The BrainFood Show

If you’ve ever shot a gun, then you will have quickly learned the first fundamental rule of shooting: recoil sucks. Depending on the calibre, weight of the firearm, and your technique, just a few minutes of shooting something like a hunting rifle can quickly leave your shoulder bruised and sore. And the bigger the firearm, the worse the problem becomes, with large-calibre military artillery pieces...

“They could have fired me on the spot. But you know, they’re idiots” That’s a quote from James Cameron about the reaction of gathered executives to the first screening of The Terminator, which according to the director, really didn’t go all that well. However, largely due to Cameron’s background working on cheesy B-Movies, there was nobody else in Hollywood the studio could bring in to finish the...

In this episode, Gilles and Daven are doing a deep dive into the childhood of one of the greatest inventors in history, Thomas Edison. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who among us hasn’t had this experience? You are eating a lovely outdoor meal or working peacefully in the garden when unexpected guests arrive. Dressed in menacing yellow and black, they buzz annoyingly around you, coming between you and your juicy steak or prized roses. You try to gently shoo them away, but they just grow more and more aggravated until, suddenly, you feel it: that sharp, searing...

In the podcast today, we're looking at what it was really like to be a gladiator in Ancient Rome, how corrupt the roman senate was, what's the deal with roman gods and much, much more. 0:00 What was It Like to Be a Gladiator in Ancient Rome? 18:13 How Corrupt was the Roman Senate Really? 32:50 What's the Deal with the Roman Gods? 46:51 The Roman Emperor Who Tried to Make His Horse Consul 59:46 Jul...

At the southern tip of Spain, jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea, lies Gibraltar, a narrow peninsula measuring only 6.8 square kilometres or 2.6 square miles in area and dominated by a 426 metre or 1,298 foot high limestone monolith: the legendary Rock of Gibraltar. A British overseas territory and naval base since 1713, Gibraltar has long been of vital strategic importance, controlling the na...

Few brands are as closely associated with the idea of “luxury” as Rolls-Royce, a car manufacturer so fancy schmancy that the company's official website doesn’t even bother to list how much the things it sells are. Rolls-Royce knows that for anyone serious about buying one of their automobiles, price is not a concern. And to be clear, what you can get for said insane amount of money is likewise ins...

Tesla is often cited to have been a genius ahead of his time and held back by finances. But what did he ACTUALLY invent, and is it true that most of his inventions only existed in his head because that is the only place they could possibly work? Well, let's dive into it all shall we? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anyone interested in the shirt can find it here: https://store.todayifoundout.com/products/beep-beep-sputnik-2 On October 4, 1957 at 7:28 PM Greenwich Mean Time, a massive R7 Semyorka rocket roared off the launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and soared into the night sky. The following morning, the world awoke to the stunning news: the Soviet Union had launched Sputnik 1, the world’s f...

In the episode today, we're looking at whether absinthe actually makes you hallucinate or not. Next up the hilarious story of the wine lover's meltdown, and then the popular cocktail that includes a dehydrated human toe. Finally whether or not tapping a shaken can of soda actually reduces foam. Who invented the bloody mary drink. Where does the practice of pouring one out for your homies come from...

“We sewed the sacks, we broke the stones, We turned the dusty drill: We banged the tins, and bawled the hymns, And sweated on the mill: But in the heart of every man Terror was lying still.” These are the words of famed master of the pen, Oscar Wilde, in his Ballad of Reading Gaol, referencing his time spent at Pentonville Prison for, ironically, mastering working with a different type of pen… As...

For those of us of the slightly more seasoned vintage growing up in or living in the late 20th century, which was totally only a decade ago and I’ll take no further input on this matter, spontaneous Human Combustion ranks alongside the likes of quicksand, the Bermuda triangle. and rain that melts your skin off as one of those things that everyone from the news to popular social consciousness taugh...

In the video today we're looking at how the Ancient Romans made incredibly long, perfectly straight and incredibly durable roads, what it was like being a slave in ancient rome, how they made concrete better than ours, were they really as wild as we sometimes think today or more prudes, did gladiators really live or die based on thumbs up or thumbs down by the audience, that time a farmer was give...

Running the gauntlet. Starting. Flogging with the cat ‘o 9 nine tails. Gagging. Clapping in irons. Hanging from the yardarm. While this all might sound like a super fun Saturday night with the misses when the grandparents are watching your kiddos for you, it turns out these are actually just a few of the dizzying array of corporal and capital punishments inflicted upon sailors of old - both navy m...

In today's video, we're looking at What's Up with the All Seeing Eye on the Dollar Bill? Who Started the Flat Earth Conspiracy Theory, How Many Believe This, and What Do They Believe? Why is the Stereotypical Image of Aliens Green or Grey Bald Humanoids? How Do We Actually Know We Landed on the Moon? What Really Causes Chemtrails? The Truth About the Freemasons: The Not-So-Secret Society Did Any M...

At exactly 5:30 AM on July 16, 1945, the world’s first atomic bomb, codenamed Trinity, detonated over the desert in New Mexico, unleashing in an instant the power of 18,000 tons of TNT. The atomic age had begun. As night turned to day and a fireball 200 metres across rose into the sky, the scientists of the Manhattan Project who had built the bomb reacted in different ways. Some were jubilant, oth...

From the terrifyingly effective De-bollocker to the ugly little boat that won WWII to the German fighter that dissolved its pilots alive, this is the story of several of the more interesting weapons utilized in the world's most terrifying war. Hosts: Simon Whistler and Daven Hiskey Authors: Daven Hiskey, Gilles Messier, Karl Smallwood Producers: Samuel Avila and Pacience Hiskey Learn more about yo...

If ever there was a criminally underrated natural resource, it would have to be Helium. Though most commonly associated with party balloons and making one’s voice sound like a cartoon, Helium’s most important application is in cooling the magnets of Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI machines. While the finite and ever-dwindling global supply of this vitally important gas is a topic worthy of its o...

Nazi Germany officially surrendered on May 7, 1945. With the war still raging in the Pacific against Japan and sporting a popularity rate at around 83%, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill seemed a shoe-in to maintain his position as Prime Minister of the British Empire. Just before the announcement of the results of the election, Churchill had been at the Potsdam Conference with U.S. President...

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we begin by discussing the clandestine way Niel Armstrong managed to get his application to the astronaut program in despite submitting it past the deadline. We then look at why he got to be first to walk on the moon when precedent should have had it been Buzz Aldrin.  Next up we look at the oft’ forgotten second thing Armstrong said when stepping out ont...

If you've followed this website, our YouTube channel, or BrainFood Show podcast very long, you know one of our favorite historic individuals is Theodore Roosevelt- among countless other reasons to be admired, a man who enjoys a reputation as one of the most terrifyingly badass individuals to ever hold the office of leader of a nation, with countless stories detailing his cartoonishly manly exploit...

The McRib is a food with both a devout following and many detractors. But what is the genesis of the world’s most popular fast food chain’s most mysterious menu item? And why, oh why, is it not available all the time like the majority of the rest of the McDonald’s menu? Cooking ribs in the Americas predates the colonial period. But the earliest records of Europeans cooking foods near what we would...

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we begin by discussing the real origin of Tang and what that has to do with Pop Rocks and how they work. We then move on to the interesting story behind the invention of Velcro and how it works. Next up we look at whether NASA really spent many millions of dollars developing the famous “space pen” instead of just using a pencil like the Russians. Moving o...

While airplane manufacturers do design the planes with general row positioning and pitch (the measurement from one seat to the same exact point on the seat in front or behind it) in mind, with the windows often lining up with the seats, the designers' exact recommended arrangement is rarely, if ever, followed. You see, the final placement of seats is left up to the individual airlines that purchas...

Gladiatorial combat may seem outdated and barbaric, but it is, at its heart, a combat sport like mixed martial arts, boxing, and even professional wrestling, with very similar appeal. There were clearly defined rules, a sense of dramatic flair with costumes, and even character archetypes. It was indeed bloody, but not as nearly as fatal as many think today. Not every gladiator died in the arena, a...