Ideas Worth Exploring

Pretend you’re making a new planet from scratch, and you want to know how the climate and weather patterns will be affected by each new feature you add. In this episode we will answer the questions: why is it warmer near the equator? Why does going up in elevation make it colder? We’ll also talk about the terms: albedo, the urban heat island effect, and the Coriolis effect. Finally, we’ll talk about El Niño and what we know about it. So let’s start making a planet!

Unlike in Pokemon, evolution in our world happens slowly, over many generations. In this episode, we talk about how all life on earth is part of the same family and arose from a single common ancestor through a branching pattern of evolution, and how this happens through natural selection, or “survival and reproduction of the fittest”. Also, whales have fingers. I thought you ought to know.

You may have heard of something called the Big Bang, where all the stuff in the universe spread out from a single point. Did you know that the Big Bang is still happening? Well, it is, and you’re in the middle of it! This episode is about the universe, what it looks like, and how it is changing. Also, dark energy, the mysterious thing that makes up the majority of the stuff in our universe, and several possibilities for how the universe might end: The Big Crunch, The Big Freeze, and The Big Rip. 

The universe is full of stuff. Big stuff, small stuff, red stuff, blue stuff, normal stuff, ridiculously weird stuff. Most people don’t understand just how weird some of that stuff is. That stuff is called matter. It’s finally time to answer that classic question: what’s the matter. This episode will cover quarks, leptons (including neutrinos), antimatter, and dark matter.

What is a memory, physically? Do people really only use 10% of their brain? Is my short term memory bad, or is it just my short term memory? Answers to follow! 

Brains! Brains are made of neurons that use electrical and chemical signals in a way that somehow gets turned into us thinking and writing podcasts about brains. This episode is about how neurons do math by using salt to power a rollercoaster.

Keto, paleo, flexitarian, Mediterranean, it seems like everyone is interested in the newest diet fad. But does eating soy protein puree really make you healthier than eating chocolate covered caramels? Today we’re talking about  nutrients: fats, proteins, carbs, and all the other yummy-sounding molecules. 

How do ducks float? Is it because they’re made of wood? Well, why does wood float? The answer, in a way, has to do with a naked man and a crown. But the real answer is found in the physics of buoyancy. This episode is all about buoyancy, the upward force you feel when floating in fluid. 

You’re flying through the universe on your spaceship, seeing the sights, having a great time, when all of a sudden you see a black hole! Oh no, it’s sucking you in! Then it touches you and you get spaghettified, and that’s the end of you. That’s how you imagine an encounter with a black hole would be, right? No! It would be so much more interesting than that. Allow me to explain… 

X-rays, gamma rays, microwaves, radio waves, what do they have in common? They’re all colors of light that you can’t see. This episode about electromagnetic radiation, the thing that makes your eyes, your phone, and your oven function as intended.  I hope you find it enlightening!