Stuff To Blow Your Mind

It's a summer tradition, so once more the hosts of Stuff to Blow Your Mind share their fiction and nonfiction reading recommendations with listeners. That means science, science fiction, horror, children's books and more -- all with a distinct STBYM flavor. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Humanity is on the road to transhumanism, but some individuals are a little farther down the technologically-evolved highway than the rest of us. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian discuss the definition of transhumanism and some of the DIY pioneers and cyborg harbingers preparing us for Homo sapiens 2.0. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastne...

How are we to process an incomplete or unfinished work? Art, literature and film all present us with partial works, yet our reaction varies. Some works remain incomplete due to tragedy or neglect, while others are intentionally non finito. We demand some incomplete compositions completed, while others remain sacrosanct testaments to the creator. Join Robert and Joe as they discuss the nature of in...

Are the fossilized monsters of paleontology and the fantastic monsters of myth one and the same? Join Robert and Joe as they discuss the realm of of geomythology, entailing the possible ancient real-world origins of dragons, griffins, giants the cyclops and other wonders. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine a future in which much-needed transplant organs are printed on demand, grown within the bodies of humanized animals or plucked fresh and dripping from the organ vats. It's the age of artificially grown organs and yes, gentle listener, we already have one foot planted within this amazing, Frankenstein-tinged world. Join Robert and Christian for a discussion of artificial organs in this epis...

Genomic maps unfurl before us and edited genetic codes alter the expression of life. The past few decades have seen tremendous advancements in genetic engineering, but exactly what takes place in modern gene-editing? What is synthetic biology and how soon might we see the first synthetic human genome? Robert and Christian explore in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind. Learn more about your ad...

For most of us, space exploration seems like a no-brainer. By venturing out into the cosmic ocean, we advance our technology, unravel the secrets of our universe and further ensure the long term survival of the human race. Not everyone's on board, however. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian explore some past and present arguments against space exploration. Learn more...

From fictional obsessions with impossible giants to questions to height psychology and the upper and lower limits of human size, join Robert and Joe for a massive exploration of human height in this episode of the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you think about human sacrifice, you probably envision blood-soaked altars where the weak and defeated are massacred to a divine force. But what about situations where the most powerful member of a society, even a divine king, is sacrificed for the good of the people? Join Robert and Joe as they discuss literal, figurative and symbolic ritual regicide in human civilization. Learn more about y...

The year is 2016 and we officially live in the age of the penis transplant -- and while the notion may stir giggles from some, there's nothing humorous about the cancer survivors and wounded soldiers who can benefit from such surgeries. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian discuss recent advances in penile transplant surgery and chat with author Mary Roach, who devotes...

Don't run away! True enough, this classic episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind considers a most repellent sexual atrocity, but there's more to necrophilia than the sexual abuse of human corpses. Join Robert and Christian as they discuss necrophilia in the animal kingdom, including one rare case of "functional necrophilia" that actually produces offspring. Stay for the later half of the episode and y...

What are we to make of coincidence? From the numerological cats cradles we weave around famous events to the curious ways human lives converge through time, coincidence seems to fly in the face of reason and even suggest the supernatural. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore the synchronicity, statistics and psychology of coincidence. Learn more about your ad-choices...

Mythology is a powerful force, but what exactly IS myth? How does it differ from legend and folklore? How do we study it? Join Robert and Christian as they consider the powerful, polyfunctional nature of myth and all the various ways we interpret it. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following the recent episode "Aphantasia: Blindness of the Mind's Eye," a number of Stuff to Blow Your Mind listeners wrote in about their own inability to summon voluntary mental images. Join Robert and Joe as they read and discuss some of the many listener mails on the matter. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

Hidden away in the cold of Siberia's forest is an alternative to Silicon Valley, what some refer to as Russia's Silicon Forest. You can think of it as Russia's Eureka or Limetown -- maybe even the Siberian scientific Hogwarts, but Akademgorodok has encapsulated Russia's scientific dreams since the 1950s. Join Robert and Christian as they discuss the place some describe as a "scientific utopia." Le...

We all build our new bodies out of the foods we eat, so why not obtain the best building materials we can afford? It's a reasonable thought, but the concept of "organic food" is often confusing. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian look to see what science has to say about organic and conventional foods. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwo...

From the corrosive blood of the "Alien" xenomorph to the various Bond and Batman villains' use of the iconic acid vat, popular media presents us with a dramatic and largely unrealistic vision of acidic power. What are our strongest acids and superacids actually like? How do they generate those acid effects in the movies? And just what sort of blood courses through the xenomorph's veins? Robert and...

Mental images play an important role in our daily experience of reality, from thoughts of the past to daydreams, fantasies and entire worlds of the imagination. Just what's happening when we see through the mind's eye and what on Earth is it like for individuals who experience aphantasia and experience no visual imagination at all? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore...

It's easy to misjudge "medical marijuana" as an attempt by cannabis advocates to legitimize their favorite herb, but medicinal use of cannabis dates back to ancient times. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian explore both historical and modern uses of "the green medicine." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listen...

Humans have known about cannabis for thousands of years, crafting hemp textiles and consuming its psychoactive THC. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian examine the cannabis plant, its travels through human populations and its famed sensory and psychological effects. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Once more, the mailbot delivers the spoils of listener feedback and your loyal Stuff to Blow Your Mind hosts read and respond to them. Join Robert, Christian and Joe as they cover everything from computing and hyperreal religions to cargo cults and even Dungeons and Dragons. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information...

Of all the moons of Jupiter, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa and Io tantalize us the most. These alien worlds of ice, fire, desolation and hidden oceans tantalize us with their possibility for extraterrestrial life and human exploration of the outer solar system. Join Robert and Joe for a mind bending exploration of the great gas giant's Galilean Moons. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.i...

Imagine a disease that warps and petrifies the flesh, transforming normal skin into bark-like growths that slowly consume the hands and feet. Commonly known as "tree man disease," Epidermodysplasia Verruciformis (EV) is one of the rarest medical conditions in the world, yet the extreme, deformative nature of the disease continues to intrigue media consumers around the world. In this episode of Stu...

What began as a 1960s term for a retrofitted human space explorer has become a focal point for considerations of human and machine interaction, technological culture, biomechanics and feminist identity. Join Robert and Christian as they set aside the brain/computer interfaces for a discussion of what it is to be a "cyborg" in 2016. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwo...

Your know the feeling. You're trying to recall the name of a time-keeping musical device or the the actor who played Fredo in "The Godfather" and all that comes to mind is a memory-hole in the shape of a metronome or John Cazale. It's on the tip of your tongue and it's a universal experience of memory retrieval. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, join Robert and Joe as they discuss the sc...