Stuff To Blow Your Mind

MDMA: Pharmacological Ecstasy

08 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Some of you have tried the ecstasy. Others have merely heard about the drug on a TV sitcom, or heard about it in a news report. Either way, MDMA's pow...

Better Living Through Tetris

03 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In their previous episode, Robert and Joe explored the geometric hallucinations of Tetris syndrome. Now they're back for a serious look at the ways in...

Tetris Syndrome: A Mind Made of Blocks

01 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

To play a game of "Tetris" is to invite a geometric invasion into your mind. After hours of intense block manipulation, you finally set aside your gam...

Listener Mail: Robot Thanksgiving

26 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's Thanksgiving in the United States, so Robert, Joe and Christian dine with their devoted mailbot Karnie to consider a selection of Stuff to Blow Y...

But, Mom! The Science of Whining

24 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Unless you've lived your life in a childless fortress of seclusion, you've likely encountered the maddening, high-pitched whine of a complaining child...

The Self-Mummifying Monk

19 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We tend to think of mummification as either an environmental event or a mortuary act perpetrated by others, but mummification can also occur as an act...

Space Weapons: Rods From God

17 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

You may call it "rods from god," project Thor" or a glorious "hypervelocity rod bundle," but this theoretical space weapon comes down to one devastati...

The 2015 Ig Nobels: Kisses, Stings & Dino Chickens

12 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Each year, the Ig Nobel prizes honor the weirdest and wackiest contributions to humanity's scientific understanding of the natural world. In this pair...

The 2015 Ig Nobels: Unboiled Eggs & Urine Speed

10 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Each year, the Ig Nobel prizes honor the weirdest and wackiest contributions to humanity's scientific understanding of the natural world. In this pair...

The Fist Punch Theory of Evolution

05 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Did the human fist evolve to punch faces? Did our faces evolve to take punches? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian explo...

Sanity/Insanity: The Rosenhan Experiment

03 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

How do we know precisely what constitutes "normality" or mental illness? And if there is a difference, can anybody detect it? Even professionals? In t...

Ghouls: Myth, Fiction and... Evolutionary Heritage?

29 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

If your fictional diet contains significant quantities of horror or dark fantasy, then you've likely encountered the ghoul: a scavenging, grave-robbin...

I Drink Your Blood

27 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Global myth cycles are rife with blood-drinkers and blood bathers. Often, the tale centers around the notion of young blood as a fountain of youth. Th...

Will-o'-the-Wisp: A Light in the Swamp

22 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

There was a time when strange lights appeared in the marshlands. Commoners might have known the eerie luminescence as "Will-o'-the-Wisp" or "Hinky Pun...

Final Girls: Feminism, Slashers & Culture

20 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The "final girl" trope has become a standard horror cinema convention, in which a single strong female character outruns, outsmarts and outstabs her m...

The Creepypasta Experiments

15 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Surf the Internet long enough and you'll happen upon creepypasta: little cut-and-paste snippets of horror that blur the lines between reality and the ...

Human Remains: Past, Present and Future

13 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Humanity currently stands at a crossroads in the treatment of its dead. Forced to contend with the environmental and economic downsides to modern mort...

The Halloween Costume Made Me Do It

08 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when we slip into a costume? Be it a monster pelt, a sexy witch or a simple children's ghost mask, a psychological transformation takes p...

Egyptian Mummies: A Cosmic, Mortuary Odyssey

06 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Ancient Egyptian mummification is not unlike sci-fi space travel in many respects. The leading minds of the day preserved a chosen human within a cost...

The Science of Dune: Biology

01 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Frank Herbert's "Dune," the game-changing 1965 sci-fi novel full of space-age feudalistic intrigue, rampaging ...

The Science of Dune: Technology

29 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Frank Herbert's "Dune," the game-changing 1965 sci-fi novel full of space-age feudalistic intrigue, rampaging ...

Poison Arrows, Chinese Medicine and Werewolves

24 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Perhaps you've heard of wolf's bane as curative or even causal agent in the mythology of lycanthropy, yet the appeal of this very real plant reaches f...

One-Armed Bandits: The Science of Slot Machines

22 Sep 2015

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...

The Unlanguaged Mind: A World Built With Words

17 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

How can we even imagine a life without language when language itself plays such a crucial role in human cognition? Can you even imagine a world in whi...

The Unlanguaged Mind: Feral Children

15 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The feral child occupies two worlds: that of lighthearted myth and depressing reality. We entertain ourselves with fantasies about wolf-reared infants...

Palimpsests: Reading History's Blank Pages

10 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Historians learn a great deal from historical texts -- and not only that which was written, but that which was unwritten. Join Robert and Christian as...

Wes Craven Tribute: Serpents, Rainbows & Zombies

08 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

With the recent passing of horror director Wes Craven, it seems appropriate to cover the science behind his 1988 film "The Serpent and the Rainbow." J...

Tail as Old as Time: Part 2

03 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Where is the human tail? Our embryos lose them in the womb and our great ape kin lost them in the shadows of evolutionary history. Join Robert and Joe...

Tail as Old as Time: Part 1

01 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Tails are a common feature in the animal kingdom, fulfilling just about every role from comfy blanket to instrument of venomous death. Join Robert and...

The Science of Necrophilia

27 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Don't run away! True enough, this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind considers a most repellent sexual atrocity, but there's more to necrophilia than ...

V2K: The Microwave Auditory Effect

25 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Voice-to-skull or V2K technology is generally the stuff of paranoid government conspiracies, and yet the microwave auditory effect is very real. In th...

Born Under the Caul

20 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

While all humans develop inside an amniotic sac, only a rare few are born with part of it enveloping their face. These membranous veils protect us in ...

Your Health as a Mars Colonist

18 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Sure, you need to get your butt to Mars, but what are the long-term health ramifications of life on the Red Planet? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Y...

The Strain: Dissecting del Toro's Vampires

13 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Guillermo del Toro's "The Strain" continues to enthrall readers and viewers -- and, love it or hate it, there's no denying the complexity and creativi...

Echoborg: The Computer Controls You

11 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine a future in which powerful AIs use human surrogates or "echoborgs" to speak their words and socialize with humans. The living, breathing avata...

Summer Reading 2015: Books to Blow Your Mind

06 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's a summer tradition, so once more the hosts of Stuff to Blow Your Mind share their fiction and nonfiction reading recommendations with listeners. ...

From Hell's Heart: The Science of Spite

04 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

What are we to make of spite? As humans, we lash out to hurt our neighbor due to petty grudges and prejudices all the time. Yet we're also capable of ...

Listener Mail: The Mailbot Reboots

30 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We've entered a new era of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, so it's time for Robert, Joe and Christian to reboot the mailbot with updated user data. As the fo...

The Dreams of R. Buckminster Fuller

28 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine a world where cities fly, we all drive three-wheeled cars and mainly eat Jell-O. This is where the dreams of architect and engineer Richard Bu...

Something for Everybody: The Forer Effect

23 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

From palm-reading fortune tellers to professionally-administered Myers Briggs test, everyone's a sucker for a an ego-stroking personality assessment. ...

My Body is Made of Glass

21 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine waking to a new, terrifying sensation: Your seemingly organic body is actually made of glass. While doctors and loved ones insist otherwise, y...

Stigmata: Madness or Miracle?

16 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In the previous episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian explored the Christian tradition of the stigmata and its 13th century origina...

Stigmata: Patient Zero

14 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

According to Christian tradition, a stigmatic prays to God so zealously, so faithfully that Christ's crucifixion wounds of manifest in the form of ble...

Grizzly Bears from Outer Space

09 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

A region of space barely a thousandth of a square degree on the sky contains a whopping 5,500 galaxies. Making the probability that there exists at le...

The Psychedelic Nightmare of Ergotism

07 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine an entire 15th-century town overcome by a collective waking nightmare. The afflicted walk the streets with blackened limbs and seeping sores, ...

The Future of Addiction

02 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Highly addictive substances like meth and heroin are formidable enemies for the recovering addict, but what does the future hold for their treatment? ...

The Science of Addiction

30 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

What is addiction? Why are some people predisposed to it and what happens in the brain when addiction takes hold? In this classic episode of Stuff to ...

The Memory Palace Revisited (with Nelson Dellis)

25 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Stroll into the memory palace, an imagined location that just might expand your brain power. In this classic episode you'll learn all about the Method...

Escape from Universe 25

23 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Explore Universe 25, a 101-square-inch tank designed as a utopia for mice and a mirror of human behavior. Every detail of the structure was crafted wi...

Detective Story

18 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone loves a good whodunit, but why does the figure of the fictional detective tower so staggeringly over the modern world? He or she is a seeker ...

Supernormal Stimuli

16 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

No longer limited by the constrains of their environment or biology, humans have remade their world. Why walk when you can soar? Why shout when you ca...

Techno-Religion for the Masses: Part 2

11 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We often think of technology and religion as distinct and separate worlds, but what happens when they converge? Join Robert and Joe in this two-part e...

Techno-Religion for the Masses: Part 1

09 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We often think of technology and religion as distinct and separate worlds, but what happens when they converge? Join Robert and Joe in this two-part e...

Mass Extinction: Earth's Cycle of Annihilation

04 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Five mass extinction events have ravaged the species of Earth, and we just might be living in the sixth. How can humanity survive the threat of cosmic...

Heartbeat in the Brain, Hole in the Skull

02 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Trepanation is an ancient surgical procedure and we've found the millennia-aged skulls to prove it - each punctured and gouged to relieve inner-pressu...

Silk of the Spider, Thread of the Future

28 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Spider silk is nothing short of an engineering marvel. Weight for weight, it's stronger than steel and tougher than Kevlar. But spiders are disagreeab...

Scientifically Sound Weather Superstitions

26 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

At one time in human history superstitions were the guiding force in a person's life -- rules of thumb to live by. Find out which pieces of lore and s...

The Science of Coincidence

21 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

What are we to make of coincidence? From the numerological cats cradles we weave around famous events to the curious ways human lives converge through...

Gazing into the Eclipse

19 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Amid the regular cycle of sun and moon stalks a darkness -- a darkness that ancient humans perceived as cosmic abandonment, portent and demonic disrup...

Vacation Tribulation

14 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Why do some people take vacations and others fret to take off time? We'll find out which nations go on holiday the most and least, the benefits of dow...

There's a Problem with Your Study

12 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Science has advanced human civilization to an astounding degree, but what happens when science gets it wrong? What does it mean that a good half of pu...

Power of the Nap

07 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Why do we feel so refreshed after a power nap and so sapped after a mega nap? Do coffee naps work and just what sort of benefits can we get out of an ...

Animal Sexual Fluidity

05 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Why do some species change sex and how to they carry out this remarkable transformation? This episode of the STBYM podcast takes you into a world of h...

The Ring of Gyges

30 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Before H.G. Wells' Invisible Man and J.R.R. Tolkien's One Ring, there was the Ring of Gyges: a mythical artifact that turned the wearer invisible. Wou...

Road Warriors

28 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Perhaps you've witnessed something you'd call "road rage" out there on Earth's highways. Perhaps you've even engaged in it yourself. But where does me...

Space Roar

23 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 2006, NASA discovered "space roar" -a sound that's six times louder than what they expected to hear when they eavesdropped on space. Inexplicably w...

The Power of Polite

21 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Kindly step this way to the politeness theory where you'll discover the power of good manners. We'll also discuss which countries are the most polite ...

Satanic Panic

16 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

What are we to make of alleged ritual satanic abuse and the moral panic that spread in the 1980s and 90s? Christian Sager joins Robert for an explorat...

Grimoire: Occult Books and the Magic of Writing

14 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We're all familiar with such fictional grimoires as "The Necronomicon," but what about the rich legacy of occult books and cryptic tomes that preceded...

Mean World Syndrome

09 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Is there more violence in the world today, or have we just been watching too many CSI shows? In this episode of the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast, J...

What's the largest snake that has ever existed?

07 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone loves a giant snake tale, but what's really the largest serpent on the planet? Hunt for the answer across space and time in this episode of t...

The Power of Shame

02 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Shame is a powerful emotion that, depending on the way you frame it, can be a force for either good or evil. Find out what the difference is between e...

The Gordian Knot of Race

31 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

To "see no color" is to gloss over the deep-seated racial issues that exist today. Find out about how something so abstract - like unconscious racial ...

The School to Prison Pipeline

26 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

No one ever says they want to be a convict when they grow up. Julie and Robert look at the School-to-Prison pipeline and the variables that form this ...

Send in the Exploding Termites

24 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Enter a world where toxic ants and termites explode at will to stave off murderous invasions - a world of highly-evolved chemical weapons an ruthless ...

Optimal Inattention

19 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It may not always be polite but optimal inattention, aka willful ignoring, someone or something is a necessity. Let's explore with a study on hands an...

Leprechaun Hallucinations

17 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's Saint Patrick's Day, so our minds inevitably turn to the little people of Irish folklore. But diminutive fairy folk pop up in folk traditions aro...

Cry Me a River

12 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Tears are an integral part of the shared human language of expression -- even though at one time in history a display of public waterworks was conside...

Could you outrun a fireball?

10 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's a Hollywood classic: Our hero leaps in the nick of time, right before tendrils of flames close in. But could you escape a raging fire in real lif...

The Scent of Cognition

05 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We are enrobed in a world of scent, and as we know it's a heady powerful one -- with the power to make and summon memories. But this power is far more...

How much does the soul weigh?

03 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Is it possible to measure the energy lost when the "soul" departs the body? Take a tour of soul-weighing and the quest to make what is immaterial mate...

Respect the Rat

26 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

You may think rats are just vermin, but the fact is they own huge metropolitan cities like New York. And when it comes to science they've contributed ...

Pineal Optics: My Third Eye

24 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Prepare to open that third eye, listeners, because Robert and Julie are taking you on a journey from philosophical ponderings about human spirituality...

Love at First Sight

19 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Does love at first sight really exist? And is it biological or cultural? Stuff to Blow Your Mind explores this split-second phenomenon. Learn more ab...

Objects of Love

17 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We live in a world of objects to which we assign varying degrees of worth, from old newspapers to treasured action figures, family heirlooms and golde...

Sealed with a Bacterial Kiss

12 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Find out about the bacterial life of a passionate kiss as Robert and Julie explore the human smooch. Is kissing instinctual and learned, and what does...

Spanish Fly: The Deadly Aphrodisiac

10 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's easy to assume the so-called "Spanish fly" is nothing but a myth, but this legendary aphrodisiac is as real as it is deadly. Just why did humans ...

Lingerie Probability

05 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We live within the lingerie industrial complex, but dare we tease apart the lacy cords that bind us? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, explo...

In the Pink

03 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

From its modern gender connotations to its absence on the ROYGBIV electromagnetic spectrum, the color pink has a lot to answer for. Does staring into ...

Into the Ossuary: Consult the Bones - Part 2

29 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

You and your skeleton are cordially invited to join your Stuff to Blow Your Mind hosts on an excursion into the bone-choked depths of the HowStuffWork...

Into the Ossuary: Consult the Bones - Part 1

27 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

You and your skeleton are cordially invited to join your Stuff to Blow Your Mind hosts on an excursion into the bone-choked depths of the HowStuffWork...

Almost Blue

22 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Up in the sky and down in the ocean, blue is the endcap of our visuall existence.One that may even influence us subconsciously. Find out why this colo...

So Cute I Could Eat You Up

20 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

What do tears of joy and the desire to pinch a baby's cheek have to do with one another? Quite a lot. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, find...

Whisperings & ASMR

15 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Shhhh! Some of us are listening intently to a certain tone, one that sends waves of pleasure down our spine. It's called autonomous sensory meridian r...

Extraordinary Science of 2014

13 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Sex-reversed genitalia and tractor beams -- just a few of the extraordinary discoveries and breakthroughs of 2014. How have they changed our perceptio...

Astonishing Science of 2014

08 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Find out what the most astonishing moments in science were in 2014 and why they may just be game-changers for humanity. Learn more about your ad-choi...

Sonic Illusions

06 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine exploring a cave and discovering paintings that appear to come alive with a few claps of your hand. Enter the cave of forgotten sounds with Ro...

Brainhacking 101: New Year, New Habits

01 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

How long does it take to make or break a habit? Is this really the year you make major changes or learn a new craft? Robert and Julie break down the s...

Dung Beetle Mania!

30 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Find out how and why dung beetles have been capitalizing on poop in a big way for 30 million years. Also, these little guys may be the world's tiniest...

Give the Gift of a Mystery Box

25 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Why are mystery packages so appealing? How do they improve our mental faculties and fuel our creativity? In this classic episode, Robert and Julie sha...