Stuff To Blow Your Mind

By iHeartRadio & HowStuffWorks

Natural Sciences Social Sciences

What's Stuff To Blow Your Mind about?

Deep in the back of your mind, you’ve always had the feeling that there’s something strange about reality. There is. Join Robert Lamb and Joe McCormick as they examine neurological quandaries, cosmic mysteries, evolutionary marvels and our transhuman future.

4.5

3,972 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

The Fly: Into the Plasma Pool

02.18.2020

It’s time for another movie episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, and this time Robert and Joe consider David Cronenberg’s 1986 sci-fi remake “The Fly.” It’s time to drink deep, or taste not, the plasma spring! Learn more about ...

Stuff To Blow Your Mind episodes:

02.20.2020 Listener Mail: In Your Face! It’s time for another hefty dose of Stuff to Blow Your Mind listener mail. Join Robert and Joe as they read and answer your emails on facial recognition, gods, volcanoes the future and more. Learn more about your ad-choices at ...
02.18.2020 The Fly: Into the Plasma Pool It’s time for another movie episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, and this time Robert and Joe consider David Cronenberg’s 1986 sci-fi remake “The Fly.” It’s time to drink deep, or taste not, the plasma spring! Learn more about ...
02.15.2020 From the Vault: Snail Sex in the Sea In the aftermath of Valentine's Day, join Robert and Joe as they revisit last year's interview with marine biologist and "Sex in the Sea" author Dr. Marah Hardt. It's a chat with STBYM's only four-time guest about all manner of ...
02.13.2020 Occam's Razor It’s a standard tool of skeptical thinking: When presented with two hypotheses that explain the data equally well, choose the simpler of the two. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss the history, nature ...
02.11.2020 Lessons of Vesuvius, Part 2 In the year 79 CE, the Italian volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted with with the thermal energy of 100,000 atomic bombs. Ashen destruction rained down on Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae. In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind two-parter, Robert and ...
02.08.2020 From the Vault: Cupid's Leaden Arrow It’s Valentine’s Day again, which summons images of mythic Cupid and his bow. But we often forget that Cupid has TWO arrows in his quiver: the golden arrow of desire and the leaden arrow of aversion. In this episode of ...
02.06.2020 Lessons of Vesuvius, Part 1 In the year 79 CE, the Italian volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted with with the thermal energy of 100,000 atomic bombs. Ashen destruction rained down on Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae. In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind two-parter, Robert and ...
02.04.2020 Facial Recognition Machinery, Part 3 Chances are, your face is already part of the database -- and AI is getting better and better at reading one face and finding it in the vast sea of digital images. What does this mean for the future of ...
02.01.2020 From the Vault: Motivated Numeracy and the Politics-ridden Brain If science were a candle in the dark, we’d need only spread its light to combat climate change denial and vaccine conspiracy theories. But what if the problem is more complex than that? What if a quirk of human cognition ...
01.31.2020 Invention: The Turnspit Dog In this episode of Invention, Robert and Joe continue the month’s journey through human CULINARY techno-history -- this time with the story of the turnspit dog. This now-extinct breed of dog turned the meat in many a European kitchen, before ...
01.30.2020 Facial Recognition Machinery, Part 2 Chances are, your face is already part of the database -- and AI is getting better and better at reading one face and finding it in the vast sea of digital images. What does this mean for the future of ...
01.28.2020 Facial Recognition Machinery, Part 1 Chances are, your face is already part of the database -- and AI is getting better and better at reading one face and finding it in the vast sea of digital images. What does this mean for the future of ...
01.25.2020 From the Vault: The Electric Ark What if the Ark of the Covenant was actually a bronze-age machine capable of storing an electrostatic charge? It almost certainly wasn't, but the idea is a great excuse to explore the understanding of electricity in the ancient world. Join ...
01.23.2020 The Monoliths of Lalibela Lalibela, Ethiopia is home to one of the true wonders of the world: a series of 11 rock-hewn monolithic churches -- all interconnected by tunnels and passages that connect to catacombs and hermit caves. In this episode of Stuff to ...
01.21.2020 Here Come the Warm Feels There’s often a gap between feeling and understanding, but language and classification provide us with tremendous tools for self-reflection. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore the concept of kama muta, a broad categorization ...
01.18.2020 From the Vault: The Ark of the Covenant What was the Ark of the Covenant? A mere ceremonial vessel for sacred items? A radio for speaking to God? The golden chest of the ancient Hebrews has fascinated historians, theologians, scientists, dreamers and Nazi-punching archeologists for ages. In this ...
01.16.2020 Horseshoe Crabs: Blue Blood of the Ancients Their fossils date back 450 million years and their copper-rich blue blood continues to benefit various medical applications. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore the science and history of horseshoe crabs. Learn more ...
01.14.2020 Ten Year Anniversary Special Yes, tomorrow marks ten years of Stuff to Blow Your Mind. In celebration, original cohost and HowStuffWorks editor Allison Loudermilk pops by to speak with Robert and Joe about science, science communication and some recent headlines. Learn more about your ...
01.11.2020 From the Vault: The Great Basilisk Behold the Great Basilisk, the crowned monster whose mere glance can kill a mortal and reduce wilderness to desert ash. Medieval bestiaries attest to its might, but today some futurists dread its name as an all-powerful malicious artificial intelligence. Will ...
01.09.2020 Bandersnatch From its literary origins in the mirror realm of Lewis Carroll to its terrifying appearance in Charlie Brooker's “Black Mirror,” the frumious Bandersnatch is a monster from which it is useless to flee. In this episode of Stuff to Blow ...
01.07.2020 Brandon Fibbs talks 9 Days in July In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Joe chats with Brandon Fibbs, host of the new podcast "9 Days in July," which explores each of the nine days of the Apollo 11 Mission, day by day, in nine ...
01.04.2020 From the Vault: Machine Consciousness and P-Zombies If a machine told you it was conscious, how could you tell if it was lying? Indeed, how can you tell that any random human in your life is lying when they speak of their own consciousness. Join Robert and ...
01.02.2020 Updates: The First Monster and Oumuamua Our understanding of history and cosmos continues to evolve -- and that means episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind are likely to require updates. In this episode, Robert and Joe discuss recent updates to topics discussed in past episodes ...
12.31.2019 David Grinspoon on New Horizons and the Weirdness of Pluto In the book “Chasting New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto,” authors Dr. Alan Stern and Dr. David Grinspoon recount the riveting history of the quest to send a spacecraft to the planet Pluto. In this episode of ...
12.28.2019 From the Vault: On Teasing We all know teasing when we see it or experience it, but what role does it play in human interactions? Join Robert and Joe in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind as they explore hurtful, playful and educative ...
12.26.2019 Boxing Day Listener Mail It's boxing day in many holiday traditions: A time to give a gratitude box to postmen, errand boys and servants. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe present just such a box to the mailbot ...
12.24.2019 Is Santa a god? (part 2) He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, but is Santa Claus merely a magical entity or does he rise to the status of a god? In this pair ...
12.21.2019 From the Vault: Christmas Island Crabs, Part 2 Welcome to Christmas Island, a place where it’s still only Christmas once a year… but where red crabs swarm across the land and enormous coconut crabs feast on carrion in the forests. So deck the halls with boughs of SCUTTLING ...
12.19.2019 Is Santa a god? (part 1) He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, but is Santa Claus merely a magical entity or does he rise to the status of a god? In this pair ...
12.17.2019 Prototaxites: Shrooms Like Cedars in the Devonian Wilds Did 20-foot-tall giant fungi rule the earth 400 million years ago? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss the puzzling prototaxites fossils from the Devonian period. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
12.14.2019 From the Vault: Christmas Island Crabs, Part 1 Welcome to Christmas Island, a place where it’s still only Christmas once a year… but where red crabs swarm across the land and enormous coconut crabs feast on carrion in the forests. So deck the halls with boughs of SCUTTLING ...
12.12.2019 The Psychology of Architecture, Part 2 The natural world evokes various feelings in the mind, but humans spend a great deal of their time within spaces that they themselves designed and built out of the environment. In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind two-parter, Robert and ...
12.10.2019 The Psychology of Architecture, Part 1 The natural world evokes various feelings in the mind, but humans spend a great deal of their time within spaces that they themselves designed and built out of the environment. In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind two-parter, Robert and ...
12.07.2019 From the Vault: Thought Experiments Stuff to Blow Your Mind frequently discusses thought experiments on the show, from Schrödinger's Cat to the Infinity Hotel. But what constitutes a thought experiments? How long have they been around and what are the seven categories? Robert and Joe ...
12.05.2019 Die Nacht des Krampus Heute Nacht ist Krampusnacht. Besprechen Sie mit Robert und Joe auf STBYM die beliebtesten Urlaubsmonster aller. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
12.03.2019 It’s Beginning to Sound a Lot Like Christmas It’s the first week of December and holiday music is already playing in retail stores around the world. Sure, this is supposed to infuse you with the holiday spirit and perhaps kickstart your holiday shopping blitz, but at what cost? ...
12.02.2019 Introducing: First Contact Laurie Segall, Silicon Valley’s go-to reporter and former CNN Senior Tech Correspondent, hosts First Contact - a weekly podcast series that explores the people and technology that are changing what it means to be human. First Contact brings listeners engaging ...
11.30.2019 From the Vault; Stone Age Technology with Dietrich Stout Paleolithic tools inform not just our understanding of prehistoric lives, but also the evolution and nature of the human mind. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe chat with Emory University’s Associate Professor of Anthropology ...
11.28.2019 Thankful: The Science of Gratitude Tis the season of thankfulness, so in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore the science of Gratitude. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
11.26.2019 Dangerous Foods: Adverse Additives As is tradition, Stuff to Blow Your Mind prepares for seasonal feasts with a look at dangerous foods -- this time with a focus on peculurial and sometimes frightful additives such as lead, mercury and more. Learn more about your ...
11.23.2019 From the Vault: 2001: A Space Odyssey No discussion of great sci-fi cinema is complete without mention of “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The 1968 classic is 50 years old this year, so Robert and Joe figured it the perfect time to board the Discovery One and discuss ...
11.21.2019 Devourer of Memories, Part 2 “You are what you eat,” the saying goes -- but does that apply to memories as well? In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind two-parter, join Robert and Joe on a journey through the world of Planaria worms, controversial research, ...
11.19.2019 Devourer of Memories, Part 1 “You are what you eat,” the saying goes -- but does that apply to memories as well? In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind two-parter, join Robert and Joe on a journey through the world of Planaria worms, controversial research, ...
11.16.2019 From the Vault: The Ship of Theseus An ancient ship rots in the harbor and so we restore it piece by piece until nothing of the original ship remains. Is it still the same ship? Join Robert and Joe as they discuss one of history’s more mind-boggling ...
11.14.2019 Listener Mail: Black Hole Dream Have you ever dreamt that you forgot about a college class until the morning of the final exam — and then dreamt that a black hole swallowed the entire university? Yes, it’s time for yet another Stuff to Blow Your ...
11.12.2019 Listener Mail: Halloween Hangover 2019 Halloween may be over, but Robert and Joe have a bunch of spooky listener mail to unpack before the other holidays kick in. Grab whatever is left of the Halloween candy and tune in... Learn more about your ad-choices at ...
11.09.2019 From the Vault: Squirrels, Part 2 You might think you know squirrels, but what do you REALLY know about these woodland tree rodents? In this special two-part episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss their appetite for meat, their alleged acts of ...
11.07.2019 The 2019 Ig Nobel Prizes Yes, it’s time once more for us to cover the Ig Nobel prizes. This year on Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe consider cubical wombat poop, truly dirty money, diaper-changing robots and much more. Learn more about your ...
11.06.2019 The Second Oil Age: Episode 1 Dive right into the first episode of the new sci-fi horror podcast "The Second Oil Age." When an oil executive goes missing aboard the deep-sea Atlas Station, the company sends agent Synøve Pan down for answers — and she’s just ...
11.05.2019 Ann Swanson: Science of Yoga What is yoga? How can it heal our bodies and minds? And where do we draw the line between spiritual models of the human condition and proven biology? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Ann Swanson, author ...

Older episodes