Tag: mars

• Mister Potato Home

  Scientists from the University of Manchester have created a new building material dubbed ‘StarCrete’ that could be the key to settling Mars and the Moon. Jeff and Anthony discuss the amazing breakthrough, and the dark road to its discovery. [more]

  March 31, 2023Episodes

• Mutating Astronaut Blood, A Cautionary Tale

  Researchers at NASA have been holding on to astronaut blood for 20 years. But that's not the story. The story is that over that period, the blood has been mutating. Anthony and Jeff discuss this new wrinkle in the dangers of space travel - and space colonization - and how some very smart people are thinking about it. [more]

  September 30, 2022Episodes

• Shock Therapy and Space Mummies

  Researchers claim, for the first time, to have used custom-fitted deep brain stimulation to substantially alleviate a patient’s decades-long bout with severe depression. Anthony and Jeff discuss the scientific and ethical ramifications of re-wiring the brain with actual wires. Then, what happens to dead bodies on Mars? If humans are gonna go there, then we better be thinking about it! Luckily, scientists are, and Jeff and Anthony might not like the conclusions. [more]

  October 8, 2021Episodes

• Buying Happiness and Getting Ceres-ous

  The old adage is that money can't buy happiness. But what if it can? Anthony and Jeff take a look at new studies that attempt to put that notion to the test, scientifically. The answer might surprise you. Then, a Finnish astrophysicist has written a paper detailing a plan for a human colony, not on Mars or the Moon, but in a floating satellite orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres, between Mars and Jupiter. Jeff and Anthony discuss the feasibility of such a plan, and whether they see themselves living on a discworld in 20 years. [more]

  January 31, 2021Episodes

• Werewolves are Real, and We Can’t Leave the Planet

  Some people really believe they are in the process of changing into a wolf. There have been 13 case reports of such people since 1850, and according to a psychiatric report released in March 2019, a South Florida man, accused of murdering a couple and chewing on the face of one, suffered from “clinical lycanthropy delusions.” Anthony and Jeff discuss what it must be like to be convinced you're a werewolf, and which animal they'd rather be convinced they were. Then, Jeff and Anthony always knew space was trying to kill them, but the NASA Human Research Roadmap has identified thirty-four known health risks and 233 “gaps” in the knowledge of risks. The guys re-assess their desire to leave Earth in light of this very specific information. [more]

  June 20, 2020Episodes