BrainStuff
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BrainStuff
Whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on BrainStuff to explore -- and explain -- the everyday science in the world around us.
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2639 episodi
How Do Geoducks Work?
Geoducks are large clams that can live for over a century, are eaten as delicacies, and look incredibly NSFW. Learn more about these amazing mollusks...
How Did One Woman Make Vincent van Gogh Famous?
Van Gogh didn't find fame or financial success during his life. But after he died, his widowed sister-in-law, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, worked for deca...
How Does Building Muscle Work?
Building muscle isn't just about getting ripped -- it's a way all of us can be healthier. Learn about the facts and fictions behind building muscle (a...
Deinonychus: The Dinosaur That Sparked a Renaissance
The discovery of Deinonychus, an agile theropod that may have hunted in packs, changed the way we think about dinosaurs -- and inspired 'Jurassic Park...
How Do Scales Measure Weight?
Scales range from simple machines that weigh your produce to precision instruments that measure anything from molecules to massive cargo -- but they a...
How Did the Penn Center Become a Civil Rights Sanctuary?
In South Carolina, the first school for formerly enslaved people during the Civil War shifted to become a center for social activism during the Civil...
BrainStuff Classics: Why Is Cramming the Worst Way to Study?
Cramming for a test or other deadline may give you decent short-term results, but research shows it sacrifices long-term comprehension and memory. Lea...
How Can We Separate Ninja Fact from Ninja Fiction?
Over a few hundred years, real stories about secretive agents developed into the legend of the ninja. Learn how this myth captured the world's imagina...
How Did 'Bourgeois' Become a Bad Word?
The French word 'bourgeois' originally just meant a middle-class town dweller, but it's taken on a lot of different (and often derogatory) connotation...
How Did the Jane Collective Work?
When abortion was illegal throughout the U.S., it was still perfomed -- just dangerously or expensively. Learn about the Jane Collective -- an undergr...
How Do Ducks Float?
Ducks can hold extra air in their feathers and bodies, making it easy for them to float -- and to squeeze out the air and dive when they want to. Lear...
BrainStuff Classics: What Was the Emu War?
Following World War II, Austrialia became embroiled in another war -- with a population of emu. Learn how the Emu War unfolded in this episode of Brai...
BrainStuff Classics: Do Truly Unselfish Acts Really Exist?
Neurologists and philosophers alike may argue that altruism doesn't exist because no act is ever completely unselfish. Learn why -- and why humans may...
How Is Forest Lawn Memorial Park the 'Disneyland of Cemeteries'?
Just outside Los Angeles, Forest Lawn Memorial Park is the resting place of many celebrities -- and also home to art, architecture, and celebrations o...
What Colors Can Blood Be Other Than Red?
Not all animals have red blood -- it can also come in green, blue, clear, and even dichroic varieties. Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff, based...
What Caused the Laughter Epidemic of 1962?
At a girls' boarding school in what's now Tanzania, a fit of giggles expanded into a months-long epidemic of stressed-out laughter affecting hundreds...
Welcome to Beyond the Script from CVS Pharmacy
Ever freeze when the pharmacist asks, “Any questions?” Beyond the Script is here to help.
Hosted by Dr. Jake Goodman, this podcast answers the...
What's the History of Remote Controls?
Today, we use remote controls for everything from televisions to car doors to Mars rovers. Learn about the history and technologies behind them (inclu...
How Did One Portuguese Diplomat Save Thousands of Holocaust Refugees?
During WWII, a diplomat by the name of Aristides de Sousa Mendes disobeyed his government in order to provide safe passage to thousands of people flee...
How Do Search-And-Rescue Dogs Work?
When every minute counts, search-and-rescue dogs can help locate disaster victims far faster than humans alone. Learn about how they're trained in thi...
BrainStuff Classics: Why Do We Drop a Ball on New Year's Eve?
The tradition of dropping a ball in Times Square to mark the beginning of a new year only goes back about a century. Learn about the history -- plus f...
Can You Really Die of Boredom?
No, you can't literally die of boredom -- but it can lead to some high-risk behaviors. Learn more about boredom, ennui, and how to shake them in this...
BrainStuff Classics: Why Does Cashmere Cost So Much?
Cashmere can be more expensive than other wools because producing it is such an intensive process -- for the goats that grow it and the humans who car...
Why Is There a Pooping Figurine in Some Nativity Scenes?
In Catalonia, there's a two-hundred-year-old tradition of including a figurine of a man pooping in the shadows of Nativity scenes. Learn about el caga...
How Do Rice Cookers Work?
These small appliances help home cooks achieve excellent rice via two categories of technology: ingeniously simple physics, or incredibly complex algo...
How Can Mudlarking Turn Trash Into Treasure?
Mudlarking means sifting through riverbank muck in hopes of finding lost or discarded historical artefacts. Learn how it works, especially in the Rive...
How Do Walruses Work?
These arctic animals have complex social structures and may eat 6,000 clams in a single meal. Learn more walruses in this episode of BrainStuff, based...
What Happens When Your Immune System Turns on You?
Your adaptive immune system remembers specific germs and fights them really effectively -- but it can sometimes make mistakes and attack your own heal...
How Can Slime Mold Think Without a Brain?
Slime molds are collectives of single-celled organisms that don't have neurons, much less brains, but they can move, solve mazes, and remember where f...
What's the Difference Between Cougars, Pumas, and Mountain Lions?
Although there can be small differences, all of these are local names for the same species of cat, Puma concolor. Learn about them in this episode of...
Who Named the Americas?
In the early 1500s, a sailor by the name of Amerigo Vespucci published lurid pamphlets about his travels to a distant continent. Learn how a pair of m...
BrainStuff Classics: Would Turkey Be So Popular Without Thanksgiving?
Americans eat a LOT of turkey around the winter holidays, but why? Learn about turkey's festive history and when we eat the most of it in this classic...
Could a Solar Flare Wipe Out Earth's Electronics?
Powerful events on the surface of the sun, like solar flares and coronal mass ejections, produce radiation and magnetic waves that could indeed affect...
How Can Dolphins Detect Sea Mines?
The U.S. Navy has been training bottlenose dolphins for operations like detecting undersea mines and guarding vessels since the 1960s. Learn about the...
How Does the Skin Barrier Work?
Our skin is our first line of defense as we move through the world, providing both a physical barrier and an immune barrier against microbes and other...
What's the History of Skid Row?
In downtown Los Angeles, the 50-block neighborhood called Skid Row is home to thousands of low-income people who live in tents, run-down hotels, and o...
How Do You Make Hoshigaki?
Hoshigaki are a type of dried fruit made by massaging a persimmon every day for weeks. Learn more about this traditional Japanese treat in today's epi...
How Does Psoriasis Work?
Psoriasis is a condition where an overactive immune system causes discomfort and discoloration of the skin. Learn what we know (and don't know!) about...
Could 'Y'all' Fill a Gap in Modern English?
Unlike other languages, modern English doesn't have a second-person plural pronoun. Learn how 'y'all' is stepping up in this episode of BrainStuff, ba...
Introducing: Health Stuff
Hi, BrainStuff listeners! We're excited to share with you a sneak peek at iHeartPodcasts' latest release, Health Stuff!
Health Stuff: On Health...