This week’s episode is what happens when science stops asking “should we?” and gets very focused on “could we?”. Cockroaches are being upgraded into tiny rescue workers, a Silicon Valley crew pitching brain tech you might one day take through your nose, and the Ig Nobels are back to remind everyone that the line between genius and ridiculous is thin. First up, cyborg cockroaches. Engineers in Seoul are developing “Paraborgs”, insects fitted with cameras and tiny syringe systems designed to crawl through disaster zones and reach people trapped under rubble. The research claims a 95% success rate for close-range injections, which is impressive, even if it does mean trusting a cockroach to stay on task. Then we swing into the future with Ray Kurzweil and a startup working on brain-computer interfaces without surgery, using nanobots instead of implants. The part you’ll remember is the proposed delivery method: you might one day “snort” the nanobots like a nasal spray, and they’d travel up to help create a connection between your brain and your devices. It’s early days, but the message is clear: tech wants to move in closer. To round it out, we hit the Ig Nobels for silly science with real curiosity, from cockroach milk as an energy-dense food source to a splash-reducing urinal redesign, then a quick detour into a wholesome data point: Dolly Parton’s bipartisan popularity in the US. So that’s the week: bugs with medical kits, brain bots via the nose, science that makes you laugh before it makes you think, and Dolly reminding us that being likeable is still a rare superpower. CHAPTER MARKERS: 00:00 Intro 01:43 Roaches With Cameras 03:19 Paraborgs Explained 04:47 Remote Syringe Injections 08:00 The Ig Nobels 18:03 Bucket Bong Rabbit Hole 21:17 King Zog Chain Smoking 25:37 Joint Year Metric 26:55 Dolly Parton Popularity Data 32:03 Kurzweil Brain Interface 37:00 Snortable Nanobot BCI SOURCES: https://improbable.com/2026/09/03/the-2026-ig-nobel-prize-winners-are-announced/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9872797/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12516480/ https://bsky.app/profile/eschares.bsky.social/post/3mueyi6xb322h https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11419-023-00666-w https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10622464/ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/27/cockroaches-used-search-rescue-earthquakes-science-technology-australia https://news.uq.edu.au/2026-08-paramedic-cockroaches-cyborg-care-when-rescuers-cant-reach https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/russia-fully-ai-controlled-drones-kill-ukrainians https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/mark-zuckerberg-anti-dolly-parton https://apple.news/AlfcS_7EHRb2WOOl6kZgrug https://apple.news/AKEsFCvmfSWWAAt1iqE88wg See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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