It's more common than you think. From Rome to Russia, Africa and India.... no culture appears immune to the appeal of the golden elixir. We follow the stream from ancient ritual to instagram craze.

What are crystals and why are we obsessed with them?

Also in this episode:

The "gut-brain axis" is making its way from kooky alternative theory to routine medical treatments.

Also in this episode:

For three weeks in November, the planet Mercury started moving backwards and alot of people went batsh%t crazy. Jeremy's Iron investigates! Also: Can bacteria talk to each other??

PLUS: Justin B obsesses over horoscopes while Justin Z wonders why he can't sing inside a church and why single people don't get to have singledom ceremonies. It's a water-tight show, really.

REFERENCES:

In the Halloween tradition, we take on the personae of Tamler and Dave from Very Bad Wizards and do our own version of their Epsiode 174: More Chiang for Your Buck. It's like a cover version. For podcasts.

In this episode we discuss:

Very Bad Wizards is a podcast about science and research and ethics. It's also about Peez's beats. We do all these things (and more) in an attempt to become our podcast heroes for one hour.

Why? Halloween.

Justin B's article: genetic engineering of self-destructive mosquitos aiming to reduce mozzie populations!

We also lock-in a Jeremy's Iron excursion to Shen Yun, 2020.

People are scared of fluoride. From rat poison to calcified third-eyes, negative associations of fluoride are rife. SO! We enlist the help of Sydney's hottest dentist Dr. Lewis Ehrlich to separate fiction from the tooth.

We ask Dr. Lewis about:

Special Guest: Dr. Lewis Ehrlich.

Australia is one of the few countries that still fluoridates it's water. This is despite minimal conclusive evidence that it assists regular fluoride toothpaste use in the prevention of tooth decay or gum disease.

Forget the fact that ingested fluoride is the ONLY medical intervention delivered en masse with no dosage controls!

This is a spicy one so we've devoted two episodes to it. Part one features a break-down of the history of fluoridation, which is WILDLY FASCINATING, and a look at the available evidence for the efficacy on tooth decay prevention.

Tune in next week where we interview dentist Dr. Lewis Ehrlich and investigate the conspiracy theories around fluoride's effect on the pineal gland.

We also look into the health benefits of being religious and discuss whether mathematics is a natural phenomenon or wholly man-made.

PLUS!! 
Can you find our in-podcast references to the following songs:

• Black Eyed Peas - The Weekend
• A Perfect Circle - Judith
• The Vapors - Turning Japanese
• Ritchie Valens - La Bamba

No prizes for finding all four - but seriously, at this point we could float the podcast as a music digest for your dad. 

Justin B's article: Blue light and effects on sleep
Justin Z's article: Vegan Babies. 

This week we put the vegan diet squarely in the spotlight where it relates to the physical health and neurodevelopment of toddlers. We try to take a balanced reading of the research keeping in mind we (a) don't have babies (b) are reasonably unlikely to have them in the near future and (c) are not vegan or vegetarian.

We also take a hard look at the science behind blue light and it's affects on our circadian rhythms. 

Swipes taken:

• TED talks
• Lizard brains
• Ideologues
• Self-aggrandising pursuits like making a podcast