**Episode 1: "The Kamala Khan Survival Guide"**

*Welcome to the apocalypse - population: way too many zombies.*

In our series premiere, we're diving headfirst into Marvel Zombies Episode 1! Join us as we break down the tragic road trip that introduces us to Kamala Khan's post-apocalyptic world, where Young Avengers assemble and immediately start dying.

**This Episode We Cover:**
• The trio that could've been: Kamala, Riri, and Kate's doomed friendship
• Why Riri naming her vehicle "The Uhura" is the nerdiest thing ever
• Kate Bishop's death and why she deserved SO much better
• Riri and F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s heartbreaking sacrifice (bring tissues!)
• Blade Knight's bonkers debut - vampire hunter meets Egyptian god's avatar
• Melina's zombie army and peak mad scientist energy
• All the Easter eggs, from Star Trek to Red Guardian's weird Captain America obsession

**Hot Takes:**
- Is the pacing too fast or are we just not ready for the emotional whiplash?
- Captain Marvel vs. Ms. Marvel needed more screen time
- That Ohio S.H.I.E.L.D. base is suspiciously convenient
- Blade Knight might be the best character fusion ever created

**Spoiler Level:** MAXIMUM - We're talking character deaths, plot twists, and everything in between

*Perfect for your commute, unless you're driving through zombie-infested territory - then maybe wait until you reach a safe house.*

**Next Episode Preview:** We'll be covering Episode 2 and probably crying about more character deaths. Because this is Marvel Zombies, and nobody is safe.

**Subscribe, rate, and review - because in the zombie apocalypse, podcast engagement is survival!**

Have you ever learned a new word, noticed a particular car model, or heard about a specific health issue, only to find yourself encountering it everywhere afterward? That's the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also widely known as the frequency illusion. This intriguing cognitive bias makes it seem like something is appearing with increased frequency in your surroundings, when in reality, your awareness of it has simply increased.

In this episode, we'll dive into the fascinating cognitive mechanisms that make this effect so compelling: selective attention and confirmation bias. Selective attention is your brain's remarkable ability to focus on specific stimuli while filtering out others, particularly when something is new, interesting, or relevant to your current goals. Once your brain deems something important, it subconsciously begins to look for it. This process is powerfully amplified by confirmation bias, which describes our tendency to seek, interpret, and recall information that supports our existing beliefs or expectations. Together, these two processes create the potent illusion that something is more prevalent than it actually is.

We'll explore common, everyday examples of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, such as learning a new word and then noticing it repeatedly in conversations, books, and news, or becoming aware of a specific car model and suddenly seeing it frequently on the road. Discover the unique origin of its name, coined in 1994 by Terry Mullen in a letter to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, after he began noticing repeated references to the German Baader-Meinhof terror group soon after mentioning them. We'll also clarify how it differs from the recency illusion, which is the belief that something you've just learned about has only begun to appear recently. While generally harmless, understanding this cognitive bias can illuminate how our perceptions are influenced by our brains' filtering and prioritizing processes, helping us to identify potential pitfalls in judgment and decision-making. Tune in to understand how your brain works to make sense of the world by highlighting what it deems important.