rod the story of animal swarms!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ethical Issues In A High Tech Society - with Adam Henschke!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 08:03:42 -0000

New technologies have opened up a whole new range of things we can do - monitor each other from afar, trap our genitals in internet enabled chastity belts, make sex dolls somewhat like real life. But the big question now isn't 'can we', it's 'should we'.

Rod and Will sit down for an exploration of key ethical issues in this high tech world, with our senior ethics correspondent Adam Henschke!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Secret Spy Science of Poo!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 06:14:46 -0000

Ok listener, this is it - right in the centre of the Venn diagram of Wholesome Show topics. We've got nasty racists, bad accents, the Soviet Union, terrible people and a whole lot of spies chasing turds!

Will tells Rod a story that doesn't really need to be heard...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Barry Marshall Drinks Something Weird!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 06:10:37 -0000

It's not surprising that an Australian scientist got a Nobel prize for drinking something weird - but how he lined up the ducks to get there, that's the story...

Rod tells Will the story of Barry Marshall, Nobel Prize winner!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Fraudulent Bird of Washington!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 06:00:48 -0000

In the early 19th Century, John James Audubon achieved something truly amazing - but he needed to commit a stupendous fraud to do it...

Will tells Rod the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Brief History of Medical Leeches!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 01:13:29 -0000

People have used leeches in medicine for thousands of years - but the story is not quite what you might think. Will tells Rod all about it!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Healing Powers of Rat Poison (In Medically Supervised Doses!)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 01:52:26 -0000

In the 1930s, a blizzard blew through Wisconsin, and some cattle got sick - what happened then is a story of the development of one of the world's most important drugs!

Rod tells Will the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

440Hz! (Or, What's Going On With Conspiracy Theories!)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 07:49:15 -0000

Did you know that the world is controlled by the tuning frequency of our music industry? (It's not). That this was deliberately designed by the Rothschilds and the US Navy and the Nazis to control our bodies? (It wasn't).

Ok, this isn't true. But it's a fun conspiracy theory, and it lets us explore how conspiracy theories work with Professor Colin Klein from the ANU Philosophy Gang!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, joined today by Professor Colin Klein, and brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why The Government Made The Sky! (According To Steven Brandenburg!)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 05:09:46 -0000

The Anti-Vaccination movement is... a broad church. Steven Brandenburg takes a leaf from every pew!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thou Art The Man! (Or, The Great Moon Hoax)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 05:59:37 -0000

Here's a story about things (lies) going viral. It involves moon beavers, 24 tonnes of glass, and a scientist jumping into the air declaring 'thou art the man!'. Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Weird Thing About Body Temperature!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 08:29:47 -0000

Here's a question for you - if you're healthy, what temperature is your body?

Did you say 37 (or 98.6) degrees? Congratulations, you're kinda right! But also... kinda wrong...

It turns out body temperature varies whether you're male or female, whether you're menstruating or not, whether you measure in the mouth or the ear or the forehead or the anus, or even - and here's the strange part - what decade you live in...

Rod tells Will the story of body temperature!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Year Of Silver Linings

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 19:00:18 -0000

Ok, 2020 sucked. But surely it wasn't 100% disaster?

To round off the year, Will explores some of the silver linings of 2020 with Rod and special guest Janie! Thanks heaps to Inger Mewburn, Aparna Lal, Bec Colvin, Anna Raupach, Saul Cunningham, Jill Sheppard, Sharon Friel, Mark Howden and Arnagretta Hunter for additional silver linings!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Janie and proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Feejee Mermaid!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 04:01:31 -0000

Real physical mermaids - do they exist? (No). But if they don't exist, where do the fake ones come from?

Rod tells Will the story of the Feejee Mermaid!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

IQ!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 05:02:50 -0000

Listener, it's pretty obvious from here you have an IQ of 158, maybe 159. But what does that mean? Where did it come from? And what percentage of it is bullshit?

Rod tells Will the story of IQ!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What Caused The Crime Drop?

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 05:11:02 -0000

From about 1990 onwards, something really, undeniably good happened, on a vast - near global - level.

But no one really knows why.

Will tells Rod the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Brief History of Penis Panics

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 03:59:09 -0000

Mass psychotics illnesses suck. Some are about dancing, some are about nervous ticks, some... are about genitals.

Rod tells Will the history (and science) of penis panics!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Nazi War on Tobacco

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 04:39:31 -0000

The usual history says that the link between smoking and lung cancer was first shown by the British epidemiologist Richard Doll in 1952. But that's not quite true. The first people to show this link were... actually bad people.

Will tells Rod and special guest CjJosh the story of the Nazi war on tobacco!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts - joined today by CJJosh! Proudly produced by G'day Studios, and brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Sverdlovsk Outbreak of 1979!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:43:07 -0000

It's horrible when a lot of people die... but what if they all die in a line?

Will tells Rod the story of the Sverdlovsk outbreak of 1979!

(Spoiler it's anthrax and it's the Soviet Union)!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Head Transplants! (actually body transplants)

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 04:15:00 -0000

Speculating here listener, but would you swap your body for a younger, hotter, healthier version of yourself? Well, there are a few surgeons out there who are happy to help...

Rod tells Will the story of head (body) transplantation surgery!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by G'day Studios and supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Science of Near Death Experiences!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 21:45:13 -0000

It's a common trope - you do something catastrophically silly, and next thing you know you're watching your life flash before your eyes. Or you're standing in fluffy clouds that look suspiciously like heaven... or you're being dragged in chains to a pit that looks worryingly like hell.

Don't worry, it's just a Near Death Experience!

But... what actually are they? What happens? How common are they? And why are they all so... similar?

Will tells Rod all about the science of Near Death Experiences!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by G'day Studios and supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Things People Have Done In An MRI!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 21:45:17 -0000

What is Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and what is an MRI machine? What have people done in them? And are they 100% science? Rod tells Will and special guest CJJosh all about the wonderful world of Magnetic Resonance Imaging!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts - joined today by CJJosh! Proudly produced by G'day Studios, and brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Musical Maladies - And Fakes!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 02:13:27 -0000

Playing a musical instrument is fun, rewarding, and lets you strut your stuff in front of a crowd of thousands! But it comes with a downside... some injuries unique to the instrument you choose.

Or... does it?

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, produced by G'day Studios, and proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Science of Daylight Savings Time!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 05:00:37 -0000

Daylight savings time is beautiful. An extra hour of the day for walking the dog, drinking daiquiris or listening to podcasts that require you to be outside in the sun!

But maybe it's a little bit of a guilty pleasure...

Will tells Rod the history and science of daylight savings time!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, produced by G'day Studios and proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Astrology For the Fortune 500 - The Myers Briggs Type Indicator!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 07:11:43 -0000

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator is used by thousands and thousands of high profile companies... But should it?

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Food Hacks... or P-Hacks? The Dodgy Insights of Brian Wansink!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 06:30:11 -0000

You've known for years that things like portion size, food availability and the colour of your plates affect your food intake... But it turns out the research it was based on was maybe a little bit bullshit?

Rod tells Will the story of Brian Wansink's strange food hack science!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Myth of the Bee Apocalypse!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 07:07:19 -0000

Apparently, Albert Einstein once claimed that “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live”...

And since 2007, colonies of bees around the world have been mysteriously collapsing...

Will (and guest expert Saul Cunningham) get to the bottom of the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Professor Saul Cunningham of the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Brief History of Aphrodisiacs!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 07:09:54 -0000

Ok, we know that old timey people had some weird ideas about medicine... but when it comes to cures for sexual issues, it seems they'll try... anything.

Rod tells Will the story of old time aphrodisiacs!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Hunt for the Fourth Order Island!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 02:06:36 -0000

We all know about islands... and we all know about lakes. We know we can have islands in lakes, and even lakes on islands.

But did you know that there are lakes on islands in lakes? And even more, islands in lakes on islands in lakes?

Roger Dickey knew this... And he had a quest, to find the elusive fourth order island!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Actual Genius of Paul Erdős

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 07:18:00 -0000

A lot of people are held up as geniuses (genii?)... But most of them are just pretty smart and pretty lucky.

Paul Erdős though, he was something different.

Rod tells Will his story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Strange Things People Have Smuggled Into Space!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 06:35:03 -0000

As of recording on the 21 August 2020, some 566 have been to space.

345 have been American, 121 Russian Soviet. 65 have been women... And at least 7 have been smugglers. Will tells Rod the story of the secret things people have brought into space!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Exploring the Carbon Diet with Jo Clay!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 06:50:08 -0000

Should you 'diet' to reduce your carbon impact? In this episode we discuss the carbon diet with Jo Clay, candidate for the Greens Party here in the current Australian Capital Territory election!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Science of Swearing!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 07:00:27 -0000

***Warning, there is a *lot* of swearing in this episode!***

Listener, have you always wanted to have a swear word for those people who aren't impressed by amazing things? Well, Rod's got a swear word for you!

In this episode, Rod tells Will about the history and science of swearing!

***Second warning, there is a *lot* of swearing in this episode!***

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Balloonomania!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 06:43:19 -0000

For a few short months between 1783 and 1785, France went absolutely nuts for balloons. In this episode, Will tells Rod the origin and development of balloonomania!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Martyrs To The X-Ray

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 06:14:59 -0000

Early scientific labs had a fairly different understanding of workplace health and safety to what we might see in labs today. In this episode, Rod tells Will some of the horror stories of the early work on x-rays!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The History And Future Of The Death Certificate

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 08:07:02 -0000

No one likes doing paperwork. Even worse when that paperwork is about your own death...

Today Will is joined by Dr Arnagretta Hunter to tell Rod the history - and the future - of the death certificate!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, joined today by Dr Arnagretta Hunter. The Wholesome Show is proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Red Mercury!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 01:59:42 -0000

In the middle of the Cold War, Soviet scientists apparently developed an explosive so potent it could be used to make nuclear fusion bombs the size of a baseball.

But was it real?

Rod tells Will the story of Red Mercury!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, and is proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What Actually Is Stockholm Syndrome?

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 10:54:28 -0000

'Stockholm Syndrome' is a very widely used term, used to describe supposed feelings of affection and love held for a captor by a hostage...

But when you dig a little deeper, the story turns into something a little bit different.

Will tells Rod the story of Stockholm Syndrome!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The People Who Don't Get Cancer

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 06:15:59 -0000

What would you trade to never get cancer?

Well, that's not a real question, because it's not really an option. But there are a group of people with one hell of a side benefit...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

White Academics, Trying To Do Better

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 06:08:14 -0000

It's no secret listener, we're part of perhaps the most problematic demographic - white middle aged podcasting academics. And, quite legitimately, we're being asked to do better.

So - this is us, going a little bit meta and drawing on the advice of Prof Jasmine Roberts of Ohio State University to try to explore what we can do to help make a better world.

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.

Prof Jasmine Roberts' White Academia: Do Better is available at https://medium.com/the-faculty/white-academia-do-better-fa96cede1fc5

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Biggest Robot Ever Made!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 06:47:42 -0000

Ok, it's the Cold War in America, and you're building nuclear everything - nuclear ships, nuclear subs, nuclear aeroplanes! But what if there's an oopsie - how do you clean it up? With the biggest robot ever made of course!

Rod tells Will the story of the Beetle, the biggest robot ever made!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Brief History of the Nanny State Critique!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 29 May 2020 06:58:44 -0000

Ever since people have tried to make our world just a tiny bit healthier - you know, to not be coated in open sewage - idiot libertarians have screamed that it's their freedom to be covered in shit.

In this episode, Will hosts Rod and special guest Professor Penny Hawe in a special quiz on the history of the nanny state critique!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, joined today by Professor Penny Hawe! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Earth Has An Anus" - The Weird Ideas of Alfred Lawson

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 22 May 2020 06:52:35 -0000

You can be, on the outside, a normal - even successful - person, but still hold a core of quackery on the inside.

Alfred Lawson was one such person.

A successful journalist, aircraft manufacturer and pilot - and the first person to commute by plane - Lawson also had some intensely weird Ideas about how the world works.

Rod tells Will his story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Henry Cotton's Terrible Psychiatry

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 15 May 2020 06:33:00 -0000

Henry Cotton had some interesting ideas about the causes of psychiatric disorders. The problem wasn't the ideas, it was the dogged pursuit of following them through..

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Dr Madeleine Hinwood! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Woman Who Felt No Fear

A Little Bit Of Science — Sat, 09 May 2020 06:37:51 -0000

Nobody likes being afraid - but even so, fear is a pretty useful emotion. It protects us from tigers and bad parties and what not. But what if you don't experience it?

Rod tells Will the story of S. M., the woman who feels no fear!

The Wholesome Show is made by Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Eradication of Smallpox

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 01 May 2020 06:26:06 -0000

For thousands of years smallpox was the worst virus in the world. It killed more people than any other disease - perhaps as many as half a billion in the 20th Century alone.

But then, following a concerted global effort of vaccination, we wiped it out - the only disease threatening humans to have been fully eradicated.

Will tells Rod how this happened!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Made Up Asia Of George Psalmanazar

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 06:55:08 -0000

In the 18th Century the people of Europe had heard of Asia - but they didn't know much about it. And so to fill the information vacuum, some enterprising folk... filled the gap with bullshit.

The champion of this was George Psalmanazar... Rod tells Will his story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Documenting the Infodemic!

A Little Bit Of Science — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 03:48:13 -0000

While we're living through a pandemic, we're also in the midst of a tsunami of misinformation, a plague of snake oil, a veritable shit-storm of bad communication!

And we wanted to document it.

So today, Will tells Rod - and special guest Darren Saunders - all about some of the awful people spreading awful lies in this Covid-19 world!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Horace Fletcher, King of Chewing!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 01:46:53 -0000

We're all told as kids to chew our food properly - but people don't usually go as far as The Great Masticator, Horace Fletcher. As Fletcher held it, food should be chewed until liquefied before swallowing.

"Nature will castigate those who don't masticate."

Rod tells Will all about him!

The Wholesome Show is made by Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, and proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Spanish Flu!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 06:14:22 -0000

In 1918-1919, the Spanish Flu killed perhaps as many as 100 million people. More than anything else ever.

But for decades, we barely spoke about it - in fact it was called the forgotten pandemic.

Will tells Rod all about it!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Munchausen's, Munchausen's by Proxy, Munchausen's by Internet!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 04:54:37 -0000

The internet, you may be shocked to learn, is full of lies - half truths, fraud, fakery! Some of the lying may in fact be diagnosable...

Rod tells Will about Munchausen's syndrome, Munchausen's by proxy, and Munchausen's by Internet!

This is our first social distancing podcast, bear with us while we polish our tech :)

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The History and Science of Panic Buying!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 02:23:32 -0000

Pandemics suck. You know that. You also know that panic buying sucks, particularly when everyone is buying your delicious brand of muesli.

But what causes it?

Will tells Rod a little about the history and science of panic buying!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science - take care everybody!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Life and Times of Alfred Nobel

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 01:08:24 -0000

The Nobel Prizes are really pretty famous. But what about the guy who set them up?

Rod tells Will the story of Alfred Nobel!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Weather War!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 03:10:48 -0000

In 1996 the US Air Force released an 'ideas paper' exploring how "US aerospace forces can ‘own the weather’ by capitalising on emerging technologies and focusing development of those technologies to war-fighting applications."

In short, they were looking at making weather a weapon against their enemies!

Will tells Rod about the history behind this idea...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bioweapons Testing!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 11:34:29 -0000

In 1966 a group of US Army scientists wanted to find out just how vulnerable the New York Subway system was to a biological attack.

The good news? They found it was... pretty vulnerable.

The bad news? The way they found this out was... pretty dodgy.

Will tells Rod and Hans all about it!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, joined today by Dr Hans Thulstrup, and proudly presented by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Science of Heavy Metal

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 06:17:36 -0000

Kant holds that the fundamental principle of our moral duties is a categorical imperative. For people who listen to Heavy Metal, that means categorising music with the most awesome array of sub-categories you can imagine!

Rod tells Will (and Hans!) all about the science of Heavy Metal!

The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, joined today by Hans Thulstrup! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 04:33:50 -0000

It's a sad fact of humanity that people who don't know much about something wildly over estimate how good they are at that thing. Heard about Iran's nuclear program? Then you're basically an expert. Played a video game with a helicopter? You're basically a pilot.

This phenomenon is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect.

But it's not just a reason we should calm down our self-estimation, it has real world consequences. Rod tells Will more!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Difficult Legacy of J Marion Sims

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 04:47:34 -0000

Can an enslaved person suffering a terrible condition consent to an experimental medical procedure?

The short answer is no! The long answer is still no, but with a side order of 'it's complicated'.

But can the rest of society benefit?

Will tells Rod about the difficult legacy of J Marion Sims!

The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Faecal Microbiota Transplants!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 07:32:36 -0000

Listener you knew it was coming - if you were going to draw a Venn diagram of Wholesome Show topics (juvenile and science being the key circles), then poo transplants would sit right in the middle!

So this episode, Rod tells Will the history and science of Faecal Microbiota Transplants!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Sugar Experiments of Vipeholm

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 18:00:00 -0000

We all know sugar is bad for our teeth.

But... how did we come to know that?

Rod tells Will the story of the Vipeholm Hospital sugar experiments!

The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Pedoscope!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 19:00:00 -0000

What's a pedoscope, and why were they banned?

Will tells Rod the weird story of this weird invention from the dark ages of the 20th Century...

The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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A Weird Marshmallow Experiment

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 01 Jan 2020 19:00:03 -0000

Listener, are you the type to delay gratification? To study for your test now, and save the night of partying till afterwards? To save your pennies for a sensible purchase only when you have the money? To avoid eating one marshmallow now, to get two later?

Or do you need what you need/want right now, and consequences be damned?

Either is fine, we're not judging. But for years, perhaps the most famous experiment in cognitive psychology has...

Will tells Rod and Hannah the story of the weird marshmallow experiment!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Hannah Carle! We're proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fighting Big Corpse!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 19:00:33 -0000

Hey listener, what are you going to do with your body when you die? Like most sensible people, you're going to get turned into a diamond and fired into the sun (of course!) - but if that's not quite for you, what's an environmentally and socially responsible solution for your mortal remains?

Rod tells Will and Hannah about the science and politics of Big Corpse!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Hannah Carle and proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Harvard Psilocybin Project!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 03:50:18 -0000

In the early 1960s a team of Harvard researchers... got high. All good, each to their own!

But because they were researchers, they decided to become a little more rigorous on what happens when you take psychedelic drugs.

Will tells Rod the story of the Harvard Psilocybin Project!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Animals in Space!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 05:53:22 -0000

In 1957 a stray dog was rescued from the streets of Moscow - and then strapped to the top of a rocket and sent into space!

She died :(

But she paved the way for the rest of us to reach the stars, so that's nice!

Hannah Carle joins the Wholesome Show today to tell Rod and Will about the animals who've gone to space!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, joined today by Hannah Carle from ANU's Research School of Biology! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Drug Smuggling Logistics!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 04:31:49 -0000

Supply chain logistics is one of the fastest growing and most innovative industries in the world. In shipping companies around the world scientists and engineers are working on robot factories and drone delivery and ways to get your packages to you faster and faster.

And the drug industry is keen on this too!

Rod tells Will about the innovative ways drug barons are shipping drugs around the world...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Radioactive Snake Oil!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 29 Nov 2019 01:10:39 -0000

In the late 19th century Marie and Pierre Curie conducted some groundbreaking work on radioactivity. Their results were exciting - so exciting, we went around putting radioactive ingredients in everything!

Will tells Rod the story of radioactive snake oil!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Fake Money of JSG Boggs

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 05:15:21 -0000

What even is money? Is it even really real?

Money, as all you wise Wholesome Show listeners know, is a social construct. We made it up and we believe in it because it's useful.

And so we know making fake money is naughty... But what if you fake it as an art project?

Rod tells Will the story of JSG Boggs and his fake money!

The Wholesome Show is Will Grant and Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Phrenology!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 05:03:23 -0000

The idea of studying the bumps on people's heads to understand their personality is often held up as one of the dumbest mistakes ever made in science... But the story of phrenology is a little more complicated than that.

Will tells Rod why!

The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Brief History Of Anti-Vaccination!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 03:22:12 -0000

The first vaccination was invented in 1796 by Edward Jenner.

The first anti-vaccination movement was invented mere moments later - and their ideas then parallel strongly with the ideas you see pushed now.

Rod tells Will their story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Domesticating The Fox!

A Little Bit Of Science — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 03:54:26 -0000

How did wolves turn into dogs?

Dmitri Belyaev wanted to find out, so he launched a secret experiment in the middle of Stalinist Soviet Union to domesticate the fox!

The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, joined today by Hannah Carle!

Normally brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, today we're also brought to you by the Research School of Biology at ANU as the final Director's Seminar for 2019!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stats Porn!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 05:47:50 -0000

PornHub is one of the biggest porn sites on the planet - and every year they release a data dump of what the world watches!

Rod tells Will all about it!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 02:25:31 -0000

At the beginning of the 20th Century the French colonisers in Hanoi had a problem with rats. Sure, rats had always been out there in the streets and the Vietnamese neighbourhoods... But something new was happening...

The rats were poking their furry noses up in the toilets of the rich and powerful. Ugh!

Will tells Rod and Kim Ballestrin how they tried to solve the problem!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, joined today by Kim Ballestrin! Normally brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, today we're also brought to you by #LASTConf!

Sources:
Michael G Vann: OF RATS, RICE, AND RACE: THE GREAT HANOI RAT MASSACRE, AN EPISODE IN FRENCH COLONIAL HISTORY. French Colonial History Vol. 4, 2003, pp. 191-204
New York Times: Dog a Fake Hero, 1908
Wikipedia: Paul Doumer

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Resurrectionists!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 02:21:38 -0000

In the early 19th Century medical schools in England and Scotland were in a bit of a pickle. They needed a regular supply of bodies to demonstrate anatomy lessons on, but there just weren't enough being produced via 'offical' means... So they turned to some 'grey area' associates to help them out.

Will tells Rod their story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Death Penalty in Japan, with Mai Sato!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 04:20:38 -0000

Iwao Hakamada was sentenced to death on September 11, 1968, for a 1966 quadruple murder.

On March 10, 2011, Guinness World Records certified Hakamada as the world's longest-held death row inmate.

Cool record huh! (Very very not cool).

Today we explore his story with Mai Sato, from the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Isaac Newton, Coin Detective!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 19:00:15 -0000

Isaac Newton had an amazing career as a scientist. But did you know he also had a secret follow up career as an undercover detective chasing bad guys around London?

Rod tells Will the story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Fake Stanford Prison Experiment!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 01:28:45 -0000

For nearly 50 years the Stanford Prison Experiment has been held up as the most famous experiment in psychology. Ethically flawed, sure, but at least it told us a whole lot about how bad situations make bad people...

But it was bullshit.

Will tells Rod why!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

This episode draws on Thibault Le Texier’s Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment, originally published in French as Histoire d’un mensonge: enquête sur l’expérience de Stanford. Available at https://files.osf.io/v1/resources/mjhnp/providers/osfstorage/5d4bd52522a88600184ed20c?action=download&version=1&direct

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Reality An Illusion?

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 19:00:06 -0000

Edgar Allan Poe once declared that 'all we see or seem is but a dream within a dream'. Poetic thoughts, sure.

But what if they're true? What if we're actually living in a simulation? I hate to break it to you, but some people think it's more likely than not - and they're trying to break out!

Rod tells Will all about it!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Asteroid Impact!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 19:00:06 -0000

You know dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid - but did you know how horrible it was?

Spoiler alert, it was very horrible!

Anyway, neither of us want to die that way, so we explored what science is doing to stop it!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Paul Stapp And The Rocket Sled!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 19:00:06 -0000

A drag racer can accelerate from a dead stop to 160 km/h in 0.86 seconds. That's a horizontal acceleration of 5.3 g.

For most of us that would mush our brains to the backs of our skulls and leave us in a state of piddling confusion.

But to John Paul Stapp that's baby steps.

Rod tells Will about John Paul Stapp's mission to see just how fast the human body can start and stop!

The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wilhelm Reich And The Orgone!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 19:00:05 -0000

Have you ever tried to bring together a grand unified theory of character development, proletarian revolution, alien invasion and orgasms? Well, Wilhelm Reich certainly tried, and this is his story!

The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Highest Fecal Time Bomb In The World!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 04:15:12 -0000

I hate to break it to you, but the highest mountain in the world is no longer a wilderness. Far from the distant unclimbable of Mallory and Hillary, Mt Everest is now a heaving festival of the best and worst of humanity, and an oversize garbage dump with its own nightclub.

Rod tells Will all about it!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Human Zoos!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 19:00:05 -0000

Between the 1870s and the 1930s hundreds of zoos in Europe and America included people - yes human people - as part of their display collections. Will tells Rod all about it!

The Wholesome Show is Will Grant and Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Vague Silver Lining of Tobacco

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 19:00:15 -0000

I don't want to - ahem - blow smoke up your arse, but tobacco is not 100% satanically evil.

Wait wait, before you shoot us, yes - tobacco is 99.9999% satanically evil, and has caused untold cancers and deaths and other bad things. But... there might be a tiny sliver of a silver lining? We explore!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peaceful Nuclear Explosions!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 02:01:36 -0000

In the 1960s and 70s the United States and the Soviet Union had a shitload of nuclear weapons... and when all you have is a hammer, the whole world is a nail. So they started using their nuclear hammers to solve other... civilian problems!

The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Poll Failures - With Kevin Bonham

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 19:00:04 -0000

Political polls... aren't having a good run. After spectacular failures of polling in the UK in the Brexit vote and the US in the 2016 election, the malaise has come to Australia - the recent election was specatularly poorly called.

We sit down with poll analyst Dr Kevin Bonham to explore why!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Injected With Plutonium

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 18:59:59 -0000

On May 14, 1945, Albert Stevens was injected with 131 kBq (3.55 µCi) of plutonium - the highest known radiation dose in any human - without his knowledge or informed consent.

This is his story.

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Brief History Counting People!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 19:00:04 -0000

Statistics, you might be surprised to learn, is the science of the state. At heart the whole discipline was born from an effort to count how many people your country had, so you could know how many taxes you could collect / armies you could raise / pyramids you could build.

But the business of counting people has never been... straight forward. Sam Vilkins tells Rod and Will all about it!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unexplained Aerial Phenomena! (It's The New Name For UFOs!)

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 18:59:59 -0000

In our galaxy there are billions of stars like our Sun, many of them probably billions of years older. In all likelihood, many of these stars will have Earth-like planets, and if the Earth is typical, at last some may have developed intelligent life - perhaps even billions of years more advanced than us.

It's just simple probability! But... why is the galaxy so... quiet?

Today, we explore the world of people looking for answers...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Dee Catto and Matt Phung! Proudly made possible by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oceans Of Nuclear Waste!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 19:00:26 -0000

Between 1946 and 1993 a bunch of countries dumped 85 PBq* of radioactive waste into the ocean. Slurries, solids, reactors - you know, the stuff you find lying around and just want to put in the ocean.**

It was terrible, and it seems we've mostly stopped it. But that shit is still down there... So we explore!

* I don't really know how much a PBq is, but it's a lot more than 'nothing', and 'nothing' is the correct amount of radioactive waste that should go into the ocean
** No, you don't find it lying around and you don't want to put it in the ocean, you're a good person listener.

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Unusual Health Beliefs of John Harvey Kellogg!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 19:00:05 -0000

Corn flakes are delicious. But did you know they were originally invented to lower sexual desire? (Try it yourself next time you have a bowl, but be careful!)

Their invention was part of a quest of John Harvey Kellogg's not only to improve the health of society, but to stop people from a range of other practices, including drinking, smoking, having sex and masturbating.

In this episode we explore the weird - and really quite repressive - health beliefs of John Harvey Kellogg!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins and Matt Phung! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Bone Collectors

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 29 May 2019 19:00:07 -0000

In the dying days of the Second World War, allied troops entering Strasbourg made a grisly discovery - the purpose built beginnings of a skeleton collection. This pseudoscientific collection was an attempt by the Nazis to showcase - in physical form - the alleged racial inferiority of the "Jewish race" in contrast to the German Aryan Übermenschen.

It's both disgusting, and very definitely not science. But Nazis weren't the only ones to collect human bones...

We explore the terrible terrible bone collectors!

(Australian Indigenous listeners are advised this episode contains discussion of deceased Indigenous Australians).

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anthropophagy! (It Means Cannibalism)!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 22 May 2019 19:00:07 -0000

Everyone has food they hate eating. For some people it's mushrooms, for others it's onions, for others it's aniseed. (For Will it's watermelon. It's the lamest melon).

But if you're starving on a desert island and there's only mushrooms, onions, aniseed or watermelon there, sure, you'll bend your rules.

But what about... other humans? How hungry do you have to get to turn to anthropophagy (it means cannibalism)?

In this episode, we explore the science, history and anthropology of anthropophagy (it means cannibalism)!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 15 May 2019 19:00:19 -0000

Do you listen to The Wholesome Show in the shower? You can, it's totally fine with us!

So... if you're in the shower now, take a look down at the floor. Look at the drain and watch your suds go down... Where do they go? Well, down the pipe, down the river, and all the way down to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench!*

So that's fine if your suds are wholesome and non toxic to the environment, but sadly *heaps of garbage* is being washed down our drains all the way to the ocean. This makes us intensely sad. So to understand more, we explore the Great Pacific Garbage Patch!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

*Maybe more symbolically than literally

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Poo-In-A-Box!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 08 May 2019 19:00:19 -0000

Listener I distinctly remember being told, when I was about 4, that even the Queen does poos. (It's true, she does!)

Well, there's nothing to be ashamed about, it's all part of life. But about 4.5 billion of us don't have access to safe and hygienic toilets, and that is a shame. So for this episode we explore the history and technology of the toilet! Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant - joined today by Assoc Professor Sujatha Raman! Proudly made possible by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Piltdown Man and Other Fossil Fakes!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 01 May 2019 19:00:19 -0000

Have you ever wished the made up dinosaurs from the latest Jurassic Park movies were real? Well, you're not the only one! It turns out fossil hunters around the world are ... a little prone to inventing their own dinosaurs!

We explore the Piltdown Man and other fossil fakes! Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcranial Electromagnetic Stimulation!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 19:00:19 -0000

Have you ever wanted to be just a little bit smarter? To think a little bit more clearly, to remember better, to have a higher IQ? Well it turns out, people are trying a variety of government approved - and home made - techniques to do just that. But they're not consequence free... We explore Transcranial Electromagnetic Stimulation!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre of the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Moral Entrepreneurs of The Momo Hoax!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 19:00:14 -0000

Earlier this year teenagers around the world began* to receive* sinister text messages... from a half bird half woman half ghoul thing from the depths of despair. The messages instructed* these teenagers to do bad things - to hurt themselves - or the creepy ghoul known as Momo would get them!

But - you know the story listener - it was all bullshit. Just a scary image and a made up moral panic, whipped into shape for clicks by moral entrepreneurs. But there is something interesting here - who falls for these things, and why do they fall for them when they do? We explore!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, and proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

*they didn't, it didn't happen, it was made up

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dehumanisation!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 18:00:12 -0000

Human brains are, quite simply, one of the most astounding things in the cosmos. They've written the works of Shakespeare, composed the lyrics to most Tool songs, and put people on the moon!

But they've also got... some terrible loopholes. In particular, there's a bizarre loophole in our brains where we can decide if someone we don't like ... isn't really human. And then, we can do awful things to them (sad face emoji).

Dehumanisation is a terrible process that has lead to many terrible things - the perfect thing for a Wholesome Explore!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wherefore Art Thou Dinosaur Erotica?

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 18:00:19 -0000

Warning - this episode somewhat less safe for work than normal!

Azog is an underappreciated cavewoman in her tribe. The cavemen treat her like a piece a meat, and disrespect her at every turn. Azog cannot change this unless she proves herself as a hunter.

But when she discovers a clutch of baby velociraptors and decides to kill them and triumphantly bring them back to her tribe, things start to get a little weird...

This episode, we explore the weird world of dinosaur erotica, and the weird world on our side that brought it into being!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, (usually) proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

(Wherefore means why)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Paradox of Meritocracy!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 18:00:19 -0000

On first glance, the idea of meritocracy sounds like a pretty sensible way of organising society. Put simply, all the good things - rewards and privileges and crowns and jobs and things - go to the people who work the hardest and are the best at things.

Sound pretty fair?

Well it probably wouldn't surprise you, intelligent listener, if we told you that the world today isn't 100% meritocratic. We still have monarchs after all...

But here's the thing. Not only do we not live in a meritocratic world, the idea of meritocracy itself is bad: the more people believe in it, the worse they become as humans. Ugh!

We explore!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wandering Teeth!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 18:00:18 -0000

An adult - if they've been good and brushed their teeth properly and haven't had any removed - can have 32 teeth in their mouth.

That's right, 32 teeth in their mouth...

We say 'in their mouth', because if they've been good and brushed their teeth *and they're lucky* they can have a fair few more in other parts of their body! We explore!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Dr Merryn McKinnon and proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Phantom Itches!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 18:00:16 -0000

What do you do if you have an itch? You scratch it! Of course you do, you're only human. But what if the itch is on a limb YOU NO LONGER HAVE? How do you scratch that, smarty pants?

We explore the weird (horrible) world of intense, intense itchiness!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Getting to Graham's Number!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 18:30:05 -0000

Numbers, by definition, go on forever. Whatever number you think of, you can always find one bigger - all the way out to infinity.

But have you ever stopped to think about what a really big number is actually like? That there are numbers you can't even write out long form inside this universe?

This episode we explore the march of big numbers, all the way up to Graham's Number!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins and proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People Who... Drink Their Own Urine!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 18:30:05 -0000

Ok... to people who don't do it, it's weird and gross and wrong. But to people who do do it, it's basically the golden fountain of youth.

That's right, it's Urophagia, or the weird gross quack medicine that is drinking your own urine!

You may not have ever wanted to know about this practice, but your intrepid explorers at The Wholesome Show have done the hard yards for you today - so sit back, pour yourself a glass of something delicious, and enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined in this episode by Sam Vilkins and proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Animals On Trial!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 18:00:15 -0000

Bartholomew Chassenée, a distinguished French jurist of the sixteenth century, made his reputation at the bar as counsel for some... rats. That's right, he successfully defended some rats in court.

How did he get the rats off? What loophole did he find? These are interesting questions...

But perhaps the more interesting question is why were the rats on trial in the first place?

We explore the weird habit of the Middle Ages of putting animals in court room trials!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 1947 Children's New Illustrated Encyclopedia!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 18:00:05 -0000

The past - they say - is a different country. They do things differently there...

And the best way to see those differences (and laugh and cry at them) is to flick through old time encyclopaedias. So we sat down with the 1947 Children's New Illustrated Encyclopedia, and explored how the world was explained to children in 1947. Join us to find out!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Indiana Pi Bill!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 18:30:03 -0000

The number pi (π) is... rather unwieldy. It starts with a fairly simple '3', but then continues past the decimal place with a collection of basically random digits... Here's the first one hundred or so digits: 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067

Edward J Goodwin didn't like this messiness, so he had an idea: legislate a much simpler definition of pi! Instead of that long collection of numbers, just use 3! (Or 3.2, or 4...)

Well, that was a dumb idea. But we love dumb ideas at The Wholesome Show, so we explored!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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Searching For A Truth Serum!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 18:00:15 -0000

It's been the stock of movies for decades - and dreams for centuries - but do truth serums exist?

Spoiler alert (you already knew this): they don't. But that's not for the lack of trying! We explore the heroes (or villains) of science trying to bring this mythical chemical into being!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Pseudo Science of Generations

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 18:30:05 -0000

What 'generation' are you, listener? Too cool Gen X? Permanently bottom of the economic hierarchy Millenial? Or plutocrat Baby Boomer?

You may have been born during one of these time periods, but it turns out when you look at any actual science, the idea of 'generations' is pretty damn flimsy. So we explored!

The Wholesome Show is normally Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, but in this episode we're led by substitute teacher Sam Vilkins!

As normal, The Wholesome Show is proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at The Australian National University!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tumblr For Old People!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 18:30:05 -0000

In recent weeks the popular website Tumblr made radical changes to it's terms of use - basically, banning rude and naughty content!

To celebrate / explore / commiserate this milestone, we old science communicators brought in our Senior Generation Z correspondent Sam Vilkins to explain to us what this crazy website is (was) all about...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Terrible History of The Lobotomy

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 04:48:37 -0000

For a few decades in the middle of the 20th century, an icepick - inserted moderately carefully through the gap between a patient's eye and their skull into their brain (and then jiggled around a little bit) - was the height of psychiatric medicine. Even though it came with a 15% death rate, it was all the rave!

We explore the terrible terrible history of the lobotomy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Joe Duggan!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Trial Of The L'Aquila Seven

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 18:30:07 -0000

In April 2009, the Italian city of L'Aquila was hit by a devastating earthquake. 309 people were killed. More than 1,500 were injured, some 20,000 buildings were destroyed and 65,000 were temporarily displaced. Some estimates put the damage at $16 Billion.

Less than a year later, six leading Italian scientists and one government official were charged with manslaughter in connection with the case.

Did they fail to predict the unpredictable? Were they scapegoats blamed by an angry public? Or were they foolhardy in the face of fear?

We explore the trial of the L'Aquila Seven!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined toady by Sam Vilkins, and proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Open Plan Offices!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 18:00:04 -0000

Listener, how do you feel about your co-workers? Do you love them deeply, or would you describe them like this?

"I have inevitably come to despise my co-workers with every molecule of my stressed and wretched being."

Well... I hope not the latter.

But someone out there does feel this way, and they feel this way because of OPEN PLAN OFFICES.

This episode we explore the nightmarish hellscape of our 9 to 5. Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tabby's Star!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 04:47:22 -0000

Every now and then scientists hit on something weird - something in the wide world out there behaving not quite as you'd expect. Astronomer Dr Tabetha S. Boyajian discovered one of these weird things: a star with something strange orbiting it. Could it, just possible, be home to super advanced aliens???

We explore the potential (but, in all fairness, not super likely) alien megastructures surrounding KIC 8462852, or Tabby's Star!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Chemistry Crimes of Thomas Midgley Jr

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 06:19:01 -0000

If you knowingly put a toxin into the environment at global scales - but it helps your car go faster - is that a bad thing?

(Short answer - yes!).

Longer answer: we explore the chemistry crimes of Thomas Midgley Jr!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Murderous Doctrine of Trofim Denisovich Lysenko

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 18:00:18 -0000

Between the 1930s and the 1960s, Trofim Denisovich Lysenko was heralded as a hero of the Soviet Union - a champion of science, a legend of agriculture, a feeder of the nation.

But it was all bullshit: Lysenko was a charlatan, a fraud whose pseudoscience saw millions starve to death and legitimate scientists executed. It was a dark time indeed.

So we explore!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Magical (Scientific) World of Ants!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 18:00:13 -0000

Temnothorax albipennis - or rock ant - has a unique ability in the tiny animal world: to act like a SUPERORGANISM!

Here's a description from our friends O'shea-Wheller, Sendova-Franks and Franks:
"...removing [Temnothorax albipennis] individuals from directly within the nest causes an evacuation response, while removing ants at the periphery of scouting activity causes the colony to withdraw back into the nest. This suggests that colonies react differentially, but in a coordinated fashion, to these differing types of predation. Our findings lend support to the SUPERORGANISM concept, as the whole society reacts much like a single organism would in response to attacks on different parts of its body." (Emphasis added to cool word).

This episode we explore the magical (scientific) world of ants!

***Please note we made no jokes about the name of the Temnothorax albipennis, we apologise for this astonishing lapse in judgement.

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Should we regulate the algorithm?

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 18:00:13 -0000

Everyone's using Artificial Intelligence these days! Why if you aren't machine learning your police stats, generative adversarial networking your shark spotting, or automating your video game design, you're just not with it!

But not all artificial intelligence is as good as its boosters might argue... and in fact, we should probably start to think about regulating the machine, before it decides to regulate us.

We explore!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Subliminal Messages!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 21:11:47 -0000

Tiny messages, hidden in screens... Backwards lyrics, instructing you to worship Satan... (rate us 5 stars in the iTunes store)

Subliminal messages! Do you think you're immune to them? Or are you deeply worried that the devil is going to get in through a backwards bit of music? (rate us 5 stars in the iTunes store)

Whether they work or not, they've certainly made some people stupid - so we explore! (rate us 5 stars in the iTunes store)

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU! (rate us 5 stars in the iTunes store)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why Does Australia Gamble So Damn Much?

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 18:00:19 -0000

It's great to be number one at some things - who wouldn't want to have the world's longest toes, the world's fastest pet fish, or the world's grandest collection of wood? For countries it can be great too - the world's craziest TV game shows, the world's most efficient beetroot growing system, or the world's coolest academics!

But sometimes being number one sucks... No one wants to have the most murders, the most unhappiness, or the most car crashes...

Well guess what Australia: we're number one at something that sucks too.

Problem gambling.

Even worse - there's daylight between us and number two.

We investigate why Australia gambles so damn much!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the Australian National University!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Million And One Uses For Sperm!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 19:00:09 -0000

Most people think there's just one use for sperm - making babies, taking part in the miracle of life!

But guess what listener, those most people are wrong! There's actually hundreds of weird uses for sperm, including as an awesome suit of armour wearing delivery mechanism for cancer drugs!

We investigate these uses, and the weird scientists who are so fascinated by the stuff...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Placebo Effect!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 19:30:09 -0000

It's an odd thing, but modern scientific medicine depends on doctors occasionally - just occasionally - lying to your face.

In this episode we explore the bizarre world of the placebo effect, and its crucial role in modern medicine...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the Australian National University!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Schmidt Pain Index!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 19:00:06 -0000

OMG it's a Tarantula Hawk Wasp! Quick question, what body part would you get stung on, for science? Or if you're a little terrified of the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, which other stinging thing would you let sting you?

Now sensible people would say 'nowhere' and 'none of them', but Justin O. Schmidt ain't sensible people... Instead, he's a hero of science, happy to get stung by every stinging thing that nature can throw at him!

We explore the Schmidt Pain Index!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the Australian National University!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Serge Voronoff's Monkey Balls!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 18:30:06 -0000

In the 1920s something like 2000 men (and at least two women) undertook a bizarre operation to enhance their vigour and vitality. This is their story!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Capturing Carbon! With Klaus Lackner

A Little Bit Of Science — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 19:30:06 -0000

I hate to break it to you, but if we're going to keep this world even vaguely liveable, we not only need to stop pumping carbon into the atmosphere (though we should definitely do that), we're going to need to suck it back out.

We explore how, with 'the grandfather' of negative emissions solutions to climate change, Professor Klaus Lackner!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the Australian National University!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Best Years Of Your Life!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 19:00:26 -0000

Listener, have you had the best years of your life - or are your best years still ahead of you?

Sure, our language learning peak (when we were 7 or 8) or our strength peak (25) might be behind many of us, but it turns out no matter what age you are, there's still good things to come... For many of us, we're still going to get better at arithmetic!

Want to know when you're going to peak? We explore!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the Australian National University!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

World's Best Academic Fraud!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 19:30:06 -0000

I hate to break it to you, but in the world of science and research there are some... bad apples. Folk who'll bend the rules to get ahead, get their research out there, make a stellar career.

Well, some of them get caught - and we investigate those villains out there giving good hard working academics a bad name!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the Australian National University!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brain In A Jar / Connectome In The Cloud!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 19:00:08 -0000

Just wondering: at the end of your long glorious life, would you store your brain in a freezer with the hope of being thawed out - or uploaded to the cloud - in future centuries?

Well we've explored the science... and this weird world is getting closer!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The New Flat Earthers!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 19:30:04 -0000

"Something happened in 2015," he says, "...it was then that many people on the internet became flat earth adherents."

I don't mean to alarm you listener - you are, after all, a lover of science, a lover of sensible, well produced knowledge - but flat eartherism (or globular denialism, if you want to flip it around) is SO HOT RIGHT NOW. If there was a chart tracking weird anti-scientific beliefs,* it'd be number one with a bullet.

What we want to know is do people actually believe it? And if they do, why is it growing so fast?

Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.

*there should be

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pollen Pollen Pollen - With Professor Simon Haberle!

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 02:17:57 -0000

Here in the Southern half of the universe it's coming up to spring - and you know what that means: lambs frolicking in meadows, teenagers frolicking in meadows, people with hay fever sneezing!

To celebrate the oncoming season of the sneeze, we explore the world of pollen with ThatPollenGuy, Professor Simon Haberle - we talk ancient roadways, 3d printing, huge sneezes and excellent pollen collections!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Big Impact Impact! With Professor Mark Reed!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 09:42:34 -0000

Back in the olden days we beard stroking eggheads used to sit around in our ivory towers, picking buttercups of wisdom, musing deep thoughts about the nature of the cosmos. Profound, but a little bit... useless.

But that's all gone now! These days, we're creators of impact - making a difference to the world - changing lives for the better!

Well, maybe. Or at least, we're trying to...

So to help make The Wholesome Show the highest impact podcast it can possibly be, we sat down for a chat with the world leading expert of impact, Professor Mark Reed of Newcastle University. Listen in to hear Mark's *one word* strategy on how to have high impact. One word!

Enjoy.

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

PREDATORy journals!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 22:40:33 -0000

It's a jungle out there in the academic world... and stalking in the midst of that jungle is a threat - to knowledge, to trust, to our very lives! That's right, it's the PREDATOR! (Predatory journals that is). We explore!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Death By Selfie!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 19:00:24 -0000

Listener, we love selfies at The Wholesome Show - we've taken photos with every z grade celebrity we can get our hands on!... But I have to confess, I didn't know they were so dangerous...

That's right, 10 times as many people die of selfies every year as die of shark attack! It's terrible, so to save you from a terrible selfie related death, we've explored...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Polarised by Disgust!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 19:00:04 -0000

Imagine dancing through the forest, barefoot and fancy free. But shoeless, your foot lands... on a slug... and the slug squelches like jelly between your toes.

Disgusted?

Well it turns out, this is not only objectively gross, but it can make you more politically conservative!

We explore the political psychology of disgust!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Night of the Living Mummies: The Sokushinbutsu!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 19:00:04 -0000

How's your yoga game listener? Do you have a pretty wicked warrior two? A solid downward dog? A blissful savasana?

You may be pretty awesome... But could you hold your lotus pose UNTIL DEATH?

That's right listener, this week we explore the Sokushinbutsu - Buddhist monks who took their asceticism to the point of death, even becoming mummified while STILL ALIVE...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Dancing Plague of 1518!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 19:30:04 -0000

In July 1518, Frau Troffea stepped out into the streets of Strasbourg and began to dance a fervent dance. She danced through the day - and through the night.

In fact, she wouldn't stop dancing for somewhere between four and six days - and during that time 34 other people would join her. Over the course of the month, some 400 people would dance in the streets of Strasbourg.

But this wasn't fun.

They couldn't stop. They writhed in pain, they screamed for help, they begged for mercy. But still, they danced.

We explore the Dance Plague of 1518, and the wider world of Mass Psychogenic Illness!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_plague_of_1518
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_mania#cite_ref-Marks_6-0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_hysteria
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lod/vol3/dancing_mania.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20121013075434/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/08/01/dancing-death-mystery.html
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160932708000379?via%3Dihub
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Shoes_(fairy_tale)
http://hca.gilead.org.il/red_shoe.html
http://thewisdomdaily.com/a-twisted-tale-of-a-town-that-was-whipped-into-a-fatal-dance-frenzy/
http://www.thepostmortempost.com/tag/frau-troffea/
https://listverse.com/2016/11/07/10-twisted-facts-about-the-dancing-plagues/
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161028-the-town-the-nearly-danced-itself-to-death
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=6QQEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PP6&dq=dancing+plague&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=dancing%20plague&f=false

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Blockchain We Trust!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 19:00:04 -0000

You can't go anywhere on the internet these days without someone launching something new on the blockchain - a new social network, a currency based on selfies, or a way to fund a trip to the moon!

Is the blockchain the greatest new technology since podcasts? Or just the latest crazy snake oil to come out of the fevered imagination of the techno-mafia...?

We explore!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Artificial Intelligence and the Black Metal Basilisk - with Genevieve Bell!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 22:00:26 -0000

Should we be worried about the coming world of artificial intelligence? Some people (ie Will) worry about Skynet and doombots like Roko's Basilisk, but Professor Genevieve Bell from the Autonomy, Agency and Assurance Institute reckons there's far more concrete things here in the now that we should be paying attention to...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome To The Atomic Gardening Society!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 30 May 2018 20:00:02 -0000

The phrase NUCLEAR RADIATION conjures up pretty fearful images these days - reactor meltdowns at Chernobyl and Fukushima, the dead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the three-eyed fish of The Simpsons.

But for a brief window in the 1950s a movement of people sought to harness the power of the atom not for weapons or energy - but for ever better... garden crops!

We explore the Atomic Gardening Society!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts (@rodl) and Dr Will Grant (@willozap), proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (@ANU_CPAS)

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References:

http://pruned.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/atomic-gardens.html

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0734151032000123936?needAccess=true
“Safeguarding the atom: the nuclear enthusiasm of Muriel Howorth”[1]

The British J for the History of science Volume 45, Issue 4 (Special Issue: British Nuclear Culture), December 2012 , pp. 551-571

http://www.atomicgardening.com/1950/02/18/isotopia-an-exposition-on-atomic-structure-by-muriel-howorth/

http://www.atomicgardening.com/1959/02/19/atomic-peanuts/

http://www.atomicgardening.com/1960/02/21/the-atomic-gardening-society/

http://www.atomicgardening.com/1966/03/01/whatever-happened-to-the-atomic-garden/

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/03/atomic-gardening-breeding-plants-with.html

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life in a Herd Part 7 - What's It All Mean?

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 23 May 2018 06:30:02 -0000

Welcome to part 7 of Life in a Herd!

In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking the bodies of our modern world into the river. In this episode we wrap up - what does it all mean, what do we do from here?

Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts (@rodl) and Dr Will Grant (@willozap), proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (@ANU_CPAS)! This series has been produced with some research funding for a studentship from The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life in a Herd Part 6 - Can Big Junk Food Go Straight? With Don Nutbeam

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 23 May 2018 06:25:02 -0000

Welcome to part 6 of Life in a Herd!

In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking the bodies of our modern world into the river. In this episode we talk with Professor Don Nutbeam, Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney.

Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts (@rodl) and Dr Will Grant (@willozap), proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (@ANU_CPAS)! This series has been produced with some research funding for a studentship from The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life in a Herd Part 5 - Let's Make Health Cool (Ironically) with Cynthia Webster

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 23 May 2018 06:20:02 -0000

Welcome to part 5 of Life in a Herd!

In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking the bodies of our modern world into the river. In this episode we talk with Associate Professor Cynthia Webster, from the Department of Marketing and Management at Macquarie University.

Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts (@rodl) and Dr Will Grant (@willozap), proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (@ANU_CPAS)! This series has been produced with some research funding for a studentship from The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life in a Herd Part 4 - Sharon Friel And The Manufacturers Of Disease

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 23 May 2018 06:15:02 -0000

Welcome to part 4 of Life in a Herd!

In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking the bodies of our modern world into the river. In this episode we talk with Professor Sharon Friel, Professor of Health Equity at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University.

Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts (@rodl) and Dr Will Grant (@willozap), proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (@ANU_CPAS)! This series has been produced with some research funding for a studentship from The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life in a Herd Part 3 - Racism Is A Public Health Issue, with Summer May Finlay

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 23 May 2018 06:10:02 -0000

Welcome to part 3 of Life in a Herd!

In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking the bodies of our modern world into the river. In this episode we talk with Summer May Finlay - Yorta Yorta woman, Croakey journalist, Cancer Institute consultant and Phd student at the University of South Australia.

Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts (@rodl) and Dr Will Grant (@willozap), proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (@ANU_CPAS)! This series has been produced with some research funding for a studentship from The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life in a Herd Part 2 - Why Focus on Populations? With Professor Penny Hawe

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 23 May 2018 06:05:02 -0000

Welcome to part 2 of Life in a Herd!

In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking the bodies of our modern world into the river. In this episode we talk with Professor Penny Hawe, from the Menzies Centre for Health Policy at the University of Sydney.

Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts (@rodl) and Dr Will Grant (@willozap), proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (@ANU_CPAS)! This series has been produced with some research funding for a studentship from The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life In A Herd Part 1 - Introduction!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 23 May 2018 06:00:02 -0000

Three doctors sat down for a picnic by a river. An emergency physician, an intensive care specialist, and an epidemiologist. Suddenly they notice a body in the water!

They rush into the current to pull the man ashore, clear his airways and start giving CPR.

But then they see another person in the water, face down. They rush out, and drag her in. They clear her airways and do CPR.

But then a third body comes floating by! Suddenly the epidemiologist gets up and starts running. “Hey! Come back! Where are you going?” the others scream out to her. Looking over her shoulder she yell back: “I’m going upstream to see who’s throwing all these people in!”

Welcome to a series of episodes we're calling Life in a Herd!

In this series we're journeying with that epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking the bodies of our modern world into the river. Over the next 7 episodes we'll talk to a range of key voices in the field of population health science, and reflect on what it all means.

Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts (@rodl) and Dr Will Grant (@willozap), proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (@ANU_CPAS)! This series has been produced with some research funding for a studentship from The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Extrasensory Perception And The Replication Crisis!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 16 May 2018 09:01:33 -0000

Do you believe in the paranormal? In ghosts? In spoon bending? In the ability to move objects with your mind?

If you're like most rational science minded folks, then - wait for this - I can read your mind and your answer is 'hell no!'

But what if we told you that science itself... might not be so sure...

We explore the world of extrasensory perception and the replication crisis!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

--------------------------

Sources:

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Bem

· http://www.cornell.edu/search/?q=BEM&submit-search=

· https://psychology.cornell.edu/daryl-bem

· http://dbem.org/bem_bio.htm

· http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2010/12/study-looks-brains-ability-see-future

· https://slate.com/health-and-science/2017/06/daryl-bem-proved-esp-is-real-showed-science-is-broken.html

· https://www.csicop.org/si/show/failure_to_replicate_results_of_bem_parapsychology_experiments_published_by

· https://replicationindex.wordpress.com/2018/01/20/my-email-correspondence-with-daryl-j-bem-about-the-data-for-his-2011-article-feeling-the-future/

· https://www.wired.com/2010/11/feeling-the-future-is-precognition-possible/

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Alpha

· https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/science/06esp.html

· http://andrewgelman.com/2017/04/04/study-showing-humans-psychic-powers-caps-daryl-bems-career/

· http://dbem.org/

· http://www.physics.nyu.edu/sokal/Chronicle_Jan_1_17.pdf

· https://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2012/05/15/daryl-bem-the-psychologist-who-proved-esp-exists/

· http://discovermagazine.com/2012/mar/09-paranormal-circumstances-scientist-mission-esp

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The Taste of F Sharp - A Journey into Synaesthesia with Stephanie Goodhew

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 09 May 2018 06:22:39 -0000

Do you experience a salty taste when your elbow touches things? Or the aroma of oysters when you listen to Brahms? If it's not hallucinogenic drugs, then it's probably synaesthesia! We sat down with Dr Stephanie Goodhew to explore all the different flavour and dimension combinations under the sun!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rod's Umbrella Rentals and the Chinese Social Credit System!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 03 May 2018 19:00:06 -0000

Your phone rings. But instead of your normal ringtone*... it's a weird voice saying "The person calling you is dishonest! The person calling you is dishonest!"

Welcome to the brave new world of China's rapidly developing Social Credit System - where trustworthy citizens earn points they can convert into free umbrella rental, and the untrustworthy find themselves blocked from flights, loans, houses and decent ringtones.

We sat down to explore - also learning about a finance system based on dick pics! A hacker website called FraudBoom! And government vetoed trips to Bunnings!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS

*A chiptunes version of Shooting Stars oh yeah Team Wholesome know how to party!

References here!

https://chinacopyrightandmedia.wordpress.com/2014/06/14/planning-outline-for-the-construction-of-a-social-credit-system-2014-2020/

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/china-social-credit-system-punishments-and-rewards-explained-2018-4?r=US&IR=T

https://theconversation.com/chinas-social-credit-system-puts-its-people-under-pressure-to-be-model-citizens-89963

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-31/chinas-social-credit-system-punishes-untrustworthy-citizens/9596204

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-20/china-deploys-ai-cameras-to-tackle-jaywalkers-in-shenzhen/9567430

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/china-using-big-data-to-detain-people-in-re-education-before-crime-committed-report/article38126551/ort located by the rights organization.

https://www.newstatesman.com/world/asia/2018/04/no-china-isn-t-black-mirror-social-credit-scores-are-more-complex-and-sinister

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-34592186

https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/12/12/chinas-chilling-social-credit-blacklist

http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n2543/pdf/ch06_forum_loubere.pdf

http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/viewpoint/unprecedented-reach-of-chinas-surveillance-state

https://www.merics.org/en/microsite/china-monitor/chinas-social-credit-system

https://www.merics.org/sites/default/files/2017-09/China%20Monitor_39_SOCS_EN.pdf

https://www.merics.org/sites/default/files/2017-12/171212_China_Monitor_43_Social_Credit_System_Implementation.pdf

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sohu.com%2Fa%2F155992905_380621&edit-text=

http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/03/life-inside-chinas-social-credit-laboratory/

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/24/chinese-citizens-want-the-government-to-rank-them/

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/01/03/507983933/whats-your-public-credit-score-the-shanghai-government-can-tell-you

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We Get A Work Healthiness Inspection!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 02 May 2018 09:24:05 -0000

Should your boss by you some trainers? Ruthless capitalists probably say no, but they're dickheads and wrong about a lot. Sensible people are starting realise more and more that the answer is probably yes - it'll make you healthier, and make their workplace more productive!

We sat down for a workplace health and wellbeing inspection (not an audit) with the awesome Christine and Michael from Healthier Work ACT.

As well as the benefits of a running shoe subsidy scheme, we also learned that scorecards are better than audits, you shouldn't sit on maggot farms, and cinema advertising works!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey Scientists: Let's Not Research Eugenics!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 06:18:04 -0000

Does a huge head correlate with intelligence? No listener, of course it doesn't! But people used to think that, and wanted to craft society on that basis...

But here's the strange thing. While you might be thinking eugenics is just a historical topic, I hate to break it to you listener, there's still some folk out there who truly believe... Rod and Will sit down for a beer to explore!

Also: We explore the problems that occur when your research participants speak to the press! Also economic eugenics! And finally, nine other words that start with Eu: Euphemism! Euthanize! Euphorbia! Euphonium! Euthyroid! Eutrophic! Eukaryote! Eutectoid!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prosthetic Giraffe Legs! Professor Margrit Shildrick!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 09:50:04 -0000

Simple question listener, but would you cut your arm off and add a totally awesome prosthetic snake arm thing instead? Because people are doing that now and that's ***totally radical***!

Or a complicated ethical leap for society to take.

You know, one of the two.

We sat down for a beer with Professor Margrit Shildrick, Professor of Gender and Knowledge Production at Linkoping University, Sweden, to talk all things prostheses!

Also: Will admits to feelings that are right but wrong but weird but right! Don't explore them or judge them please.

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Importance of Whispering In Science Communication - Kate Hannah!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 04:19:11 -0000

When I say the word 'hypervisibility', do you think of those awesome t-shirts in the 1980s that changed colour when you sweated? You probably should, but then you should also think of the problems faced by high profile women scientists and science communicators. They're hypervisible, which means trolls, attacks and threats...

Kate Hannah of Te Pūnaha Matatini (which means 'The Meeting Place of Many Faces') tells us more...

Also: Will pronounces something pretty good for an Australian!

This week The Wholesome Show is reporting from the Public Communication of Science and Technology (Network) Conference in Dunedin New Zealand - exploring the cutting edge of communicating science!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's No Luck At The End Of Your Bed! Professor Maja Horst!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 02:25:52 -0000

Lots of us think of science as a provider of solutions - but you know what? It's also - no matter how careful we might be - a provider of problems too.

Professor Maja Horst of the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication at the University of Copenhagen is fascinated in this, and the ways tabloid newspapers explore the problems and heroes of science. We had a chat to hear more!

This week The Wholesome Show is reporting from the Public Communication of Science and Technology (Network) Conference in Dunedin New Zealand - exploring the cutting edge of communicating science!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stopping Wars With Science Communication! (Maybe!) - Karen Brounéus!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 03:21:03 -0000

I hate to burst your bubble, but it turns out Freud was wrong! Reliving the past is not a universal panacea - particularly if your past involves hyper traumatic conflict situations...

Associate Professor Karen Brounéus is a peace and conflict researcher, exploring how the ideas of science communication can help in post conflict situations...

This week The Wholesome Show is reporting from the Public Communication of Science and Technology (Network) Conference in Dunedin New Zealand - exploring the cutting edge of communicating science!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Evidence Based Radicals! Ayelet Baram-Tsabari

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 02:29:26 -0000

Hey there listener, do you use evidence in your everyday decisions? Of course you do! For some of them at least... But how evidential is your evidence? Do you test it? Or do you actually use your gut a whole lot more than you think?...

We had a chat with former bitter journalist - and now naive and happy academic Ayelet Baram-Tsabari from Technion - and here's the evidence!

This week The Wholesome Show is reporting from the Public Communication of Science and Technology (Network) Conference in Dunedin New Zealand - exploring the cutting edge of communicating science!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An Eggplant's Not Always An Eggplant - Lulu Mateos!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 01:20:26 -0000

How's your emoji game? Do you know your wild eye face from your eyeroll? Your tears of laughter (straight face) from your tears of laughter (angle face)? Which can you use to communicate science?

We sat down for a (coffee cup emoji) with Dr Lulu Mateos from BUAP's Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación in Mexico to talk emoji use in communicating science!

This week The Wholesome Show is reporting from the Public Communication of Science and Technology (Network) Conference in Dunedin New Zealand - exploring the cutting edge of communicating science!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Department of Organisation - Professor Alan Irwin!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 22:35:52 -0000

Listener, do you know what a doyen is? We don't, but if there's an international doyen of science communication, then that doyen would probably be Professor Alan Irwin of the Copenhagen Business School - Department of Organisation!

We had a great chat with doyen Alan at the Public Communication of Science and Technology (Network) Conference in Dunedin New Zealand, talking the invention of citizen science, Danish Consensus Conferences and book covers!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BREAKING: Sexism Not Solved! (But Christine O'Connell Is Working On It!)

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 01:39:51 -0000

Sexism continues to present massive barriers in science.

But can science communication training get scientists to think differently about the behaviours and structures that shape our scientific world? We had a chat to Dr Christine O'Connell of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University to explore more...

We also found out that American people have never heard of fruit toast! And they have puny electricity!

This week The Wholesome Show is reporting from the Public Communication of Science and Technology (Network) Conference in Dunedin New Zealand - exploring the cutting edge of communicating science!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Gaffer, A Best Boy and Two Scientists - Prof David Kirby at #PCST2018

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 01:17:45 -0000

Hey listener, are you one of those people who sits in science fiction movies grumbling about the inaccurate physics, or are you happy with the magical properties of vibranium?

Well, if you're one of the first group, it may please you to realise that Hollywood is getting better at science. We talked to someone who studies this, Professor David Kirby of The University of Manchester!

This week The Wholesome Show is reporting from the Public Communication of Science and Technology (Network) Conference in Dunedin New Zealand - exploring the cutting edge of communicating science!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Does Audible Farting Increase Learning? A Beer With Cognitive Psychologist Eryn Newman!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 05:17:10 -0000

Hey listener - do you reckon you're easy to persuade or do you resist persuasion? If a totally hot bank teller tries to convince you of a dodgy credit card, are you a total sucker?

Well we, dear listener, are probably suckers. But happily, according to Dr Eryn Newman of the Research School of Psychology at ANU, we wouldn't know it! We had a beer to find out more...

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now Only 30% Slavery! A Beer With Assoc Prof Jo Ford!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 05:23:05 -0000

Modern slavery eh - you know what the big problem is? There's not enough jokes in it!

(No, that's not the problem. The problem is that somewhere between 21 and 44 million people around the world are currently enslaved and we're all potentially contributing to the problem. But what do we do about it? Is it regulation? Is it culture change? We sat down with Associate Professor Jo Ford who knows all about it it find out more!)

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Don't Be The First Adopter? Assoc Prof David Caldicott Talks Pill Testing!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 05:29:26 -0000

Party drugs - these days, they're all the rave!

(Sorry, terrible 1990s joke there).

But seriously, party drugs are getting more diverse and more complicated every single year. To deal with the complexity, people like our guest in this episode Associate Professor David Caldicott reckon the best thing to make people safe is to arm them with knowledge. You know, test the drugs, and give them advice on that basis. But conservative types don't agree...

We sat down with the dark knight of the emergency room to talk chemistry, partying, giving advice and politician morals...

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're Going To Bloody Say Yellow - A Beer with Vanessa De Kauwe!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 05:22:51 -0000

What's your thoughts on disability education. Reckon it's great? Or are we just doing minimal compliance education not far from the institutional model of the 1950s?

We talk with Vanessa de Kauwe who's finishing up a Phd on bringing science into disability education! We talk frogs, knives and acid, and why it's important to teach people about yellow...

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS. New chiptunes theme song by chriswk210! https://www.fiverr.com/chriswk210

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A Bunch of Pseuds! - A Beer with Steve Fuller, Founder of Social Epistemology

A Little Bit Of Science — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 03:26:18 -0000

Ok, explainer challenge: how do you explain social epistemology to a bunch of real estate agents at your neighbourhood barbecue?

You know who knows how? Professor Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick, that's who!

We talk with Steve about advice for Zuckerberg, the crucial role of the 'we' and when is the best time to throw down the Popper!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

LIVE SHOW! Licking toads for science at CitSciOz18!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:32:37 -0000

You know what? If you ask nicely, it’s amazing the things people will volunteer to do. Or at least that's what some of the world's leading thinkers on citizen science reckon!

We took a trip to the Australian Citizen Science Association Conference to find out more, including: Are scientists’ jobs in danger? Can you hide things in easter eggs? Should you stop children licking toads? Why should you take your camera with you when you poo in the woods?

Awesome guests in this episode:
- Ellie Downing (Secretary of the Australian Citizen Science Association),
- Mendel Wong (Co-founder of CitizenScience.Asia and the Zikathon),
- Stuart Harris (discoverer of the Peacock Spider!) and
- Associate Professor Caren Cooper (author of Citizen Science: How Ordinary People Are Changing the Face of Discovery, and founder and moderator of @IamCitSci)

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, very proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Don't Spill Beer on The Supercomputer! Dr Leaf Lin, Supercomputer Wrangler!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 09:43:10 -0000

They said it couldn't be done.
They said it shouldn't be done!
But guess what listener - we did it!

That's right, your intrepid team at The Wholesome Show went and recorded a podcast inside the thrumming chamber of Australia's biggest supercomputer. And we didn't spill any beer on it!

This week we chat with Dr Leaf Lin, Senior High Performance Computer Systems Specialist at Australia's National Computational Infrastructure. We learn about cassette tapes making a comeback, being able to hear the different sounds of a supercomputer, and why they don't just use the computer to mine bitcoin!

(Also ummm yes, there is an awful lot of *sound* in this episode. Like when your computer calculating something really tough, but (literally) times a million. But it's working hard to save lives so let's give the noisey computer a break).

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, very proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's The Magic Wand Bullet? Benny Wilson of the National Centre for Indigenous Studies!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 05:34:43 -0000

Hi there international listeners,

You may not realise this but Australia has some issues with... how we came to be what we are right now. You know, mass appropriation of indigenous lands, attempted genocide, long centuries of deprivation. The usual colonial lot!

Anyway, we're trying to be better! And we at The Wholesome Show are part of that too. So we sat down with Benny Wilson from the National Centre for Indigenous Studies to talk reconciliation, welcomes to country, and how we all can do better! Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, who are trying hard not to be as racist as they might seem on paper. Proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Magnificent Mundane Governance! Steve Woolgar, Simone Dennis, Kate Henne!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 04:21:56 -0000

Mundane governance doesn't sound too interesting, huh?

But it's actually crazy fascinating!

In this week's episode we crashed this Mundane Governance Conference and had not one, but three beers with three interesting people.

And look, we admit it we laughed a little at the the conference tite at first, but then we found it was chock full of intriguing people and ideas. Seriously, check this out:

First we yacked with Professor Simone Dennis about 'governance of the tongue', how there are rules about how we taste stuff, and how anthropologists are concerned with 'pre-swallowing'...

Next, we mused about how your Fitbit might be conspiring with big business to take over your brain and life and Netflix favourites list (or something like that...)with Dr Kate Henne.

Finally, we dove into the big issues with Professor Steve Woolgar and heard about recycle bin rage (seriously), and how 101 mls of liquid on a plane is super-dangerous, but 10 litres of that same liquid in a bin at the airport is just hunky-dory.

Honestly, we could have kept talking with any of these guest for hours (but don't worry, we didn't) - listen in here and have your view of the mundane changed forever!

Scintillatingly beige regards,
Rod'n'Will

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Tax Breaks For Good Sleepers! We talk work with Dr Huong Dinh!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 05:19:59 -0000

Hey there listener - personal question, but how many hours do you work each week? Are you one of the 19% (of Australian full time workers, if you're Australian) who work 50 hours or more? Well you should probably stop it, because it's going to make you sad - and Dr Huong Dinh has the research to prove it!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can You Arrest People Over the Phone? We ask Superintendent Cath Grassick of the AFP!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 03:00:39 -0000

Here's a police question for you...

How many Superintendents do you reckon it takes to run the Australian Federal Police's:

bomb squad
dog squad
negotiators
search and rescue AND
water police
The answer is one.
Seriously, just one woman.

Her name is Superintendent Cath Grassick, and she's one impressive policing individual!

In our jaw-floppening, eyebrow-bouncing beer with Cath (don't worry, she was off duty), we asked the big questions. You know, like: do Pomeranians make more dextrous police dogs; can you arrest people over the phone; do water police hang out in the bath in their SCUBA suits when there are no aqueous crimes going down?

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly brought to you by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Dream in Plywood! We talk with our philosopher builder Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 05:19:12 -0000

What skillset would you put in charge of a $262 million dollar construction project - an engineer? An architect? A philosopher?

We had a chat with Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington, a philosopher historian driving a massive construction project...

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

LIVE SHOW: Greens - Funnier Than You'd Expect!

A Little Bit Of Science — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 11:41:56 -0000

It's time for the Greens Institute conference - but what even are Greens anyway today? We sat down with Tim Hollo, Christine Milne, Robyn Lewis and Samantha Ratnam to find out about what they really reckon they are. Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willo

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sunday Night Mutation Diagnoses! Professor Carola Vinuesa of the Centre for Personalised Immunology

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 05:06:36 -0000

Cancer is really just a terrible thing. Up there with the worst things in the world. But do you know it's... given us something back? We had a beer with Professor Carola Vinuesa of the Centre for Personalised Immunology!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strap On An Extra Carbon! A Beer With Photosynthesis Turbocharger Ben Long

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 05:17:39 -0000

Did you know that blue green algae isn't an algae and in fact is pretty much cows? Well, not quite. But blue green algae is providing a secret to help us turbo charge photosynthesis... Ben Long tells us more!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, comms manager is @ellageebee. Check out @ANU_CPAS!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Modular Mobile Multilevel Maggot Management - A beer with Goterra's Olympia Yarger

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 04 Oct 2017 09:15:17 -0000

Listener, we'll let you in on a secret. Sometimes you record a podcast episode that's just chockablock with potential episode titles. For example, for this episode we could have gone with:
- A Smell That's a Little Less Offensive
- Crickets: Little Land Prawns
- The Perfect Podcast Recording Temperature
- Crickets Are Just Smaller Chicken
- Maggot Lady to Maggot Maven.

We decided to go with Modular Mobile Multilevel Maggot Management. Listen to find out why!

Will n Rod!

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The Curious Case of the Designer Vagina! A Beer With Dr Bethany Jones

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 06:22:45 -0000

What's the most awkward thing you can imagine two blokey idiots like Rod and Will discussing? Is it the emerging world of DESIGNER VAGINAS? Yes that's it, you got it right away!

Rod and Will had a beer with Dr Bethany Jones, the research detective staring in The Curious Case of The Designer Vagina. Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl, @willozap and @ellageebee, brought to you by the amazing people at @ANU_CPAS.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Even Hitler liked clean water! A beer with Adam Parris from @SRIatJB

A Little Bit Of Science — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 07:01:39 -0000

How do we get interdisciplinary research to work? Adam Parris from the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay New York reckons it's all about the hugs! We think that's very practical advice, please do it more if it is at all possible. Consider it.

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, Comms Manager is @ellageebee!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Weird blooms of echidnas! We chat with Jason Cummings from the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 06:19:24 -0000

Do you prefer woodland or wetland? Jason Cummings doesn't have to choose, he's looking after both! Jason's the General Manager of the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust, and he's very very pro-betong!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, Communications Manager and Puppy Wrangler is @ellageebee

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The Great Juniper Shortage! A beer with The Canberra Distillery's Tim Reardon

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 06:45:28 -0000

If you want to go and set up your own hipster backyard gin distillery (and lord knows who doesn't) here's the two things you gotta think about:
- How to get your junipers
- Securing bottles for years to come

We had a beer with The Canberra Distillery's Tim Reardon to discuss the world of backyard (legal) alcohol sales!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, Comms Manager @ellageebee!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Stark Vacuum of Purpose - A beer with Rescope Project Director Anthony James

A Little Bit Of Science — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 06:24:09 -0000

Ok we have to admit, we just had the most hippy conversation we've ever had, about live, love, laughter... and how we get our society to where we want it to be.

We sat down and had a beer with @RescopeProject Director Anthony James as he heads off to the New Economy Network Conference. THERE WILL BE SO MANY HIPPIES THERE

The Wholesome Show is @rodl, @willozap, comms manager @ellageebee.

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Should compromise be our middle name? A beer with Professor Frank Jotzo

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 05:52:58 -0000

Frank Jotzo's a climate economist who's lived a decade of fights over carbon pricing, but... he's also a total optimist about solving climate change. The only problem is that to get there, economists have to grapple with (ugh) compromise and (double ugh ugh) politics.

We had a beer with an academic economist people actually listen to. Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show @rodl and@willozap, Comms Manager is @ellageebee

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Live Show - Scientists who bloody love their jobs!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 02:44:37 -0000

It's a Live Show!

We talk with scientists all the time, and we often hear how happy they are. Well we wanted to explore this in more detail, so we did a Live Show with four of the happiest scientists we could find - Dr Niru Mahendran, Professor Susan Scott, Dr Erin Walsh and Dr Brad Tucker. Enjoy!

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Anti-love... enhancements? A beer with ethicist Dr Adam Henschke!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 06:23:35 -0000

If we gave soldiers an anti-love pill, would that help them win the war? Would it be ethical? But would a love pill be more ethical, or less?

We had a beer with Dr Adam Henschke, an applied ethicist from the National Security College at ANU to find out!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl, @willozap, Ella Barnett (get a twitter handle Ella), brought to you by @ANU_CPAS

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Picking fights Down Under - a beer with The Wall Street Journal's Mary Kissel

A Little Bit Of Science — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 09:30:26 -0000

What's a Fox News correspondent doing down under, talking to two lefty shits like us? Well, as we all know, The Wholesome Show is Here For Society(TM), and we'll talk to everyone to make this world a better place.

(Even you Cory).

This episode brought to you by the extremely well dressed people at @TheIPA, @USAembassyinOZ, the Ben Franklin Club of Canberra, the Pentaverite and the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, Communications Manager and Puppy Wrangler Ella Barnett!

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Do emergency room doctors ever get tips? A beer with Dr Mike Hall

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 03:41:44 -0000

Do emergency room doctors ever get tips?

Look not really, though sometimes people might leave them a half bag of chips. Sweet.

OK maybe that doesn't make you want to be an emergency room doctor. But what if we told you that it's actually fun, that you don't really have to do 100 hour days and 15 day weeks, and that it's perfect for smart people with short attention spans?

Getting curious now, eh?

In this episode, we chewed the fat with real life emergency department doctor Mike Hall, who let us us peel back the emergency department veil and find out a bit about what it's really like.

He told us many things:

- resuscitation rarely works like it does on TV (we were outraged)
ER doctors get interrupted 40-80 times an hour (and you thought toddlers were demanding)
- there isn't really a secret doctor's handshake to get you seen faster at the hospital than anyone else (yeah, like he'd tell us if there was...)
- It's possible we also discussed whether Mike only became a doctor cos he was too drunk to get into law.

Wanna know if that's true? Just aim your stethoscope here and find out!

Freshly bandaged regards,
Rod'n'Will

PS - we've missed seeing your smiling faces IRL, so we're doing a live show in August. It's gonna be brill'!

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The most pass-ag upper-middle class dinner party ever - with Thesis Whisperer Inger Mewburn

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 03:59:55 -0000

Academia... you don't often hear it described as like the most passive aggressive upper middle class dinner party ever, but it's pretty much true. We sat down for a beer with a fascinating thinker on the world of academia, Associate Professor Inger Mewburn - or as she's more widely known, The Thesis Whisperer! Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS

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Getting loose exploring politics in Iraq - a beer with Damian Doyle

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 02:59:15 -0000

Ok, so social movement theory might be, as our guest in this episode describes it, "the rotting carcass of a whale on a beach"... But at least it can help you understand modern politics in Iraq. Or at least that's what our guest Damian Doyle reckons - listen in!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap

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A wee discussion about cake smuggling - a beer with professional caker Rachel Spangaro!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 05:12:02 -0000

OMG I really really want some cake right now. Do you? Well here's the next best thing - a delicious chat over a beer with Forty-Two Cakes' professional caker Rachel Spangaro! Bon appétit!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap!

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Cyber criminal help desks - a beer with Fifth Domain's Matt Wilcox

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 00:39:29 -0000

Ok so apparently cyber criminal outfits - those bad folk who put ransomware on your computer to steal your money - run businesses based on trust. In fact, they care so much about their trusted image they have help desks and customer service departments to facilitate you paying them the ransom.

We had a beer with Fifth Domain's Matt Wilcox to find out more!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap.

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Let's eat the carbon! A beer with carbon utiliser Marcus Dawe!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 05:32:50 -0000

Hi there listener, I'm going to explode your mind: instead of treating carbon as a waste, we need to utilise as a resource (and then it's worth a trillion dollars!). We talk with Marcus Dawe, who's doing just that.

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap. Ella Barnett is Communications Manager!

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There's nothing that wrong with incest - a beer with Dr Crid Fraser!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 05:33:57 -0000

So if a pregnant monkey gets on a raft and is blown by a hurricane to a new island, is it an invasive species? Apparently you can get shouted down at a biology conference for saying maybe it is... We have a beer with award winning scientist and Kelp Girl Dr Crid Fraser!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap!

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56 Shades of Worm Farm - a beer with Cid Riley from Global Worming!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 06:01:28 -0000

Did you know that worms help each other out when they're stressed? We have a chat with the world's first vermi-economist Cid Riley from Global Worming. Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap! Brought to you by @ANU_CPAS.

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Comics and political fisticuffs - a beer with comicer Stuart McMillen!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 31 May 2017 05:33:28 -0000

You can't push knowledge into a brain, the brain has to suck. We sat down with science comic maker Stuart McMillen to hear how he turns on the brain suck button. Enjoy!
The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, we record at the Wig and Pen Canberra, and we're driven by @ANU_CPAS!

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Summer camp for military bioethics! A beer with military bioethicistist Rev. Dr. Nikki Coleman!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 24 May 2017 06:53:39 -0000

Should soldiers obey every command? It depends on if they're about to kill Hitler, or clean out the inside of a fuel tank... We explore the world of military ethics and moral injury with military bioethicistist Rev. Dr. Nikki Coleman!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap. Communications Manager Ella Barnett!

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Like a book club for climate change! A beer with The Neighbourhood Effect's Lily Dempster

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 18 May 2017 01:44:14 -0000

Lily Dempster's got an idea for fixing climate change - yay! But you've got to talk to your neighbours to make it work (sad face). We sat down for a beer with her to hear how it works! Enjoy!

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Co-parenting a river! We have a beer with river-person-whisperer Julia Talbot-Jones

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 10 May 2017 06:47:05 -0000

In New Zealand there is now a river (the Whanganui) that's a person - that means technically it can sue and be sued, even though it's only water! But it's also a lot more than that... We had a beer with Julia Talbot-Jones to find out more!

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Looking for Plu-two! A beer with citizen astronomer wrangler Dr Brad Tucker!

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 03 May 2017 06:37:48 -0000

Ok we all have to know the names of the 8 planets. There's like Earth and Jupiter and the one that sounds like your bottbott. But do you know the names of the 9 dwarf planet and the possible new planet 9? We don't, but we learned some of their names! We sat down for a beer with Dr Brad Tucker from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and citizen science wrangler extraordinaire! Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap.

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Not The Arch Nerd of Wizardville - a beer with Australian Quidditch Captain James Mortensen

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 05:58:04 -0000

What happens when you cross rugby with basketball with ice hockey with American football with dodgeball with wrestling with Harry Potter? You get the booming sport of Quidditch (spoiler, no flying!). We sat down for a beer with the Australian Quidditch Captain James Mortensen to find out more. Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap.

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LIVE SHOW! Post Fact Alternative Truthiness

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 12:42:25 -0000

It's a LIVE SHOW! We're discussing everything POST FACTY ALTY TRUTHY with this awesome panel of Brian Schmidt (Nobel prize winner and ANU VC), Katharine Murphy (Guardian Australia Political Editor), Anna-Maria Arabia (Australian Academy of Science CEO) and Joan Leach (Director of the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science)!

(Also lol, this panel involves our boss and our boss-boss-boss, fingers crossed we don't get fired after this).

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap.

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Hugging the curtain - a beer with Dr Sara Quinn, developmental psychologist

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 06:25:56 -0000

Ok sometimes as a legit researcher you're required to hide behind a curtain and watch while kids play! We sat down with Dr Sara Quinn who did just that, to find out when and how and why and where kids learn to do the language thing. Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap.

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The Chi of the Insect Hunter - a beer with Dr Bryan Lessard

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 06:34:20 -0000

I don't mean to alarm you, but some insect hunting entomologists (in the 1960s mind you) hunted horseflies with 10m long bug nets in the nude. Yep, butt nekkid. We sat down for a beer with CSIRO's Dr Bryan Lessard, AKA Bry The Fly Guy, AKA namer of the Beyonce Fly.

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A cloud of laser cooled atoms on a skateboard - a beer with Dr Nick Robins

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 04:25:19 -0000

Have you ever seen a fat physicist? It's ok if you have, but geez some of the physicists we've seen know their way around a sledgehammer. We had a beer with Dr Nick Robins today, who's as happy with laser cooled atoms as he is with smashing concrete for science. Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap

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Bicycles are a feminist instrument! A beer with our local Commissioner for Sustainability Kate Auty

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 05:16:10 -0000

We sat down for a beer with our local commissioner for sustainability and the environment, and learnt that bicycles are a feminist instrument, foldable spendable are Irish money and there's a fuckload of solar panels in Wonthaggie!

The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, this time with @EnvComm_ACT.

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Coming Out As An Alien! A Beer With CEO Of Science Technology Australia, Kylie Walker

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 05:44:15 -0000

We sit down for a beer with CEO of Science Technology Australia Kylie Walker to talk science advocacy, if prayer works for cancer treatment (spoiler it's probably science that works) and coming out as an alien!

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Can You Actually Kinda Speak Bird? A Beer With Ornithologist Professor Rob Magrath

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 01:03:37 -0000

If you could talk to an animal, what would you say? Well, we sat down for a beer with Professor Rob Magrath, who kinda actually can talk back to birds! Listen to find out more!

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Like an atom after six beers - a beer with Professor Daniel Shaddock

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 05:43:16 -0000

We sit down for a beer with Professor Daniel Shaddock, one of the team that discovered gravitational waves, and also now CEO of a start up that measures things to within a millionth of the width of an atom! Yay measurement!

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Racist Theme Tune? A Beer With ANU School of Music Director Ken Lampl

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 05:22:56 -0000

Is our theme song racist? We sit down for a beer to find out with total music expert Professor Ken Lampl!

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Infinity, get over it - a beer with Matthew Colless

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 05:26:25 -0000

How good are you at infinity? We talk infinity, space, launching satellites and Hilbert's Hotel with Director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at ANU, Professor Matthew Colless.

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Sailing To Antarctica with Merryn McKinnon

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 05:26:33 -0000

Have you ever been to Antarctica? Rod and Will haven't, but they spoke to Merryn McKinnon, who's just back! Also, we talk women and leadership in science because it's 100% related, and Rod is sad because he doesn't get a cabin boy.

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Introducing The Wholesome Detective Agency

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 09:52:02 -0000

The Wholesome Show is back, and we've got a ... strange thing to announce!

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Is the rhythm gunna get ya? With Tim Hollo!

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 10:41:43 -0000

Part 1 of our live show 'Is the rhythm gunna get ya?', we sit down and explore the world of classical music with Tim Hollo.

An environmentalist and musician, Tim Hollo is founder of Green Music Australia and Executive Director of The Green Institute. He served as communications director for Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne, has been a board member of Greenpeace, and has worked for organisations including 350.org, Lock the Gate and Greenpeace. With FourPlay String Quartet, he has performed around the world, from dingy Melbourne pubs to the Sydney Opera House, from the Edinburgh Fringe to Carnegie Hall.

Also a bonus, check out one of Now to the Future by Fourplay at the end of this episode.

Enjoy!

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Live show: Hey America, what just happened?

A Little Bit Of Science — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 02:37:04 -0000

The Presidential Election is over, but OH BOY IS THERE A LOT TO DISCUSS.

We sit down for an intelligent beer with Professor William H Chafe, Dr Christine Wallace, and CJ Josh / Deb Mewett and explore everything that happened that made Donald Trump king.

Enjoy!

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Live show: Can You Handle The Truth?

A Little Bit Of Science — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 00:54:52 -0000

You’ve probably already worked out that we at Team Wholesome have a lot of time to wonder about things. As independently mega-wealthy gentlefolk-of-learning, we often spend weeks lying around the Wholesome Luxury Resort and Day Spa® just wondering.

But what do we wonder about?

Well recently we’ve been wondering if there was any knowledge that humanity doesn't need. Or shouldn't have. Or does need but is too risky to find out about. Or that some people should have but others shouldn’t. And also, we mused, if there should be any restrictions on research and knowledge, just how the hell should we decide who does what and who gets to know about it?

It all started when we talked with a medical doctor who thinks prohibiting recreational drugs is a bad idea, and actively researches and lobbies for different approaches. Turns out some people are not at all happy about that. At all.

So we wondered further…

If he’s right, what else that people currently consider to be evil, bad and wrong might need a re-think? Should we actually be looking for the best and most wonderful recreational drugs we can imagine? Do we need to focus less on nice, safe things like kittens and cakes, and more on ‘nasty’ things, like how a psychopath’s mind works, or why ear wax tastes so bad?

Of course if we do the danger is that the facts we find about our world could be a wee bit confronting. They could suggest we should go in directions we really don't like.

Could all get a bit awkward, eh? That’s why in this episode we’re going to see if we actually can handle the truth.

GUEST STARRING: Belinda Dopita, Dr David Caldicott, Assoc Prof Simone Dennis, Prof John Wanna

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Live show: What's The Worst That Could Happen?

A Little Bit Of Science — Tue, 23 Aug 2016 23:51:49 -0000

At The Wholesome Show, we refuse to just sit around and not find out everything we can about how bad things can get. So we've spoken to the clued-up people who can tell us things that will properly and thoroughly liquefy our bowels. But that’s not enough is it? It can’t all be doom and gloom. Luckily we’re also the kind of plucky investigative journalists* who want to uncover what the world is doing to prepare for all the pending icks. We don't just want to know about worst case scenarios, we want to see what smart folks are doing about it.

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