Stuff To Blow Your Mind

The Science of Staring: Your mother always told you it's not polite to stare - and yet we do. Why is starring a part of who we are? Why do subway staring contests occur and can we actually feel people's eyes crawling over our bodies? All of this and more shall be discussed. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Satellite Junkies and the Day of the Fall: Humanity has become addicted to satellite technology. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie explore the sort of withdrawals we'd feel if the satellites all fell from the sky. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's the real science behind beds of nails, sword swallowing and headless women? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie strip away the carnie veneer and get right to the facts. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Science of Hell: Artists aren't alone in their fascination with Hell. Scientists two have long sought to breach the fiery gates and figure out just how it works. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie explore scientific ponderings over the Dante's "Inferno" and Milton's "Paradise Lost" from modern mathematicians, meteorologists and even Galileo. Robert sketched THIS MAP t...

Belief in Hell is problematic at best. How do we relate to our fellow human beings while sorting them into an imagined afterlife of torment? How do we relate to faiths and myths that heap such additional darkness on an already bleak world? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie discuss the origins of belief in Hell, the philosophical problems it entails and just what sociolog...

Roller Derby Microbiome: Once upon a time, the word "outdoors" wasn't a thing. But then humans invented "indoors," and with it an artificial environment containing an artificial environment of microorganisms. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie discuss the ways in which we might manage or even engineer the microbiology of these indoor worlds. Learn more about your ad-choic...

Cubicle Doom: Can your office cubical kill you? Might an open-floor office plan save your life or drive you to madness? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie examine the science and psychology of our artificial work spaces. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is consciousness? Can we test for it? And how to we rectify the seemingly disparate realities of physical brain and immaterial mind? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie consider the hard problem of human consciousness and the philosophic warnings of the New Mysterians. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener...

Insect Love Song: The night is alive with insects. To our human ears their song is mere cacophony, but it's actually a vast web of communication signals. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie decode the Insect Internet for the meanings behind insect songs. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands:Resist the urge to clap at the next concert or play you attend - IF YOU DARE! Because as Robert and Julie explain in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, applause is viral. It's hard-coded into our mental capacity for synchronicity and social adaptation. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

Grunting the Conqueror Worm: Behold the conqueror earthworm, a creature introduced to North America mere centuries ago and now virtually unstoppable. And yet some humans know the means of summoning these worms from the Earth using only music or the rhythmic rubbing of stakes. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie take you inside the world of worm grunting. Learn more about y...

A Cuppa Joe:Just what's in a cup of coffee? Why does it make us feel so invincible and why does it make us poop so much? Find out in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How to Beat the Thought Police: Want to know how to beat a polygraph test? How about current and near-future fMRI lie detection tests? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie take you to the place where neuroscience and criminal investigation collide. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Isolation Chambers: Float Follow-Up: In a previous episode, Robert and Julie discussed the science of sensory deprivation chambers and now they're back from their own first-hand experiences inside the womb-to-tomb wet box. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clocking in: What is time? What's the best way to measure it? And is it all an illusion anyway? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie discuss the fourth dimension and the clock on the wall. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie invite six guests to share their recommendations for summer reading. You'll hear from science author Mary Roach, musician DJ Food and author David Barnett. Plus fellow HowStuffWorks podcast hosts Cristen Conger, Lauren Vogelbaum and Tracy V. Wilson pop in with titles as well. And don't forget to check out the accompanying blog po...

Summer Reading: Robert and Julie's Picks: Once again, your Robert and Julie are here to share some summer reading recommendations with their curious listeners. Explore their delightful buffet of science, sci-fi, children's books, literary fiction and graphic novels. Something here might just make your summer. And don't forget to check out the accompanying blog post for a complete list of titles. L...

The Quietest Room in the World: In Minneapolis, MN there's a room that blocks 99.99 percent of all sound. It's a place of intense silence, intense calm and possibly intense madness. What happens when things are too quite? Robert and Julie explore in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...

Sensory Deprivation Chambers:Fancy a return to the womb? Ready to shut off the world of senses and dive into the inner you? Well, the sensory deprivation chamber awaits you. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie breakdown the science of the womb-to-tomb wet box. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

Finnish Ed: STEM education in the US has been on educators and policymakers' minds. One of the reasons is that the US has become far less competitive in terms of turning out a knowledge-based society. Could Finland hold the answer to raising a generation of science literate brainiacs? Stuff to Blow Your Mind travels to Finland (metaphorically) to find out. Learn more about your ad-choices at https...

Invisible World of the No. 7:The 7 deadly sins, the 7 continents, the 7 seas: The no. 7 is everywhere. But is its prevalence simply a byproduct of the brain's pattern recognition machinery, does the no. 7 play a significant role in both human psychology and physiology - and to what extent is one driving the other? Find out in this Stuff to Blow Your Mind episode. Learn more about your ad-choices a...

Ventriloquism: The Science of Dummies: It's time to rediscover ventriloquism, the surprisingly deft art of illusion that relies on a keen sense of comic timing and obsessive technique from the performer, as well as a buy-in into the illusion from the audience member. Why do we fall for it? What's going on in the brain? All shall be explained in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your mind. Learn more a...

Extreme Mammals Part II: In this two-part Stuff to Blow Your Mind series, Robert and Julie discuss the amazing world of prehistoric mammals and count down their favorite weird warm bloods from the smallest to largest. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Extreme Mammals Part I: In this two-part Stuff to Blow Your Mind series, Robert and Julie discuss the amazing world of prehistoric mammals and count down their favorite weird warm bloods from the smallest to largest. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Science of Beards: Why do human males have beards? Do they protect us? Do they make us more fearsome? Better looking? More trustworthy? Find out in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.