G'day science lovers! Buckle up, because today we're diving into everything from bottom-end evolution to deliberately poisoning yourself and your child with a deadly jellyfish (yes, really). Here’s a recap of our recent escapade through intriguing science headlines.

From evolutionary hand-me-downs to jellyfish on holiday, brain-powered symphonies to space algae, science keeps proving that reality is wilder than anything we could make up. Next time someone tells you science is boring, show them this episode - or better yet, tell them about the anus evolution. That'll get the conversation flowing.

00:00 Welcome to A Little Bit Of Science

00:39 The Evolution of the Anus

01:30 Scientific Theories and Genetic Studies

02:54 Early Animal Anatomy

10:59 Cybercrime and AI

17:50 Tech Bro Tales

28:04 Tough Scientists and Dangerous Beaches

30:58 Introduction to the Jellyfish Story

31:07 The Painful Effects of the Jellyfish Sting

31:48 Historical Accounts and Investigations

33:31 Jack Barnes' Quest for Answers

36:45 The Discovery of the Tiny Jellyfish

38:00 The Experiment with the Jellyfish

44:42 Modern Implications and Climate Change

47:19 Art and Science: The Revivification Installation

54:17 Potential Signs of Life on K2-18b

Sources

• https://www.sify.com/ai-analytics/the-hilarious-and-horrifying-hallucinations-of-ai/
• https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/28/ai_bots_hallucinate_software_packages/
• https://socket.dev/blog/gmail-for-exfiltration-malicious-npm-packages-target-solana-private-keys-and-drain-victim-s
• https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.5694/j.1326-5377.1964.tb114424.x
• https://journals.lww.com/em-news/fulltext/2005/04000/the_amazing_and_bizarre_discovery_of_irukandji.37.aspx
• https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-02/doctor-jack-barnes-discovered-irukandji-jellyfish-stinging-son/103541442
• https://www.vice.com/en/article/alien-abduction-conspiracies-and-antigravity-scams-the-joseph-firmage-story/
• https://futurism.com/tech-founder-anti-gravity-trouble
• https://www.newscientist.com/article/2473713-the-anus-may-have-evolved-from-a-hole-originally-used-to-release-sperm/
• https://futurism.com/neoscope/musician-resurrected-brain-new-music

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From the potential resurrection of dire wolves (yes, they were real, not just Game of Thrones fantasy!) to the surprisingly modest paychecks of our space-exploring heroes, we're unpacking the extraordinary alongside the unexpectedly ordinary in the world of scientific discovery.

Our journey takes an intriguing turn as we explore the sophisticated feeding habits of vampire bats (including their rather unusual bathroom habits mid-meal) and tackle the peculiar question of the internet's physical weight. These seemingly random scientific pursuits reveal fascinating insights into how researchers are constantly pushing the boundaries of our understanding, even in the most unexpected directions.

Finally, we explore how even our most advanced technologies mirror human quirks, as demonstrated by robots experiencing the same awkward "sidewalk shuffle" we humans know all too well. This episode highlights how science continues to surprise us, whether it's through groundbreaking genetic engineering, space exploration economics, or simply understanding the peculiar behaviors of nature's most misunderstood creatures. Join us for a journey that proves truth really is stranger (and more entertaining) than fiction.

We’re taking a look at some of science's most fascinating recent developments that sound more like science fiction than reality. From the potential resurrection of dire wolves (yes, they were real, not just Game of Thrones fantasy) to the surprisingly modest paychecks of our space-exploring heroes, we're going down the rabbit hole of the extraordinary alongside the unexpectedly ordinary in the world of scientific discovery.

Our journey takes an intriguing turn as we explore the sophisticated feeding habits of vampire bats (including their rather unusual bathroom habits mid-meal) and tackle the peculiar question of the internet's physical weight. These seemingly random scientific pursuits reveal insights into how researchers are constantly pushing the boundaries of our understanding, even in the most unexpected directions.

Finally, we explore how even our most advanced technologies mirror human quirks, as demonstrated by robots experiencing the same awkward "sidewalk shuffle" we humans know all too well. There is no doubt science continues to surprise us, whether it's through groundbreaking genetic engineering, space exploration economics, or simply understanding the peculiar behaviours of nature's most misunderstood creatures.

SOURCES:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g9ejy3gdvo

https://theconversation.com/return-of-the-dire-wolf-is-an-impressive-feat-of-genetic-engineering-not-a-reversal-of-extinction-254098

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9147351

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1909.09224

 

https://futurism.com/stranded-astronauts-per-diem?utm_term=Futurism%20//%2003.20.25&utm_campaign=Futurism_Actives_Newsletter&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/mammals/female-vampire-bats-sharing-blood

https://www.wired.com/story/weight-of-the-internet/

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Welcome to our first episode back as the new and improved “A Little Bit Of Science”.  We're Rod and Will and it’s best if you think of us as your slightly unhinged tour guides through the bits of science that probably won't win Nobel Prizes but will definitely make you the most interesting person at your next dinner party.

When Robots Get Awkward

Ever wondered what it's like to drop your pants for a robot? Neither had we, until science decided to tackle the elephant in the room: our weird relationship with medical robots. Turns out, we're not super keen on showing our bits to a talking toaster, even if it has a medical degree. Scientists are frantically trying to figure out how to make us comfortable with robot doctors, but let's be honest - there's something deeply unsettling about a machine asking you to "turn and cough."

The 'Stupid Hackathon': Where Brilliance Meets Bonkers

Speaking of questionable innovations, let us introduce you to the 'Stupid Hackathon' - where genius meets absolutely pointless. The star? A virtual pet that survives on vape clouds. Yes, you read that right. It's called the 'Vape-o-Gotchi” and it's exactly as ridiculous as it sounds. It's like a Tamagotchi but only survives off relentless vaping. 

When AI Gets Sassy

Picture this: you're coding away, and your AI assistant suddenly goes full career counsellor on you. "Have you considered learning to code better?" Ouch. It's like having a digital version of your disappointed parent, except this one runs on algorithms and attitude. Who knew silicon could serve such spectacular shade?

Exploding Termites and Immortal Cells

Now, for something completely different - termites that literally explode when they're stressed. (Relatable, honestly.) These little kamikaze insects from French Guiana take "going out with a bang" quite literally. 

And while we're on the topic of bizarre biology, let's talk about 'zombie cells' that refuse to die. Will is convinced his mustache would be a great use of zombie cells, potentially achieving post-mortem world domination. Rod's betting on his spleen, because apparently the snowboarders of the world would thank him.

The Dying Art of Pranking

Here's a sad stat: April Fool's Day searches are down 50% from a decade ago. Are we all getting too serious? Too busy? Research shows interest peaked in 1931 - probably because they didn't have TikTok to distract them.

So there you have it, folks - our first little bit of science episode after our rather long and unintentional break. Where else would you learn about exploding insects, sassy AI, and vape-dependent virtual pets all in one go? Stay tuned for more scientific weirdness, because trust us, this is just the tip of the nerdy iceberg.

Until next time, keep your curiosity weird and your termites unexploded!

 

03:03 Exploring AI and Its Quirks

03:43 The Stupid Hackathon and Vape-O-Gotchi

11:30 AI's Role in Climate Change Research

15:56 AI's Human-like Behaviour

23:15 AI and Mistranslation Fun

26:17 The Exploding Termites of French Guiana

28:09 The Evolutionary Wonders and Oddities

29:09 The Mysteries of Dog Farts

31:39 Zombie Cells and Their Implications

35:20 The Embarrassing Robot Study

46:39 The Decline of April Fool's Day

 

SOURCES:

Vape-o-Gotchi: 

https://futurism.com/neoscope/vape-tamagotchi-interview

 

Robot refuses to code:

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/ai-coding-assistant-refuses-to-write-code-tells-user-to-learn-programming-instead/

 

Embarrassed Robots:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.2478/s13230-010-0011-3

 

Reassessment of the Anthropogenic CO₂-Global Warming Hypothesis:

https://scienceofclimatechange.org/wp-content/uploads/SCC-Grok-3-Review-V5-1.pdf 

 

Tortured Phrases:

https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.06751 

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Submit feedback/questions/rebuttals/abuse to [email protected] and you might be featured/glorified/shamed in the next episode!

From the ashes of The Wholesome Show, A Little Bit Of Science is born! We are back, more professional, beer-fuelled, and sciencey than ever. We now have well-thought-out segments, consistent bits, more lols and an even greater lust for creating high-quality infotainment - basically everything we need to take this show to the next level! Stay tuned for a little bit of science from your favourite academics with beers!

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Submit feedback/questions/rebuttals/abuse to [email protected] or comment below and you'll be featured/glorified/shamed in the next episode!

We are heading back into the wholesome lab to re-jig our format so we are creating the best possible show for you all. Nothing is sacred during this rebuild so we are tearing it all apart! We'll be back under a different name, with a different show, still presented by your two favourite truant beer-wielding academics! See you in the future!

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In the 1990s, Samuel T. Cohen, the father of the neutron bomb, became extremely vocal about the fact that the Soviets had discovered a new raw material that could potentially spell the end of organised society. Red mercury had hit the market. 

 

Apparently, when detonated in combination with conventional high explosives, it could create city-flattening blasts like a nuclear bomb. And, it would help make nuclear fusion weapons more efficient and considerably smaller. It was an arms dealer’s dream!

 

In theory, red mercury could produce enormous pressures and temperatures, sufficient to initiate a mini pure fusion explosion. Traditionally, fusion weapons need a fission component to trigger the deuterium fusion. However, with red mercury, this fission step is supposedly unnecessary. Cohen described it as a remarkably non-exploding high explosive. Sounds like something from a Marvel movie right?

SOURCES:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/sep/30/thisweekssciencequestions1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Cohen#Red_Mercury_claims

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00963402.1997.11456737

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazher_Mahmood

https://web.archive.org/web/20081016050603/http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/douglass/2003/0311.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-doomsday-scam.html

https://www.gizbot.com/internet/news/what-is-red-mercury-and-why-people-are-ready-to-pay-lakhs-for-it-068487.html

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg13418241-900-only-fools-still-hunt-for-elusive-red-mercury/

 

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Samuel T. Cohen Concerns About New Raw Material

03:05 Red Mercury: Doomsday Dreams

07:41 Mass Destruction or Myth?

10:06 Red Mercury Hoaxes 

14:23 Cohen Claims Red Mercury Exists

17:28 Frank Barnaby’s Investigations

23:30 Scammers and Fake Red Mercury

31:12 The Mystical and Sexual Properties of Mercury

41:16 The Enduring Red Mercury Scam

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Born just outside Vienna, Austria in November 1860, Hanns Hörbiger was an engineer by trade. He invented a steel valve for a blast furnace blowing engine which changed the game for efficient steel production. He also played a key role in the design and construction of the Budapest subway, the third in the world at the time. He was obviously a clever man. A real thinker. And some might say, a complete nut job. 

A keen astronomer, one evening Hörbiger pointed his telescope at the moon and suddenly realised, it was all made of ice. It was so shiny! How could it not be ice? He looked at Mars. He looked at Neptune. He looked at the Milky Way…Everything in the cosmos was ice. And not only was it made of ice, but ice was the driving force of the entire universe.

Strangely, the German scientific community at the time thought Hörbiger was bonkers and didn’t pay attention to anything he said. World War I was happening so, you know, people had other things to think about.

But Hörbiger was not dissuaded. He became a total zealot and decided that all he needed to do was convince the masses of his ideas. Then the academic scientists would be pressured to agree. 

SOURCES:

• Willy Ley: Pseudoscience in Naziland
• Christina Wessely: Cosmic Ice Theory—Science, Fiction and the Public, 1894–1945. 
• Eric Kurlander: Hitler’s Monsters
• Eric Kurlander: A Song of Ice and Fire 
• Philip Ball: How 2 Pro-Nazi Nobelists Attacked Einstein’s "Jewish Science"
• The Occult History of the Third Reich: Horbiger

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Dark Side of the German Students Union

03:12 Hans Hörbiger: Engineer & Inventor

05:35 Hörbiger's Cosmic Ice Theory

06:25 A Prophetic Dream and Pendulum Science

11:09 The Origin of the Solar System According to Hörbiger

17:23 Cults and Cosmic Theories

19:14 Hobiger's Zeal and Post-War Tactics

20:16 The Rise of the World Ice Movement

22:38 Hitler Embraces World Ice Theory

29:52 The Pseudoscience Impact on Nazi Germany

33:39 The Downfall and Legacy of the World Ice Theory

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Humans love a good apocalypse. Give us a blockbuster about a virus that obliterates the population, an asteroid that wipes out the entire planet, or anything with aliens and we lap it up. But have you ever thought about what will actually kill us at the finish line? Sure, we’d like to think the zombie apocalypse will be the winner, but if we’re talking about plausible ways to exterminate humanity, what’s a good way to go?

 

The end of the world as we know it isn’t all fiction. Life on Earth has come pretty close to getting wiped out a few times actually. Genetic analysis shows humanity plummeted to perilously low numbers—about 1,200 breeding humans (yes, we are all related)—when intense volcanic activity in Siberia caused global warming and wiped out 96% of plants and animals. 

 

But life persisted. We might be inbred, but it seems total annihilation is harder to pull off than you think. The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago didn’t completely destroy the earth, and humans managed to scrape through the black plague. So what could be our final end?

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What do humans and lobsters have in common? Apart from the fact that both have social hierarchies and serotonin, not all that much really. Last time we checked, we don’t live underwater or have tasty claws. 

 

But despite the differences, esteemed (and often controversial) Canadian psychologist and Harvard Professor, Jordan Peterson, has become rather well known for his theory linking human social hierarchies to lobsters. 

 

The first rule in Peterson’s book is “Stand up straight with your shoulders back." Indeed, aggressive and dominant lobsters stand up to exert their authority. Lobsters also don’t really like each other much on the whole, except when they're trying to mate. Mostly they’re just trying to be macho and make all the other lobsters their subordinates. The males compete for the best territory to win access to most females. 

 

So the moral of the story is, just be a dickhead because you’re the same as a lobster? 

 

CHAPTERS:

00:00 What is Sociobiology?

05:16 Jordan Peterson: Psychologist & traditionalist

12:57 12 Rules for Life: An Overview

15:52 Stand Up Straight with Your Shoulders Back

18:15 Lobster theory

20:01 Humans and Lobsters Exist in Hierarchies

23:22 The Science Behind Serotonin

26:31 Why Compare to the Lobster?

31:43 Cherry Picking to Illustrate Existing Beliefs

35:34 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show

 

SOURCES:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Peterson
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/06/04/jordan-peterson-needs-to-reconsider-the-lobster/
• https://theconversation.com/psychologist-jordan-peterson-says-lobsters-help-to-explain-why-human-hierarchies-exist-do-they-90489#:~:text=Peterson%20argues%20that%2C%20like%20humans,helps%20make%20more%20serotonin%20available
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/21/human-instinct-why-we-are-unique
• https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/jordan-peterson-12-rules-kate-manne-review/
• https://deadwildroses.com/2019/01/07/sociobiology-and-jordan-peterson-lobsters-all-the-way-down/
• https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2018/nov/01/pity-jordan-peterson-lobster-analogy-replace-sense-humour 

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No one likes being told what to do. As soon as we can choose for ourselves, humans thrive on the sense of agency to wear what we want, eat what we want, say what we want and do what we want. And that includes laughing.

 

So why did so many television shows include a laugh track, telling us when to laugh at something? Was it an attempt to manipulate us? Or perhaps the jokes weren’t funny enough to conjure up a genuine guffaw. The Big Bang Theory was the last show to incorporate a laugh track and that ended in 2019. So with laugh tracks pretty much dead now, what caused producers to kick the canned laughter? You mean they have to rely on clever scriptwriting, innovative directing and engaging actors?!

 

Could the laugh track be dead forever?

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Laugh Tracks: Why?

03:30 Loathe It or Love It

06:09 The Invention of the LAFF Box

08:49 Laugh Boy Art

13:52 The Rise and Fall of the Laugh Track

15:44 Shows That Used Fake Laughter

19:44 Laugh Track: An Evil Innovation

23:01 Why Did The Laughing Stop?

30:34 Is It All That Bad?

31:57 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show

 

SOURCES:

- RIP canned laughter, the most evil innovation in TV history

- The Death of Laugh Tracks

- The Hollywood Sphinx and his Laff Box

- The Laugh Track: Loathe It or Love It

- The Most Hated Sound on Television

- The Real Reason TV Sitcoms Stopped Using Laugh Tracks

- This Sitcom’s Cancelation Signals The Death Of A 70-Year-Old Sitcom Trend

- 20 Funniest Sitcoms With Laugh Tracks

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