Better Than Human

How is everyone doing today? Amber assumes she'll spend all day crying, and if you're a decent American, you'll know why. Why not  learn about the Hooded Seal as a distraction from this political nightmare? The hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) is a large true seal found only in the central and western North Atlantic. It is known for its uniquely elastic nasal cavity located at the top of its head, also known as a nose hood. 

But first we talk elections and Amber gives a PSA: Better Than Human believes and supports women, and any victim of sexual assault.  As a society, we need to believe and listen to victims. 

Does anyone really know why male Hooded Seals evolved two inflatable balloons on their faces? How does that even happen? And no, we really aren’t sure how it evolved or why. Like we've said before, evolution doesn't always make sense. Maybe it's because they’re so giant, and fighting for mates require too much energy? Perhaps.  Listen to learn more about this interesting animal. 

In this week's episode of Better Than Human, Amber and Jennifer dive right into our topic of the terrifying , blood-curdling Wendigo. The wendigo is a mythological creature born from the folklore of the First Nations Algonquin tribes located in the Great Lakes Region of Canada and Wisconsin. It is a monstrous malicious spirit that can possess a human being and turned them into a flesh-eating monster. Gaunt to the point of emaciation, with desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones, skin colored ash-gray, and sunken coal like eyes, a wendigo invokes murder, insatiable greed, and uncontrolled hunger for human flesh. 

The belief in Wendigos and Europeans confusing First Nations folklore, lead to Wendigo psychosis, a hotly debated medical diagnosis. Listen as we cover the most famous documented causes of this psychosis and more. 

For more information on us, visit our website at betterthanhumanpodcast.com

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We look forward to hearing from you, and we look forward to you joining our cult of weirdness!

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In this week's episode of Better Than Human, Jennifer and Amber discuss the origins of vampires. In modern pop culture, vampires are generally pale, suave, sophisticated beings that feast on the blood of their victims in the dead of night. However, up until the 1800s, vampires were a far cry from how we see them today. Though they were not called vampires in ancient cultures, almost every European and Asian culture has their own vampiric folklore. Listen as Jennifer and Amber discuss the differences and learn how the modern interpretation evolved from these folklores. 

Also listen as the sisters give a PSA on safe, consensual sex, because education and the media do not emphasis safe sex enough. You always have the right to say no. 


For more information on us, visit our website at betterthanhumanpodcast.com

Follow us on Twitter @betterthanhuma1

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on TikTok  @ https://www.tiktok.com/@l_a_mander (if it still exists in the US)

or Email us at [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you, and we look forward to you joining our cult of weirdness!

#betterthanhuman #cultofweirdness

Time for a bonus episode, weird fam! Since Amber talked so much about Quantum Mechanics in last week's episode, Jennifer and Amber recorded a bonus episode on famous hauntings and/or famous ghost photos. We promise, no more Quantum Mechanics or theories drudged up from the depths of Amber's weird brain. Only true stories that prove (or if you are Jennifer, don't prove) that ghosts exists, including the tale Amityville and the famous Tantallon Castle ghost photograph. 

For more information on us, visit our website at betterthanhumanpodcast.com

Follow us on Twitter @betterthanhuma1

on Facebook @betterthanhumanpodcast

on Instagram @betterthanhumanpodcast

on TikTok  @ https://www.tiktok.com/@l_a_mander (if it still exists in the US)

or Email us at [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you, and we look forward to you joining our cult of weirdness!

#betterthanhuman #cultofweirdness

Did you know that almost half of Americans believe in Ghosts? Are you one of those believers? Are you on the fence? Or do you need some scientific evidence to show that ghosts do, in fact, exist? 

First off, in coffee and complain, Amber proves she's been weird since childhood and Jennifer proves American idioms are strange. Then let us all agree that Wolverine Watchmen is a stupid name, and that the terrorists who plotted to kidnap Governor Whitmer were dangerous, but thankfully also idiots. 

On to this week’s topic: Ghosts. What is a ghost? Are they a Swedish rock band or the spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living? Note this episode is on the latter. The belief in ghosts is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor worship in pre-literate cultures. However, Jennifer says there is no scientific evidence as of yet to prove that they exist. 

How is that so, you might ask, with all the ghost hunters out there? Well, we go over what mistakes amateur ghost hunters usually make. Amateur ghost hunters may be entertaining, but rarely do they take a scientific approach. 

Amber then attempts to prove that ghosts may exist using quantum mechanics. (Like a more logical version of how Endgame used quantum mechanics to time travel).  Does Amber prove ghosts exist in the space-time continuum? Listen to this episode to find out. 

For more information on us, visit our website at betterthanhumanpodcast.com

Follow us on Twitter @betterthanhuma1

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on TikTok  @ https://www.tiktok.com/@l_a_mander (if it still exists in the US)

or Email us at [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you, and we look forward to you joining our cult of weirdness!

#betterthanhuman #cultofweirdness

It’s the first week of October, so put on your weird hat and get ready for Better Than Human’s first Halloween themed episode on Zombies, in pop culture and in nature. (Yes, there are zombies in nature, according to Jennifer). 

First for Coffee and Complain: Designers, please make women’s clothing with pockets. 

And now for the main attraction: Zombies. The ideology of zombies were introduced to Western Culture from Haitian folklore, where the dead can be controlled by a malicious voodoo practitioner. Since then, Zombies have evolved drastically in pop culture, starting with the 1932 movie White Zombie, where a zombie was just a person under mind control, to Zombieland, where they are fast-moving, reanimated corpses. 

But what actually is a zombie? And could they actually exist in our world? 

Amber puts an argument forward that zombies do not and cannot exist in humans. Jennifer presents all the evidence from nature to prove that humans could exist in humans. (And trust us, zombies is nature are more terrifying than zombies in film.) Which sister do YOU think won the argument?  

For more information on us, visit our website at betterthanhumanpodcast.com

Follow us on Twitter @betterthanhuma1

on Facebook @betterthanhumanpodcast

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on TikTok  @ https://www.tiktok.com/@l_a_mander (if it still exists in the US)

or Email us at [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you, and we look forward to you joining our cult of weirdness!

#betterthanhuman #cultofweirdness

This week's topic is the Horseshoe Crab, which is one animal we wouldn't describe as cute, but they sure are a winner when it comes to evolution.

But first for Coffee and Complain, Amber gives a PSA on why we shouldn’t make-up shame, and Jennifer’s PSA is to not drink poop. (Actually, it's don’t inhale tap water, because you could get a brain eating amoeba).  

Did you know that Horseshoe Crabs aren’t actually crabs, they’re more like water bugs, and that they evolved 450 million years ago?  Horseshoe Crabs have way more eyes then we have, almost to a creepy level, but everything has a reason... right? And wow, do they lay a ton of eggs, but only in their own special, particular sand. Meaning, it is almost impossible to breed them in captivity.  

Horseshoe Crabs are also going to play an important role in the Covid Vaccine process. How is this blue-blooded arthropod going to help save us? The same way they have been helping us make vaccines and injectable drugs and medical devices for the last 50 years. Listen now, to learn why you probably owe your life to a horseshoe crab.

For more information on us, visit our website at betterthanhumanpodcast.com

Follow us on Twitter @betterthanhuma1

on Facebook @betterthanhumanpodcast

on Instagram @betterthanhumanpodcast

on TikTok  @ https://www.tiktok.com/@l_a_mander (if it still exists in the US)

or Email us at [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you, and we look forward to you joining our cult of weirdness!

#betterthanhuman #cultofweirdness

In Coffee and Complain, we actually don’t complain this week, instead we talk Halloween and October, the best holiday and month, respectively, of the year. Do you believe in ghosts? Find out if Jennifer and Amber do. 

This week’s topic is the world’s ultimate survivor, Tardigrades, also called water bears or moss piglets (isn’t moss piglet the cutest name ever). Tardigrades are a phylum of over 1,000 water-dwelling, micro-animals that have been found everywhere on Earth, including Antarctica and the deepest parts of the world’s oceans. They can survive extreme heat and cold, extreme pressure or lack of pressure (think outer space), almost complete dehydration, and radiation levels that would kill most animals. Tardigrades have survived all of Earth’s five mass extinctions. Each time they survived an extinction, the Tardigrades have become stronger and more likely to survive another mass extinction, and will definitely outlast humanity. So put on your headphone, or not, and learn about the Moss Piglets that almost never die from anything other than age.

For more information on us, visit our website at betterthanhumanpodcast.com

Follow us on Twitter @betterthanhuma1

on Facebook @betterthanhumanpodcast

on Instagram @betterthanhumanpodcast

on TikTok  @ https://www.tiktok.com/@l_a_mander (if it still exists in the US)

or Email us at [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you, and we look forward to you joining our cult of weirdness!

#betterthanhuman #cultofweirdness

As a disclaimer, Better Than Humans does not condone animals sacrificing their lives for humans. We love animals. This whole podcast is about how animals are better than human. But this week we wanted to highlight and celebrate some heroic deeds by heroic animals that saved humans or their own species from extinction. 

Listen as Jennifer and Amber tell the amazing tales of animal heroes from of Trackr, a German shepherd dog who sniffed out survivors after 9/11, and the amazing messenger pigeon who saved two hundred soldiers during WWI to tales of beavers saving a young boy in Canada, a part wolfdog who saved his human pact from drowning, and Diego the Tortoise who helped save his species one female Tortoise at a time.

Then lastly we learn what a Sheep, Rooster, and a Duck have in common. 

For more information on us, visit our website at betterthanhumanpodcast.com

Follow us on Twitter @betterthanhuma1

on Facebook @betterthanhumanpodcast

on Instagram @betterthanhumanpodcast

on TikTok  @ https://www.tiktok.com/@l_a_mander

or Email us at [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you, and we look forward to you joining our cult of weirdness!

#betterthanhuman #cultofweirdness

In Water and Whine (we didn’t have coffee this week), Amber has perfect boobs. Isn’t she lucky? Disney canceled Christmas, because of Covid. The trump boat parade was sad, and like the rest of the Republican party, pathetic. The rich people’s boats caused the smaller boats to sink. And isn't that just the perfect metaphor for USA?

Last week, Amber and Jennifer talked about a small cute mammal from Africa, this week we’re doing an adorable predator that hunts them, the Black-Footed Cat (Felis nigripes),  also called the small-spotted cat, the smallest wild cat in Africa, and locally called Sebala cat, Bont-kat, or Afrikaans, which mean anthill tiger. Despite the Black-Footed Cat’s name, only the soles of its feet are actually black. This cat may be tiny, but they are vicious and the most successful solitary hunter in the world. 

Listen as Amber and Jennifer entertaining talk about one of the worlds most endearing, and ferocious, hunter. 

Stay tuned to the very end where we talk about our upcoming Halloween episodes, and Amber and Jennifer have a heated discussion about Zombies. More to come in the following weeks?  

For more information on us, visit our website at betterthanhumanpodcast.com

Follow us on Twitter @betterthanhuma1

on Facebook @betterthanhumanpodcast

on Instagram @betterthanhumanpodcast

on TikTok  @ https://www.tiktok.com/@l_a_mander

or Email us at [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you, and we look forward to you joining our cult of weirdness!

#betterthanhuman #cultofweirdness