Stuff To Blow Your Mind
Episodes
Creepypasta 4: More SCP, Polybius and Grifter
02 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dive into a world of indestructible reptiles, killer video games, bizarre god towers and haunted video tapes as Robert and Christian take on a fourth ...
The Monstrosity/Cuteness Spectrum
31 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It seems the unavoidable fate of all terrifying monsters, doesn’t it? We reduce the most horrifying creatures of myth, legend and folklore to an ado...
The First Monster
26 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Humans love monsters, but when did we first dare to dream up bestial hybrids and chimerical horrors? In this episode of the Stuff to Blow Your Mind po...
Optography: Image in a Dead Man's Eye
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Pseudoscience often enters our world where magic fails us, seeming to make the impossible possible via the invocation of actual scientific and technol...
Cambrian Monster Mash
19 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the ocean of monsters. In this episode of the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast, Robert and Joe travel back 500 million years to the monster-...
A Game of Werewolf
17 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve ever played the party game 'Werewolf,' then you know the thrill of weeding out secret lycanthropes in a medieval village -- or devouring t...
Stuff to Blow Your Mind Live: Stranger Science
12 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
With another season of “Stranger Things” just around the corner, the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast explores the mind rending science behind gove...
Six Ghost Stories
10 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Human superstition provides us with an overwhelming wealth of ghost stories, each an unreal creation that reveals something crucial about culture, his...
Science of It: Deadlights and Derry
05 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve read Stephen King’s “It” or recoiled in fear from the 2017 film and the 1990 miniseries, then perhaps you’ve wondered what science...
Laughing During Horror Movies
03 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever heard inappropriate laughter during a horror movie? For that matter, are you the guilty party? Join Robert and Christian as they explore...
Bonus: R. Scott Bakker, Consciousness & Consult
29 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this special bonus episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, author R. Scott Bakker returns to the show for a discussion of consciousness, philosophy, ar...
Bicameralism, Part 2: The Silent Pantheon
28 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 1976, psychologist Julian Jaynes presented the world with a stunning new take on the history of human consciousness. His book “The Origin of Cons...
Bicameralism, Part 1: The Voice of God
26 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 1976, psychologist Julian Jaynes presented the world with a stunning new take on the history of human consciousness. His book “The Origin of Cons...
Timothy Leary, Part 2: Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out
21 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Idolized by some and reviled by others, Timothy Leary remains an icon of 1960s counterculture and psychedelic self-exploration. But who was this rebel...
Timothy Leary, Part 1: The Science of LSD
19 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Idolized by some and reviled by others, Timothy Leary remains an icon of 1960s counterculture and psychedelic self-exploration. But who was this rebel...
Listener Mail: Media and Memory
14 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Join Robert, Joe and Christian for another listener mail extravaganza! They'll read your feedback on human memory, science communication, Chinese cult...
Poison and the Rhino Horn
12 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Can a chalice made of rhino horn detect poison? Can its ground powder serve as an aphrodisiac? The science is at best sketchy on both fronts, but such...
The Psychology of Tattoos
07 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Do you have a tattoo? If so, you probably have an interesting story to go with it, or some personal insight into just what the design and the experien...
Chakram: Spinning Death in Myth, War & Physics
05 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It’s easy to assume that spinning, ring-shaped blades are weapons best left to Hindu gods and TV warrior princesses. But long before humans invented...
Green Beard Genes
31 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Join Robert and Joe as they explore the world of green beard genes and their role in biological altruism. The Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast takes yo...
Shared False Memories and The Mandela Effect
29 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve ever reminisced with friends about movies that never existed or historical details that never came to pass, then you’ve experienced the ...
Are we condemned to repeat history?
24 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Philosopher George Santayana said that 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' If that’s true, then can an extensive unders...
Greek Fire: The Byzantine Secret Weapon
22 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
To engage the ships of Byzantine Empire was to risk the horrors of Greek fire, a medieval weapons system that empowered ships to spew forth flaming li...
Six Deadly Poisons
17 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Deadly elixirs in tiny bottles play into the cruelest machinations of history, fiction and myth. In this episode of the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcas...
Path of Totality: See the Eclipse!
15 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a total solar eclipse sweeping across the center of the United States on Monday, August 21, 2017, so here’s a special Stuff to Blow Your M...
Alien Abduction Experience, Part 2
10 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What are we to make of alien abduction experiences? Scientific investigation points to a barrage of logical explanations for abnormal sensory experien...
Alien Abduction Experience, Part 1
08 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What are we to make of alien abduction experiences? Scientific investigation points to a barrage of logical explanations for abnormal sensory experien...
The Science of Secrets
03 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Can you keep a secret? If so, what's the psychic weight of that secret? How does secret keeping fit into human evolution and the modern shape of human...
The Buddha is a Mountain
01 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
One of the largest historical statues in the world, China’s Lèshān Grand Buddha has overlooked the Dàdù river for 1200 years. Carved from the si...
Sharks of Summer (with Marah Hardt of ‘Sex in the Sea’)
27 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you watch enough 'Jaws' and Shark Week, you’re bound to see sharks as ravenous death machines. But is it really more appropriate to think of thes...
Svalbard: Land of Snow and Apocalypse Arks
25 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard has it all: glaciers, polar bears, scientific researchers and an epic seed vault built to survive the apocalypse...
Summer Reading: Aliens, Microbes, Cocktails and More
20 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's time once again for Robert, Joe and Christian to share a selection of fiction, nonfiction and comic book reads to enhance your summer travels -- ...
The Biophilia Hypothesis
18 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why are humans so drawn to the natural world of biodiverse organisms? Is this longing merely part of our culture or do we possess an innate and even g...
Artificial Gravity: Cosmic Wheels and Hurtling Towers
13 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Humans are creatures of gravity. We’re born into it. Life as we know it evolved to thrive in it. So what’s a gravitational organism to do in the l...
Order out of Chaos: How to Create a Universe
11 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Numerous mythologies speak to the birth of our universe out of darkness and chaos, but can humans follow in the footsteps of the gods? Can we create a...
Cultural Appropriation
06 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve all heard charges of cultural appropriation in everything from fashion and music to personal world view, but what’s actually at stake here? ...
Sword of the Samurai
04 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Appreciation for the katana cuts across cultures and genres, slicing into the hearts of history buffs, japanophiles, comic book fans and more. But wha...
Ticks, Mites and Mysterious Lone Star Illnesses
29 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ticks are, in the words of Pliny the Elder, 'the foulest and nastiest creature that be.' If these blood sucking arachnids and their mite brethren were...
CRISPR and the Genetic Astronaut
27 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 1960, scientists Nathan Kline and Manfred Clynes envisioned a spacefaring cyborg, technologically augmented to endure the rigors of space travel. T...
Extended Cognition: Brain, Fingers, Web and Krang
22 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It’s easy to think yourself a mere brain within a human body -- a cognitive machine making sense out of all the incoming sense data from outside wor...
Name Thy Demons: The Roots of Human Violence
20 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Is human civilization growing less violent? Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker argued the point in his 2011 book 'The Better Angels of Our Nature,' in ...
AI, Machine Learning and Human Creativity
15 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Just as manufacturing automation cuts into human jobs, the prospect of creative artificial intelligence raises the specter of robot writers, robot art...
Science Communication Breakdown
14 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Science enabled humans to ascend out of the darkness and tackle life’s problems with systematic, self-correcting rigidity. Yet, when faced with scie...
There But For Science: Blood Navigation
09 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine a world in which sailing ships navigate by the yelps of tormented dogs and nuclear submarines whisper to each other via the screams of rabbits...
The Tower of Babel
06 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
An ancient people build a tower to touch the heavens. A vengeful god disrupts the project through the splintering of human language. Everyone’s left...
Neurosecurity: Dawn of the Brain Hackers
01 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
While hackers and malware can certainly cause a great deal of damage and misery, these dangers can’t hurt us physically, right? In this episode of t...
Height, Health and Human Happiness
30 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Tall people. Short People. Somewhere-in-between people. What are we to make of human height and its relationship to overall health and personality? Ro...
Five Reasons to Never Take Your Space Helmet Off
25 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You've consumed enough science fiction to know something the average red shirt doesn't: Never take your space helmet off on a foreign planet. But if y...
R. Scott Bakker: On Alien Philosophy and Fantasy
23 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Canadian author R. Scott Bakker is best known for his Second Apocalypse saga, a series of dark fantasy novels that explore philosophical and even neur...
Hook Suspension and the Complexity of Pain
18 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Hook suspension challenges our perceptions of pain. We see practitioners, pierced through the flesh with hooks, suspended by chains and yet smiling as...
Escape Velocity: Jack Parsons and the New Magick
16 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jack Parsons wanted to break free, from both the limits of Earth and the boundaries of traditional early 20th century American thought. He devoted his...
Weird Wonders of House Gastropoda
11 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The world of slugs and snails is a grotesque circus of fever-dream horrors and biological marvels. Join Robert and Christian for a six-species dive in...
Jade Immortality: Burial Armor of the Han Dynasty
09 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Chinese aristocracy of the Western Han Dynasty embarked on their journey into the afterlife within garments of stone -- luxurious suits of jade armor ...
Push the Frontier
04 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve seen enough Westerns and Game of Throne episodes to know a frontier when you see it, but what exactly is this boundary between the laws of yo...
STBYM Live: Weird Science in the Windy City
02 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Robert, Christian and Joe transport you back to the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893, when the neoclassical architecture of Daniel Burnham’s Whi...
Listener Mail: In One Ear, Out the Third Eye
27 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Robert, Joe and Christian call in the mailbot for yet another dose of listener feedback. Join them as they read your thoughts on everything from the u...
H. R. Giger and the Biomechanical Soul
25 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve all seen the surreal biomechanical art of the late H.R. Giger, but the artist’s mainstream success and the undying appeal of his 'Alien' som...
Where is my mind?
20 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Today, most humans accept the brain as the seat of human consciousness, but this was not always the case. Join Robert and Joe as they explore ancient,...
Fossil Action Scenes: Dino Birth and Prehistoric Combat
18 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Fossilized remains provide exciting insight into the biology and behavior of prehistoric beasts, but sometimes the fossil record gives us even more --...
Disease Takes Flight on Leathery Wings
13 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Bats have been demonized through history. Our folklore and horror stories tell us they’re something to be afraid of because they’re 'creatures of ...
The Demon-Haunted Mind
11 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Demons exist only within the human imagination, but that doesn’t make them harmless. If positive religious world views can result in a more positive...
Beyond the Uncanny Valley
06 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The far side of the uncanny valley rises steeply, assaulting our psyche as our artificial human likenesses creep ever closer toward perfection. But wh...
Into the Uncanny Valley
04 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
From bad CGI characters to creepy humanoid robots, everyone knows the uncanny valley effect when they see it. But where did this idea come from and to...
Sexbots: From Objectification to Therapeutic Surrogates
30 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sex between humans and machines is nothing new in the world of science fiction. Their forms range from angelic mechanoids to victimized humanoids, but...
Fertility, Ovulation and Consumer Decision Making
28 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
For 50 percent of the population, ovulation plays a role in human behavior -- but to what extent? Marketing researcher and social psychologist Kristin...
Be a Better Guesser With Fermi Estimation
23 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How many eyeballs are in the jar? How many piano tuners ply their trade in Chicago and how many intelligent alien civilizations await us in the univer...
Far Below: The London Underground Mosquito
21 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Unnatural tunnels worm and weave their way beneath centuries of accumulated London sprawl, and here a few natural creature assume unnatural behaviors ...
Two Minutes To Midnight: The Doomsday Clock
16 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists continues to calculate humanity’s countdown to annihilation, but who calculates the doomsday clock and what fa...
The Necessity of Patient Zero
14 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Patient zero looms large in our collective consciousness. Through carelessness, impropriety or sheer twisted luck, they introduce highly contagious pa...
Life After Radiation: Sickness, Death and Sustenance
09 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
While fictional monsters and superheroes consume rads like video game power-ups, radiation is a trickier matter in reality -- from everyday radiation ...
One-Armed Bandits: The Science of Slot Machines
07 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You may call it a slot machine, a fruit machine or a one-armed bandit, but the reality is the same: an algorithmically precise machine designed to dra...
Mandala: Memory Palace and Simulated Worlds
02 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The mandalas of Tibetan Buddhism entice us as artistic expressions, meta symbols and conscience expressions of a complex spiritual cosmology. In this ...
Books of Flesh: Anthropodermic Bibliopegy
28 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The libraries of horror fiction typically offer many a dark tome bound in human flesh, but do books like the ‘Necronomicon Ex-Mortis’ of ‘Evil D...
The Secret Intellect of Animals, Part 2
23 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of two episodes, Christian and Joe continue their discussion of animal cognition, including animal morality, tool use, mental time trave...
The Secret Intellect of Animals, Part 1
21 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In the 18th century, David Hume wrote that “no truth appears to me more evident than that beasts are endow’d with thought and reason as well as me...
The Holy Black Stone of Mecca
16 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Kaaba marks the geographic center of the Islamic world, and here one finds Al-Hadjar Al-Aswad, the Holy Black Stone of Mecca. Islamic traditions h...
The Mystery of Crab Boxing
14 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Boxer crabs stand out amid their crustacean brethren due to their amazing tool use -- a mutualistic relationship between these tiny crabs and the livi...
Jump Into The Void
09 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ever wrestle with the illogical quasi-compulsion to throw yourself off a cliff or building? Don’t worry! You’re probably not suicidal, but merely ...
Scientific Reductionism
07 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You might have read that 'love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs,' but would it really be better explained as the behavior of a large aggregati...
100 Days Later: Mathematics of a Zombie Apocalypse
02 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to the particulars of a fictional zombie apocalypse, the particulars are all over the place -- but it’s always fun to throw fantastic ...
Chinese Immortality: Elixirs and Enlightened Beings
31 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
From deathless beheaded warriors and sacrificial heroines to mystical hermits, Chinese mythology is rich with tales of the undying. After all, the not...
Chinese Zodiac: Superstition, Economics & Destiny
26 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As we celebrate Chinese New Year and enter the year of the fire rooster, join Robert and Joe for an encore Stuff to Blow Your Mind exploration of the ...
Interplanetary War
24 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Syfy’s 'The Expanse,' based on the James S. A. Corey book series, revolves around conflict between human-seeded planetary civilizations -- namely a ...
Sailors on a Dark Sea: Political Extremism, Child’s Play
19 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As we sail through this world of technological marvel and complex systems, it’s easy to assume we know the watery depths that yawn beneath our hull....
Sailors on a Dark Sea: Illusion of Explanatory Depth
17 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As we sail through this world of technological marvel and complex systems, it’s easy to assume we know the watery depths that yawn beneath our hull....
Mixologia: Potions, Cocktails & Deadly Spirits
12 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
While the cocktail is an inherently American invention, the history of combining alcohols with other substances to create potent, drinkable concoction...
The Science of Holy Butter
10 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
There's more to butter than meets the eye. Each yellow pat of fatty goodness is nothing short of processed solar energy, and its long history entails ...
The Myth of Green Tea Hallucinations
05 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Read the 1872 ghost story “Green Tea” and you might worry that a fresh cup of Sencha might summon visions of a demonic ghost monkey. But don’t f...
Exorcism/Adorcism
03 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve likely never attended an exorcism, but popular culture ensures that you know what one is. Yes, we’re talking the forced removal of a demoni...
What Mind Control Feels Like
29 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
If mind control is possible, whether enabled by hard neurotechnology or good old fashioned social and linguistic suggestion, what does it feel like? W...
The Body Illithid: Science of the Mind Flayers
27 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
If Dungeons and Dragons has ever touched your life, then you’re probably familiar with the tentacled, brain-sucking Illithids. Even in a fantasy wor...
Dangerous Foods II: The Second Course
22 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In a world… where few people know the source of their foods and everyday meals seem the safest refuge, some dishes have deadly designs. From the mas...
A Six Course Feast of Dangerous Foods
20 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Considering a holiday feast of toxic sushi and deadly casserole? Then this encore presentation is for you. Join Robert and Joe for a six-course meal o...
The Nature of Heroism
15 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Heroes permeate our culture, from mythic archetypes and pop-culture superheroes to real-life humans who risk their lives for others. But from where do...
Euphemisms: Linguistic Transmutation
13 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Sure, euphemisms allow us to talk about something unpleasant or taboo without actually invoking the dreaded word or words -- but what else is going on...
Artes Mathematicall: The Diviner John Dee
08 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabethan scholar Dr. John Dee was one of the most learned men of the 16th century, applying his intense mathematical intellect to matters scientifi...
Artes Mathematicall: The Conjurer John Dee
06 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabethan scholar Dr. John Dee was one of the most learned men of the 16th century, applying his intense mathematical intellect to matters scientifi...
Listener Mail VII: Fill Your Ears
01 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
It's listener mail time again! Join Robert, Joe and Christian for listener feedback on combat drugs, only child syndrome, technology without fire, gho...
The Creep
29 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
You've all witnessed and been witnessed by the Creep, but what attributes compose this unsettling character? Why do we fear the creep and what, indeed...
To The Escape Pod!
24 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Ever wanted to climb into the safe, metal womb of an escape pod and blast yourself free of this doomed vessel called life? Sure you have, but in the m...