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  • 328: The Last Gasp
    2024/12/24
    We've had a hell of a good time spending the past 6 years scrounging up weird science and history junk for you to listen to! It's been a privilege knowing there a lots of fact junkies out there like us, digging through our podcast like raccoons in a trashcan. Our legacy is 328 fantastic episodes and we hope you never stop coming back when you need a little weird and wacky in your life.We'll still be on Instagram, full of shenanigans and making reels. Never stop being curious. Love ya forever, Trace and AmyShow Notes:The Poozeum: https://poozeum.com/Life Cycle of the Mosquito: https://www.vdci.net/mosquito-biology-101-life-cycle/University of Melbourne: Male Mosquitos don't want your blood: https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/news/31460-male-mosquitoes-don%27t-want-your-blood--but-they-still-find-you-very-attractiveWPRI.com Blue Whale leaking: https://www.wpri.com/news/street-stories/blue-whale-skeleton-at-new-bedford-museum-still-leaking-oil/Atlas Obscura, Oozing Whale Skeleton: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-oozing-whale-skeleton-of-new-bedford-new-bedford-massachusettsPopular Science: https://www.popsci.com/science/blue-whale-leaking-oil/MSN Lyudmila Trut: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/lyudmila-trut-soviet-scientist-who-sped-up-evolution-with-tame-foxes-that-began-to-look-like-dogs/ar-AA1sMlb1BMC, The silver fox domestication experiment: https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-018-0090-xEpisode 240 Extreme Lookalikes (where we mention the silver foxes)https://brainjunkpodcast.com/podcast/240-extreme-lookalikes/Popular Science, Why 60 degrees feels different: https://www.popsci.com/environment/why-fall-feels-colder-than-spring/Evolutionary ecology of ethanol: https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(24)00240-4?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0169534724002404%3Fshowall%3DtrueNew Scientist, Can all animals get drunk? https://www.newscientist.com/lastword/mg25934543-000-can-all-animals-get-drunk-what-enables-this-in-those-that-can/Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/10/241030150809.htmPenn Engineering Today, The secrets of baseball's magic mud: https://blog.seas.upenn.edu/the-secrets-of-baseballs-magic-mud/Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
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    1 時間 17 分
  • 327: MIT Hacks
    2024/12/17

    Amy lives for a good shenanigan so of course she adores MIT's tradition of playing hacks (aka pranks) on Harvard and Yale. The biggest one you've ever heard of turned out to be a fake but don't worry, there's still some great ones from the past 75 years that were real!





    Show Notes:





    Atlas Obscura: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-harvard-stadium-pigeon-prank-that-pavlov-would-be-proud-of





    MITbloggers YouTube 1982 pranktacular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq4rzxw_wYU





    Boston.com: https://www.boston.com/sports/college-sports/2018/11/16/mit-hacks-harvard-yale-balloon-prank-1982/





    1948 newspaper article (behind a paywall)https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/105095033/





    MIT, Interesting Hacks to Facinate People: https://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_topic/harvard.html





    Harvard "Huge Ego" hack: https://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2006/H_Y_huge_ego/



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
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    16 分
  • 326: Medical Ants
    2024/12/10

    In a weird turn of events, it's ants performing surgery when one of them has a leg injury instead of scientists whacking the legs off. Okay,we lied, the scientists are doing it too...





    Show Notes:





    Episode 71: Ants on Stilts (it's just as horrible as it sounds) https://brainjunkpodcast.com/podcast/71-ants-on-stilts/





    Current Biology article: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)00805-4





    Live Science, Ants perform life saving surgery: https://www.livescience.com/animals/insects/ants-perform-life-saving-operations-the-only-animal-other-than-humans-known-to-do-so





    TW: Facebook video showing actual leg amputation https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=846736237392641





    Pub Med Animals that self medicate: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4267359/



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
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    14 分
  • 325: Crabs of Rome
    2024/11/26

    Imagine rolling up to excavate an ancient ruin only to spend the day carrying out buckets full of crabs! Today we get to know the Potamon fluviatile crab.





    Show Notes:





    National Geographic article: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/river-crab-ancient-rome





    Musei In Commune Roma, The sculpture of Constantine: https://www.mercatiditraiano.it/en/percorsi/percorsi_per_temi/la_statuaria/testa_rilavorata_come_costantino





    Wikipedia, Giant Crabs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potamon_fluviatile





    Freshwater crabs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_crab





    When a ladybug lands on you: https://www.wellandgood.com/symbolic-meaning-of-ladybugs/





    YouTube, Rome's giant crabs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=QNbVPkRDaGI



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
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    13 分
  • 324: Helium Alligators
    2024/11/12

    Have you ever wondered if a hit of helium would change the sound of an alligator's bellows? Lucky for us, there are scientists out there who wanted to know.









    Show Notes:





    BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54197198





    Kyoto University Ig Nobel announcement: https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/news/2020-09-29





    YouTube resonance to vocalize: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz-plqEyxik





    Science: https://www.science.org/content/article/ig-nobel-prizes-reward-research-helium-huffing-alligators-and-knives-made-feces





    CNN US: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/18/us/ig-nobel-awards-alligator-helium-scli-scn-intl/index.html





    Journal of Experimental Biology: https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/218/15/2442/14244/A-Chinese-alligator-in-heliox-formant-frequencies



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
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    13 分
  • 323: Ball Brothers
    2024/10/29

    Amy looks into how companies change over time. Start making glass jars, segue into making aerospace technology, and end up only doing metal fabrication. We look at a few other companies too!





    Show Notes:





    Ball historical timeline: https://www.ball.com/our-company/our-story/history-timeline





    Wikipedia on Ball Corp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_Corporation





    CPR News 2024, Ball Corp sells aerospace division: https://www.cpr.org/2024/02/16/ball-corp-sells-aerospace-division/





    HiRISE camera: https://www.ball.com/newswire/article/123308/ball-aerospace-hirise-camera-returns-stunning-images-from-mars





    Deep Impact: https://deepimpact.astro.umd.edu/tech/instruments.html





    Ball Aerospace and Hubble: https://www.ball.com/newswire/article/123389/ball-aerospace-hubble-space-telescope-science-instruments-shine-a-light-on-the-universes





    Dating a Ball jar: https://www.frenchcreekfarmhouse.com/2018/03/how-to-date-ball-mason-jar.html





    Mason Jars a history: https://masonjars.com/history-of-ball-jars-html/comment-page-1/





    Journey Indiana Youtube, Ball Family Legacy : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG1z0D_JJzk





    Tiktok youthpastorryan talking companies behaving badly: https://www.tiktok.com/@youthpastorryan/video/7305919108434971947?lang=en





    Wikipedia r-Gator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-Gator





    Honeywell flight control autopilot: https://aerospace.honeywell.com/us/en/products-and-services/product/hardware-and-systems/cockpit-systems-and-displays/flight-controls-and-autopilots





    GE hydro power: https://www.gevernova.com/hydropower/



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
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    12 分
  • 322: Screaming Plants
    2024/10/15

    Scientists wanted to know if plants scream and tortured tomatoes to find out the answer. Beckett (Trace's youngest spawn) wanted to know, if plants do scream, can our pets hear it and is this why cats knock plants off shelves?





    Show Notes:





    YouTube sound of Plants "screaming": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-_AGgoJ3VA





    Sci News, Plants Emit Ultrasonic Sounds When Stressed, Groundbreaking Study Shows: https://www.sci.news/biology/plant-ultrasonic-sounds-11794.html





    How Well do Animals Hear: https://www.lsu.edu/deafness/HearingRange.html





    Hidden Hearing, Human hearing ranges: https://www.hiddenhearing.co.uk/hearing-blog/hearing-loss/what-animals-have-better-hearing-than-humans



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
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    13 分
  • 321: Joro Spiders
    2024/10/01

    Amy laid the perfect web of "lies"; she lured Trace into an episode about shapeshifting women and then sprang the trap...this episode is about the Joro spider. We talk about the convergence of giant invasive spiders and Japanese mythology.





    Show Notes:





    Joro Spider (warning, there are spider photos): https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/millions-of-joro-spiders-are-moving-up-the-east-coast-heres-what-to-expect/





    Wikipedia Joro spider: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavata





    Wikipedia Jorogumo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jor%C5%8Dgumo





    Described and Captioned Media Program: PBS Digital Studios & Monstrum: https://dcmp.org/media/14555-monstrum-jorogumo-the-deadly-spider-woman-from-yokai-lore





    (Amy was Right!!!!) Blackarachnia: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Blackarachnia_(BW)





    Selkies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
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    13 分