FULL EPISODE: Fearsome Spider Puppets - January 7, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Unfiltered discussions.
How can listening to music improve memory retention?
Unexpected guests. No topic is off-limits. From sex and relationships to the human condition. Personal anxieties and so much more. The only talk show of its kind in the world. World This Is. Hey, welcome in, pull up a chair, things are gonna get weird on tonight's show and here are some of the things you'll learn on the program. A tropical spider, I know I'm arachnophobic too, but a tropical spider was spotted creating a sort of scarecrow spider in its web, many times larger than itself, to tell predators to go away. It's the first example of a spider making a puppet in its web we found in a rainforest. And it's horrifying, but also amazing. And we'll tell you about it in about 10 minutes time. Then it's the end of an era for the MetroCard.
You know, the subway pass people use here in New York where I live. And folks in the city have held a hilarious funeral for the now obsolete form of transportation payment. It kind of reminds me of that funeral that was held for a raccoon in Toronto, my hometown, many years ago. We'll give you the scoop on that story towards the end of the hour. That's some of what we'll cover on tonight's program. There will be more, but let's dive in with some science news. As we age, I think a lot of us worry about our memory, but there is a trick to make your memory improve as you age.
What did the study reveal about the star Betelgeuse?
All you got to do is listen to music after something happens. I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but hey, we're going to discuss this new scientific discovery research paper with Jesse Rogerson on science news. Jesse is a astrophysicist at York University. Jesse, what a pleasure it is having you. So great to have you back. I'm so happy to be back, David. Thanks for having me. Oh, what a mensch, he said. Okay, this one, I mean, it does involve Alzheimer's patients. So maybe it's like, I can't just listen to, I don't know, Taylor Swift's newest album and all of a sudden remember everything that happened in my life.
How do tropical spiders use puppets for protection?
Maybe it's not as simple as that, but it's pretty cool research. You know what though, actually, in this study, so the headline of the study is that you can use music to reinforce knowledge that you just got. And they did it for both like healthy older adults and adults that are diagnosed with mild Alzheimer's. So it's not just Alzheimer's, patients. It also works with healthy older adults. And the way they did this, so they had 186 participants. 93 were like the healthy older adults, and 93 were diagnosed with Alzheimer's. And then they broke those two groups into three categories to listen to different types of music. So what they would do first is they would show them a series of images. These images had a variety of emotional tones, some happy images, some sad images, some neutral images.
And they were basically committing them to memory. They were working with them. They were learning these images. And then immediately after that, they listened to some music. And that music also came in different flavors. Some of the people listened to really happy, like jaunty music. And some people listened to very chill, relaxing music.
What was the significance of the funeral for NYC's MetroCard?
Down tempo. Down tempo, yes. I love that. And then the third group listened to white noise, which I think is a weird choice. So they were meant to be like a control. So you have this, once you've done this music intervention, they then ran them through memory tests. They said, okay, how many of these do you remember? And how many happy ones do you remember? How many sad ones do you remember? And then they also ran them through a test where they put in images that were not there before and got them to find the one that stands out.
What conspiracies surround escapes from East Germany?
Which one's the one that wasn't there before? Or which one is the few that weren't there before? And they found some really, really interesting stuff They found that if you listen to music that is emotionally arousing, so happy, jaunty music, this actually makes your memory better. It makes you more able, this is for healthy adults, more able to recall the images and more able to find the outliers.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:03
2
How can listening to music improve memory retention?
0:03–1:30
3
What did the study reveal about the star Betelgeuse?
1:30–2:03
4
How do tropical spiders use puppets for protection?
2:03–3:18
5
What was the significance of the funeral for NYC's MetroCard?
3:18–3:49
6
What conspiracies surround escapes from East Germany?
3:49–4:44
7
What are some unique 'Am I the a-hole?' scenarios discussed?
4:44–1:19:55
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