The Last Show with David Cooper
Big Flatus Reveal; Don't Know Why She Swallow the Botfly - Dan Riskin
24 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What groundbreaking news does David share about the Human Flatus Atlas?
Time for science with the science appliance. Dr. Dan Riskin on The Last Show with David Cooper.
That's me farting.
Wow. You've really been working on that. That's impressive.
I have. I have. And that's our setup to our punch of what we're about to talk about. It's fart science. Fart punching? No, fart science, Dan. Fart science. Yes. It's a real branch of science.
Well, listen, I was reporting on a study not too long ago where somebody was measuring people's flatus. And I remember thinking, this is like David Cooper gold. I hope David Cooper finds a way to bring this to the next level. Bring it to fartition, which is fruition in a smelly way.
See, this is why I thought of you, because right away you're ready, like with bad puns and jokes, like you've got that figured out. What next? What next?
Okay, so here's the deal. So some people wanted to research, honestly, in earnest, like gut microbiome, bacteria, what it says about digestion. Like these weren't just like, ha ha, let's study fart scientists. These were like, you know, macro microbiologists, whatever, evolutionarily microbiologist. Yeah. Sure. Did I get that right? Yep, that's what they call them, yep. Evolutionary biologists.
Biologists. Okay, okay. So they did a study, and you sent this to me as a list of topics, and I'm like, well, we already talked to the scientists. We already had them on the show. Amazing. But, but... It's so much more. It's so much more. So let's just briefly go over the study because I didn't really get questions in. I was so enamored by this guy who was studying farts.
You didn't ask him questions about the study? I mean, I did a little, but I was more like you are. I compared him to like Einstein and Newton. I was like he was one of the great scientific minds who dared to study what no one else did, you know? Like Galileo was arrested for studying the cosmos. For lesser crimes. Yeah. Yeah. The man dared to do science and he paid the price.
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Chapter 2: What strange medical case involves a woman sneezing out maggots?
Like the idea is that they arrested him and he like just pointed to the sky and he was like, yet it moves. Like he was making the point like you can arrest me all you want, but the data are there. And so like this, this idea is going to stand no matter what. Yes. And it's unclear whether he actually did say that at all, but it's part of the story that gets told.
Yeah, it's one of those famous like misquotes. There's just like so many of them. Yeah, but it's a good one. So let's keep saying.
But anyway, OK, so I feel like we're taking away from your story. I want to know. Oh, yeah, we were going to give. So my recollection of the study to give you the science, since you talk to the person who did the study but didn't ask them about it, is that they they made some kind of device that you wear that attaches to your underwear that can measure how much you you fart.
And that people turn out to fart way more than they realize because for decades people have been doing studies where they ask people to keep track for a day and people do and they come up with a number that's like 20. And then when they gave people this device, it turned out to be much more like 32 on average, not even the max.
Yeah, and there was like one outlier that did thousands. So I was asking about the number of farts, what's in the farts, what does it mean about our gut? Okay, you did ask questions. I asked questions, but I did miss one key question. But the good news is, for those listening, there's going to be a second chance for me to make up for this, and we'll get to that in a second.
But I wanted to know definitively if women farted less than men, or is that just a myth that we like to believe because women pretend they don't fart sometimes? Some do. Not the one I live with, but that's not besides the point. Sure. Like my mom claims to not fart, but boy, does she. Right. Yeah, yeah. I inherited my IBS, I think, from her. I think from her, yeah.
Wow. Yeah, I know. I mean, these are the big questions. Yeah, and I don't think the study included any kind of comparisons to my knowledge. My other question is like, The number of times is one thing, but also like the volume per fart is another thing.
Like if it's, you know, if it's like water balloons, if you're throwing water balloons, if they're just little tiny water balloons, it's very different from like giant water balloons. A 10 gallon water balloon.
Yeah.
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Chapter 3: How do cultural perceptions of apologies differ between Americans and Canadians?
Okay, okay, okay. But fortunately, you've got this expert that you've tapped so that you can get down to the nitty gritty on these farts. Yeah, yeah.
So the guy that I'm talking about that I had on the show this last week, I don't know, a few days ago. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter, recently. He's more about tracking the number of farts. And he's got a project called the Human Flatus Project. And he's invented this sensor that snaps to your underwear. And it looks ridiculous. And it counts your farts.
And they've been studying it. And every study before this guy was self-reported. And so they really didn't have good data. Because it's like breathing. Ask me how many times I breathe a day. I can tell you how many times I breathe... What's that?
How many times do you breathe a day? Okay. You're...
Thank you. I meant that in a literal sense, Dan. Thank you for, I hate you. No, I'm just saying like blinking. If I ask you how many blinks you make in a minute, you can do it. But at some point you lose consciousness. You lose the awareness of what you're doing.
It's like, you know. Totally. And also, like, if you're thinking about it, you might blink more than you would otherwise. Like, am I overblinking? Am I underblinking? Yeah. And farting would be the same. So you really just need some kind of a monitor.
The question is, is farting something you lose control of, you lose consciousness of? You can do it on command. If it's bad enough, you lose consciousness. Go on. Farts are funny, man. There's no way around it. I feel like kids know. Kids, when their brains aren't even that developed, they can't understand complex humor. Kids laugh at a fart because we all know farts are funny.
They are hilarious. They are. I don't know why, but man, are they ever. They are so funny. It's just... Okay, I'm losing my mind. Anyway, so I had this guy on. Okay, and this is what the list, even if the attentive listener of our program who would have heard that interview last week, this is what they don't know.
So during the commercial break after this interview, I'm telling you, I'm like, this censor's amazing. I wonder what my number would be. And this guy just says, this amazing man, this Nobel Prize worthy. Yes. He just says to me, well, we can send you one. What? Yeah.
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Chapter 4: What surprising results did the study on customer service apologies reveal?
And he's like, well, for legal reasons, you can't really be like a participant in our clinical trial unless we like read you in and blah, blah, blah. But he's like, we can send you one and we'll count your farts. And how about this? This is what the listeners don't know. This is a new fact that I'm announcing with you, Dan Riskin, right now. This is all told to me and I'm so excited about it.
And he said, well, you can't be a part of the clinical trial. But I'll come back on your show and I'll go over your results with you on the show.
This is the greatest radio in the world.
I know.
Howard Stern wishes, wishes that he'd come up with this.
this is unreal oh my gosh okay all right okay all right um are you wearing them right now no i'm not i i have the box in my hands i previously did an unboxing of it but uh it's just it's like a little 3d for those not watching this which makes sense because it's a podcast it's like a little i don't know nickel shaped maybe uh what's the one that's five cents is that a nickel
Nickel is five cents, yeah. Okay, dime is ten. I always get nickel and dime mixed up. And it's about a nickel-shaped black sensor, and then on the other end, a magnetic snap. And you kind of put it in your, how shall we say, taint area, your perennium area, and it just captures the farts. And there's some app where you reconnect it with your computer and it syncs. Oh.
And it checks the gas breakdown and the number of times a day.
The gas breakdown? So it counts how many times you fart, but then it also tells you the chemistry of each individual fart? I think, as I recall, yeah. Okay, all right. Well, we'll find out. Once they're your data, you'll care. You'll be invested. This is so exciting.
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Chapter 5: How does the Canadian accent influence perceptions of speech?
And I love what I do. And I love science communication and I love what I do.
i'm not complaining but i'm like this is it like i get this expert because i find something funny and interesting and quirky and weird yeah and then like it goes to the next thing and then it becomes participatory and then he comes back and here we are analyzing farts oh my god and it's all happening and it's not planned and it's just a random conversation at the break this is great we will look back on this in the future as the glory days this is it this is the peak
This is the best conversation I've ever had with you. I'm so excited right now.
So earlier in the show, earlier in our conversation, I was saying that I missed a few questions. Like, for example, the women farting less than men. Is that a myth? Yeah. I'm going to ask him that. Your question, volumes per fart. Yeah. I'm going to do a good job this time. I'm not just going to let my doe eyes. Yeah. Does he have a take on the heat situation?
Oh, let's ask him that. The temperature of the farts. Yeah, because that's a good question that you asked the other person that they didn't give you a satisfactory answer. So you got to make sure you get that.
But the idea that I'm going to go over my lab report, as it will, on the air. I'm so excited. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
It seems like you're a little jealous.
Oh.
Dude, jealous doesn't even capture it. I'm just, I'm in awe. I'm just, I can't wait to listen to that interview. I cannot wait. And you know what? The other thing is like, I feel like you are uniquely well suited to this because you have the curiosity, you have the chops. And the lack of shame. I'm looking for, and you have the, the bowels.
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Chapter 6: What insights does Dan provide about the science of farting?
That's the science. Can you check whether a fart sensor that was used was in fact used or will it smell like new?
It's like the modern version of smell my finger. It's smell this 3D printed plastic.
So yeah, that's the story. That's the fart science. I am going to be... When are you putting that thing on? I don't know. I just received it.
Are you so nervous?
I'm a little nervous. Should I juice? Should I eat beans and drink milk?
And then so the day... Well, that's what they did in the experiment is they fed people different things, right? And then they tried to see whether it could pick it up. And so I think it's important that whatever you're eating, you record a diary. And I think you should, if you have some foods that you know...
light things up you want to be you eating those on day three or four i mean you just got to change up the data because it'll give you something to talk about in that conversation when you have them back so i would go with usual diet days one two three and then on day four maybe a little sauerkraut maybe a little something i don't know what your magic sauce is but beans kale onions i might make a kale bean onion stew or something with a little cheese on top yeah yes
won't take my lactate i'd be curious to see whether lactate works i mean we can answer questions oh my gosh yes back to the study they're doing they're trying to map out like how people fart around the world based on diet based on gut flora based on gut health this that and the other and this map they're calling the human flatus atlas which is so funny to me that it's like a scholarly research project yes um like that is atlas yeah just
Brilliant.
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Chapter 7: What is the significance of the Human Flatus Atlas project?
And, yeah, thank you for showing it to me before you clipped it to your underwear so I don't have to see, like, you don't have to wait while you take off your underwear and then hold it up to the camera and then put it back on or something.
No, that'll be our OnlyFans version of the show. Sure.
Yeah, you're going to make good money on this. Probably.
This could be my big break. This may be your biggest break in wind. Damn. Damn. I set you up. Dan Riskin is here. We're going to do some actually actual actual actuality science when we come back after the break. With an actuary. With an actuary. This one is Dan promised me this story would horrify me. It might horrify you. We will talk about the woman who was minding her own business.
She sneezed and there came out botfly sheep maggots and she was studied by studiers. Is that right? Well, I'll tell you after the break. All right. This is the cliffhanger. Parts. They're amazing. You're jealous. You're jealous. You want one. I'm so jealous. Do you want me to try to get you one?
yes okay yes i'll try i'll try i'll try i don't want to interfere with like i don't want to mess with this guy before he comes back on the show right to uh get your get your stuff and then but yeah no i want i don't want to use yours after you're done with it though just to be clear but we just proved that if it's used you can't smell it oh no we haven't proved that unless they know we haven't proved that yeah okay all right the woman who sneezed maggots i don't know why she swallowed the fly i guess she'll die that's good that's good you're welcome
A 67-year-old grandfather fails to show up for a meeting with his son at a local tire shop, sparking a desperate search. And he wouldn't be the only victim. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hixt. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Season 8 drops April 21st. But you can hear the first story now, one month early, only on Amazon Music.
I know an old lady who swallowed a fly. Wait, play the music. Oh, f***.
Time for science with the science appliance. Dr. Dan Riskin on The Last Show with David Cooper.
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Chapter 8: How do AI company logos reflect societal perceptions?
And she speaks Greek. I don't know for sure. And she lives in Greece. It doesn't say in the description. That's the thing with these medical descriptors. How about a picture? How about her Facebook profile? Who's she dating? I'd like to know all the things. Grecian? Grecan? What's someone from Greece? A Grecian? I believe they call them
grecians greek people oh yeah that's the one yeah greeks uh yeah if it's an urn it's a grecian urn but if it's a person i'm pretty sure it's a greek person so the only time you can become a grecian is after you die and get right okay that that's and that was included in the abstract of this study we're just we're just reporting on the facts here all right this woman get to her what's going on she she sneezed a maggot no why
Okay, so she's 58 and she has all of a sudden like weeks of facial pain. Like her face hurts and she doesn't know why. And then she's got these headaches. She's got coughing. She's got a fever. And then she sneezes and a whole bunch of little maggots come out of her nose. Like white, moving, slightly hairy. Hairy? Well, they got little bristles on them. Yeah.
They're just like writhing, you know, outside her nose. And she's like, oh no. So then she goes to the hospital and she tells them what happened. Probably brings the maggots with her. That wasn't in the study. But they believe her, whatever it is. And they do surgery and they look in her nose and they pull out 10 maggots. larvae of different ages.
And they're like, those look like the kinds of butterflies that live in a sheep's nose. Is it, are those sheep ones? And so they look at them and they, they actually collected some DNA from them and ran the DNA. And sure enough, it is the one that goes in sheep. Now, What this thing normally does is it goes, the fly lays eggs up in the nose of a sheep. The poor sheep has no tissues or anything.
So the sheep just gets these eggs there and then they turn into maggots and they go into the flesh and they eat the flesh. And then when they get to a certain age, after a couple of molts, they drop out of the nose like a booger. They land on the ground and they go down into the ground, they molt, they turn into an adult fly and they go off and do their thing. And that's how they reproduce.
It's a bot fly. And there are lots of different kinds of bot flies in the world, but this is the sheep one. Now, they don't go in humans. Like if one tries to lay eggs in your nose, nothing happens. Like it just falls out. Like they just don't catch. Until now.
Are you sure she didn't swallow a fly and then a spider to catch the fly, a bird to catch the spider, a cat to catch the bird, a dog to catch the cat, but the dog also is there to catch the sheep, which she originally swallowed? Yes.
Is that... That is a hypothesis that wasn't fully explored in the paper. What they came to the conclusion of, there were two things that were important. One... She does recall a day where she found herself really swarmed by a lot of flies out in the sheep paddocks. So she had a day where a whole bunch of these things probably laid eggs up her nose at the same time.
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