We Have Concerns

A Venezuelan man had his face surgically altered to look like the Red Skull - Captain America's arch-nemesis in Marvel Comics.  His nose was removed, his brow was enlarged, his skin was reddened, and even his eyeballs were tattooed black.  Jeff thinks this is horrifying and has very bad implications for the man's state of mind.  Anthony thinks we only get one shot at life and if this makes him hap...

A new study shows that longer, fast-paced running sessions are just as bad for you as not running at all. How much exercise is genuinely good for you? And why do we always think more is better?  We Have Concerns is entirely listener supported! To keep us ad-free and get early episodes/bonus content, check out our Patreon:  http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Hey! If you're enjoying the show, please...

What's more ethical: a life sentence in prison, or a drug that slows someone's perception of time to make them feel like they've spent 10 life sentences in a day? The question was asked last year by an Oxford University professor, but isn't the real question: if we could make a drug that let people do multiple lifetimes of thinking, why would we waste it on punishment instead of giving brilliant m...

Songwriter and youtube song-a-day artist Jonathan Mann has a new video online advocating for abolishing the term "Content Creator" for people who release things on the web.  His position is that the term diminishes things designed to be distributed on the online, making them disposable.  As individuals who have been described as "content creators" themselves, Anthony and Jeff d...

A Japanese corporation wants to build the perfect underwater city of the future. That is both a real thing that's happening and also something that sounds like the plot of a nightmarish disaster movie.  WE'RE RECORDING OUR FIRST LIVE SHOW IN THE LA AREA ON FRIDAY, FEB. 20TH. TICKETS ARE FREE! DETAILS:  http://holdmyticket.com/event/196282 We Have Concerns is entirely listener supported! To keep us...

How easily you can sit down and stand back up without using your hands can supposedly tell you how long you'll have to live. Jeff and Anthony are joined by Justin Robert Young and to try the test for themselves. Thanks to Justin Robert Young for joining us! Check out his other shows: Night Attack ( http://nightattack.tv ), and JuRY Talks ( http://jurytalks.com/ ) We recorded a special, patron-only...

A new article describes just how easy it is to induce false memories in subjects.  In fact, researchers were able to to convice patients that they had done horrible things, including assault with a deadly weapon, even when they had done noting fo the sort. Jeff is mystified about how quickly and easily the human brain is bamboozled. while Anthony is worried about what happens to the patients after...

NASCAR driver Kurt Busch is attempting to skirt allegations of domestic abuse by claiming that his girlfriend is a trained assassin.  Jeff and Anthony proceed to mock any man who would physically assault his partner, and this man in particular for trying to avoid the issue in such an unbelieveable way. We Have Concerns is entirely listener supported! To keep us ad-free and get early episodes/bonus...

The Australian Gympie-Gympie plant is the one of the most painfully poisonous in the world. People who have just rubbed up against it have gone mad with pain and tried to shoot off their own appendages with guns. So, like... Would you touch it? Maybe... Maybe we should touch it. Join us for a live video hangout on Thursday, January 29th at 5 PM PT! We can all just hang and talk and stuff. It'll be...

A 23 year-old man has been experiencing constant deja vu for seven years. What would it be like to have the feeling that everything you experienced has happened before? Powerful? Boring? Maddening? Powerful? Boring? Maddening? (see what I did there?) We have a live video hangout coming up on the 29th! If you'd like to come chat with us, you can get the details at  http://hangout.wehaveconcerns.com...

A new study finds that men who interact with women during the fertile period of their menstrual cycle tend to be more creative with their grammar. Anthony is impressed that human "peacocking" extends into speech patterns, while Jeff is just amazed that men can pick up on when women are most fertile. This show is entirely listener supported. To find out how to help AND get early episodes...

Anthony found an article outlining the evidence that Earth is headed for its 6th great extinction event.  Animals going extinct, global food tables imbalanced, resource scarcity, all lead up to a massive, worldwide catastrophe.  He proceeds to use these facts to completely bum Jeff out.  Listen as the show decends into total depression. This show is entirely listener supported! Get early episodes,...

A group of researchers studying the effects of alcohol on speech decided to get some birds drunk.  They divided a group of zebra finches - birds that learn and produce sounds similar to humans - into two groups.  One sipped pure juice and the other a mixture of ethanol and juice.  The results may shock you.  Or not.  Jeff and Anthony wonder how a group of researchers can spend grant money intoxica...

A review led by a brain scientist at MIT found growing evidence that brain scans can predict future behaviors.  If, one day, we are able to simply scan our brains to determine what kinds of activities we are more inclined to excel at, or problems we may encounter, will that lead to a healthier, more adaptive populace, or one shackled to in-born tendencies?  Anthony and Jeff wrestle with that quest...

NASA is conducting a study about the long-term effects of weightlessness by asking applicants to stay completely horizontal for 70 days.  In exchange for staying in bed and never standing up up, even to use the restroom or shower, NASA will pay test subjects $18,000, which works out to $1,200 per week or $257 per day.  Anthony and Jeff wonder if they could stand it, and why NASA is holding out on...

A court in Argentina just upheld an animal rights group's request to have an orangutan appear in a court, saying it's illegal to hold 'non-human persons' in cages. Whoops, apes are people now. So is this a good thing? How smart are animals? What sort of rights should they have? Also: what kind of animal skin makes the best sneakers? This show is entirely listener supported! Get early episodes, ext...

In order to find a way to stop bedbugs, Regine Gries allowed herself to be bitten by them 180,000 times over a period of five years. Also, did you know that there's billionaire dinosaur porn? That's unrelated, but it doesn't mean we're not going to talk about it for 10 minutes or whatever. Hey! If you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to liste...

What makes you you? Is the self somewhere in the body or the brain? If you downloaded your brain into a new body, would it be you? ANSWER ME (whatever 'me' is) Hey! If you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here's the iTunes link:  http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns Jeff on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter:  http...

A woman has a condition that makes her see dragons wherever she goes. Anthony and Jeff discuss perception and reality, and if we know what we see is real. Hey! If you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here's the iTunes link:  http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns Jeff on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter:  http://tw...

Every Autumn, falling leaves create hazards for the railways. Trains compress the debris by running over it, and the resulting surface becomes slick and unsafe.  The solution? Lasers! One Dutch company has developed a way to blast the rails clean with high-tech lasers mounted to the front of the trains - which, of course, inspires Jeff and Anthony to pitch their new action/adventure trilogy, Laser...

Adrian David Cheok, the founder and director of the Mixed Reality Lab in Singapore, is attempting to record odors digitally, and recreate them without the use of chemicals.  While a breakthrough in the area is still a long way off, the idea of digital smells has Jeff and Anthony wondering what this technology could possibly be used for, and, moreoever, what working in a place called the Mixed Real...

Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York have successfully implanted human glial cells into the brains of mice to shocking result.  Not only were the cells not rejected, but the human cells completely dominated the mouse brain cells.  More incredibly, this led to mice which demonstrated a much higher capacity for memory and cognitive skill.  Yep, Anthony and Jeff are th...

A New Yorker article all about passwords has Jeff musing on what Anthony's passwords mean about him.  It is a secret people tell themselves every time they log on to something, so what are the most common topics that appear in passwords?  What are the smartest passwords?  How can they can used to hack your life? This show is entirely listener supported. To find out how to help AND get early episod...

A new study suggests that using hand dryers in public restrooms is actually less hygienic than using paper towels.  This leads Jeff and Anthony to discuss bathroom etiquette, personal hygene, germophobia, assumptions about cleanliness, and the coolest way to dry your hands. This show is entirely listener supported. To find out how to help AND get early episodes and bonus content, head to  http://p...

Anthony and Jeff delve into perhaps the most disturbing topic they have ever tackled.  An article in National Geographic features the top 5 most terrifying "zombie" creatures - parasites that get inside of other creatures and force them to change their behavior, malform, or otherwise serve the parasite's procreation.  These are some of the most horrible organisms in the natural world.  T...