Tag: grow

• Exo Wombs and the Faint Young Sun Paradox

  To combat low population growth, some countries are looking into using artificial wombs to grow new humans. Anthony and Jeff examine this dystopian idea to see if it might actually make sense. Then, we know the sun - and all stars - get hotter and hotter until they die. But what we rarely consider if how a younger sun would have been dimmer and cooler. Jeff and Anthony take a look at the paradox of how life on Earth emerged when it would have been too cold for oceans to flow. [more]

  February 4, 2022Episodes

• Human Growth Plants and Zen and the Art of Lying

  In an effort to combat global hunger, scientists are attempting to create crops with a higher yield without enlarging their footprint. Researchers have even transferred a human protein into plants to supersize them, with results that are surprising even them. Jeff and Anthony discuss this bizarre and promising method and what it might mean for the world. Then, how do we know when someone is lying? A new study shows that our instincts for determining the honesty in other might be completely skewed. Anthony and Jeff lie to each other to find out. [more]

  September 10, 2021Episodes

• Forceful Gaze and Gator Tails

  Have you ever sensed that someone might be watching you? You get a prickly feeling at the back of your neck and turn to see a stranger staring at you across the room. It sometimes seems that we can feel a person’s gaze as a physical sensation. Anthony and Jeff discuss research into this very sensation, in an attempt to figure out what we are actually sensing. Then, scientists have found that young American alligators can regrow their tails up to nine inches, or around 18 percent of their body length. Jeff and Anthony ask whether this might eventually give us all powers like The Lizard from Spider-Man. [more]

  January 8, 2021Episodes

• Cookie Efficiency and Lab Meat

  Have you ever stood over a rolled-out slab of cookie dough and pondered just how to best cut out cookies with as little waste as possible? Now, even math experts have given up on finding a computer algorithm to answer this type of geometric problem. Jeff and Anthony discuss something that seems simple, but is actually impossible. Then, lab grown meat has existed for a while, but it has been too expensive for public sale. Now, a new company plans to put a kill-free meat on the market. Anthony and Jeff deabte the merits and potential of such a product. [more]

  December 20, 2020Episodes