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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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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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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Reality TV is a genre that has wormed its way into our screens, our culture, and—for many of us—our guilty pleasures. While some might dismiss these shows as frivolous entertainment (we’re using the term “entertainment” generously here), maybe there’s more to it than good old fashioned wife swapping, marrying strangers and surviving in the wild with nothing but a six-pack and an epic tan.

 

Perhaps reality TV is so popular because it holds up a mirror to society, showcasing the full spectrum of human emotions. Watching real people in real situations causes us to reflect on our own life choices and experiences. Or perhaps it’s all completely fake, scripted rubbish that makes the producers a hell of a lot of money. As a writer of The Simpsons, Dana Gould put it, reality TV is “people who aren’t actors working with people who aren’t writers in an amateur production of nothing.”

 

But how “real” is reality TV… really?

 

*CHAPTERS:*

00:00 Born In The Wild

07:30 Bet on Your Baby

11:06 How Real is Reality TV?

16:38 Release The Hounds

25:14 The Role of NDAs in Reality TV

29:14 The Naked Magazine Sweepstakes

30:21 Ethics and Consent in Reality TV

31:24 Who's Your Daddy?

33:59 Viewer Shame

37:11 When Reality TV Goes Too Far

43:17 The Upsides of Reality TV

48:23 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show

 

SOURCES:

• Who's Your Daddy? (2005 TV series) - Wikipedia
• 34% of Aussies who watch reality TV lie about it
• "Born in the Wild": Lifetime TV has lost its mind | Salon.com
• "Born in the Wild" TV Review on Lifetime
• https://www.pedestrian.tv/entertainment/absolutely-bonkers-reality-shows/
• Release the Hounds - Wikipedia
• Intervention (TV series) - Wikipedia
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwilson/2022/03/17/reality-tv-how-the-genre-has-consistently-re-engineered-itself-into-new-life/?sh=2cbffce5303a
• How Reality Shows Affect Our Lives and Society | Psychology Today Australia
• Reality TV Has Reshaped Our World, Whether We Like It or Not
• Why are people so embarrassed to say they love reality TV? - ABC News
• Full article: The Voice: non-disclosure agreements and the hidden political economy of reality TV
• Angles /The Reality Behind Reality TV by John Yazbek
• Five myths about reality television - The Washington Post
• Just how fake are reality TV shows? | HowStuffWorks
• 20 worst reality TV shows of all-time (so far)
• The New Quiz Show Scandal -- Reality Television - Los Angeles Times
• ‘Intense and insane’: was this the most unsettling reality TV show ever? | Documentary films | The Guardian
• https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/reality-tv/a823156/most-dangerous-reality-shows-ever/

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Christopher Havens was a smart kid. While it mightn’t have been the best move for his social status in the fourth grade, he was so keen on maths that he even tutored his classmates. Nerd alert! Maybe that’s why he eventually got caught up in the wrong crowd. He just wanted to fit in and be cool like everyone else.

And of course, being cool meant smoking weed and drinking alcohol, which led to mushrooms and LSD. And then things eventually spiralled into pain pills and crystal meth, which spiralled even more out of control, resulting in him murdering someone. Sigh.

Before going to prison, Haven’s dad gave him some helpful advice to survive incarceration - be the shark, not the clownfish. So, of course, Haven interpreted that advice as beating up another prisoner so he could join a gang. While that act might have confirmed his loyalty to the gang, it also opened the door to his new accommodation in solitary confinement. AKA Hell on earth. 

Nothing but blank concrete walls, the smell of your own shit, and a bright fluorescent light to keep you company all day and all night. It was enough to drive a person mad, and by the sounds of the constant kicking and screaming next door, his neighbours were already there. Thankfully Havens was thrown a lifeline…in the form of a maths puzzle.

 

CHAPTERS:

• 00:00 The Horrors of Solitary Confinement
• 02:42 Christopher Havens' downward spiral
• 03:30 Algebra: A Solitary Confinement Lifeline
• 10:06 Flow State in the Midst of Hell
• 14:31 Solving the Unsolvable for Umberto Cerruti
• 21:36 Giving Back with the Prison Math Project
• 23:17 The Journal of Prisoners on Prisons
• 26:31 Recidivism and Rehabilitation
• 28:50 The Power of Education in Reducing Recidivism
• 32:40 Spoiler Altert: Solitary Confinement Doesn’t Work
• 34:04 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show?

 

SOURCES:

• A conversation with Christopher Havens, Prison Mathematics Project
• A systematic review of criminal recidivism rates worldwide: 3-year update
• An inmate’s love for math leads to new discoveries
• How a maximum security prison offers a pathway to academic excellence and a PhD
• Moving from prison to a PhD
• Pioneering Advanced Math from Behind Bars
• Recidivism Rates by Country 2024
• This Inmate Used Solitary Confinement to Learn Math. Now He's Solving the World's Hardest Equations
• Why Prison Education?

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