Smartest Year Ever

Olympus Mons is the tallest mountain in the solar system—a Martian giant that makes Mount Everest look like a speed bump. Gordy breaks down just how massive this shield volcano is, why Mars can grow mountains on a scale Earth can’t touch, and how humans first discovered it.

From comparisons with Mauna Kea and Everest, to the role of weak gravity and the lack of plate tectonics, this episode unpacks why Olympus Mons holds the crown. You’ll also hear about the enormous caldera, cliffs taller than Denali, and the surprisingly recent volcanic activity that suggests Mars isn’t as geologically “dead” as once thought.

If you’ve ever wondered how a mountain could be so tall it disappears over the horizon of its own planet, this is one episode you won’t want to miss.

Sources:

• Mouginis-Mark, P. J. (2021). Geologic Map of the Olympus Mons Caldera, Mars. U.S. Geological Survey, SIM 3470.
  

• NASA/JPL. (2003). Flows on Olympus Mons. JPL Photojournal (PIA04583).
  

• NASA. (n.d.). How Big Is It? Mars Education PDF.
  

• NASA. (1971–72). Mariner 9 Mission Overview. NASA Science Solar System Exploration.
  

• Lunar and Planetary Institute. (n.d.). Olympus Mons (20°N, 135°W), Red Planet Slide Set.
  

• U.S. Geological Survey. (n.d.). Topography of the Shield Volcano, Olympus Mons on Mars.
  

• NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Scientific Visualization Studio. (n.d.). A Planet of Superlatives: Hellas, Olympus Mons, and Valles Marineris.
  

• NASA/JPL. (n.d.). Mars in a Minute: How Did Mars Get Such Enormous Mountains?
  

NASA. (n.d.). Planet Mars Quick Facts.

#SpaceFacts #Mars #Astronomy #DailyFacts #PlanetaryScience #DidYouKnow #MarsFacts #olympusmons Music thanks to Zapsplat.

How many poppy seeds does it take to make a drug test go positive? Gordy digs into the strange overlap between breakfast bagels, opium poppies, and the science of urine testing thresholds.

This episode of Smartest Year Ever explores how Papaver somniferum (the opium poppy) ended up blurring the line between a harmless poppy-seed muffin and a failed drug screening. From the Sumerians calling it the “joy plant,” to modern federal workplace drug testing standards, to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s poppy seed warnings, this is a story that proves even everyday foods can carry bizarre consequences.

If you’ve ever heard about the “poppy seed defense” or wondered why morphine metabolites show up after eating certain baked goods, you’ll want to stick around. This episode breaks down the history, the chemistry, and the testing thresholds that still make this issue relevant today.

Stay tuned—because the real answer to “How many poppy seeds will make you fail a drug test?” isn’t as simple as you think.

Sources:

• Cassella, J. P., & Wu, A. H. B. (1997). Testing for opiates: Morphine and codeine in urine after poppy seed ingestion. Journal of Analytical Toxicology, 21(6), 467–470.
  

• United States Department of Health and Human Services. (1998). Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. Federal Register.
  

• ElSohly, M. A., & Jones, A. B. (1995). Morphine and codeine in poppy seed products. Forensic Science International, 71(2), 129–136.
  

• World Anti-Doping Agency. (2023). Poppy Seed Consumption Advisory for Athletes.
  

#DrugTesting #FoodFacts #DailyFacts #DidYouKnow #SmartestYearEver #poppyseeds #funfacts #falsepositives Music thanks to Zapsplat.

Do animals have accents? Gordy dives into the fascinating world of animal communication—from whales with regional songs, to bird dialects, to cows rumored to moo with local twangs. This episode explores how creatures from orcas to sparrows to goats develop unique sounds depending on geography, culture, and social learning.

What starts as a simple question—do animals have accents like humans?—opens up into a wild exploration of dialects in the natural world, the science of vocal learning, and how these differences affect everything from mate choice in birds to family identity in killer whales.

If you’ve ever wondered why a whale in Hawaii doesn’t quite sing like one in Tonga, or why a British cow might sound different than one in Yorkshire, this episode breaks down the science with wit, clarity, and surprising facts you can bring to any conversation.

Stay curious, stay clever—and find out how much culture animals really share with us.

Sources

• Baker, M. C. (1983). The behavioral responses of female Nuttall’s white-crowned sparrows to male song of natal and alien dialects. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 12, 309–315.
  

• Briefer, E. F., & McElligott, A. G. (2012). Social effects on vocal ontogeny in an ungulate, the goat (Capra hircus). Animal Behaviour, 83(4), 991–1000. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.01.020
  

• Ford, J. K. B. (1991). Vocal traditions among resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) in coastal waters of British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 69(6), 1454–1483. https://doi.org/10.1139/z91-206
  

• Garland, E. C., et al. (2011). Dynamic horizontal cultural transmission of humpback whale song at the ocean-basin scale. Current Biology, 21(8), 687–691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2011.03.019
  

• Gero, S., Whitehead, H., Rendell, L., & Gordon, J. (2016). Individual, unit, and vocal clan level identity cues in sperm whale codas. Royal Society Open Science, 3(1), 150372. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150372
  

• Green, A. C., et al. (2019). Vocal individuality of Holstein–Friesian cattle is maintained across positive and negative contexts. Scientific Reports, 9, 18468. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-54968-4
  

• Janik, V. M., & Slater, P. J. B. (2000). The different roles of signature whistles in bottlenose dolphins. Science, 289(5483), 1355–1355. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.289.5483.1355
  

• Marler, P., & Tamura, M. (1962). Song “dialects” in three populations of white-crowned sparrows. The Condor, 64(5), 368–377.
  

• May-Collado, L. J., & Wartzok, D. (2008). Geographic variation in bottlenose dolphin whistles. Journal of Mammalogy, 89(5), 1229–1240. https://doi.org/10.1644/07-MAMM-A-261.1
  

• Noad, M. J., et al. (2000). Cultural revolution in whale songs. Nature, 408(6812), 537. https://doi.org/10.1038/35046199
  

• Rendell, L., & Whitehead, H. (2003). Vocal clans in sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 270(1512), 225–231. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2002.2239
  

#AnimalAccents #AnimalCommunication #WhaleSongs #BirdSongs #Orcas #AnimalCulture #animalfacts #funfacts #biologyfacts #DailyFacts Music thanks to Zapsplat.

Animals once stood trial in real courts. From pigs in pants to rats with lawyers, the medieval justice system went to bizarre lengths to prosecute creatures for crimes. Gordy explores the strangest animal trials in history, where the line between justice, religion, and superstition completely blurred.

You’ll hear about a pig executed in France, rats defended in court, insects excommunicated by the church, and even a rooster burned for witchcraft. These weren’t symbolic punishments—they were full legal proceedings with indictments, lawyers, verdicts, and public spectacles.

Why did societies treat animals like criminals? What do these surreal cases reveal about how humans once tried to control nature and restore cosmic balance? This episode unpacks the weird, fascinating history of animal trials in Europe—stories so strange they feel like satire, but every one of them actually happened.

🔔 Stay curious and clever—this is Smartest Year Ever.

Sources

• Evans, E. P. (1906). The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals. London: Heinemann.
  

• Dinzelbacher, P. (1987). Animal Trials: A Cultural-Historical Study. Journal of Medieval History.
  

• Cohen, E. (1986). Law, Folklore and Animal Lore. Past & Present.
  

• Berman, H. J. (1983). Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition. Harvard University Press.
  

#AnimalFacts #HistoryFacts #WeirdHistory #DailyFacts #DidYouKnow #legalhistory #animaltrials #medievalhistory #weirdlaws #trials Music thanks to Zapsplat.

Benjamin the Tasmanian Tiger is one of the most haunting symbols of extinction. This episode of Smartest Year Ever dives into the tragic story of the last thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, and the powerful concept of an endling—the final surviving member of a species.

Gordy explores how Benjamin’s lonely fate in Hobart Zoo became a global reminder of the irreversible cost of extinction. Along the way, he unpacks the meaning of “endling” and revisits other unforgettable examples: Martha the passenger pigeon, Lonesome George the Galápagos tortoise, Celia the Pyrenean ibex, and others whose names became synonymous with loss.

This isn’t just about one animal—it’s about how language, conservation, and memory turn extinction into a personal story. If you’ve ever wondered how species disappear, why the term endling carries such weight, or what it means for modern conservation, this is the conversation you’ll want to bring up at your next dinner table.

Watch to find out why Benjamin the Tasmanian tiger’s story still resonates today—and what it teaches us about extinction, cloning, and the fragile line between survival and memory.

Sources

• Sleightholme, S. R., & Campbell, C. R. (2016). The Thylacine: Last Tasmanian Tiger. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  

• Paddle, R. (2002). The Last Tasmanian Tiger: The History and Extinction of the Thylacine. Cambridge University Press.
  

• Fuller, E. (2000). Extinct Birds. Oxford University Press.
  

• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Red List entries for Thylacinus cynocephalus, Ectopistes migratorius, Chelonoidis abingdonii, & Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica.
  

#Extinction #TasmanianTiger #WildlifeConservation #AnimalHistory #DailyFacts #animalfacts #endling #endlings #extinctanimals #thylacine #endangeredanimals

 Music thanks to Zapsplat.

The Greasefish of Lake Tota—a strange Colombian catfish so packed with fat it could be lit like a torch. Gordy dives into the bizarre story of Rhizosomichthys totae, an enigmatic species once found in Colombia’s largest lake. Was it truly driven extinct by invasive rainbow trout, or could it still be hiding in the depths today?

This episode of Smartest Year Ever blends science, history, and curiosity to reveal how a fish unlike any other captured the imagination of locals and scientists alike. Along the way, you’ll learn about Colombia’s Lake Tota, invasive species, and the precarious fate of endemic animals found nowhere else on Earth.

So there you have it—the fish that blurred the line between biology and mythology.

Sources

• Miles, C. (1942). Descripción del pez graso Rhizosomichthys totae. Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales.
  

• Maldonado-Ocampo, J. A., & Vari, R. P. (2004). Annotated checklist of freshwater fishes of Colombia. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology.
  

• Rojas, P., et al. (2020). Anatomical redescription of Rhizosomichthys totae (Trichomycteridae) using microtomography. Journal of Fish Biology.
  

• Animalia.bio. (2025). Greasefish (Rhizosomichthys totae). Retrieved 2025.
  

• UICN Red List Colombia. Rhizosomichthys totae.
  

#AnimalFacts #WeirdAnimals #LakeTota #ColombiaWildlife #LostSpecies #DailyFacts #SmartestYearEver #greasefish #extinctanimals #extinct #fishfacts #animalfacts

Music thanks to Zapsplat.

Why do some roads have deer crossing signs, while others get full-on wildlife bridges? In this episode, Gordy explores the strange, data-driven world of animal crossing signs—from the famous Christmas Island crab migration (where officials built actual crab bridges and underpasses) to moose crossings in North America, toad fences in Germany, and even squirrel skybridges in Washington State.

Transportation departments don’t just guess where to put signs—they track wildlife-vehicle collisions, migration routes, and seasonal behavior. But do the signs actually work, or do drivers just tune them out? And what happens when communities get creative with wildlife overpasses, underpasses, and motion-triggered road alerts?

From Banff National Park’s wildlife overpass to the Nutty Narrows Bridge for squirrels, Gordy uncovers the unexpected ways humans try to share roads with animals.

Stay curious—this episode of Smartest Year Ever dives into the quirky world where ecology meets traffic engineering.

Sources

• Huijser, M. P., et al. (2008). Wildlife–vehicle collision reduction study. U.S. Department of Transportation.
  

• Rytwinski, T., & Fahrig, L. (2012). The effectiveness of road mitigation measures. Ecological Applications.
  

• Minnesota DOT; Colorado DOT; Virginia DOT. Wildlife warning sign guidelines.
  

• Parks Canada. (2020). Banff wildlife crossings. National Park Service.
  

#AnimalCrossings #WildlifeConservation #RoadEcology #DailyFacts #FunFacts #roadsigns #animalfacts #wildlife

Music thanks to Zapsplat.

On today’s Smartest Year Ever, Gordy dives into the strange world of island evolution. Why do elephants become pygmy mammoths on the Channel Islands, while small creatures like rodents balloon into giants? Biologists call this phenomenon the island syndrome—also known as the island rule or Foster’s rule. It explains how insular dwarfism shrinks massive animals like mammoths and hippos, while insular gigantism super-sizes tortoises, Komodo dragons, and even pigeons into the now-extinct dodo.

This episode explores:

• The science of island evolution and how isolation reshapes species.
  

• Famous examples from the Galápagos Islands, Mediterranean dwarf elephants and hippos, and California’s pygmy mammoths.
  

• Why scarcity, predator absence, and energy efficiency drive these dramatic size shifts.
  

• How J. Bristol Foster’s 1964 study created the framework for the island rule still used in evolutionary biology today.
  

Islands act as nature’s laboratories—producing both giant mice and mini-mammoths—but also create fragile ecosystems that collapse once humans and invasive species arrive.

Stay tuned to learn why islands are evolution’s ultimate funhouse mirror.

Sources:

• Foster, J. Bristol. (1964). The evolution of mammals on islands. Nature.
  

• Lomolino, M. V. (2005). Body size evolution in insular vertebrates: generality of the island rule. Journal of Biogeography.
  

• Palkopoulou, E., et al. (2015). Genomic evidence for the extinction of the woolly mammoth. Current Biology.
  

• Van der Geer, A., et al. (2010). Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands. Wiley-Blackwell.
  

#IslandEvolution #WeirdAnimals #mammoths #AnimalFacts #DailyFacts #ScienceFacts Music thanks to Zapsplat.

How far can a bird really fly without stopping? In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy explores one of the most extreme endurance records in the animal kingdom. It’s part of Animal Week, and today’s subject, the bar-tailed godwit looks ordinary on the beach—but in the air, it achieves something that pushes the limits of biology, navigation, and survival.

From reconfiguring its body before migration, to navigating oceans with invisible cues, this is a story that blends evolutionary science, animal behavior, and pure astonishment. Gordy breaks down the journey in a way that’s fast, witty, and fact-packed—designed to give you a perfect story to drop into conversation.

Stick around, because what this bird pulls off makes marathon runners and frequent fliers look tame.

Sources:

• U.S. Geological Survey. (2022, October). Juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit B6 Sets World Record for Avian Migration. Alaska Science Center.
  

• Rainey, H. (2022, October 30). A Juvenile Shorebird Tagged in Alaska Flew Nonstop for 11 Days and Arrived in Tasmania. Anchorage Daily News.
  

• Conklin, J. R., Senner, N. R., Battley, P. F., & Piersma, T. (2021). Extreme endurance flights by landbirds crossing the Pacific Ocean: ecological corridor rather than barrier? Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288(1953), 20202367. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.2367
  

#AnimalFacts #BirdMigration #WildNature #BiologyFacts #DailyFacts #birds #godwits #worldrecord Music thanks to Zapsplat.

Who really invented the high five? Gordy takes us inside the surprising and surprisingly recent story of one of the world’s most universal gestures. From Dodger Stadium in 1977 to the University of Louisville basketball courts, this episode traces the origins of the high five, its ties to sports history, and its cultural journey from jazz slang to global celebration. Along the way, Gordy uncovers how the low five paved the way and why the high five spread faster than almost any other gesture in modern times.

Perfect for sports fans, history buffs, or anyone who’s ever wondered where everyday traditions come from, this story will change the way you think about celebration.

Sources:

• Godard, J.-L. (Director). (1960). Breathless [Film]. Les Films Impéria; Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie.

• Lamster, M. (2011). High Five! The Magic of Working Together. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  

• ESPN. (2017). The High Five Turns 40: Dodgers, Glenn Burke, and the Gesture That Took Over Sports.
  

• Calloway, C. (1938). Hepster’s Dictionary. New York: Cab Calloway Orchestra.
  

• New York Times. (2008). “Glenn Burke, Baseball Player Who Pioneered the High Five.”
  

• Courier-Journal (Louisville). (2013). “Wiley Brown Recalls the First High Five at Louisville Basketball Practice.”
  

#HistoryFacts #SportsHistory #BodyLanguage #DailyFacts #DidYouKnow #highfive #jazzculture #Lowfive #sportsculture Music thanks to Zapsplat.