Rabbit Hole of Research

In this mini recap of Episode 52 , Joe and Nick return to the basement studio (Georgia’s feeling under the weather) to revisit the physics and biology of extreme performance and their chat with guest Hayley Reese Chow: author, ultramarathoner, retired Air Force engineer, and fencer. The crew clears up some episode questions: Yes, whales can get the bends (decompression sickness), despite their lun...

In this 52nd episode of Rabbit Hole of Research , the first episode of season 3, Joe, Nick, and Georgia are joined by author, Air Force engineer, and ultramarathoner Hayley Reese Chow to explore the physics and biology of extreme performance. They discuss what the human body can endure, where it breaks, and why we keep trying to push past the red line anyway. From the “second wind” and the infamou...

In this Season 2 recap, the Rabbit Hole of Research crew rings in the New Year from the Basement Studio while looking back on the ideas, guests, and moments that defined Episodes 26–50. The conversation ranges from a deep dive into the Die Hard Christmas movie debate—tracing it back to Roderick Thorp’s 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever —to favorite episodes like The Heart of a Superhero , Perceptio...

In this lively Season 2 finale of Rabbit Hole of Research , hosts Joe, Nick, and Georgia are joined by returning guest Mary Schons and first-time guest Kathryn “Kat” Sterbenc to do two things at once: look back at a season spent separating science from handwavium—and finally tackle the perennial holiday argument, Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Over the course of Season 2, the show explored science...

In this mini recap of Episode 50 , Joe, Georgia, and Nick revisit the chaos, science, and fuzzy destruction of Gremlins , Joe Dante’s 1984 holiday horror-comedy produced by Steven Spielberg. They unpack the speculative biology of the Mogwai one more time, diving into the infamous three rules: no bright light, no water, and never feed after midnight—especially not raw chicken. The crew adds fresh l...

In this episode of Rabbit Hole of Research , Joe, Nick, and Georgia team up with special guest Chris Guzman to unwrap one of the weirdest holiday phenomena in film history: Gremlins (1984). What starts as a gift from a Chinatown curio shop turns into a full-blown creature-feature apocalypse—and the team wants to know: how do the rules actually work? They break down the film’s infamous care instruc...

In this mini recap of Episode 49, Joe, Nick, and Georgia return to the wild intersection of cardiac science and superhero world-building, revisiting their conversation with bioengineer Rengasayee “Sai” Veeraraghavan. They also clean up a few nerdy misfires from the full episode, including the adrenal-versus-pituitary mix-up and the moment Joe accidentally described the origins of life using a term...

In this episode of Rabbit Hole of Research , Joe, Nick, and Georgia team up with special guest Rengasayee “Sai” Veeraraghavan , professor of biomedical engineering at The Ohio State University and head of a nano-cardiology lab, to ask a deceptively simple question: what kind of heart would a superhero have? Starting from the nanoscale structure of heart cells and the way electrical signals orchest...

In this mini recap of Episode 48 , Nick, Georgia, and Joe reflect on the themes of perception and perspective that shaped their conversation with Katie from the DC Punk Archive. They revisit how shifting realities, sensory limits, and narrative framing influence what we believe is true. They discuss the listener-suggested film, Inception , and its infamous spinning top. The discussion turns toward...

In this episode of Rabbit Hole of Research hosts Joe, Nick, and Georgia joined by librarian Katie Lichtle-Mullenix from the DC Punk Archive for a deep dive into the strange, slippery territory between perception and perspective. Together, they untangle how the brain builds its own version of reality. Asking what we truly “see” versus what we merely believe we see. From optical illusions and VR exp...

In this mini recap of Episode 46: Slashers , we crawl back through masks, myths, and the psychology of fear—revisiting our night at Reed’s Local with Jesse and Alana from Slasher Sauces and Melissa from Reed’s. From Avondale barstools to basement banter, we trace the science behind serial killers and why their numbers have fallen since the blood-soaked heyday of the 1980s. Along the way, we unrave...

This episode of Rabbit Hole of Research finds hosts Joe, Nick, and Georgia joined by Todd Thyberg and Bill Halliar for a deep freeze descent into the paranoid world of The Thing . Together, they dissect the tangled origins of this iconic alien menace—tracing its evolution from John W. Campbell’s 1938 novella Who Goes There? , through 1951’s The Thing from Another World , to John Carpenter’s bleak...

In this mini recap of Episode 46: Slashers , we crawl back through masks, myths, and the psychology of fear—revisiting our night at Reed’s Local with Jesse and Alana from Slasher Sauces and Melissa from Reed’s. From Avondale barstools to basement banter, we trace the science behind serial killers and why their numbers have fallen since the blood-soaked heyday of the 1980s. Along the way, we unrave...

Recorded live at Reed’s Local in Avondale, Chicago, this episode of Rabbit Hole of Research finds hosts Joe, Nick, and Georgia joined by Jesse and Alana from Slasher Sauces—a boutique hot sauce brand—and Melissa, co-owner of Reed’s Local. Together they carve into the slasher film genre, tracing its bloodline from early cinematic roots to modern reinventions. The crew explores the psychology of fea...

In this mini recap of Episode 45: Ghosts and Graveyards , we return to Chicago’s Horror House with Moses and Vinny to revisit a conversation that wandered through haunted spaces, spectral science, and the psychology of belief. We unpack the weird intersections of folklore and neuroscience—from sleep paralysis and sleepwalking killers to crows that teach each other faces and the surprising genetics...

In this special October episode, the Rabbit Hole of Research crew takes the show on the road to Chicago’s Horror House. Joined by co-owners Moses and Vinny, the conversation drifts through ghosts, graveyards, and the supernatural, blending personal stories with science, folklore, and a dash of pop culture. From sleep paralysis and memory to cats staring into the void, from reincarnation theories t...

In this mini recap of Episode 44: Lake Michigan, Life, Mermaids, and Everything in Between , we reflect on our conversation with guest Maud Lavin , author of Mermaids and Lazy Activists . We dive back into the waters of Lake Michigan to revisit a tale of eco-mythical mermaids, climate anxiety, and feminist satire—with humor, awe, and a lot of water love. From speculative biology and freshwater mer...

In this episode of Rabbit Hole of Research, hosts Joe, Nick, and Georgia are joined by writer Maud Lavin to discuss her first novel, 'Mermaids and Lazy Activists.' The novel centers around the magic and environmental significance of Lake Michigan, exploring themes of climate anxiety, feminist resistance, and local ecology through the experiences of a mermaid and her human friend. Maud delves into...

In mini episode 43.1 of Rabbit Hole of Research , the team gathers in the Basement Studio to reflect on Episode 43: Swarms , featuring researcher Josh Fisher. From biblical locusts to Hitchcock’s The Birds , the crew revisits some of the most captivating—and creepy—moments from the full episode. Listener Alex’s questions spark new discussion on pop culture swarms, biblical ants, and the ethics of...

In this episode of Rabbit Hole of Research , we’re joined by researcher Josh Fisher to explore the captivating, creepy, and sometimes comical world of animal swarms . From biblical plagues and Hitchcock’s The Birds to surprisingly vindictive crows, we dive deep into the science, psychology, and symbolism behind swarming behavior. We look at how swarms have appeared across history, religion, fictio...

In mini episode 42.1 of Rabbit Hole of Research , the team is hanging out in the Basement Studio to unpack the themes and questions raised in Episode 42: Broken Futures with author Ben Tanzer. They revisit Ben’s novel Orphans , reflecting on dystopian visions, the psychological toll of modern life, and the blurred line between human and machine. Inspired by listener Alex’s comments, they explore c...

In this episode of Rabbit Hole of Research , hosts Joe, Nick, and Georgia are joined by special guest Ben Tanzer — author, podcaster, professor, and master of narratives that unsettle the ordinary. Together, they plunge into the speculative depths of Tanzer’s novel Orphans , exploring themes of broken futures , technological trauma , and the evolving human condition . The conversation ranges from...

In mini episode 41.1 of Rabbit Hole of Research , Joe, Nick, and Georgia reunite to unpack the time-twisting conversations from Episode 41: Crimes in Time with author Lee Matthew Goldberg. They revisit the ideas behind Goldberg’s books Miles in Time and Time Fixers , and respond to listener Alex’s questions about time travel rules in Tenet , standout sequels like Terminator 2 and The Dark Knight ,...

In Episode 41 of Rabbit Hole of Research , Joe, Nick, and Georgia are joined by author Lee Matthew Goldberg , whose young adult novels Miles in Time and Time Fixers explore what happens when sleuthing collides with time travel. From classic paradoxes to memory glitches, they unpack the science, the handwavium, and the emotional weight of rewriting the past. The group waxes poetic on the romanticis...

In this mini recap of Episode 40: Mr Fantastic and Stretching , the Rabbit Hole of Research crew — return to the basement studio to stretch out the implications of our Fantastic Four series finale on Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic. Hosts Joe, Georgia, and Nick revisit the most mind-bending moments from Episode 40 and riff on the handwavium, elasticity, and bio-speculation behind one of Marvel...