Tag: city

• Octlantis and Tall Boy

  In Jervis Bay, off Eastern Australia, researchers recently spotted 15 gloomy octopuses congregating, communicating, dwelling together, and even evicting each other from dens at a site the scientists named “Octlantis.” Anthony and Jeff discuss the reasons and potential dangers of Octopi starting cities. Then, Polish military divers are due to begin a delicate operation on Monday to defuse a massive World War II bomb at the bottom of a channel near the Baltic Sea. The five-ton device -- nicknamed "Tallboy" and also known as an "earthquake bomb" -- was dropped by the Royal Air Force in an attack on a Nazi warship in 1945. Jeff and Anthony run through the process and terrifying possibilities of diffusing a decades old mega bomb. [more]

  October 27, 2020Episodes

• Save the Bees, Stop the Coal

  Honeybee venom looks to have positive and dramatic application for the treatment of breast cancer. Anthony and Jeff discuss the details of this encouraging news, and how we need to save the bees. Then, the city of Centralia, Pennsylvania is on fire - and has been since 1962 - because subterranean coal continues to burn. 1500 people have left, but 10 stubborn souls remain. Jeff and Anthony try to figure out what would cause someone to stay, and delve into the interesting science that can be done in the aftermath. [more]

  September 14, 2020Episodes

• Nowhere You Are

  In a triumph of data collection and analysis, a team of researchers based at Oxford University has built the tools necessary to calculate how far any dot on a map is from a city — or anything else. The research allows us to pin down a question that has long evaded serious answers: Where is the middle of nowhere? The Washington Post processed every pixel and every populated place in the contiguous United States to find the one that best represents the “middle of nowhere.” Of all towns with more than 1,000 residents, Glasgow, home to 3,363 people in the rolling prairie of northeastern Montana, is farthest — about 4.5 hours in any direction — from any metropolitan area of more than 75,000 people. Jeff and Anthony consider the simple life. [more]

  March 7, 2018Episodes