When an Austin-area antique dealer bought a 52-pound marble bust for $35 at a Goodwill store, she thought she might have a special find. But she may not have known how special.

The bust turned out to date back to the first century and was likely carried back to the United States by a soldier returning from World War II, says Laura Young, the woman who purchased it.

Shimrit Lee, the author of the book Decolonize Museums, explains that plunder and destruction during wars are common.

Last month, NASA announced it would commission a study on unidentified aerial phenomenon, or UAPs, otherwise known as UFOs. Why now? Does this new program signal that an alien visit could be imminent? Dr. Avi Loeb, a Harvard professor, bestselling author of “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” and head of the Galileo Project, joined Something Offbeat to provide a better understanding of what the public might get out of UFO research.

Last month an appeals court in Missouri confirmed a decision that awarded a woman more than $5 million from Geico after she says she contracted an STD from her partner in his car. That claim raises the question of what’s considered "the normal use of a vehicle." Tom Baker, an insurance law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, explains that how the case got to this point and details other interesting insurance claims he's seen.

Spongy moth caterpillars have taken over the lives of a Maine couple this year, from ruining trees to popping up in food. This week, Angela Mech, assistant professor of forest entomology at the University of Maine, and Erika Hasle, a conservation ecologist with the Keller Science Action Center at The Field Museum in Chicago, joined Something Offbeat to fill us in on the outbreak and explore how climate change influences human interactions with the insect world.

A procedure that slowly lengthens a patient's legs and makes them taller has grown in popularity in recent years. Is it just the latest trend in a centuries-long effort to modify our bodies, or is technology pushing the pace of human physical evolution?

From tattoos and gauging to botox and surgeries, Rebecca Lester, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, explains that as long as we have recorded history, humans have been altering their appearance.

A group of margarita-drinking kindergarteners got us thinking: How does advertising impact kids and how can advertisers improve on it?

From the Joe Camel cigarette ads of the late 1980s and 1990s to the fruit-flavored vape juice pods of recent years, the BBB National Programs' Mary Engle helps break it down on “Something Offbeat."

Hosted by Mike Rogers, produced by Lauren Barry and Chris Blake, audio editing by Chris Blake, original music by Myron Kaplan, editorial support from Cooper Moll.

It’s not hard to find gruesome, macabre images or videos – they’re on TV, in horror movies and online. But what if you wanted to see them in person? Through a series of donations and transactions, the body of a 98-year-old World War II veteran from Louisiana ended up on a table in an Oregon hotel ballroom where attendees paid as much as $500 to view a public dissection.

Dr. Gail Saltz, associate professor of psychiatry at the New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell School of Medicine and host of the “How Can I Help?" podcast, explains what drives people to seek out such spectacles and what that fascination with death can tell us about ourselves and our society.

Hosted by Mike Rogers, produced by Lauren Barry and Chris Blake, audio editing by Chris Blake, original music by Myron Kaplan, editorial support from Cooper Moll.

We all know office parties can be a drag, but for some, they can be more than uncomfortable. Recently, a court awarded a man who suffers from an anxiety disorder $450,000 for being subjected to an unwanted office party. Why do some people dismiss mental health issues such as anxiety, and why are some boundaries not respected?

To find out, host Mike Rogers spoke with Dr. Kevin Chapman, founder and director of the Kentucky Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders.

Hosted by Mike Rogers, produced by Lauren Barry and Chris Blake, audio editing by Chris Blake, original music by Myron Kaplan, editorial support from Cooper Moll.