Earth's Complexity: Hosts Ella, Tom, and Caroline discuss Earth's core, emphasizing its complexity and our limited understanding. They compare the crust to the zest of a lemon, highlighting how small it is relative to the entire planet, igniting curiosity about the mysteries still beneath our feet.
In this episode of Let's Learn Everything, hosts Ella, Tom, and Caroline explore the fascinating inner layers of the Earth. They discuss how the Earth's core is much more complex than just hot rocks, delving into topics like the outer and inner core. Interestingly, they highlight that while we know little about what exactly lies beneath, our understanding includes the distinction between the Earth's physical layers, like the crust and mantle, and their behaviors. They encourage listeners to think about how little we know about our own planet, emphasizing that the crust where we live is merely a tiny fraction of the Earth's total depth, likening it to the zest of a lemon. This serves as a reminder that there is still so much to learn and discover, not just about the Earth but also about the various scientific concepts surrounding it.
Earth's Layers: Earth's layers include a soft asthenosphere for tectonic movement, hard lower mantle, and a core of molten iron and nickel, key to its structure and geological processes.
Earth's internal structure consists of layers that play crucial roles in geology. The upper asthenosphere is a soft layer allowing tectonic plates to move, while the lower mantle is much harder and contains the mineral bridgemanite, essential for life. The core, formed during the iron catastrophe, contains molten iron and nickel at extremely high temperatures, with a solid inner core making up much of the Earth's mass. Interestingly, while the crust is relatively thin, a majority of the Earth’s volume is composed of the mantle and core. Understanding these layers helps us comprehend the processes that shape our planet, from plate tectonics to potential life support, emphasizing that the mantle, often overlooked, is vital to Earth's composition and function.
Earth's Depths: The Earth's structure is complex, with only a tiny fraction explored. Most heat comes from its formation and radioactive decay, highlighting the challenges in studying the depths. The Kola Borehole shows how much mystery remains about our planet's core, despite efforts through seismic analysis.
Exploring the Earth's structure reveals its complexity, where the layers change from solid to liquid and back again, influenced by heat and pressure. Despite attempts, humans have only managed to dig a small portion into the crust, showing the challenges faced due to high temperatures and pressure. The Earth's internal heat primarily comes from its formation and the decay of radioactive materials. Discoveries like these remind us of how much mystery still surrounds the core, and projects like the Russian Kola Superdeep Borehole illustrate how hard it is to understand what lies below. Even using techniques like seismic wave analysis from earthquakes helps scientists infer the nature of the Earth's interior. Though we know some things, there's so much left to learn about the depths of the planet, making geological studies both fascinating and challenging.
Earth's Secrets: Earthquakes help scientists study Earth's interior through seismic waves, revealing a liquid outer core and a solid inner core, with ongoing discoveries enriching our knowledge of planetary structure.
Earthquakes provide unique insights into our planet's interior, functioning like a form of echolocation. Scientists measure seismic waves to learn about the Earth's layers. Notably, S waves can't pass through liquid, hinting at the presence of a liquid outer core. Inga Lehmann discovered a solid inner core, revealing complexities like its rotation and crystalline structure, demonstrating how seismic data can unravel the mysteries hidden deep within our planet, even leading to future explorations beyond Earth. This understanding continues to evolve as scientists discover new features and behaviors of the Earth's core, showcasing the ongoing journey of exploration and knowledge in geophysics.
Inner Core Mystery: Earth's inner core is complex, exhibiting unique rotation and growth behaviors, contributing to our magnetic field, and presenting scientific mysteries that shape our understanding of planetary physics.
The inner core of Earth is fascinating and complex. It rotates differently than expected and is not a perfect sphere, affecting how seismic waves travel. Despite its solid state, a mystery called the inner core nucleation paradox exists, making it unclear how it formed. This solid core grows slowly, contributing to our planet's magnetic field. The Earth serves as a unique sample for scientific study since we can't directly understand its core. Researchers learn about our planet by studying others, like Mars, since they can't replicate Earth’s extreme conditions in labs. It's incredible that beneath us lies a paradox based on physical principles we are still uncovering. Understanding the core can reveal crucial information about Earth’s functions, including that its movement helps generate the magnetic field. Thus, our existence is influenced by intricate and mysterious processes deep within Earth.
Earth's Core Insights: Exploring the Earth's core reveals its vital role in sustaining life through its magnetic field, showing there's still much to learn about our planet and the science that supports habitability.
Understanding our planet's core is fascinating because it connects to so many aspects of life on Earth, including its magnetic field, which protects us from harmful solar radiation. This core, often overlooked, plays a crucial role in supporting habitability. Scientists continue to explore and theorize about it, revealing our ongoing journey to learn about Earth. Moreover, just like the mysteries of our planet, there’s so much left to discover, similar to how parts of the ocean remain unexplored. This highlights the importance of curiosity and ongoing research in science, as there are layers of knowledge waiting for us to uncover, much like the invisible processes within the Earth that sustain life. Each theory and discovery reminds us how interconnected everything is and how much we have yet to learn, encouraging us to keep questioning and exploring the world around us.
Consumer Cycle: Planned obsolescence prompts manufacturers to design products with limited functionality, encouraging consumers to frequently purchase new items. This concept relates to the bicycle industry's evolution, where safer, more complex models led to widespread sales and raised concerns about sustaining demand.
Planned obsolescence is the practice where products are designed to have a limited lifespan, making them either fade in function or become outdated, forcing consumers to buy new ones. This concept is explored through the evolution of bicycles, where the industry shifted from simple models to more complex and safer designs, leading to a boom in bicycle sales. As cycling became popular among all classes of people, manufacturers faced the challenge of maintaining sales when everyone's already bought a bike. Strategies like introducing new models and features keep the cycle (pun intended) of consumption going, similar to how tech companies release new gadgets each year, even if the previous ones still function well. Thus, planned obsolescence influences both the bike industry and a broader range of consumer goods, urging constant innovation to drive continuous purchasing.
Planned Obsolescence: Bicycle sales dropped sharply after many bought bikes, leading to marketing strategies like planned obsolescence, where products are designed to expire or become outdated to boost sales. This trend continues today with various industries, notably electronics, prioritizing frequent upgrades over durability.
Bicycle sales drastically fell after many people bought bikes, similar to how phone sales can drop once most have smartphones. This led the bicycle industry to innovate marketing strategies like annual model changes, which the car industry also adopted. Planned obsolescence became a norm, making products intentionally less durable to encourage ongoing purchases. This tactic, suggested as early as 1932, affects various products today, including phones, with features designed to fail or become outdated quickly. As companies strategize to boost sales, they prioritize making their products appealing enough to encourage frequent upgrades rather than focusing on longevity or repairability.
Planned Obsolescence: Planned obsolescence promotes a throwaway culture in electronics and fashion, encouraging quick disposal of products and contributing to significant e-waste. Companies often design items to be unrepairable, leading to financial and environmental costs, though recovery initiatives exist as potential solutions.
Companies often design products to be difficult or impossible to repair, leading to a throwaway culture. This planned obsolescence can be seen in the electronics market, where devices are made with tamper-resistant screws and glued parts. Fast fashion contributes to this mindset by encouraging quick disposal of clothing. Items are often discarded after being used only a handful of times. Fast fashion brands produce numerous collections each year, creating a perception that older items are no longer desirable, further fueling waste. The impact of this behavior is significant, as billions of electronic devices are thrown away annually, along with valuable materials being wasted in e-waste. Initiatives, like those by the Royal Mint to recover gold from e-waste, show a potential path forward, but much work is needed to address the short-term focus on profit that currently dominates industry practices.
Consumer Behavior: UK consumers are keeping clothes longer and prefer second-hand items. However, fast fashion creates massive waste, with many returns going to landfills. Legal obsolescence pushes people to buy new products, complicating sustainability efforts as economic pressures outweigh environmental goals.
People in the UK tend to keep their clothes longer than before, showing a shift in consumer behavior. Non-padded jackets last around six years, while underwear lasts less than three. There's also a preference for second-hand clothes, which are kept for longer than newer items. However, fast fashion leads to tons of waste, with many returned items ending up in landfills. Legal and planned obsolescence, like the scrappage scheme for cars, pushes consumers to buy new products even if their old ones are still usable. Environmental goals sometimes conflict with economic realities, as not everyone can afford new, more sustainable options, further complicating the issue of waste and sustainability in fashion and automotive industries. Support for second-hand markets could help counteract these waste trends as more consumers become aware of their impact.
Planned Obsolescence: To fight planned obsolescence, consumers should buy used goods and advocate for policies like the right to repair, while governments can enforce regulations mandating product longevity and easy repairs, promoting sustainability.
Consumers can combat planned obsolescence by buying used products and supporting legislation that holds companies accountable for product longevity. Countries like France are leading the way by mandating disclosures on product lifespan and repair policies. This empowers consumers and encourages companies to design sustainable products. Government intervention, through regulations like the right to repair, is essential for curbing waste and promoting a culture of sustainability. Support for these laws can inspire changes in consumer behavior, leading to a collective movement towards a more sustainable economy that prioritizes quality and durability over constant consumption. Ultimately, every small action, whether through personal choices or advocating for policy changes, contributes to a larger shift away from planned obsolescence.
Sustainable Shift: A shift towards sustainability is emerging, driven by consumer awareness and governmental response, highlighting the importance of questioning consumption and fostering creativity in communities.
There's a growing awareness about the impact of consumer habits on the environment, and it's encouraging to see a shift in attitudes towards sustainability. As governments and consumers recognize the issues of planned obsolescence and waste, there's hope for change in the next decade. This urgency is critical, as damage has been done, but the systems that created these challenges can be transformed. The podcast inspires listeners to ask more questions and seek fulfillment in life, highlighting how change is possible when we rethink consumption and prioritize sustainability. Community interactions, like animations shared in conversations, are valuable in expressing shared passions and fostering creativity. It's a time of potential growth and change, and small actions can lead to significant impacts over time.
70: The Core of the Earth & Planned Obsolescence
Recent Episodes from Let's Learn Everything!
70: The Core of the Earth & Planned Obsolescence
What's actually going on in the center of the Earth, and just how interesting and useful could it be? And how did the now ubiquitous Planned Obsolescence start with... bicycles??
Images we Talk About:
An Early Bicycle
Bilhert's Animations
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:05:06) Epigenetics
(00:58:24) The World Games
(01:45:52) Outro
Support us with a Max Fun Membership!
We also learn about: Core Memories, we live on the zest of a lemon, there’s something neapolitan icecreamy about the Earth, Bridgmanite is 38% of the Earth, The Iron Catastrophe sounds metal as hell, an audio journey to the center of the Earth, “Eat My Ass Out Radiolab”, Earth’s Internal Heat Budget is half original energy and half nuclear, the Earth won’t cool down for at least another 10 years, the American Miscellaneous Society’s Project Mohole, in 20 years we dug 12 km and escaped the solar system, when you don’t have earthquakes- use grenades! the shadow in the center of the Earth, Inge Lehmann kicks ass, “the master of a black art”, the inner core wobbles, the core is grainy and grows faster under Indonesia, the 2 most magical things: cold beer and hand warmers, the Inner Core Nucleation Paradox, “how wonderful that we have been met with a paradox, now we have some hope of making progress” - Niels Bohr, the Earth’s magnetic dynamo, Planetary Habitability is uh pretty important, everyone say thank you to the core, the innermost inner core, sometimes the one you’re looking for has been right below you this whole time, Tom falls hook line and sinker for a sudden 175 page bicycle paper, the first bikes without pedals or steering, the boneshaker, older men used tricycles, only the rich and adventurous used bikes, the safety iphone, you’re still using a bike 8? 10% of ads had a bicycle, Bernard London coined phrase the phrase 100 years ago, Planned Obsolescence was a legal proposal, contrived durability, there’s so many flavors and they all suck, e-waste, fast fashion is a vicious cycle, please I’m so full no more obsolescence words, car scrapping, why can we only help the planet when we also make a ton of money too, I’ve never seen someone so excited over Right to Repair, what do you mean you didn’t check every country’’s legal system?
Source
SEG Wiki on the Layers of the Earth
Forbes: Bridgmanite
“Six ‘Must-Have’ Minerals for Life’s Emergence”
Olsen Lecture on the Iron Catastrophe
Bureaeu of Economic Geology on Mohole & Kola
Science Article on Bridgmanite
Britannica on Richard Dixon Oldham
AMNH's Wonderful Article on Inge Lehmann & Earthquakes
Don Anderson Paper Review of the Inner Core
Smithsonian Mag on Inge Lehmann
Excellent Review from Harvard on Lehmann's Groundbreaking Paper
Geological Society of America on Super Rotation
Scientific American on Core Slowing
Space on Core Growth
University of Leeds on the Inner Core Nucleation Paradox
Scientific American on Core Paradox
2023 Paper on the Innermost Inner Core
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Science Direct: Planned Obsolescence
1984 Paper: An Economic Theory of Planned Obsolescence
1998 Paper: The Most Benevolent Machine: A Historical Assessment of Cycles in Canada
2023: A Deep Dive Into Addressing Obsolescence in Product Design: A Review
IndieAuto: 1960's VW Ad
PERC: Planned Obsolescence: The Good and the Bad
BBC: How The Right to Repair Might Change Technology
The Guardian: Planned Obsolescence: The Outrage of Our Electronic Waste Mountain
CBS News: Apple is Sending Out Payments to iPhone Owners iImpacted by "Batterygate." Here's what they are getting.
The Evening Standard: Apple Battery Lawsuit
Iberdrola: Planned obsolescence
UNITAR: Global e-Waste Monitor 2024
BBC: E-waste: Five Billion Phones to be Thrown Away in 2022
European Parliament: The Impact of Textile Production and Waste on the Environment (Infographics)
The Atlantic: The Neurological Pleasures of Fast Fashion
Britannica: Fast Fashion
Ellen MacArthur Foundation: Fashion and the Circular Economy
WRAP: 2022 Press Release
WRAO: 2022 Report
NatGeo: Fast Fashion Goes to Die in the World's Largest Fog Desert.
UK Parliament: Vehicle scrappage schemes
Cars Lost Forever In The 2009 Scrappage Scheme
BBC: 2030 petrol ban
2019 Paper: Consumer Responses to Planned Obsolescence
Right to Repair EU
European Parliament: Right to Repair
BHS: Sewing Skills
69: Hank Green, Sex Science, Reverse Platypi, and the First Dick Drawing
Longtime inspiration and friend of the show Hank Green joins us for a very special episode! How do colonial organisms with just one queen avoid incest? How many Ig Nobels have gone to sex science? Can the team figure out the identity of the Reverse Platypus? When was the first dick grafitti, and could the story actually be... wholesome???
Watch: The video of the unexpected moment
Images we talk about:
MRI of Sex
Rat Pants Diagram
The Phallodeum Image
Venus of Hohle Fels
The Debatable Dick
Hadrian's Wall Dick Graffiti
Vindolanda's SECVNDINVS Dick
The Vindolanda Dick
Nikasitimos's Dick
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:06:40) How Not to Colonial Incest
(00:20:52) Ig Nobel Sex Studies
(00:39:07) The Reverse Platypus
(01:06:31) The First Dick Graffiti
(01:33:10) Hank Questions
(01:53:44) Outro
Support us with a Max Fun Membership!
We also learn about:
Emmy award winning standup comedian Hank Green, the fellowship of the ning, the literal birds and the bees, the icelandic ant geneology app, icelandians are my favorite colonial organism, breeding flight, slay queen - happy pride everyone it’s when we’re recording this, sperm storage, queens have a life's worth of sperm and eggs inside them, Spermathica that’s my word of the day, the termite queen stores the sperm inside a king, “he’s not my boyfriend he’s my sperm storage unit”, naked mole rats may do incest but they dont have cancer! the answer is “all of the strategies somewhere”, after all reproduction is The Thing in evolution, the ribbed condom won all the prizes that year, any topic can be a sex topic if you try hard enough, I think the ancient greeks proved a gay bomb would make them more powerful, MRI Porn is a new fetish, we should study sex more, sex makes you want to pee, whatever you’re doing pee right now, The Sex Live of Pantsed Rats, would rats be sexier if they wore pants like this or this, our google history is fucked, polyester testicle sling contraception, The Awesome Polyester Scrotum Cup Club, if you’re creative they’re all sex numbers, shark live birth is metal, teamwork - what is this the lateral podcast? Jules Howard presents Duck Vagina VR, “if it’s Caecilians I’m going to be so mad”, Bizarre Beasts gave Tom a heart attack, the Reproduction DLC, Caroline falls in love with Caecilians, “they come in blue!”, all that matters is How Do They Bone! lots of non mammals give live births sharks to snakes to aphids, phallodeum: penis day! “we had to make a whole new peen word!”, phallodeum photo watermark, I haven’t looked at every caecilian penis okay! “can you make it into cheeeese thoooough”, we’ve invented a new fetish and a new delicacy, Caecillians and Sicillians have a lot in common, why are not talking about this more! “it’s not surprisingly, maybe I’m just very smart!”, 40,000 year old genital sculptures, Venus Hohle Fels, the debated dick, ah the conclusive slit! “it’s like looking for a face in a cloud”, the penis test is whether it would be confiscated in school, penis art vs penis graffiti, how many penises on Hadrian’s wall, almost one dick per mile, time to penis, “are you ready for your next penis”, Secundinus deez nuts, when Nick and Tim have sex so good they carve about it on a wall, “little special moments all over the world”, Pompeii sex graffiti, eventually this will be historic! we bully Hank into following Caroline, competing on TikTok is hard and also it’s broken, Hank derails us with a mouth coil, Hank’s science journey, counting clams for the science fair, people like seeing real science, Thanks Hank!
Sources:
List of Ig Nobel Prizes
MRI Genitals Study
Vice: MRI Sex Study
Rats Having Sex in Little Outfits Study
The Rat Study but Humans
Sex Improves Breathing Study
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NatGeo Caecilian Overview
Textbook Caecilian Overview
Excellent Caecilian Reproduction Review
Extensive Paper on the Phalodeum
Various Non-mammal Milks
The Recent Study on Caecilian Milk
NYTimes Interview on Caecilian Milk
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2009 Paper: A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany
Smithsonian Magazine: The Cave Art Debate
New Atlas: Scientists Clash Over World's Oldest Penis Carving
2023 Paper- Symbolic innovation at the onset of the Upper Paleolithic in Eurasia shown by the personal ornaments from Tolbor-21 (Mongolia)
IFL Science: Ancient Roman Penis Graffiti Shows Humans Will Never Change
BBC News: Lewd Roman Insult Found on Stone Near Hadrian's Wall
The Guardian: 2,500-Year-Old Erotic Graffiti Found in Unlikely Setting on Aegean Island
68: Phrenology & Lego
It's an infamous pseudoscience, but what haven't we learned from the rise and fall of Phrenology? And Lego are ubiquitous, which means there's a lot to learn and a lot of nuance for our love of these stackable bricks.
Things we Talk About:
The Phrenology Pamphelet
The Lego Cullen House
Lego Seismometer
CERN Lego Device
The Brick Experiment Channel
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:03:32) Phrenology
(00:56:34) Lego
(01:38:25) Outro
Support us with a Max Fun Membership!
We also learn about: Get the lego phrenology set now! just listing all the lego sets, academic racism, the head wasn’t always so important, the Cardiocentric Hypothesis, Minds Behind the Brain, ancient egyptians just tossed the brain, Aristotle thought the brain was a radiator to keep the heart from overheating, the brain doesn't Look like it does anything, Galen suggested the brain might be important actually, sperm for brains, Caroline enjoys tricking us by saying a person’s good ideas first, Cephelocentric Hypothesis, mapping the brain in the 1600s, NOT related to the frenulum, buzz feed phrenology quizzes, flexing your brain so hard it breaks your skull, Tom is proven to be not funny, our desire for personality tests and fortune telling, travelling phrenology salesmen, there shouldn’t be medical celebrities, phrenology was a passion of the elites, reading an actualy travelling phrenology sheet, “differently bumped”, edibnugrh fringe was a lot less fun when it was the phrenology capital, we checked and it’s actually mozambique have the best brains - just gotta take the L on this one, Marie Jean Pierre Flourens kicked ass and helped kill Phrenology with real science, it comes in like a fad and leaves like a fad, I only liked phrenology before it was cool, the scammers are making our racism look bad! we’re not harsh enough about phrenology, “repoliticizing” phrenology, when it’s built its just one thing but when its pieces it can be anything, shirtless lego jacob, 20,000 lego sets, Play Well - Le go, after enough fires lets just stop using wood, stud and tube design, the lego To Kill a Mockingbird set, mindstorm was ahead of its time, Caroline’s got their lego driver’s license from legoland, lego nerd culture, adults without kids spend more, “transbranding”, Ella had to read so much corporate jargon but it’s impossible to not talk about their business strategies , lego seismograph outside the eras tour, CERN lego, their story is better than ours dad, instructions for a lego skin cell printer, LEGO: expensive for toys - cheap for science equipment! David Aguilla’s prosthetic project, Tracey Williams’ Lego Lost at Sea project, plastic’s resilience is a positive and a negative, lego replay and reuse, this is a trust test of nuance and both things being true at the same time.
Sources:
Minds Behind the Brain: A History of the Pioneers and Their Discoveries by Stanley Finger
The University of Queensland: Understanding the Brain: A Brief hHistory
Brain Beats Heart: A Cross-Cultural Reflection
Merriam Webster: Phrenology
The Antlantic: The Shape of Your Head and the Shape of Your Mind
Britannica: Phrenology
Smithsonian Insider: Study Finds Facial Structure of Men and Women Has Become More Similar Over Time
2005 Paper: The Reliability of Sex Determination of Skeletons From Forensic Context in the Balkans
The Guardian: Archaeology’s Sexual Revolution
2018 Paper: An Empirical, 21st Century Evaluation of Phrenology
Carnegie Mellon University: Phrenology
2021 Paper: Phrenology and the Average Person, 1840–1940
The University of Edinburgh: Phrenology and Edinburgh
Gina Rippon: When Bigger Isn’t Always Better: How History Got The Female Brain Wrong
Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill on Sexual Equality
The Guardian: Django Unchained and the racist science of phrenology
2007 Paper: Marie Jean Pierre Flourens (1794–1867): An Extraordinary Scientist of His Time
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Lego Twilight Cullen House
Brick Architect: Number of Lego Bricks
Brickset: Number of Lego Sets
Brick Economy Most Valuable
Brick Economy Most Expensive
Wikipedia: Legoland
Lego History Chapter by Lars Konzack
Lego Mindstorms Wikipedia
What is Transmedia? Article
Lego and Transmedia Research
Lego And “Transbranding” Blogpost
Lego Seismometer Kit
Lego Seismometer Youtube Clip
Guardian Article: David Aguilar Lego Prostheses
Hand Solo Youtube Channel
Lego Table From CERN
Article on Other Lego Scientific Tools!
Cardiff University: Lego Bioprinter
Lego 3D Printer Paper
Lego Inventions Video (Pancake Flipper and Super 8 Projector)
Lego T-Rex Sculpture
Lego Every Day Stuff Ideas
Lego Lost at Sea Twitter
Lego Shark Tweet
Tracey Williams Book: Adrift: Lego Lost at Sea
Tokio Express Crash Context Article
Tracey Williams: Lego at Sea Paper
Statista Lego CO2 Emissions
Lego: 99% Outside Emissions
Lego Replay Initiative
BBC: Lego from Recycled Plastic 2018
Wired: Lego from Recycled Plastic 2024
Recast: LLE on SIF - Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
While we're sending Tom "Well Wissage" and a speedy recovery, enjoy Ella & Caroline on this tremendous episode of one of our sibling shows on the network, Secretly Incredibly Fascinating!
67: Epigenetics & The Overlooked World Games
You may have heard Epigenetics used as a buzzword, but what is it really? Is it something we know about, something still new, or... both? And what in the world are the World Games, and what makes them better than the Olympics?
Links we Talk About:
Ella's SciShow Video on X Chromosome Diseases
Sport Casting
Fin Swimming
Haudenosaunee Flag
Christopher Root's Incredible Paper on the Colonization of Lacrosse
The Adorable NYMuseum Haudenosaunee Video
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:04:21) Epigenetics
(00:57:40) The World Games
(01:50:54) Outro
Support us with a Max Fun Membership!
We also learn about: Ella passes her driving exam Tom’s not bitter about John Oliver, what is y’alls familialarity, epi- meaning on top of, epigentics are like tabs or blacked out text in the book of your DNA, epigentics stop your brain from turning into bone, oh did other people help Rosalind Franklin with the double helix? bases and double helixes and histones, literally blocking DNA from being read, epigentics are less cyberpunk and more exercise is good for you, epigentics is why you go blind from masturbating, it’s simpler in animals, “I’ve been here the whole time!”, “you’re enough Tom”, 2 X chromosomes means you have an extra, X Inactivation, Calico Cats are Genetic Mosaics, your epigentic markers are like your browsing cookies: you clear them before giving them to someone, are pollinators plant cucks? Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance, is it nature or nurture? generational trauma doesn’t have to be epigenetic to be real, inherited cherry blossom mouse sensitivity, the effects are subtle, Ella might have a high epigenetic age from her rock and roll lifestyle, this is so new there’s so much we don’t know, the epigenetic advice: healthy diet and exercise, how different could the world games be? casting for sport, wait did you hear me say break dancing is this a bit, the worst SEO for a name ever, Rugby 7s started at the World Games, the World Games are as old as Beyoncé, let’s do our own thing we’ll definitely be more popular than the olympics, tried at the hague? we sure did! at the least the World Games are being honest about it being a bumpy ride, the “Memorandum of Understanding” reads like a parenting agreement, grouping by sport not nation, the curse of hosting the olympics, reviving forgotten sports like Tug of War, wait who was first?? guys come on have some respect for yourself! breaking records with fins, shark skin suits aren’t biomimicry, tech doping, fin swimming and barebow archery, murderball is an official world game sport, the NYTimes officially called lacrosse “frat boy” sport, mile long hundred person lacrosse, of course sports are spiritually healing, colonizing lacrosse, Haudenosaunee - the people of the long house, Tom cut it with the sad voice tell us what happened, “we wouldn’t be here without their medicine game… they need to be there”, we’ll have to see if the olympics accept the Haudenosaunee, if your games are as old as beyonce you dont have to worry about breaking tradition, “nothing is silly, everything should be respected and held up”, Ella goes OFF and takes over the topic.
Sources:
Chromosome Structure
Aboud et al. What Is Epigenetics?
Nature: Types of Epigenetic Modifications
Study on Exercise and Epigenetics
Nature: Diet and Epigenetics
Macdonald: Epigenetic Imprinting
Nature: When Imprinting goes wrong
Basta & Pandya: The Beautiful X Chromosome
Getting the Right Amount of X
Review on X Inactivation
Calico Cat X Chromosome Inctivation
PBS: Lamarckian Evolution
Cell: Transgeneration Epigenetic Inheritence
How Epigenetics are Wiped Clean
Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance Prisoners of War Study
TEI Dutch Famine Study
TEI Study Children of Holocaust Survivers
TEI Cherry Blossom Mice Study
Epigenetic Clock Review
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Casting Federation Records
World Games Website: About
1993 World Games at The Hague
The Olympic "Memorandum of Understanding"
Reporting on the First World Games
World Games President Interview about Wheelchair Rugby
NYTimes on Indigenous Lacrosse
Onondaga Nation on Lacrosse
Chocktaw Nation on Lacrosse
Christopher Root's Incredible Paper on the Colonization of Lacrosse
NPR on Haudenosaunee Players at the Olympics
66: What is a Species & What is UK Voting?
It's a word we say all the time but... what IS a species? How has it been used in the past, and could the different answers all be right? And how does voting work in the UK? It starts with voting for knights, and could hopefully end in the future with something even better.
Images we Talk About:
Ella's Zoom Moustache
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:04:23) What is a Species?
(01:01:54) UK Voting
(01:50:43) Outro
Support us with a Max Fun Membership!
We also learn about: Jenny Lec, the definition we know is wrong, has anyone taken my title On The Origin of Species? This is my favorite! Oh shit… generic and specific, thinking of species as logical units, Kingdom Phylum Friends Acquaintances Work Friends Genus Species, the anime dewey decimal system, dark fungi, the cognitive dissonance of science at the time, even Darwin didn’t have a good definition of species, 1942 is when the common species definition was popularized, Biological - Evolutionary - Genetic definition of species, species gerrymandering, there is only 1 species of giraffe but should there be 4? policy first science, you don’t need hard definitions to do amazing things, nature is constantly doing kickflips over our no skateboarding signs, you really put your whole polizzy into naming that hybrid, a ring of banging around the himalayans, ring species in actuality look like a biblically accurate angel, let’s just ask what definitions scientists use, you can’t tell if fossils ever fucked, we only knew about human neandrethal interbreeding since 2010, what’s so wrong with having multiple species definitions? there’s a lot to biology! in between “there’s one answer” and “there’s no answers” is “there’s many answers”, Lizzy Poll, you can just call an election early?? in the UK you just vote for your member of parliament, it’s actually really weird to have a separate vote for president, every 2 steps forward is brought 1 step back by “the monster raving loony party”, Elmo think women no need to vote, the house senate and president, coalitions, tea cups with electoral college members on them, electing knights in the first parliament in 1264, bloc voting lets you pick your top favorites, Cromwell was the first Footloose, we had discovered quantum physics before women could vote, First Past the Post was only establish in 1948 in the UK, what are the positives of First Past the Post and cockroaches? please let us loose to bash FPTP, tactical voting, Australia has a version of Ranked Choice, Tom finally gets to wax poetic about Ranked Choice Voting, france’s 2 round voting, if the definition of species should match the task why not the type of voting system? the 2011 voting reform attempt, it’s been the foundation of this country for generation, try ranked choice voting on smaller scales and locally, Ella falls in love with herself, happy hour gender confusion
Sources
Carl Zimmer for NYT "What is a Species Really?"
Aristotle's Use of Species and Genus
Queiroz on Ernst Mayer and Species Definitions
Montana State on Linneus and Species Definitions
Ernst Mayer's Modern Excellent "Systematics And The Origin Of Species"
Paper Debating Darwin's Definition of Species
Bird Interbreeding
Scientific American on Wolf Species
The Greenish Warbler Broken Ring Species
Stankowski and Ravinet's Amazing "Quantifying the use of Species Concepts"
NHM "Are Neandrethals the Same Species as Us"
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Sky News: General Election Explained
UK Parliament: Voting Systems in the UK
Electoral Reform Party: How Long Have We Used First Past the Post?
2019 Paper: Electoral Systems and Electoral Reform in Historical Perspective by David Klemperer
Parliament UK: Magna Carta
PDF: UK Parliament and the Monarchy
UK Parliament: Women get the Vote
BBC: Voting System in the UK
UK Parliament: Proportional Representation
The Guardian: ‘Disproportionate’ UK Election Results Boost Calls to Ditch First Past the Post
The Conversation: The Conservatives May Regret Campaigning to Keep First Past the Post in 2011
The Best of Everything 2023-2024
After much deliberation, the academy (listeners of the podcast) has voted on the best topics from the past year! If this is your first episode, you'll get a sampling of our favorite moments of science and sillyness, and if you're a long time listener, you'll hear some behind the scenes thoughts about the topics, as well as... a secret teaser at the very end??
Images we Talk About:
The Jacobin Pigeon
The Pouter Pigeon
Timestamps:
(00:04:37) Intro
(00:03:59) Part 1
(00:55:00) Part 2
(01:51:28) Outro
Support us with a Max Fun Membership!
We also learn about: you gotta listen to the best ofs for the rock paper scissors drama, I’m not sure if Ella remembers our names, it’s not the same joke it’s a Call Back, superseding my superseded theories, Tom’s jokes are like the rain - you walk on through and hope it stops quickly, it gets Jalapeno business, I miss Comedy, Ella claimed review corner but keeps forgetting it, the art of topic writing is explaining but also what not to explain, our favorite topics of each others, wrote down the idea for public domain day the year before, Tom goofs up the La La Land Joke, ohh did you just finish episode 50? maybe, thanks everyone for the nice messages, Mum! “those stupid awards”, they’re all great episodes, we learned who in our family listens to our show, you guys wanna learn about ants??
65: Black Holes 101 & Tattoos
What happens when a star collapses to a point of near infinite gravity? And just how hard could that be to actually... find? And why do we love tattoos so much, and how long have human beings across the world been loving them too?
Check out Tom's first long form video that's finally out!
Images we Talk About:
The Crab Nebula
First Image of a Black Hole
Photo of OUR Black Hole, Sagiratius A
Ancient Siberian Tattoo
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:02:47) Black Holes 101
(00:57:51) Tattoos
(01:43:53) Outro
Support us with a Max Fun Membership!
We also learn about: black holes are massive (mass) but not massive (size), nothing can escape a black hole, supermassive black hole by muse, the closest black hole is 1000 light years away so we don’t need to worry about them too much, matter can’t escape the Plunging Region, does your McDonald also have black holes? stellar evolution, “they’re just big gassy balls doing nuclear fusion”, the fusion in a star pushes against the gravity keeping it in equilibrium, Caroline’s fear of the sun expanding, stellar corpse, a neutron star is just made of neutrons - that can’t be right, if you add too much flour (mass) this will turn into an atomic bomb (black hole), stop saying massive and start saying voluptuous to avoid confusion, one in every thousand stars could be a blac khole, “surely that’s not sustainable” “have I got news for you about the future of all things”, theorizing a black hole in 1783, we only get the word Black Hole in 1964, betting on Signus X1, finding black holes by nearby objects’ bright hot death screams, it took 2 years to process the black hole image, sorry I think it looks like a butthole, Sagitarius A - our galaxies butthole, deslicious spaghettification, we’re all being spaghettified, I’m being raviolified here! where do you go in a black hole? into a topic for another day, “tom saw the topic on me”, no inheritance until you tattoo me onto your butt, Caroline got a tattoo to honor pigeons, the above skin - the skin - and the below skin, phagocytosis, microphages contain and become the tattoo! “the art is your immune system” and we only knew this in 2018, Ötzi the Iceman had 57 tattoos, ella regrets letting us guess what tattoos he had, ritualistic and therapeutic tattoos, egyptian women tattoos, old preserved siberian tattoo, the painted picts, Tattoo comes from the Tahitian word Tatau, famed tattoo afficianado Charles Darwin, the meaning of polynesian tattoos, sailor tattoos were inspired by polynesians but adapted to things meaningful to them, sailor tattoos were like sailing achievements, shark repeller tattoos, ancient greek tattoos were literally “skin-stigmas”, stigma affects culture and culture affects stigma in a feedback loop, “true on all accounts for my case”, gender norms in tattoos, “ooh another means by which to put down women don’t mind if I do”, biases in the workplace,”it’s literally only skindeep”, tattoos are so personal and human of course you can’t assume or speak to all of them, they’re an art and they’re universal across cultures.
Sources:
NASA: Black Holes
Science News Explores: What are black holes?
Gravitational Collapse Overview
Goddard Space Flight Centre: The Life Cycles of Stars: How Supernovae Are Formed
Britannica: End States of Stars
Britannica: Evolution of High Mass Stars
Britannica: Origin of Chemical Elements
BBC Bitesize: The Lifecycle of Stars (GCSE Resource)
NASA: Neutron Stars Are Weird
Science News Explores: A Short History of Black Holes
Astronomy: A Brief History of Black Holes
Lind Hall Library: John Michell
American Museum of Natural History: The Country Parson Who Conceived of Black Holes
University of Chicago: Black Holes Explained
Astronomy: Cygnus X-1- The Black Hole that Started it All
Event Horizon Telescope: Astronomers Reveal First Image of the Black Hole at the Heart of Our Galaxy
1978 Article: A Supermassive Object in Galaxy M87
Space.Com: Where do Black Holes Lead To?
SYFY: How Worried Should We Be About Black Holes?
Podcast: The Guardians Science Weekly- White Holes
Image Source: NASA First Image of a Black Hole
Image Source: Event Horizon Telescope: FIrst Image of Black Hole at the Centre of the Milyway
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Pew Research: How Many People Have Tattoos?
The Science of Tattoos
Mouse Tail Tattoo Study
Wellcome Collection: A Brief History of Tattoos
Smithsonian: More History
Japan’s Tattooing History
Maori Tattoos
Polynesian tattoos
Pazyryk Tattoos (Very Cool)
First Female MP to Wear Moko
Sailor Tattoos
Broussard & Harton's Amazing Tattoo Stigma Study
64: Tom Scott, Human Acceleration, and Failed Videos
How fast can a regular human accelerate from 0-60? How can you learn to love roller-coasters? And is there a terrifying experience Ella's done that even Tom Scott hasn't?? After having us on his show for so long, it's finally time for Tom Scott to join us on our show!
Videos we Talk About:
Tom Scott's Amazing Roller Coaster Video
Tom Scott's Failed Video Video
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:04:15) Human Acceleration
(00:50:03) Roller-coasters and Failed Videos
(01:18:05) Outro
Support us with a Max Fun Membership!
We also learn about: herding cats and children, Thanks for the compliment you can leave now, UK metric is a mess, milk is just a blur cause it’s PastYourEyes, both Tom’s can’t be like this, stopping the angular velocity pedants, what’s so hard about orbital mechanics it’s not rocket science, this is a question full of "um actually"s, the longest second of Tom Scott’s life in the Mythen car, “would you do it again” “oh in a heartbeat”, just frame cars as IRL speedrunning, “oh my god she got sub 1 second”, please prove me wrong so I can ride it, steam catapulting a plane, the Nevis Catapult might win if you believe the hype, all politely saying roller coasters, “roller coaster nerds are like train nerds but worse”, running coasters at 100%, calibrating the weights of cars, British politeness way under-markets stealth, “I’ve done something Tom Scott hasn’t done??”, the experimental Nürburgring coaster that only operated for 4 days, Do-Dodonpa the “rattly bastard” that broke bones, dragsters going 0-60 in half a second stunned us to silence, you could buy the nitro X2 for less than a tesla but you do get to drive a tesla more than twice, “I reserve the right to turn this into a video essay”, our roller coaster journeys, dread and expectation, Ella loves the fear, “this is the worst thing I’ve ever done, YES”, LLE live episode on a roller coaster, Dick & Dom in da Bungalow sounds like a parody of something british, only americans will remember Raccoon Barrel from the Barrell Brothers! “It has been a metaphor which is possibly the highest priase I can give something like that”, making a video about failed videos “you only get to pull that trick once”, Tom’s one shot Netherlands drone video, “it was a Look How Clever I Am video”, ideally it’s both clever content and cleverly shot, “the content has to be worth it”, it’s like OKGO - matching content with production, the ratchet of quality, “the frustration I feel is a compliment to David”, “i left everything on the table”, 3 of us just mimed sword swallowing, "not a great mime"
Pride Merch & Voting for the Best of Everything!
It's Pride and Poll-jedice! For pride month we have some pride merch including an amazing design by Caroline, with proceeds going to Pride in Stem! Also, toss in your vote to defend the honor of your favorite topic for the next Best Of Everything episode!
All of this is at LetsLearnEverything.com