ABOUT THIS PODCAST 🔗
Brain Junk is an off-the-wall, totally unbelievable but true podcast where Amy Barton and Trace Kerr shake up science & history in the hunt for answers to questions you never knew you wanted to know. We bring you the inside scoop on things like: Can goldfish drive? How do whales not drown while eating? Who had the first prosthetic eye?
We cannonball off the question high dive every other Tuesday -- those of you in the front seats, bring your ponchos. We're out to flood your brain.
brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
Update frequency:
biweekly
Average audio length:
12 minutes
English
United States
322 episodes
since May 23, 2018
episodic
LATEST EPISODE 🔗
We've had a hell of a good time spending the past 6 years scrounging up weird science and history junk for you to listen to! It's been a privilege knowing there a lots of fact junkies out there like us, digging through our podcast like raccoons in a trashcan. Our legacy is 328 fantastic episodes an…
PREVIOUS EPISODES 🔗
Amy lives for a good shenanigan so of course she adores MIT's tradition of playing hacks (aka pranks) on Harvard and Yale. The biggest one you've ever heard of turned out to be a fake but don't worry, there's still some great ones from the past 75 years that were real!
Show Notes:
Atlas Obscura: ht…
In a weird turn of events, it's ants performing surgery when one of them has a leg injury instead of scientists whacking the legs off. Okay,we lied, the scientists are doing it too...
Show Notes:
Episode 71: Ants on Stilts (it's just as horrible as it sounds) https://brainjunkpodcast.com/podcast/71…
Imagine rolling up to excavate an ancient ruin only to spend the day carrying out buckets full of crabs! Today we get to know the Potamon fluviatile crab.
Show Notes:
National Geographic article: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/river-crab-ancient-rome
Musei In Commune Roma, The s…
Have you ever wondered if a hit of helium would change the sound of an alligator's bellows? Lucky for us, there are scientists out there who wanted to know.
Show Notes:
BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54197198
Kyoto University Ig Nobel announcement: https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/…
Amy looks into how companies change over time. Start making glass jars, segue into making aerospace technology, and end up only doing metal fabrication. We look at a few other companies too!
Show Notes:
Ball historical timeline: https://www.ball.com/our-company/our-story/history-timeline
Wikipedia…
Scientists wanted to know if plants scream and tortured tomatoes to find out the answer. Beckett (Trace's youngest spawn) wanted to know, if plants do scream, can our pets hear it and is this why cats knock plants off shelves?
Show Notes:
YouTube sound of Plants "screaming": https://www.youtube.co…
Amy laid the perfect web of "lies"; she lured Trace into an episode about shapeshifting women and then sprang the trap...this episode is about the Joro spider. We talk about the convergence of giant invasive spiders and Japanese mythology.
Show Notes:
Joro Spider (warning, there are spider photos):…
How do we define and study the little voice in your head? Is it something you HEAR, hear or is it something you think? For some of us, there's no inner monologue, for others, it's so loud in there, it's hard to participate in the outside world. Trace fell down the research stairs on this one! It's …
Who knew that a simple combination of oats, water and salt could make for a yearly competition that's lasted for 30 years? We dive into the history of oats in Scotland and the famous Golden Spurtle competition!
Show Notes:
Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship: https://www.goldenspurtle…
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Brain Junk, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.
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