Stuff To Blow Your Mind

In recognition of Thanksgiving, Robert and Joe devote this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind to the very topics that might float through your head at the dinner table: What is a wishbone, why do we pull it apart and what does it have to do with dinosaurs? Are turkeys messengers of the gods? What is gravy and is it ever considered sacred? Find out... Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Friedrich Nietzsche once observed that if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. That’s an antimetabole, a transposed repetition of words in successive clauses. It’s an ABBA configuration that seems to resonate with meaning, but why? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe gaze into the linguistic abyss once more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tis the season of thankfulness, so in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore the science of Gratitude. (Originally published 11/28/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This time on Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe consider the 1978 Japanese space opera “Message From Space,” starring Sonny Chiba and Vic Morrow. It’s not quite “Star Wars,” but it brings the 70s weirdness and a bunch of space nuts. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Once more on Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe turn to the mailbot and read some listener mail from previous months. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We sure do spend a lot of time in bed, but what exactly IS a bed and what were ancient beds like? In this invention-based episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore the ancient history of the bed. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As is tradition, Stuff to Blow Your Mind prepares for seasonal feasts with a look at dangerous foods -- this time with a focus on peculiar and sometimes frightful additives such as lead, mercury and more. (Originally published 11/26/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this edition of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe discuss one of the great weird films of the 1930s: “Mad Love,” in which Peter Lorre gives a stellar performance as the deranged and tragic Dr. Gogol. It’s a film full of obsession, cutting-edge surgery, wax figures, delusion and knife-throwing. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special interview episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe chat with legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog and volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer about their new documentary "Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds," which deals with meteors and comets and their influence on ancient religions and other cultural and physical impacts they've had on Earth. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As usual, Robert and Joe take time in early November to discuss some of the winners from this year's Ig Nobel Prizes -- the awards ceremony that celebrates the weirder and more absurd corners of very real scientific investigation. This year, it's frozen feces knives, narcissistic eyebrows, arachnophobic entomologists and helium gators. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.