Episodes
-
New Wrongs Make a Right
When humans work together with not-very-smart robots, they’re better at solving problems than when they work only with other people, new research says. Jeff and Anthony debate the value of getting stuff wrong.
GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. …
[more] -
Bubble Hobble
Scientists have healed severe bone fractures in pigs by blasting tiny bubbles with ultrasound in the animals’ bones. The technique encourages the pigs’ bodies to regenerate themselves, and could one day be used to help humans — especially the elderly …
[more] -
Bugged Bunny
Virtual rabbits across Second Life will fall asleep and never wake up, now that the their digital food supply has been shut down by a legal battle. The player-made and player-sold Ozimals brand of digirabbits are virtual pets that players …
[more] -
Irrational Rational Rationale
Researchers at Tilburg University in the Netherlands surveyed both scientists and highly educated nonscientists and asked them to rate the two categories of people in terms of objectivity, rationality, integrity, open-mindedness, intelligence and cooperativeness. Both groups rated scientists higher on …
[more] -
Gut and Run
Fear, for the most part, is controlled by the brain’s amygdalae, but a team of researchers at University College Cork have discovered that the gut microbiome, that collection of bacteria that lives within your digestive system, appears to also have …
[more] -
Race Boast Coast to Coast
On October 30, 1919, Tony Pizzo arrived in New York City chained to his bicycle. He had pedaled 3,000 miles in five-and-a-half months, attached to his bike by a three-and-a-half-foot chain and handcuffs welded shut around his wrists. All because …
[more] -
Preserved and Perfect
The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, Canada recently unveiled what is perhaps the best-preserved dinosaur specimen ever unearthed. That’s because, 110 million years later, the bones remain covered by the creature’s intact skin and armor. Anthony and Jeff …
[more] -
America Smirks
When residents of other countries are asked “What’s a dead giveaway that someone is American?” one trait comes up over and over again: big, toothy grins. Why do Americans smile so much? Anthony and Jeff dive into the research on …
[more] -
Tat the Scales
A huge fish covered in ‘tattoos’ has been caught in the Philippines. Where you would expect plain scales, the fish has intricate blue designs of a crown and a shield, lettering and entwined plant leaves instead. But why? Only Jeff …
[more] -
Modern Stone Age Calamity
An exhaustive comparison of Neandertals’ injuries to those of people today finds that water tubing and mishaps involving tables, result in top-heavy fracture patterns most similar to those observed on Neandertal fossils. This analysis illustrates just how little modern evidence …
[more]
Do NOT join our secret society. You’ll just wind up with a bunch of cool stuff. It’s gross.