Popular Science

The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

Science EN ↓ 231 episodes

At Popular Science, we report and write dozens of science and tech stories every week. And while a lot of the fun facts we stumble across make it into our articles, there are lots of other weird facts that we just keep around the office. So we figured, why not share those with you? Welcome to The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. For advertising opportunities please email PodcastPartnerships@Studio71us.com We wanna make the podcast even better, help us learn how we can: https://bit.ly/2EcYbu4 Privacy Policy: https://www.studio71.com/us/terms-and-conditions-use/#Privacy%20Policy

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Popular Science

Episodes

Science Meets Magic, High-Tech Murders, Bees?! 26.05.2021 59:01

Writer and game designer Jonathan Sims joins the show! The weirdest things we learned this week range from bees telling time to death by apple core. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to learn more ab...

Art Crime Doesn't Pay, Canines Cooking Meat, Eggs Gone Wrong 12.05.2021 55:02

Comedian and writer Josh Gondelman joins the show! The weirdest things we learned this week range from dogs cooking in kitchens to chickens laying eggs inside of themselves. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Cl...

Radioactive Horses, Sipping on Pee, Sleeping With One Eye Open 28.04.2021 54:22

The weirdest things we learned this week range from vertically sleeping whales to fake motion sickness cures. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to learn more about all of our stories! Click here to...

A Quick Weirdest Thing Update! 20.04.2021 2:18

The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to learn more about all of our stories! Click here to follow our sibling podcast, Ask Us Anything! -- Follow our team on Twitter! Rachel Feltman: www.twitter.com/RachelFeltman Produced by Jess Boddy: www.twitter.com/JessicaBoddy Th...

Q&A: Cubed Poops, Forked Penises, Murderous Squirrels 14.04.2021 48:25

Producer Jess Boddy joins Rachel for a listener voicemail Q&A episode! The weirdest things we learned this week range from wombat poop to possum penises. The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to learn more about all of our stories! Click here to follow our sibling podca...

Radioactive Bananas, Self-Decapitating Sea Slugs, Maine's Jumping Frenchmen 31.03.2021 46:58

Theoretical physicist Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein joins the show! The weirdest things we learned this week range from non-trinary particles to kleptoplasty. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to lear...

Get a Good Brainwash, Museum Tragedies, Scary Smart Cuttlefish 17.03.2021 49:10

The weirdest things we learned this week range from literal brainwashing to the marshmallow test. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to learn more about all of our stories! Click here to follow our...

Ask Us Anything: Can you boost your immune system? 16.03.2021 12:57

Check out the first episode of Ask Us Anything, a brand new podcast from the editors of Popular Science! Claire and Jess dive into whether you can boost your immune system, giving it ninja-like capabilities to vanquish any infectious critter that crosses its path. Click here to subscribe to Ask Us Anything's feed! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-us-anything-by-popular-science/id155675989...

Astrology’s Hidden Sign, Ancient Brunch, The Uncanny Valley 03.03.2021 48:19

The weirdest things we learned this week range from eating poison oak to creepy animated babies. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to learn more about all of our stories! Follow our team on Twitter...

The Truth About Soy Boys, the Sexiest Number, the Potato King 17.02.2021 49:39

The weirdest things we learned this week range from soy boy panic to a magic number found in peregrine falcon dives and Robert Pattinson's face. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to learn more about...

Immortal Jellyfish, Cocaine Hippos, Potato Chip Controversy 09.12.2020 43:12

This episode celebrates our latest print issue hitting newsstands! The weirdest things we learned this week range from a jellyfish that can live forever to invasive cocaine hippos. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at...

Moon Allergies, Singing Statues, Secrets of Famous Movie Sounds 25.11.2020 41:41

Dallas Taylor, sound designer and host of Twenty Thousand Hertz, joins the weirdos as a guest host. The weirdest things we learned this week range from statues that sing first thing in the morning to the animal sounds that make up Star Wars' tie-fighters and Jurassic Park's dinosaurs. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a po...

Meat Rain, Medicinal Sword Swallowing, a Nuclear Kodak Moment 11.11.2020 43:53

The weirdest things we learned this week range from meat raining down from the heavens to swallowing swords to help doctors look down esophaguses. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to learn more abo...

Dog Mayors, Zombie Presidents, Death By Voter Fraud 28.10.2020 59:25

In this special episode, the weirdest things we learned this week range from Edgar Allen Poe's peculiar death to how salamanders influenced the term Gerrymander. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to...

Toxic Animal Boyfriends, Birding for Freedom, Egg Yolks Explained 14.10.2020 44:35

The weirdest things we learned this week range from stage-five-clinger anglerfish to Harriet Tubman's birding expertise. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to learn more about all of our stories! Fol...

Exploding Underwater Mountains, Boar Sex and Celery, Hidden History of Vaccination 30.09.2020 51:34

Contributing editor Kat Eschner joins the weirdos as a guest host. The weirdest things we learned this week range from the surprising link between pig sex and celery to blowing up a mountain underwater. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Face...

Hot Dog Sports, Sexy Pseudoscience, Intestinal Power Walking 16.09.2020 40:59

The weirdest things we learned this week range from a beetle that can waltz through frog intestines unscathed, to the a man who thought he could capture sexual energy in a cage. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us...

Catch our live show TONIGHT! 15.09.2020 2:14

Tonight, September 15th, we'll be doing an exclusive live-streamed show. It'll be all of the fun of a classic Weirdest Thing Live show—your favorite hosts (calling in remotely), weird facts, drinks, jokes, atmosphere—but delivered straight to your living room! Click here to grab tickets that give you access to the show link—there are even higher priced tiers that include merch discounts, handwritt...

Your Car is Full of Spiders, the Cloud Whisperer, She Who Invented N95 Masks and Bugles 02.09.2020 42:33

Welcome to Season 4! For this first episode, Kendra Pierre-Louis, former Popsci editor and current reporter for the Gimlet podcast How To Save a Planet, joins the weirdos as a guest host. The weirdest things we learned this week range from thousands of cars being recalled due to spider infestations, to the story of a woman who invented N95 masks from bras. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest T...

We're Back! Season 4 & Live Show Updates 31.08.2020 3:58

Hey weirdos! We have two very exciting pieces of news for you. First, Weirdest Thing is returning every other Wednesday starting September 2nd! Second, on Tuesday, September 15th, we'll be doing an exclusive live-streamed show. It'll be all of the fun of a classic Weirdest Thing Live show—your favorite hosts (calling in remotely), weird facts, drinks, jokes, atmosphere—but delivered straight to yo...

Boning Baseball Bats, Rolling Cheese, Playing With Wallpaper Cleaner 20.05.2020 50:43

It's the Season 3 Finale! The weirdest things we learned this week range from breaking bones chasing cheese down a cliff and rubbing baseball bats with cow femurs. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here t...

Evasive Genital Maneuvers, A Nazi Carrot Hoax, Eternal Daytime 06.05.2020 42:59

Rose Eveleth, host of the hit podcast Flash Forward, joins the weirdos as a guest host! The weirdest things we learned this week range from a Russian experiment that tried to make daytime last forever to moths jamming bat radar with their genitals. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your...

Sailing Boulders, Mom-Eating Worms, the Most Humongous Fungus 22.04.2020 48:29

Happy Earth Day! We're celebrating with facts about worms that eat their moms' skin, the fungus bigger than a blue whale, and rocks that sail across deserts all by themselves. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us!...

Bonus: Sprained Teeth, Pina Coladas, Flying Snakes 16.04.2020 47:58

Surprise! It's Rachel and Jess, and we're popping in your feeds with a bonus episode. Join us as we listen to some voice messages submitted by you guys, and delve into facts about tooth ligaments, giant iguanas, sexy orangutans, and more. We'll be back on Wednesday, April 22nd with a regular (Earth Day-themed!) episode. Thanks for listening, weirdos! The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a pod...

Getting Green Blood, Animal Crossing's Rarest Fish, Bird-Like Plague Masks 08.04.2020 39:46

This week, we've got the first half of our remote live show! The weirdest things we learned this week range from Animal Crossing's most fascinating fish to a man with forest green blood. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tw...