Let's Learn Everything!

Special guest Steve Rathje (@StevePsychology) asks us, do insects have consciousness? What, empirically, makes things go viral on social media? And what are the scientific effects of live theatre?Support us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!We also learn about: Outgroup effects on social media, subjective experience and qualia, except for mosquitos, we share genes with bananas are they conscious? the emotional dog and the rational tail, over-anti-anthropomorphism, tiktok survey of insect consciousness, would aliens think we are conscious? Steve’s at the party talking about qualia again! Sondheim, Sarah Ruhl’s magical realism absurdist plays, Steve’s study on the effect of live theater on empathy, solving Sondheim vs Weber scientifically, antiperfectionism, the weirdness of going viral, different types of online engagement, buy our supplements!            Sources:                Steve's Social Media Paper: Out-Group Animosity Drives Engagement on Social MediaWhat Insects can tell us about the Origins of ConsciousnessSteve's Theatre Paper: Attending Live Theatre Improves Empathy, Changes Attitudes, and Leads to Pro-Social Behavior

What can a video game teach us about pandemics? What are the different things a sneeze can smell like? And what makes game jams so magical?Support us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!We also learn about: Hakkar the Soulflayer, npc asymptomatic carriers, just reset the world and change the code!, a disease model with real people, death isn’t temporary, show us the patch notes, self protection fatigue, pandemics are complicated, “look for the helpers, you will always find people who are helping”, only humans can simulate humans, “I sneeze so much”, what scents can sneezes have? smells are weird, phantosmia, Ella channeling Tom’s bad jokes, “all the tubes are connected”, piss breath, “how are we functioning?”, Tom made indie games, the first game jam email, 100,000 Guys, the Ludum Dare, “There’s too many days” “Counter Clockwise”, Hungry Knight!, Tom’s first dream game, thesis jam, Pierrec’s french review of Tom’s game.            Sources:                Lancet Corrupted Blood PaperEpidemiology Corrupted Blood PaperWired Corrupted Blood ArticlePCGamer Corrupted Blood ArticleChen 2013 Epidemic GameCharlotte Eye, Ear, Note and Throat Associates on Smelly SneezesWhy does my sneeze smell bad?Acetone BreathBacterid Producing Sweet SmellsLosing Your SmellPhantosmiaAmmonia BreathCorrelation of Ammonia Breath during HemodialysisHistory of Game JamsThe First Game Jam EmailPierrec's Revied of Tom's First Game

What are the benefits of reintroducing a species after 400 years? Why do we make rats solve mazes, and can slime molds solve mazes? What is ASMR, and how did it become such a thing?           Support us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!          We also learn about: Beavery introductions, vanilla flavor usually isn’t castorium, beavers support everyone in the wetlands, Tom’s gonna make a joke, The Scottish Beaver Trial, impatient beavers, international legal beaver issues, failed reintroductions are beautiful, auto sound mmm rad, autonomus sensory meridian response, her royal majesty’s asmr, and Ella’s favorite ASMR videos. Sources:                Beavers and Castoreum               RSPB on Beaver Reintroductions               Scottish Wildlife Trust Report on Beavers in Knapdale               Scottish Wild Land Group on the Tay Beavers               Legal Battle over Beavers               Oranguta Reintroductions               Short-haired Bumblebee Reintroductions               Berger-Tal on Openness about Failed Reintroductions               Conservation Translocations: a Review of Common Difficulties and Promising Directions               Willard Small's First Rat Maze Study               Slime Mold Maze Study               Maze Solving Using Fatty Acid Chemistry               Tolman's Better Mazes               Dashiell Maze Criticism               Morris Water Maze               Advanced Morris Water Maze Study               Wire Interview with Mycologist Anne Pringle               Crinkle Crinkle Little Shirt               History of ASMR               The First Dedicated Whispering Channel               BBC Interview with Whispers Red               Cardi B ASMR               ASMR to Help you Sleep Beating you Until your Unconscious               1300s AD ASMR - Nun Takes Care of You in Bed (You Have the Plague)

To start the new year we learn about the science and history of recording sound, consider whether people with Prosopagnosia experience Pareidolia, and relive what it was like for Caroline to meet the one and only Sir David Attenborough.Support us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!We also learn about: The Phonoautograph, unplayable recordings, “drop the auto, just, Phonograph”, did you write that joke down tom, debunking Edison’s first recording, someone pretending to be a pigeon, Before or After Recorded Audio? Why did it take us so long to record audio? analog vs digital, Janet’s episode, turning pictures into audio, can you believe Janet’s new pennyfarthing? Do people with Farragolia experience glossolalia, cars do have faces, “you just turned into somebdy else”, the answer is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, aphantasia, throwaway sentences in studies, get high and get deep, and the Caroline Roper Studio for TikToks of Science.            Sources:                The PhonoautographDebunking Edison's Fist RecordingThe Recoording That Never Wanted to be HeardEarly Sound RecordingsAlexander Graham Bell's Ear PhonoautographThe Dawn of Digital RecordingThe Earliest RecordingProsopagnosiaFusiforum Face AreaThe Case of Ron BlackwellThe Neurons That Mistook a Hat for a FaceProsopagnosia and Functional Fusiform Face AreaFusiform Face Area And Pareidolia LinkedPareidolia Question on r/ProsopagnosiaHow Mental Imagery and Pareidolia are Linked

Today we learn about the most interesting topic of all: each other! How did we get into our science fields, and how did we meet? What's our favorite science fact to tell at parties? What advice do we have for aspiring creators?           Support us with a Max Fun Membership!   Join our Discord!           We also learn about: our science origin stories, Tom used to be a theatre kid, Tom’s first podcast, our first TikToks, we’re on a first name basis with Hank, how we met, that time we all freaky friday’d, Ella DESPISED Tom, really long fly sperm, clinical fun fact trials, the immortal jellyfish, hermissenda, moths, Interstellar, The Martian, Demon Slayer, Edge of Tomorrow, advice on getting started on TikTok, Bill Nye could never, The Mower, MMM Honey! and nightmares.Videos we Mention:                Caroline’s First Science TikTok               Tom's First TikTok               Ella's First Big TikTok               Caroline's Bloodwood Tree Video               Ella's Science Speedrun Video               Tom's RGB Video               Hank & John's Video about Having Each Other

On a surprisingly deep holiday episode, we ask, what is a genetic chimera, could it save lives, and is it moral? What are Judas Goats, and what are the challenges faced in conservation? And most importantly, what were the first toys in history and what were our favorite toys?Support us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!We also learn about: Why are mythological chimeras all ladies? a Tom/Joe chimera, “It was very dissapointing”, “I expect better evidence”, a Judas Kiss, goats are weird, helicopter tattoos, ring-necked parakeets, relocating hedgehogs, would you download a goat? Helping other human beings, what a concept! Tom’s yo-yo tricks, children existed! the earliest toys, Ella’s duel disk, tamagotchis, and the future of toys.Sources:                Chimeras in MythologyHuman Chimeras That Already ExistInterspecies Organogenesis Generates Autologous Functional IsletInterspecies Chimerism with Mammalian Pluripotent Stem CellsHuman–animal chimeras: ethical issues about farming chimeric animals bearing human organsFeral Goat Eradications on GalapagosGalapagos Goat EradicationGalapagos Project IsabellaGalapagos Judas GoatsVegetation and Animal Recovery on GalapagosGalapagos Invasive SpeciesIs it Ritual? or is it Children?Split Twig Observations and Carbon DatingAncient Hedgehog Cart (via @trashbandikoot on tiktok)Business Insider Toy List

When was the first pregnancy test? If we know the biggest and smallest sizes in the universe, what is the middlest size? What's the deal with fanfiction?Support us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!           We also learn about: Comedy!, piss prophets, we should know better that science is weird, “Looks like the frog’s ovulating!”, we are in the middle of history, what even is an object, the centi-sand, don't fudge significant figures, Dante’s Self Insert RPF, we get carried away playing the fanfiction pairing game.Sources:                Pee is for pregnant: The history and science of urine-based pregnancy testsAncient Egyptian Pregnancy TestsEffects of Hormones on Barley LeavesHuman Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG)The Long Gestation of the Modern Home Pregnancy TestKevin Kelly NYTimes ReviewSolar System Ratio CalculationMiddlest Size CalculationFanfiction.netAO3

What are the uses of randomness, and how do we even get it? What happens to your body when you don't sleep? And is Stardew Valley secretly... a horror game? Links we Discuss: Infinite Monkey Theorem ResultsThe Hollow Mask IllusionSupport us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!We also learn about: Ella making random noises, chiptune drums, dice fanfiction, the infinite monkey grant, gggggggggggggg, everyone guesses 7 and picks Rock, a very funny joke for our particle physicist listeners, a million random digits, minecraft seeds, the Russian sleep experiment creepypasta, sleep themed band names, the optimal nap, do the dip kids! Maureen the rocking chair champion, um actually it’s called Apophenia, tetris fanfiction, and ludo narrative disonance.Sources:                Humans Cannot Consciously Generate Random Number Sequences               The Predominance Of Seven And The Apparent Spontaneity Of Numerical Choices               Hannah Fry on Rock Paper Scissors               Winning at Rock Paper Scissors               Rock Paper Scissors Strategy               Hot Hand Fallacy and Gambler's Fallacy               How the Mind Works               Galton Discussing Dice for Statistical Experiments               LHC Tippet and the Random Number Table               A Million Random Digits               Radiation is Random               Modern Nuclear Chemistry               Sleep Deprivation               Sleep Stages               Sleep Debt               Obesity and Sleep Deprivation               Part 2               Cardiovascular Health and Sleep Deprivation               Microsleep               Hallucinations               Rat Sleep Deprivation Study               Fatal Familial Insomnia               Fatal Familial Insomnia Stories

How do mind controlling (or rather, behavior controlling) parasites work? Are elephants right or left handed? And what is so great about Naruto Bohemian Rhapsody AMVs?           Read Tom's essay on Tor.com!           Get tickets to Ella's science comedy show!           Support us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!           We also learn about: being cancelled by ants, Ella tries to pronounce latin names, bugs losing their butts, the parasite of the day, thanks for the parasites Charlie! Phylogenetic Inirtia, I DON’T OWN QUEEN OR NARUTO I DONT OWN ANYTHING, and Torchwood X Florence & The Machine fanvids!Sources:Mind Control: How Parasites Manipulate Cognitive Functions in Their Insect Hosts               Ophiocordyceps unilateralis               How a parasitic fungus turns ants into zombies               A specialized fungal parasiteThis Parasite Drugs Its Hosts With the Psychedelic Chemical in ShroomsParasites brainwash grasshoppers into death diveHow does rabies cause aggression?Rabies virus modifies host behaviour through a snake-toxinParasite makes mice lose fear of cats permanentlyBrain parasite may strip away rodents' fear of predators, not just of catsParasites - ToxoplasmosisRight or Left: Elephant calves pick their trunk handedness early on in life

On this SpoOoOoky Halloween episode we learn about a slew of truly spooky frogs, investigate which animal has the most bones, and see how capitalism may have led to the rise of witch hunts!       Support us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!           We also learn about: fluorescence, dinosaur eating frogs (technically), CAN A SPIDER EAT A DINOSAUR??? (NOT CLICKBAIT), frog shazam, Ella learns to love the Freddy Krueger Frog, wishing you a happy bones day, evo-devo, deregionalization, how would antlers wear pants?, the origin of gossip, down with capitalism!Sources:                Horror frog breaks own bones to produce claws               Frogs with Claws, Frogs with Hair               Vampire Flying Frog               New pumpkin toadlet species found               How the Newly Discovered, Mud-Loving ‘Zombie’ Frog Got Its Name               The Freddy Krueger Frog               Freddy Krueger Frog Audio               Freddy Krueger Frog VideoDevil Frog               Vampire Squid               Skeletal Structure, University of IdahoSkeleton, Postcranial, Rommel & ReynoldsNew Bedford Whaling MuseumAxial patterning in snakes and caecilians, Woltering et al.Florida MuseumFrom Lizard to Snake; Behind the Evolution of an Extreme Body Plan, WolteringWitches, Witch-Hunting and Women, Sylvia Federici