We Have Concerns

For the most part, numbers are simply cold indicators, unable of expressing menace or guile, but then there’s Belphegor’s Prime, a supposedly sinister numeric palindrome that has a number of odd qualities. Or at least that’s what one mathematician would have you believe. Jeff and Anthony discuss the lore surrounding one simple prime number, and get hip to the cool world of math. GET BONUS EPISODES...

What if every animal on the planet has suddenly woken up a rational, self-aware being? Would one creature come to rule all others, much as we humans have done, or would our varied kind arrive at some sort of peaceful, enlightened coexistence? The thought experiment is the subject of a BBC Future article that has Anthony and Jeff wondering what that kind of world might be like. GET BONUS EPISODES,...

Sweden is largely a cashless society, with consumers relying on mobile phone payments or plastic. While the U.S. is still far from achieving the same level of cash-free existence, increasing numbers of restaurants and retailers are now refusing to accept the bills. Jeff and Anthony discuss the pros and cons of a cashless existence to decide the future of payments. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUT...

Luke Aikins plummeted from 25,000 feet above the desert landscape of California's Simi Valley without a parachute, landing squarely in a 100 feet x 100 feet, two-tiered net set up to catch him. He nailed the landing at 120 mph -- terminal velocity, solidifying his position as a Total Brock. Jeff and Anthony have lots of experience with Brocks, and proceed to rate Luke's achievement on the Brock sc...

Despite reported differences in appearance and behavior, DNA evidence finds that Namibian desert elephants share the same DNA as African savanna elephants. But differences in behavior show that they pass on their unique knowledge and survival skills to future generations by teaching their young. Fascinating, right? Listen, then, as Anthony attempts to completely derail this very interesting story...

A Frenchman is suing his former employer for "bore out" - boredom's equivalent of burnout - which he says turned him into a "professional zombie". Frederic Desnard wants 360,000 euros for being "killed professionally through boredom" by his 80,000-euro-a-year job as an executive in a perfume business. But is "bore out" real? Anthony and Jeff try to discuss w...

Melbourne-based artist Patricia Piccinini has created a life-sized sculpture of what a human being would have to look like in order to survive a car crash. The result is a grotesquely mutated human with numerous internal and external changes to his physiology, and is meant to highlight how ill-equipped humans are to handle even slow-speed accidents. Jeff and Anthony take a good long look at this c...

There’s a cockroach that gives birth to live young, and it produces a “milk” that scientists want humans to drink. Jeff and Anthony talk about drinking human milk, drinking cow's milk, and the potential of drinking cockroach milk, and try to decide which is the most off-putting concept. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have...

Police in Michigan have a new tool for unlocking phones: 3D printing. Law enforcement officers approached a professor at Michigan State earlier this year to reproduce a murder victim’s fingerprint from a prerecorded scan. Once created, the 3D model would be used to create a false fingerprint, which could be used to unlock the phone. Jeff and Anthony consider a world in which facsimiles are used to...

Research from the United Kingdom found self-service checkouts allowed people to normalize and excuse stealing, even among those who would never consider theft in any other setting. Anthony and Jeff discuss the role technology takes in illegal behavior, and consider whether they are more or less likely to screw over poor old Mr. Albertsons. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http:/...

A team of researchers based at the University of the West of England in Bristol has developed a method for turning human effluent into electricity. Urine is basically chemicals in solution, so if those chemicals can be properly utilized, it can be a fuel like any other. Jeff and Anthony discuss whether the infinite renewability of pee will save us all. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE....

A 44-year-old French father of two who found out one day that he had most of his brain missing. Instead his skull is mostly full of liquid, with only 10% of his brain tissue left. He has a life-long condition known as hydrocephalus, commonly called “water on the brain” or “water head”. Jeff and Anthony discuss the surprising malleability of the brain, and wonder what life could be like for this ma...

With the rise of autonomous machines and the possibility of an invading army comprised of robots, scientists are starting to think about designing spatial environments deliberately to deceive, misdirect, or otherwise baffle the sensors inside them. Could we retrofit cities specifically to confuse robotic attackers? Anthony and Jeff discuss what a machine-proof metropolitan area might look like. GE...

Scientists in Botswana are painting intimidating eyes onto the rumps of cattle that graze near wildlife areas to prevent them from being preyed upon by lions. The idea is that the eyes will trick the lions into thinking they’ve been spotted, causing them to abandon the hunt. Jeff and Anthony debate this ridiculously simplistic approach, and wonder why the king of the jungle is such a scared-y cat....

A team of scientists from the University of Nottingham and Harvard University have developed a method of regrowing damaged teeth using a filling-like material seeded from stem cells. The new approach would greatly reduce the need for uncomfortable dental drilling. Anthony and Jeff discuss their own dental histories, and what this kind of regrowth science might mean for the future. GET BONUS EPISOD...

Tina Gorjanc has sourced the late designer Alexander McQueen’s DNA to harvest into skin tissue, which she’ll then tan and turn into human leather. In turn, she’ll fashion this leather into an already-designed collection – dubbed “The Pure Human” – of jackets, bags and backpacks. Jeff and Anthony discuss the consequences and legality of using famous DNA without permission, and imagine a world of hi...

A new book called Real Food Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It, by Larry Olmsted, has caught Anthony's eye. When we buy fish and beef and olive oil, are we actually getting something completely different? Jeff reacts to these claims, and the guys try to figure out what they can do with the information. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: h...

With Rhinos on the brink of extinction, some bioengineers are 3D printing horns to flood the market with fakes, in an attempt to stop the decline. Jeff and Anthony debate the merits of this plan, and what it might lead to. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey...

A researcher in US thinks he might have finally found evidence of humanity's sixth sense - the ability to detect, in some subconscious way, Earth's magnetic field. Jeff and Anthony consider whether this might in fact be a thing. Can you feel the magnetic field? And if so, what might that mean? GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet...

Scientists have built a robotic stingray made of heart muscle cells from a rat, a skeleton of gold, plastic fins, and light-activated algae proteins. The tiny, 16-millimeter-long robots take about a week to make and can be controlled with light. Anthony and Jeff discuss the nature of abominations, and try to decide if this qualifies as one. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http:...

More than 30 people were treated for burns in Dallas after walking on hot coals at an event hosted by self-help guru Tony Robbins. Jeff and Anthony talk about whether they buy into the self-help subculture. Does mind over matter really work? Is doing something you never thought you could do worth doing? GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all y...

A Canadian funeral business is offering "green" funerals by dissolving the dead and pouring them into town sewers. Anthony and Jeff consider if this practice should cause alarm, or if they might one day prefer it to cremation or burial themselves. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by...

Physicists have confirmed the existence of a new form of atomic nuclei, and the fact that it’s not symmetrical challenges the fundamental theories of physics that explain our Universe. This pear-shaped nucleus could change everything we think we know about the universe, including the possibility of time travel. Jeff and Anthony dive into this discovery and talk through what it means, and how it ha...

Buying your first house is supposed to be a joyous occasion, but for young Tamara Holloway, from Nashville, Tennessee it was a terrible nightmare she couldn’t wake up from, because the man she bought the house from refused to move out. Jeff and Anthony are baffled by this problem. How could it occur? They work through the issue and come up with some ways this could have gone better. GET BONUS EPIS...

Remains of found at an altitude of 2,803 metres in the Altai Mountains are being hailed as the first complete Turkik burial found in Central Asia. In the mummy's grave archaeologists found - alongside the human remains - a saddle, bridle, clay vase, wooden bowl, trough, iron kettle, the remains of entire horse, and what looks an awful lot like Adidas sneakers. Anthony and Jeff speculate on the ori...