Brain Junk cover art

Brain Junk

Brain Junk

By: Brain Junk
Listen for free

About this listen

 Brain Junk is an off-the-wall, totally unbelievable but true podcast where Amy Barton and Trace Kerr shake up science & history in the hunt for answers to questions you never knew you wanted to know. We bring you the inside scoop on things like: Can goldfish drive? How do whales not drown while eating? Who had the first prosthetic eye? We cannonball off the question high dive every other Tuesday -- those of you in the front seats, bring your ponchos. We're out to flood your brain.

brainjunkpodcast.substack.comBrain Junk Nature & Ecology Science World
Episodes
  • 328: The Last Gasp

    328: The Last Gasp
    Dec 24 2024
    We've had a hell of a good time spending the past 6 years scrounging up weird science and history junk for you to listen to! It's been a privilege knowing there a lots of fact junkies out there like us, digging through our podcast like raccoons in a trashcan. Our legacy is 328 fantastic episodes and we hope you never stop coming back when you need a little weird and wacky in your life.We'll still be on Instagram, full of shenanigans and making reels. Never stop being curious. Love ya forever, Trace and AmyShow Notes:The Poozeum: https://poozeum.com/Life Cycle of the Mosquito: https://www.vdci.net/mosquito-biology-101-life-cycle/University of Melbourne: Male Mosquitos don't want your blood: https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/news/31460-male-mosquitoes-don%27t-want-your-blood--but-they-still-find-you-very-attractiveWPRI.com Blue Whale leaking: https://www.wpri.com/news/street-stories/blue-whale-skeleton-at-new-bedford-museum-still-leaking-oil/Atlas Obscura, Oozing Whale Skeleton: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-oozing-whale-skeleton-of-new-bedford-new-bedford-massachusettsPopular Science: https://www.popsci.com/science/blue-whale-leaking-oil/MSN Lyudmila Trut: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/lyudmila-trut-soviet-scientist-who-sped-up-evolution-with-tame-foxes-that-began-to-look-like-dogs/ar-AA1sMlb1BMC, The silver fox domestication experiment: https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-018-0090-xEpisode 240 Extreme Lookalikes (where we mention the silver foxes)https://brainjunkpodcast.com/podcast/240-extreme-lookalikes/Popular Science, Why 60 degrees feels different: https://www.popsci.com/environment/why-fall-feels-colder-than-spring/Evolutionary ecology of ethanol: https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(24)00240-4?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0169534724002404%3Fshowall%3DtrueNew Scientist, Can all animals get drunk? https://www.newscientist.com/lastword/mg25934543-000-can-all-animals-get-drunk-what-enables-this-in-those-that-can/Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/10/241030150809.htmPenn Engineering Today, The secrets of baseball's magic mud: https://blog.seas.upenn.edu/the-secrets-of-baseballs-magic-mud/Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 17 mins
  • 327: MIT Hacks

    327: MIT Hacks
    Dec 17 2024

    Amy lives for a good shenanigan so of course she adores MIT's tradition of playing hacks (aka pranks) on Harvard and Yale. The biggest one you've ever heard of turned out to be a fake but don't worry, there's still some great ones from the past 75 years that were real!





    Show Notes:





    Atlas Obscura: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-harvard-stadium-pigeon-prank-that-pavlov-would-be-proud-of





    MITbloggers YouTube 1982 pranktacular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq4rzxw_wYU





    Boston.com: https://www.boston.com/sports/college-sports/2018/11/16/mit-hacks-harvard-yale-balloon-prank-1982/





    1948 newspaper article (behind a paywall)https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/105095033/





    MIT, Interesting Hacks to Facinate People: https://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_topic/harvard.html





    Harvard "Huge Ego" hack: https://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2006/H_Y_huge_ego/



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
    Show More Show Less
    16 mins
  • 326: Medical Ants

    326: Medical Ants
    Dec 10 2024

    In a weird turn of events, it's ants performing surgery when one of them has a leg injury instead of scientists whacking the legs off. Okay,we lied, the scientists are doing it too...





    Show Notes:





    Episode 71: Ants on Stilts (it's just as horrible as it sounds) https://brainjunkpodcast.com/podcast/71-ants-on-stilts/





    Current Biology article: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)00805-4





    Live Science, Ants perform life saving surgery: https://www.livescience.com/animals/insects/ants-perform-life-saving-operations-the-only-animal-other-than-humans-known-to-do-so





    TW: Facebook video showing actual leg amputation https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=846736237392641





    Pub Med Animals that self medicate: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4267359/



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
    Show More Show Less
    14 mins
No reviews yet