Supermindstretchers

Brendan and Tom talk Mission Impossible, Deane shows us a topological treat with jumping paper clips and Rob crafts Punch-and-Judy-style papier mache puppets.

Brendan goes north by north-north at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, we get a call from Mr Aphantasia himself to tell us how it feels, and Dr Rob makes a simple boot jack that makes de-booting so simple.

We did our homework about the Magic Potato Trick from last episode, and try to crack (or smoosh?) the puzzling question about which part of a ship travels furthest on a trip around the Earth.

A magic trick with a potato, a knife, and a newspaper, gives more than enough food for thought - and a menu full of wireless transmission and cutting down into the quantum realm.

An outdoor examination of insects by Rob leads to discussion of shrinking, and Deane's magic trick involving Möbius strips unravels into the world of acoustics.

We discover the much lauded Ames window optical illusion, with help from nephew Oscar, and our first clip of Deane and Rob's chemistry together as they banter over the impossibility of folding paper in half 10 times.

In this particularly laid-back episode, we take our time chatting about logic puzzles, zero knowledge proofs, and the surprising smoothness of balls. Plus, we encounter a moustache-less Deane Hutton, and watch our first Rob Morrison clip from The Curiosity Show, to see how the two legends compare.

In our first episode, we try to pin down what this podcast is actually about while watching a clip from The Curiosity Show on optical illusions. Things quickly go off track as we end up talking about ER, a South African comedian who also teaches finance, and whether we even know what we’re doing. It’s a loose start, but we’re having a good time figuring it out.