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
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.