Paper Boys

Nuclear weapons have obviously had a big impact on the world since their development more than 70 years ago. But new research on the diets of small crustaceans in the Mariana Trench--the deepest known point in the world at more than 36,000 feet below sea level--indicates that elevated levels of the radioactive isotope Carbon-14 created by nuclear weapons testing can still be found in these remote, isolated creatures. This week Charlie dives into this interesting research that reveals new insights about the carbon cycles of our oceans as well as the measurable impact of human activities on the environment.

Check out the paper, news articles, and disgusting picture of a Hadal amphipod at www.paperboyspodcast.com.

A huge breakthrough of the last few decades is our ability to sequence genomes - pulling out the order of bases in our DNA to understand exactly what makes organisms tick. However, a new field takes it a step further by creating synthetic genomes that are built from scratch to produce custom DNA. Scientists even hope to re-code pieces of DNA that are redundant to perform more tasks. This technique promises to revolutionize many industries, with the most imminent advancements in the production of super bacteria that can resist viruses and save billions of dollars. James dives into a paper about synthetic DNA that sounds more like sci-fi than anything.

Read the paper, check out our merch, and watch a compilation of Jeff Goldblum quotes at www.paperboyspodcast.com.

When people think of the moon, they often envision it as a cold, static body. However, when the Apollo moon missions landed on the moon’s surface, they were actually able to record seismic activity dubbed “moonquakes.” These findings suggested our cold, dusty neighbor was more geologically active than expected, but it was only recently that scientists were able to link these past seismic recordings to actual fault lines observed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter since its launch in 2009. This week, Charlie dives into new research about the moon to discuss the interesting science as well as the recent media reports about Jeff Bezos, NASA, and SpaceIL’s intents to return us to the lunar surface.

Read the paper, news articles, and support the show at www.paperboyspodcast.com.

The so-called Replication Crisis has plagued all areas of academia, and especially psychology, in the last few decades. The astonishing number of studies published in peer-reviewed journals that are later found not to be repeatable is a violation of one of the core tenets of the scientific method. Joining us on this episode is Ood Gallifrey of the Occultae Veritatis podcast to discuss: exactly how bad is this crisis? What started it? What can be done to fix it? (And of course many side tangents where we geek out about space and Richard Feynman.)

Read more about the replication crisis at our website, www.paperboyspodcast.com, and check out the Occultae Veritatis podcast at www.ovpod.ca.

Daylight Savings Time gets a bad rap every year when it's time to turn the clocks forward - it's bad for your health, it's bad for the economy...but DST has a friend no one warned you about: sunset time. Later sunsets mean later bedtimes, which leads to "social jetlag" - a desynchronization between your biological clock and your social obligations. Social jetlag could have a huge effect on your well-being and your wallet, so researchers decided to look at the perfect laboratory for comparing its effects. Right along time zone boundaries, neighboring counties experience sunset at completely different times. This week, Charlie brings in a paper where chronobiologists compare health and incomes on both sides of the time zone border, with some very alarming results.

Read the paper, see the cool county map, check out our merch and more at www.paperboyspodcast.com!

Once an animal dies, there isn't much hope of bringing it back to life - especially when that animal is a slaughtered pig. There has been past research into brain activity after death, but the brain has to be essentially destroyed first. Now, scientists have developed a technique for continuing the pig's brain function for many hours after death using a very complicated pump and well-engineered brain fluid. The best part? The brain is fully intact! On this week's episode, James dives into a paper talking about this technique and the crazy implications it could have for future humans.

This paper, news articles, merchandise, and more at www.paperboyspodcast.com.

Mosquitoes are the deadliest animal on the planet (which we all know from Episode 10 of Paper Boys, of course!) so scientists are always looking for ways to stop their spread of diseases. Over the past several decades, these bugs are becoming resistant to insecticides, meaning we need to start getting creative. Enter Skrillex, the dubstep artist...find out why researchers are tying down hamsters and blasting EDM into a cage of mosquitoes when Charlie dives into this week's bizarre paper!

Find the paper, news articles, merch, and more at www.paperboyspodcast.com.

This week, the Event Horizon Telescope unveiled something truly groundbreaking - the first ever direct image of a black hole. The telescope consisted of a dozen antennas located all around the globe (well, one side of it at least). They had to synchronize their data to an error equivalent to one second over 100 million years. The hard drives storing this data filled an entire plane and it took them two years to process it. So how exactly did they construct the image then? With so much care put in and pressure to release this historic image, the science has to be very tight. James brings in a paper from a Dutch astronomer detailing the past, present, and future of black hole imaging.

Check out this paper, a great video from Veritasium, the secret song video, and more at www.paperboyspodcast.com.