The BrainFood Show

In this art documentary, we are diving into the fascinating, and often insanely expensive, ways artists made the colors they used in their paintings by going on site and discussing it with various experts in the field. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At 8:15 AM local time on August 6, 1945, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay of the U.S. Army Air Forces’ 509th Composite Group dropped a single bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Nicknamed Little Boy, the bomb detonated at an altitude of 580 metres or 1,900 feet, unleashing the explosive equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT. The immediate fireball and blast wave obliterated buildings out t...

As the official name of Paris–Bordeaux–Paris Trail suggests, the idea of this particular event was to see who could drive from Paris to Bordeaux and back again in the quickest possible time. For reference, this was a distance of 1,178 km or 732 miles on the roads of the day. So what was so special about this particular race? Well, for the first time in history, a large group of automobiles would b...

Ever wonder who invented the ballpoint pen? Well strap in, as we do a deep dive into the progression of writing, and the incredible engineering behind the surprisingly revolutionary ballpoint pen. Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at the massive creature that has a doughnut shaped brain with its esophagus running right through the middle. Next up we begin by looking at the fascinating reason Dung Beetles do a little happy dance after they find and roll up some poop. We then move on to a myriad of fascinating facts about various ants, including their absolutely r...

In the epsidoe today, we're looking at the twisting, turning, tale of Dr. Pepper and the real story behind it and what's in it. Next up, who invented toast, whether sodium actually raises blood pressure, why cashews are not sold to consumers in their shells and a variety of other interesting food related facts and stories. For the full list, check out the chapter markers below: 0:00 Who Invented D...

Hermann Göring was second only to Hitler in the hierarchy of the Third Reich. Commander of the Luftwaffe, acting Prime Minister of Prussia, President of the Reichstag, and Hitler’s designated successor – Göring’s Nazi resume was almost unparalleled, as were the atrocities he took part in. His brother, Albert, however, could not have been more the opposite- an unsung forgotten hero of the war, savi...

Food in the past could be horrifying. Prior to the introduction of regulations like the United States Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, it was disturbingly common for manufacturers to add all sorts of inedible or even genuinely toxic substances to food to make it last longer, make it look more appetizing, or cut down on expensive ingredients and maximize profits. Boric acid and formaldehyde in milk....

In the video today, we're looking at a variety of food facts including- How Two Guys are the Reason We Eat What We Eat for Breakfast, How are Baby Carrots Made, Is Pet Food Safe for Humans to Eat, The Bizarre Story of the Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb Triangle, That Time Quaker Oats Fed Orphans Radioactive Oatmeal for Reasons…, How To Make a Proper Cup of Tea According to Famed English Author George Or...

He is one of the most famous serial killers of all time, but who actually was Jack the Ripper and what actually happened during his reign of terror. Just before 4 am on August 31, 1888, on London’s seedy Buck’s Row, a cart driver named Charles Cross saw the body of a woman lying on the ground. In the early morning gloom, it was initially impossible to tell if she was drunk or dead. Cross was soon...

Did Alexander Graham Bell actually invent the telephone? How about Elisha Gray? Or what about Antonio Meucci who both Italy and even U.S. Congress at one point acknowledged as the true inventor of the telephone... But is there any actual truth to his story, or was it a major flub by Congress? And what about the oft' forgotten Johann Philip Reis who there was even a bonafide conspiracy to suppress...

On June 26, 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy stood on the steps of the Rathaus Schöneburg in West Berlin and delivered one of the most famous - and infamous - speeches of his presidency. Before a gathered crowd of 450,000 people, Kennedy railed against East Germany’s construction of the Berlin Wall two months before, extolled the virtues of democracy and self-government, and pledged his unwave...

Ever Wonder How Iron Man of all Marvel characters was chosen to be the one to launch the Marvel universe? Well, wonder no more, as we do a deep dive into how the Iron Man Movies were made. At the time of writing this script the Marvel Cinematic Universe, henceforth shortened to the MCU, has made about $31 billion at the box office, the most of any film series in history. To put this amount into pe...

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at the mind blowing things caterpillars get up to while in the chrysalis. Next up we begin by looking at the fascinating way in which honey bees, which are cold blooded, manage to keep their hives warm and the variety of fascinating things they do with their rather unique heating abilities. We then look at the rather amazing vulture an...

Legend says that brewing tea dates back to around 2737 BC, when tea leaves fell into water being boiled for Emperor Shennong of China. There does not appear to be any hard evidence of tea being discovered this way, but evidence we do have suggests that brewing tea did indeed likely start in China, first as part of a medicinal elixir. The first documented reference to this is found during the Shang...

During the 1986 beach volleyball film Top Gun, U.S. Navy aviators and ultimate bros Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and Nick “Goose” Bradshaw are flying dogfight exercises in a Grumman F-14 Tomcat when they accidentally fly into the jet wash of another aircraft, causing both their engines to flame out. The Tomcat immediately snaps into an unrecoverable flat spin and hurtles towards the earth, giving...

Edgar Allan Poe is probably best known for his raven that squawks “Nevermore,” but he’s also one of the first American short story writers and is often credited with being the “inventor” of detective fiction. He also contributed heavily to the genre of science fiction. Not only that, but he was one of the first American writers to earn a living from his writing alone. What’s not as well-known abou...

On April 11, 2026, the Orion spacecraft Integrity splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, bringing astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Jeremy Hansen, and Christina Koch (cook) safely back to earth after an epic 10-day journey from the earth to the moon - the first such mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. Aside from some minor issues with the spacecraft’s toilet and Microsoft Outlook, which… historica...

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at a rather fascinating fact about dogs and cats that you probably didn’t know. Next up we begin by debunking a variety of common whale related myths, most notably frequently depicted in movies the world over.  Among other things, we then look at what exactly the uvula does (that dangly thing in the back of your throat), whether c...

In the "Forgotten History" compilation video today, we're looking at the United States' biological warfare program tested on its own citizens, the women who were used for breeding by the Nazis, the amazonian arrow poison that revolutionized medicine, the only axi prisoner to escape from Canada and make it back to Germany, the forgotten and extremely tragic valcartier grenade incident, and much, mu...

On November 10, 1865, Henry Wirz, the commander of Andersonville prison in Georgia (a.k.a. Camp Sumter), was executed for his actions during the Civil War. A Swiss immigrant, Wirz was the only Confederate officer convicted and put to death for war crimes. (Even Confederate President Jefferson Davis ultimately got off more or less scot free.) Built in 1864, Andersonville, or Camp Sumter, was the la...

Laser guns are a staple of science fiction. Engineers are very good at making science fiction, science fact, with a lot of money and awesome science and engineering. So how close are we to creating a handheld sci-fi laser gun? “Ancient weapons and hokey religions are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.” In this memorable line from 1977’s Star Wars, loveable smuggler and rogue Han Solo n...

In the field of aviation, few figures loom larger in the popular imagination than Amelia Earhart. Over her relatively brief 10-year career, the legendary aviatrix became an icon and inspiration for women everywhere, becoming the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo and setting dozens of long-distance flight records. Her mysterious disappearance during an attempted round-the-world flight in 1937 co...

Long before the Apollo Program was officially announced in 1961, engineers and science fiction writers recognized the value of giving future moon explorers some kind of wheeled vehicle to increase their mobility. Most early concepts for such vehicles were large truck-like contraptions with pressurized cabins, allowing the astronauts to operate in so-called “shirt-sleeve” conditions, not unlike in...

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start with a Simon rant, then look at what the M’s stand for in M&Ms. Next up we look at when exactly humans started putting living things in food items for the purpose of entertainment, the origin of “That’s What She Said” and “Said the Actress to the Bishop”, and then all leading up to the first “Trial of the (20th) Century” and what exactly that had...