A Little Bit Of Science

Our episode today begins in the 1960s with Laszlo Polgar and his hot and saucy epistolary courtship with a foreign language teacher named Klara. Correction here. Laszlo's letters were less hot and saucy and more….precise and instrumental. There was no time for detailing THE karma sutra. László was on a mission. He wanted to raise child geniuses. So, in his letters to Klara, he outlines the pedagog...

Our goal here at The Wholesome Show is to make you feel happy, amused and entertained. But a fair warning that we must sometimes journey through a rather astonishing volume of grotesque and sad death to get you there.   We won’t apologise for it. It is our duty.   In this episode, we travel back to the 18th and 19th centuries - a generally dire time to be alive. Infanticide - the killing of unwant...

Have you ever had a dream that you just had to do no matter how crazy or how dangerous it might sound to anyone else? A dream so core to your being that nothing was going to stop you realising it no matter the obstacles?   Nail Armstrong sure did. As did Marie Curie. Edmond Hillary too.   But recently, we found out about a human who eclipsed all those wannabes.   That man was Larry Walters.   Even...

Six friends gather around a patch of dirt in the Netherlands.  Cornelis, Dirk, Symon, Reynier, Other Cornelis and Andries (clearly this is not 2022).  They’re digging up something that is meant to be worth 30 guilders. That is, the price of a pretty modest house back in 1637. A whole house worth of value in a small buried item. Gold? Gemstones? An incredibly well bred and fanciful horse?   No dear...

In this daring episode, Rod and Will take us back to 1894 Paris, when a small newspaper had a brilliant idea to boost circulation.    A wacky endurance race that would take no prisoners.   In this race there were no fewer than 20 different methods of propulsion from steam, petrol, compressed air, clockwork, a system of pendulums through to a mechanical motor. From a four tonne monster tractor righ...

There's a whole bunch of reasons to not be fans of the Proud Boys. In the words of the Southern Poverty Law Centre they're a 'general hate' group, their members played key roles in the January 6 attack on the US capitol, and they're pretty goddamn misogynist. But it's rule number two of their by-laws that's just weird. It states “No heterosexual brother of the Fraternity shall masturbate more than...

In the olden times people used to climb mountains wearing all sorts of odd things - wool, leather, or just in the nude! But George Finch was an ideas man... Rod tells Will the story of the invention of the puffer jacket! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listener...

Guess what listener - it's possible that people alive today might live a very long life... like 1200 years maybe. That sounds fun, but maybe it might lead to dystopia? Will agonises with Rod about what we should do about longevity treatments! The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! Source...

At the end of the 19th century in Paris there were a range of weird and wonderful acts - but one stood out... Rod tells Will the story of Le Pétomane! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! Le Pétomane By The Wholesome Show is licensed under a Creative Commons License. See omnystudio.com...

Old timey people put a lot of stock in maps, but they didn't always get things exactly right. They joined Tasmania to mainland Australia, got Africa in the wrong place, and moved Siberia a long way to the east. But was this by accident? Or design? Will tells Rod the story of lying with maps! The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National...

We all go to the movies right, we see the sights, we hear the sounds! But what if we could smell the smells? Rod tells Will the history of Smell-O-Vision! The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People have been cooking food for as long as they've been people - and for almost as long other people have been pushing against it. Will tells Rod the history and science of raw food evangelists! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! Sources Bismark Daily Tribune: Apostle of Raw Food E...

Ettore Majorana was a physics genius who really could have won the Nobel Prize... but in 1938 he disappeared. The question is, what happened to him? Rod tells Will the story! The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ok, the Americans won the race to the moon - but do you know what the Soviets actually did land on the moon? It's something a little bit special. The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You might not know this but ozone has a bizarrely 'clean' smell - so much so, there's a long history of people using it to 'clean' things that they really shouldn't... Rod tells Will the story! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We at The Wholesome Show of course want to live forever. But if you have to go, there are a hell of a lot of worse ways than dying in the saddle. Will tells Rod the science and history of dying on the job! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

Tycho Brahe is one of the most important astronomers of all time - but he died under super mysterious circumstances. So who killed him? Rod tells Will and special guest Hans the story of the murder of Tycho Brahe! The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

We all have... unique ways of looking at the world. But what if two mutually contradictory views of the world are put in the same room? Rod tells Will the story of the ethically dubious Jesus experiments of Milton Rokeach! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listene...

There are a few places around the world where a large number of people live to over 100 - do you want to know how? Well, Will tells Rod exactly what the secret is! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What evidence would we need to confirm that Bigfoot exists? Photos? Hair sample? A pool of blood? Rod tells Will the story of Melba Ketchum's quest for the Big Foot! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the middle of the 20th century it became totally normal - at a 21st, a wedding or a confirmation - to give people the special present of the total removal of their teeth. Was science to blame? Will tells Rod the story! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! Sources: - Brides.com: The...

The early days of nuclear science were very much a... move fast and break things world. And some people? They ended up in some dangerous spots. Rod tells Will about the risky world of nuclear science at the 1940s Los Alamos National Laboratory! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See...

Do you get sick of waiting for your packages from your online retailers of choice? Have you ever wanted to get your mail just that little bit faster? Yes? Yes! Then might I interest you in... rocket mail? Will tells Rod and special guest CJ Josh the story of rocket mail! The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by @cjjosh and proudly brought to by The Australian Nation...

Is English spelling needlessly complicated? Should we fix it? Som pepl say yes! Will tells Rod the story of the Simplified Spelling Board! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Exercise is great. It helps with just about everything! But here's the thing, does it help you... spread the word of God? Rod tells Will the story - and future - of muscular Christianity! The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.