In this podcast, the hosts dive into topics like obscure musical instruments, favorite artists from Spotify Wrapped lists, amusing discussions on extinct animals, and planning for future episodes. They also explore mythological creatures, Eurovision entries, starting a career in science communication, diverse interests, and exciting media reviews. Plus, they discuss academic journeys, scientific concepts, New Year's resolutions, HelloFresh promotions, and collaborative aspirations with the Max Fun Network.

The podcast covers quirky facts like cube poop saving on poly count, dangerous bird boop, Christmas tree debate, baked goods in Japan, and kangaroo vaginas. The hosts joke about destroying cows, discuss bakery AI tech, and share fun facts about sperm whales and skin cancer detection.

Discover the fascinating world of superheavy elements and the international race to discover them. Learn about the science behind the periodic table and the work of Dimitri Mendelev. Explore the process of creating new elements by smashing elements together. Delve into the significance of Public Domain Day and the importance of the public domain in the creative process. Learn about the complexities and frustrations of copyright law.

Submit your questions for our end of year Q&A episode at letslearneverything.com/question or in our discord!

Investigative journalist Amy Westervelt from Drilled asks us:  what is carbon capture and is it good or bad or... complicated?  What is the Atlas Network and why are they comically evil dark avengers of the climate world?  And how do you go from recording a podcast in your car to creating an award winning podcast network?🎤 See Tom perform comedy in Brooklyn for Earth Alliance! 🎤Support us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!Timestamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:05:14) Carbon Capture(00:39:05) The Atlas Network/Podcasting(01:08:25) OutroWe also learn about: Emailing the local radio station “Would you like an over-aged intern”, Ella’s a climate change fan, natural carbon capture, compressed carbon is a lot more dangerous than it sounds, fracking with captured carbon, “there’s a lot of creative math happening”, direct air capture, carbon capture needs to happen WITH decarbonization, warming waters make crabs produce neurotoxins, unfreezing zombie viruses, a silver lining to the climate catastrophe is the worm broth, moving the goalposts to 2050, historian of past futures, people used to think fridges were weird, are we just giving up on eating slightly less meat, greenwashing, if you’re an oil company everything looks like a pipeline or a combustion engine, direct air capture is actually cool! even if I have 0 silver bullets I can kill a werewolf with 100 brass bullets, Anthony Fisher battery farming turtles origin story, reader’s digest version of Friedrich Hayek, having an evil meeting in a chicken battery farm, now they’re cooking with gas, Margaret Thatcher’s cameo,  “what a horrible avengers this has been”, THEY LITERALLY INVENTED THE OVERTON WINDOW, they’re a real life conspiracy theory, Amy gets in a debate, “I have a very difficult mother so tense conversations, I’m good at them”, narratives in climate not just look at my chart! podcasts can communicate the people hidden in stories, producing a podcast in a car, “I want people to come away really pissed off”Sources:Mississippi Carbon Capture AccidentIPCC Carbon Capture ReportLatest IPCC ReportNature: "Carbon dioxide removal is an ineffective time machine"The New Report on when we’ll Cross the 1.5 Degree ThresholdThawed Zombie Bug VirusesRevived Worm BrothDrilled on The Atlas Network

Ellen Weatherford discusses carcinization, animal algorithms, and lemming misconceptions. They explore the evolution and benefits of the crab shape, the concept of decarcinization, and the prevalence of animal-inspired algorithms in optimization. They also debunk myths about lemmings and highlight the impact of misinformation. A lively and informative discussion!

Why do we get goosebumps when we hear nails on a chalkboard?  Obviously aliens didn't make the pyramids, but how were they made and what does that teach us about humanity?  And what's the story behind nessie and why the queer community loves cryptids?Things we talk about:Egyptian painting of using water to pull a statueVideo of modern people pulling a blockThe famous Nessie photographSupport us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!Timestamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:05:59) Goosebumps(00:48:43) Not Alien Pyramids(01:23:13) Nessie and Cryptids(01:50:50) OutroWe also learn about: The bumpies you get on your skinnies, the gem trade can be pretty shitty!, Tom read 5 books for this, ahhhh! oh wait have I got goosebumps? the many and few names for goosebumps, piloerection, I just got objective chills, animal goosebumps, famous geologist and pigeon lover Charles Darwin, “I took a stuffed snake to the monkey house”, porcupine piloerection, gustatory stimuli, grima, it’s not ew it’s euggghh, Easy Lovery by Phil collins, Screaming Ape; Loop. the Head Wizard tm, biomimicry, nails on a chalkboard, Scraping Sounds and Disgusting Noises, (SOUNDBITE OF FINGERNAILS ON CHALKBOARD), so is that better or worse? I guess the kids are listening to screeching sounds for music, prehistoric chalkboard monster, ruining Ella’s spooky cold open, 118 pyramids! you’re both racist! when did the ancient aliens theory stated, von Daniken’s racist conspiracy, the racism in believing only wwhite people could make architecture, plumbobs! moving 5000 pound limestone blocks, the genius post ramp system, it took 100 years to realize the painting was showing how to move stuff with water, Gregory Marouard’s demonstration of moving a block, the Nile used to run right by the Giza pyramids, the mundane power of having a lot of people, 20,000 people to build the great pyramids, the oldest papyrus ever found: the diary of merer, the pyramid builders weren’t slaves, the bent pyramid, the plesiosaur, cryptids that turned out to be real like the thylacinem, fake cryptids, cryptid comes from cryptozoology in the 80s, Nessie swimming down the nile, you gotta try Irn Bru, Columba the Monk’s encounter with nessie from the 565 AD, Columba was a dual class monk cleric, Marmaduke’s hoaxes, hippo leg umbrella, the Nessie-sary search, eDNA, you pee you poop you die, eels in the loch, cryptids and the queer community, cyptids are the people’s mythology, token straight scientist friend.Sources:The Biology of FearDarwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and AnimalsPorcupine PiloerectionThe Psychological study of Emotional PiloerectionChills in Different Sensory DomainsThe emotion of GrimaScraping Sounds and Disgusting NoisesNPR Chalkboard TranscriptsPsychoacoustics of a Chilling SoundPsychoacoustics of Chalkboad SqueakingAnatomy of the Ear---Medium Article on the "impossibility" of Giza PyramidsThe great pyramid of GizaPseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient AliensTools Used in Ancient Egyptian ConstructionAncient RampsUsing the Nile for blocksSliding Friction on Dry and Wet SandThe Diary of Merer Papyri---Cryptozoology Museum: What is Cryptozoology?National Catholic Register: Story of the Loch Ness MonsterUniversity of Aberdeen: The PictsHighland Pictish Trail: Pictish StonesNew York Times: Loch Ness Fiction is Stranger than TruthLoch Ness Sightings WebsiteScience Focus: eDNA and Loch NessThe Guardian: eDNA and giant eelsDaily Mail: Psychology of Loch Ness Monster BelieversNessie is My Girlfriend! Cryptids and Queer PeopleVox "How the Babadook became the LGBTQ icon we didn’t know we needed"Cryptid Queer Icons

For our 2nd anniversary and our 50th episode (which it definitely is, don't check) we cooperatively tackled a topic folks have been asking us to do for ages: The Ig Nobel Prize!Check out our new merch! Hats! Posters! Mugs!Images and Videos we talk about:The Levitating Frog VideoThe Best of Miss Sweetie PooOcean Mixing Anchovy DiagramThe Grabbing Tentacle Robot VideoNecrobotic Spider DiagramNecrobotic Spider VideoThe Juke 8Daisuke Practicing his SpeechJoin our Discord!Timestamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:08:18) The Ig Nobel Prize(00:45:00) The 2023 Ig Nobel Winners(01:28:36) The Ig Nobel Peace Prize(01:59:09) OutroWe also learn about: Tom does an evil scientist laugh at Atto Seconds, Ella watch hours of Ig ceremonies, honoring achievements that make people laugh then think, the rotating category, six people have turned down the Nobel, comedy? with a question mark? trying to purposefully win an Ig is like recreating The Room, Limburger cheese, Andre Geim loves his Ig as much as his Nobel, “if people don’t have a very good sense of humor, they are usually not very good scientists either”, Roy Glauber the keeper of the broom ALSO WON A NOBEL, “all they wanted to ask about was that damn broom”, the 24/7 Lectures, Mandelbrot goading miss sweetie poo, Ella’s Favorite Ig-ventions, partially unboiling an egg on stage, Chernobyl Bra Face Masks, that laughing and crying human emotion, cadaver nose hairs with surprisingly few nose hair variations, we all stan replication, Tom’s dad was robbed of the Ig, boring teachers, backwards speakers, maybe their neurons work backwards, the taste of rocks, the trick condition, electric taste, sexism in the stanford toilet, statistically significant anchovy boning affecting the water column, the fish kama sutra, how can i turn that dead spider into a robot? necrobotics is surprisingly easy, anti peace prizes, Pauling’s Nobel burn on Teller, Tom gets recognized, Lal Bihari’s schemes to become undead, “Lal bihari died in 1976 but he is feeling much better”, MAMAAAA OOOoooOOOH, sweet caroline, working as a waitress, karaoke means empty orchestra, Shigeichi Negishi’s first machine, Inoue’s Juke 8 origin story, Inoue is up there with Jonas Salk for not patenting Karaoke, Inoue’s Ig Nobel standing ovation, I’m not going to cry, I just started crying what the fuck, don't tell Ella but Toms my favorite, sometimes three ding dongs can make a podcastSources:About the Ig NobelsMarc Abrahams articlesAndrew GeimLimburger CheeseKeeper of the BroomMiss Sweetie PooBest of Miss Sweetie PooWired Article: A Gala for Weird ScienceMark Hosteetler2019 Awards - Very Fun Watch2015 Awards - Even more Fun24/7 LecturesPast winnersMichigan Driving LawThe BlasterBra Gas Mask---Nose HairsCrowd Effects of Looking UpBored Students and TeachersArs Technica on the IgsBrain Patterns of Speaking BackwardsEating FossilsJamais Vu and Semantic SatiationElectric ChopsticksThe Stanford ToiletOcean Mixing from Spawning FishNecrobotic Spider Grippers---Marc Abrahams Nobel Thoughts Interview with Linus PaulingStanley Cohen Nobel Thoughts InterviewNYTimes on Lal BihariLal Bihari's Ig Nobel CeremonyMatt Alt on Shigeichi Negishi's First Karaoke Machine for KotakuDaisuke Inoue's Story told for Topic MagazineTime Magazine on Daisuke InoueDaisuke Inoue's Ig Nobel Ceremony

Annie Rauwerda discusses the history of Wikipedia and the concept of boring numbers. They explore the evolution of encyclopedias, the limitations of the Wikipedia interface, and the enduring impact of Wikipedia. They also delve into the controversy of editing a Wikipedia page and share their experience of creating a perpetual stew.

What lies below the depths of the sea... and why should we stop being so afraid of it?  Okay we know crystals can't heal you, but could they actually do... something?  And why are time capsules more complicated than you'd think, and why should we love them anyway?Images/Videos we talk about:New Yorker Comic about the Deep SeaThe Phantom Jellyfish (warning for Thalassophobia)The Venus Flow Basket SpongeSupport us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!Timestamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:05:04) The Abyssopelagic Zone(00:54:21) The Crystal Healing Boom(01:26:19) Time Capsules(01:54:18) OutroWe also learn about:  The Zones of the Ocean, the midnight zone, the hadal zone in the trenches, Tom forgets that water freezes, cold water and thermal vents, pompeii worm’s bacterial jacket, chemosynthesis, the deep see adaptation alarm, pisolite, it’s a myth that more people have been to space than the bottom of the ocean, the challenger deep, deep sea and moon exploration were happening around the same time, we actually DO know more about the sea than the moon, the abyssal plains is half the planet… but people don’t care, thalassophobia, there are no amateur deep sea explorers, the enigmitization of the deep sea, deep sea gigantism, why not visit the deep and eat delicious foot long shrimp, phantom jellyfish, venus flower baskets symbiosis is WILD, 500 sea pigs facing in the same direction, the burglar alarm atolla jellyfish, artificial E Jelly lure, gelatinous little guys, “i thought that bit was gonna be way better than it was”, lateral line, the cusk eel is the deepest fish, whales dive deeper to send messages farther, marine snow, Ella pulls a Caroline, deep sea nodule mining, we can still like things and not believe in them scientifically, crystals DON'T date to ancient Egypt, amethyst hangover cure, to be fair they didn’t even know what crystals were, bad economic or healthcare pressures may push folks to crystals, crystals do actually have vibrational properties just not those kinds! the piezoelectric effect, quartz watches and pickups, paranormal powers placebo or priming, a great psych experiment where no one had to take LSD, we love a repeatable study, the real benefits of crystals from placebo and community, confirmation bias is powerful and good, actually harmful crystals, don’t give babies crystals for teething, gems are just shiny, you can ship of theseus the voyager topic from every time we mention it, foundation deposits weren’t exactly time capsule but were cool, leaving notes in houses, Time Capsules are optimistic and kind of silly, the dissappointed norweigan time capsule kids, deciding what to put in a capsule is really really tricky, what is sublime and what is trivial? taking a picture of a polroid, the interesting complications of time capsules, the time travel fever, “artificial special collections”, Tom’s own time capsule from 6th grade, good teachers are so good. Caroline’s gonna cry again!Sources:The Deep Ocean: Life in the AbyssThe Abyssal ZoneHow Do Animals Survive in the Deep Ocean?ChemosynthesisWe Know More About the MoonWe Know More About the Moon 2Gene FeldmanFear and loathing of the deep ocean: why don't people care about the deep sea?"Venus Flower Basket "Eye in the SeaHow We Found the Giant SquidHuman ImpactSpecies in the CCZ---The Guardian: American Anxiety Drives A Crystal BoomOprah Daily: Healing CrystalsStanford: Understanding People's Obsession with CrystalsTime: Do Crystals WorkLivescience: Crystal HealingOED: AmethystRobert Boyle: An Essay About the Origine & Virtues of Gems1981 Paper: Piezoelectric Effects in Quartz-Rich RocksPiezoelectricity and Its Applications2008 Paper: Prescribing “placebo treatments”: results of national survey of US internists and rheumatologistsThe New England Journal of Medicine: Why Unconventional Medicine?2010 Paper: Mystical Stones in Oncology: Crystal Healing Power or Perfect Nonsense?Stanford Medicine: Patient Mindset Matters in Healing and Deserves More StudyForbes Health: Healing CrystalsNationwide Children's: The Dangers of Amber Teething NecklacesIGS: Gemstone Toxicity Table---William E Jarvis Paper on Time CapsulesEgyptian Foundation DepositsMatt Novak Interview on Time CapsulesBoring Norwegian Time CapsuleAtlantic's "The Paradox of Time Capsules"History of Westinghouse Time CapsuleThe Book Inside the Westinghouse Time CapsuleScience Reporting on the Westinghouse Time CapsuleThe Local Michigain Time Capsule