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PODCAST

Brain Junk

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.

science natural sciences

All Episodes

17:04

275: Plant Mafia

Brain Junk ·

2023/08/08

The Sandbox tree, Water Hemlock, and Giant Hogweed are the mean girls of the plant world. They don't care about your feelings. If you get too close you might experience rashes, blindness, third degree burns, and/or death. These plants say, touch me, I DARE YOU.Show Notes:Sandbox Tree info on BritannicaAnimalogic YouTube with exploding Sandbox tree seedpodsWater Hemlock is terribleNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation Giant Hogweed WARNINGSTrigger warning for this last link. Photos

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14:47

274: Earth's Pot Belly

Brain Junk ·

2023/08/01

Turns out, in less than 20 years of pumping underground water sources for agriculture and drinking water, we've changed the tilt of the Earth. Yikes! Need some cheering up? Listen to the Quahog Wild episode!Show Notes:258: Quahog WildAdvanced Earth and Space Sciences paper (Geophysical Research Letters): Drift of Earth's Pole Confirms Groundwater Depletion as a Significant Contributor to Global Sea Level Rise 1993–2010 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023GL103509The Smartless

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11:06

273: Romanian Whirlpools

Brain Junk ·

2023/07/25

Known locally as a valtoare, this bowl built into a river has been used to wash clothes for hundreds of years. Click the links, it's something to see! This week we start in a river washing clothes and dive into the history of washing machines. It's so much clean fun. (Get it? CLEAN 'cause its about washing clothes? Hehehe we'll see ourselves out).Show Notes:TikTok video of a Romanian Whirlpool in action YouTube of ladies washing with a valtoare WorldRecordAcademy.org articlePeasantartcraft.com about

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14:13

272: Neanderthal Grabby Hands

Brain Junk ·

2023/07/18

In Northern Europe, up to 30% of men over the age of 60 can be affected by Dupuytren's Disease. Hand and finger tendons thicken and contract causing permanent loss of mobility. Turns out this disease is a leftover from Neanderthal genes.Show notes:Molecular Biology and Evolution article: Major Genetic Risk Factors for Dupuytren's Disease Are Inherited From Neandertals June 2023Dupuytren Contracture: what exactly is it and how does it affect a person's handsNature Ecology and Evolution article:

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15:12

271: Trash Pirates

Brain Junk ·

2023/07/11

Okay this title is a reach, but it was too good to not use. Turns out coastal critters are hitching rides around the world on our floating trash. From dramatic events like Japan's 2011 tsunami, to the stuff we toss into the garbage, we are changing the world and it's ecology in unexpected ways.Show Notes:Science.org: Tsunami-driven rafting: Transoceanic species dispersal and implications for marine biogeography Nature Article on TrashMarine Debris Program: article and videoScience AlertCoastal

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15:21

270: Oreology

Brain Junk ·

2023/07/04

Welcome to the wonderful "ology" created when bored and curious scientists were trapped in their apartments by the pandemic. It's Oreology! Is the creamy filling a liquid or a solid? Grab a bag of Oreos and help us answer burning questions surrounding this tasty snack.image Mooss from PixabayShow Notes:Youtube of How It's Made: Oreo (go to 3:30 for cream being placed on the cookies!)Physics of Fluid: On Oreology, the fracture and flow of “milk's favorite cookie®”Crystal Owens GitHub

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11:51

269: Rat Fannies

Brain Junk ·

2023/06/27

We're circling back to the African Giant Pouched Rat! Turns out, in addition to being super great at detecting land mines, these rats also have very interesting vaginas. Show Notes:Step into the way back machine and give our 100th episode a listen(we talk about bomb sniffing rats)!Cornell Ed article on vaginal plasticityPhys Org article by Laura Gallup: Bomb-sniffing rodents undergo 'weird' vaginal transformationsJust incase you NEED to know more about thr African Giant Pouched Rat and their

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18:31

268: Wrinkly Brains

Brain Junk ·

2023/06/20

Amy protecting all those precious brain wrinkles (special appearance by her husband, Chris). Turns out more isn't always better-- for optimal brain function, at least for people, we need just the right amount of brain folds. Kind of like Goldilocks. To avoid things like epilepsy we need not too many, and not too little, just right.image of brain coral just for comparison to the human brain (credit samkerridge on pixabay268Show Notes:PNAS: TMEM161B modulates radial glial scaffolding in neocortical

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9:27

267: Crazy Cat Wolves

Brain Junk ·

2023/06/13

Amy asked for zombies. Next to Cordyceps (and the Last of Us), Toxoplasma gondii comes pretty close to taking over mammal brains. A 2022 study in Yellowstone showed wolves are affected by toxoplasmosis in unexpected ways.Show Notes:Communication Biology: Parasitic infection increases risk-taking in a social, intermediate host carnivoreScientific American: Are Cats responsible for "Cat Ladies"? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus

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11:33

266: Hot, Cold, or Wet?!?

Brain Junk ·

2023/06/06

While there are lots of other animals that feel wetness; buckle up, friends, humans can't. When you spill a glass of water on yourself, you are feeling something, but it's not the water. We don't like it either, but it seems to be true.Show Notes:257: Pruney Fingers2014 NIH reprint of Journal of Neurophysiology Why wet feels wet? A neurophysiological model of human cutaneous wetness sensitivityIFL Science versionScience Daily: Understanding the Illusion of WetnessYouTube of The rubber fake hand

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15:49

265: Underwater Rebreathing

Brain Junk ·

2023/05/30

Some Anoles have the most awesome "in case of emergency" trick! Anoles living near bodies of water can jump in, sink to the bottom, and rebreathe their breath long enough to stay under for over 10 minutes. The science is remarkable (and we learn some cool vocab words).Show Notes:What is an Anole? BritannicaHarvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Blog Aug 19, 202: Air bubbles allow some lizards to breathe underwaterCurrent Biology vol. 31 issue 13, Repeated evolution of underwater

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14:45

264: EpiPens in SPACE

Brain Junk ·

2023/05/23

We LOVE the delightful and sometimes confounding process of scientific discovery. What makes science even better is when kids get to ask big questions and have access to ways to find answers.Show Notes:We mention The Muppet Show: if you don't know, here's a clip of Statler & WaldorfKids discover how EpiPens work in space from The SmithsonianCubes in Space: The Only Global STEM Program for Students 11-18 years of AgeProviding Two Suborbital Flight Opportunities on NASA Missions.Hopkins students

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14:41

263: Mouse Antlers

Brain Junk ·

2023/05/16

Who knew that attempts to discover ways for humans to regrow organs or limbs might send a group of scientists in the direction of trying to grow sitka deer antlers on naked mice? Not us that's for sure. Buckle up, today science gets weird.image: Jackalopes at Wall Drug Show Notes:Trace on InstagramAmy on InstagramBrain Junk InstagramNature March 2023 Mice grow ‘mini-antlers’ thanks to deers’ speedy stem cells2020 antler cells study with mice: WARNING the pictures are a bit much Also the actual 2020

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8:58

262: Dog Years

Brain Junk ·

2023/05/09

Turns out the old school calculation for dogs aging seven years to every one of our human years isn't quite accurate. There are better ways to calculate aging with epigenetics (FYI epigenetics is the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work). image of young puppy and adult dog from PixabayShow Notes:Correction Corner! We got things wrong listing Trey Idecker as the main author of the Cell Systems paper. While Idecker was the Senior author, it

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12:44

261: Low Background Steel

Brain Junk ·

2023/05/02

From the 1960s to the early 2000s, if you needed to make sensitive equipment like a Geiger counter or even sensing equipment for hospital tests, you needed low-background steel. BUT WHAT IS IT? Listen and find out!Show Notes:Need some low background lead? Let us know if they tell you a price.The Wiki for more...as if you'd need more after our episode (wink).We talked about the RAADS-R test for autism. If you're curious you can take it HERE. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this

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8:49

260: Silly Walking

Brain Junk ·

2023/04/25

Maybe you know Monty Python from their 1975 movie Holy Grail. They didn't just make movies! From 1969 to 1974 they also did a comedy tv show. A classic sketch was Ministry of Silly Walks. Turns out, it might've been good for more than just a few laughs. Try that Silly Walk workout.Show Notes:British Medical Journal article You must check out diagrams in the paper!!!!Ars Technica link to video of people being studied while they try the Silly Walking!!!Quantifying the benefits of inefficient walking:

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13:07

259: Cranberry Myths

Brain Junk ·

2023/04/18

Creepy trigger warning! We talk a bit about spiders. I don't like them either (TK) but it's worth it. We swear! If you google cranberry harvesting you'll quickly run into posts about spiders in the bogs. Turns out, they aren't as much of a creepy problem as Tumblr would have you believe! image: b. minnick from pixabayShow Notes:DownieLive visit to a cranberry bog. Let us know if YOU see any spiders!Amy's Instagram for the biscuits Spider research from the University of Massachusetts: Predation

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21:42

258: Quahog Wild

Brain Junk ·

2023/04/11

Aber-clam Lincoln is a 214 year old quahog clam (look, we don't make the dad jokes, we just share them). Did you know you can count shell ridges like tree rings to determine age? Clams pictured are not quahogs, but you get the idea of how the ridges look.Show Notes:Aber-clam Lincoln articleMing the Clam--the oldest we've found so far.Dr. Bruce Liberman commenting on survival of the sluggishJust incase you are also somewhere on the timeline for a colonoscopy... you have our sympathies. Check this

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20:44

257: Pruney Fingers

Brain Junk ·

2023/04/04

Are you Team Amy, who adores getting wrinkled fingers or are you on Team Trace, who can't STAND having pruney fingers because they're gross (there's no right answer here, except Trace is right).We were surprised to learn the science of wrinkled-in-water fingers. It's not from absorbing water like we were told as kids. Show Notes:A blast from the past Episode 194: Iris SphinctersThe TikTok that got me interested in all things wrinkled fingers Dex (@dexter.mp4)Nature: Science gets a grip on wrinkly

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12:59

256: Coulrophobia

Brain Junk ·

2023/03/28

A fear of clowns is called coulrophobia. If you're like us, maybe you don't find clowns bone-chillingly scary but they still give you a case of the ick. This week we're looking into clowns and fears. Stick around to the end, Amy takes a left turn with weird body horror involving an octopus. Show Notes:Amy references this study HARD Fear of clowns: An investigation into the prevalence of coulrophobia in an international sampleTop ten fears in America 2022: Chapman University This is a public

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349 results

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