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A Little Bit Of Science

A Little Bit Of Science

449 episodes — Page 7 of 9

The Fake Money of JSG Boggs

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What even is money? Is it even really real?Money, as all you wise Wholesome Show listeners know, is a social construct. We made it up and we believe in it because it's useful.And so we know making fake money is naughty... But what if you fake it as an art project?Rod tells Will the story of JSG Boggs and his fake money!The Wholesome Show is Will Grant and Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 20, 20191h 0m

Phrenology!

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The idea of studying the bumps on people's heads to understand their personality is often held up as one of the dumbest mistakes ever made in science... But the story of phrenology is a little more complicated than that.Will tells Rod why!The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 13, 20191h 3m

A Brief History Of Anti-Vaccination!

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The first vaccination was invented in 1796 by Edward Jenner.The first anti-vaccination movement was invented mere moments later - and their ideas then parallel strongly with the ideas you see pushed now.Rod tells Will their story!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 8, 20191h 5m

Domesticating The Fox!

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How did wolves turn into dogs? Dmitri Belyaev wanted to find out, so he launched a secret experiment in the middle of Stalinist Soviet Union to domesticate the fox!The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, joined today by Hannah Carle! Normally brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, today we're also brought to you by the Research School of Biology at ANU as the final Director's Seminar for 2019!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 28, 201952 min

Stats Porn!

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PornHub is one of the biggest porn sites on the planet - and every year they release a data dump of what the world watches! Rod tells Will all about it!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 23, 20191h 10m

The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt!

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At the beginning of the 20th Century the French colonisers in Hanoi had a problem with rats. Sure, rats had always been out there in the streets and the Vietnamese neighbourhoods... But something new was happening...The rats were poking their furry noses up in the toilets of the rich and powerful. Ugh! Will tells Rod and Kim Ballestrin how they tried to solve the problem!The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, joined today by Kim Ballestrin! Normally brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, today we're also brought to you by #LASTConf!Sources:Michael G Vann: OF RATS, RICE, AND RACE: THE GREAT HANOI RAT MASSACRE, AN EPISODE IN FRENCH COLONIAL HISTORY. French Colonial History Vol. 4, 2003, pp. 191-204New York Times: Dog a Fake Hero, 1908Wikipedia: Paul DoumerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 16, 201942 min

The Resurrectionists!

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In the early 19th Century medical schools in England and Scotland were in a bit of a pickle. They needed a regular supply of bodies to demonstrate anatomy lessons on, but there just weren't enough being produced via 'offical' means... So they turned to some 'grey area' associates to help them out. Will tells Rod their story!The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 11, 20191h 9m

The Death Penalty in Japan, with Mai Sato!

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Iwao Hakamada was sentenced to death on September 11, 1968, for a 1966 quadruple murder. On March 10, 2011, Guinness World Records certified Hakamada as the world's longest-held death row inmate.Cool record huh! (Very very not cool).Today we explore his story with Mai Sato, from the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance!The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 4, 201958 min

Isaac Newton, Coin Detective!

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Isaac Newton had an amazing career as a scientist. But did you know he also had a secret follow up career as an undercover detective chasing bad guys around London?Rod tells Will the story!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 25, 20191h 2m

The Fake Stanford Prison Experiment!

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For nearly 50 years the Stanford Prison Experiment has been held up as the most famous experiment in psychology. Ethically flawed, sure, but at least it told us a whole lot about how bad situations make bad people...But it was bullshit.Will tells Rod why!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!This episode draws on Thibault Le Texier’s Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment, originally published in French as Histoire d’un mensonge: enquête sur l’expérience de Stanford. Available at https://files.osf.io/v1/resources/mjhnp/providers/osfstorage/5d4bd52522a88600184ed20c?action=download&version=1&directSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 20, 201950 min

Is Reality An Illusion?

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Edgar Allan Poe once declared that 'all we see or seem is but a dream within a dream'. Poetic thoughts, sure.But what if they're true? What if we're actually living in a simulation? I hate to break it to you, but some people think it's more likely than not - and they're trying to break out! Rod tells Will all about it!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 10, 20191h 2m

Asteroid Impact!

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You know dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid - but did you know how horrible it was?Spoiler alert, it was very horrible! Anyway, neither of us want to die that way, so we explored what science is doing to stop it!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 4, 201958 min

John Paul Stapp And The Rocket Sled!

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A drag racer can accelerate from a dead stop to 160 km/h in 0.86 seconds. That's a horizontal acceleration of 5.3 g. For most of us that would mush our brains to the backs of our skulls and leave us in a state of piddling confusion.But to John Paul Stapp that's baby steps.Rod tells Will about John Paul Stapp's mission to see just how fast the human body can start and stop! The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 28, 201959 min

Wilhelm Reich And The Orgone!

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Have you ever tried to bring together a grand unified theory of character development, proletarian revolution, alien invasion and orgasms? Well, Wilhelm Reich certainly tried, and this is his story!The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 21, 20191h 3m

The Highest Fecal Time Bomb In The World!

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I hate to break it to you, but the highest mountain in the world is no longer a wilderness. Far from the distant unclimbable of Mallory and Hillary, Mt Everest is now a heaving festival of the best and worst of humanity, and an oversize garbage dump with its own nightclub. Rod tells Will all about it!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 16, 201943 min

Human Zoos!

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Between the 1870s and the 1930s hundreds of zoos in Europe and America included people - yes human people - as part of their display collections. Will tells Rod all about it!The Wholesome Show is Will Grant and Rod Lamberts, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 7, 201951 min

The Vague Silver Lining of Tobacco

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I don't want to - ahem - blow smoke up your arse, but tobacco is not 100% satanically evil. Wait wait, before you shoot us, yes - tobacco is 99.9999% satanically evil, and has caused untold cancers and deaths and other bad things. But... there might be a tiny sliver of a silver lining? We explore!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 1, 201952 min

Peaceful Nuclear Explosions!

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In the 1960s and 70s the United States and the Soviet Union had a shitload of nuclear weapons... and when all you have is a hammer, the whole world is a nail. So they started using their nuclear hammers to solve other... civilian problems!The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 26, 201944 min

Poll Failures - With Kevin Bonham

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Political polls... aren't having a good run. After spectacular failures of polling in the UK in the Brexit vote and the US in the 2016 election, the malaise has come to Australia - the recent election was specatularly poorly called.We sit down with poll analyst Dr Kevin Bonham to explore why!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 10, 201931 min

Injected With Plutonium

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On May 14, 1945, Albert Stevens was injected with 131 kBq (3.55 µCi) of plutonium - the highest known radiation dose in any human - without his knowledge or informed consent.This is his story.The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 3, 201930 min

A Brief History Counting People!

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Statistics, you might be surprised to learn, is the science of the state. At heart the whole discipline was born from an effort to count how many people your country had, so you could know how many taxes you could collect / armies you could raise / pyramids you could build.But the business of counting people has never been... straight forward. Sam Vilkins tells Rod and Will all about it!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 26, 201959 min

Unexplained Aerial Phenomena! (It's The New Name For UFOs!)

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In our galaxy there are billions of stars like our Sun, many of them probably billions of years older. In all likelihood, many of these stars will have Earth-like planets, and if the Earth is typical, at last some may have developed intelligent life - perhaps even billions of years more advanced than us. It's just simple probability! But... why is the galaxy so... quiet?Today, we explore the world of people looking for answers...The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Dee Catto and Matt Phung! Proudly made possible by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 20, 20191h 1m

Oceans Of Nuclear Waste!

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Between 1946 and 1993 a bunch of countries dumped 85 PBq* of radioactive waste into the ocean. Slurries, solids, reactors - you know, the stuff you find lying around and just want to put in the ocean.** It was terrible, and it seems we've mostly stopped it. But that shit is still down there... So we explore!* I don't really know how much a PBq is, but it's a lot more than 'nothing', and 'nothing' is the correct amount of radioactive waste that should go into the ocean** No, you don't find it lying around and you don't want to put it in the ocean, you're a good person listener.The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 12, 201950 min

The Unusual Health Beliefs of John Harvey Kellogg!

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Corn flakes are delicious. But did you know they were originally invented to lower sexual desire? (Try it yourself next time you have a bowl, but be careful!) Their invention was part of a quest of John Harvey Kellogg's not only to improve the health of society, but to stop people from a range of other practices, including drinking, smoking, having sex and masturbating. In this episode we explore the weird - and really quite repressive - health beliefs of John Harvey Kellogg!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins and Matt Phung! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 6, 20191h 10m

The Bone Collectors

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In the dying days of the Second World War, allied troops entering Strasbourg made a grisly discovery - the purpose built beginnings of a skeleton collection. This pseudoscientific collection was an attempt by the Nazis to showcase - in physical form - the alleged racial inferiority of the "Jewish race" in contrast to the German Aryan Übermenschen.It's both disgusting, and very definitely not science. But Nazis weren't the only ones to collect human bones... We explore the terrible terrible bone collectors!(Australian Indigenous listeners are advised this episode contains discussion of deceased Indigenous Australians).The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins! Proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 29, 201946 min

Anthropophagy! (It Means Cannibalism)!

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Everyone has food they hate eating. For some people it's mushrooms, for others it's onions, for others it's aniseed. (For Will it's watermelon. It's the lamest melon). But if you're starving on a desert island and there's only mushrooms, onions, aniseed or watermelon there, sure, you'll bend your rules.But what about... other humans? How hungry do you have to get to turn to anthropophagy (it means cannibalism)?In this episode, we explore the science, history and anthropology of anthropophagy (it means cannibalism)!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 22, 20191h 5m

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch!

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Do you listen to The Wholesome Show in the shower? You can, it's totally fine with us! So... if you're in the shower now, take a look down at the floor. Look at the drain and watch your suds go down... Where do they go? Well, down the pipe, down the river, and all the way down to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench!*So that's fine if your suds are wholesome and non toxic to the environment, but sadly *heaps of garbage* is being washed down our drains all the way to the ocean. This makes us intensely sad. So to understand more, we explore the Great Pacific Garbage Patch!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!*Maybe more symbolically than literallySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 15, 201951 min

Poo-In-A-Box!

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Listener I distinctly remember being told, when I was about 4, that even the Queen does poos. (It's true, she does!)Well, there's nothing to be ashamed about, it's all part of life. But about 4.5 billion of us don't have access to safe and hygienic toilets, and that is a shame. So for this episode we explore the history and technology of the toilet! Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant - joined today by Assoc Professor Sujatha Raman! Proudly made possible by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 8, 20191h 19m

Piltdown Man and Other Fossil Fakes!

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Have you ever wished the made up dinosaurs from the latest Jurassic Park movies were real? Well, you're not the only one! It turns out fossil hunters around the world are ... a little prone to inventing their own dinosaurs!We explore the Piltdown Man and other fossil fakes! Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is Rod Lamberts and Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 1, 201958 min

Transcranial Electromagnetic Stimulation!

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Have you ever wanted to be just a little bit smarter? To think a little bit more clearly, to remember better, to have a higher IQ? Well it turns out, people are trying a variety of government approved - and home made - techniques to do just that. But they're not consequence free... We explore Transcranial Electromagnetic Stimulation!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre of the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 25, 20191h 3m

The Moral Entrepreneurs of The Momo Hoax!

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Earlier this year teenagers around the world began* to receive* sinister text messages... from a half bird half woman half ghoul thing from the depths of despair. The messages instructed* these teenagers to do bad things - to hurt themselves - or the creepy ghoul known as Momo would get them!But - you know the story listener - it was all bullshit. Just a scary image and a made up moral panic, whipped into shape for clicks by moral entrepreneurs. But there is something interesting here - who falls for these things, and why do they fall for them when they do? We explore!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, and proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!*they didn't, it didn't happen, it was made upSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 10, 201953 min

Dehumanisation!

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Human brains are, quite simply, one of the most astounding things in the cosmos. They've written the works of Shakespeare, composed the lyrics to most Tool songs, and put people on the moon!But they've also got... some terrible loopholes. In particular, there's a bizarre loophole in our brains where we can decide if someone we don't like ... isn't really human. And then, we can do awful things to them (sad face emoji).Dehumanisation is a terrible process that has lead to many terrible things - the perfect thing for a Wholesome Explore!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 3, 20191h 7m

Wherefore Art Thou Dinosaur Erotica?

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Warning - this episode somewhat less safe for work than normal! Azog is an underappreciated cavewoman in her tribe. The cavemen treat her like a piece a meat, and disrespect her at every turn. Azog cannot change this unless she proves herself as a hunter. But when she discovers a clutch of baby velociraptors and decides to kill them and triumphantly bring them back to her tribe, things start to get a little weird...This episode, we explore the weird world of dinosaur erotica, and the weird world on our side that brought it into being!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, (usually) proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!(Wherefore means why)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 27, 201949 min

The Paradox of Meritocracy!

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On first glance, the idea of meritocracy sounds like a pretty sensible way of organising society. Put simply, all the good things - rewards and privileges and crowns and jobs and things - go to the people who work the hardest and are the best at things.Sound pretty fair?Well it probably wouldn't surprise you, intelligent listener, if we told you that the world today isn't 100% meritocratic. We still have monarchs after all... But here's the thing. Not only do we not live in a meritocratic world, the idea of meritocracy itself is bad: the more people believe in it, the worse they become as humans. Ugh! We explore!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 20, 20191h 11m

Wandering Teeth!

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An adult - if they've been good and brushed their teeth properly and haven't had any removed - can have 32 teeth in their mouth.That's right, 32 teeth in their mouth...We say 'in their mouth', because if they've been good and brushed their teeth *and they're lucky* they can have a fair few more in other parts of their body! We explore!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Dr Merryn McKinnon and proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 13, 201942 min

Phantom Itches!

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What do you do if you have an itch? You scratch it! Of course you do, you're only human. But what if the itch is on a limb YOU NO LONGER HAVE? How do you scratch that, smarty pants?We explore the weird (horrible) world of intense, intense itchiness!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 27, 20191h 5m

Getting to Graham's Number!

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Numbers, by definition, go on forever. Whatever number you think of, you can always find one bigger - all the way out to infinity. But have you ever stopped to think about what a really big number is actually like? That there are numbers you can't even write out long form inside this universe? This episode we explore the march of big numbers, all the way up to Graham's Number!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Sam Vilkins and proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 20, 20191h 9m

People Who... Drink Their Own Urine!

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Ok... to people who don't do it, it's weird and gross and wrong. But to people who do do it, it's basically the golden fountain of youth.That's right, it's Urophagia, or the weird gross quack medicine that is drinking your own urine! You may not have ever wanted to know about this practice, but your intrepid explorers at The Wholesome Show have done the hard yards for you today - so sit back, pour yourself a glass of something delicious, and enjoy!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined in this episode by Sam Vilkins and proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 13, 20191h 17m

Animals On Trial!

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Bartholomew Chassenée, a distinguished French jurist of the sixteenth century, made his reputation at the bar as counsel for some... rats. That's right, he successfully defended some rats in court.How did he get the rats off? What loophole did he find? These are interesting questions... But perhaps the more interesting question is why were the rats on trial in the first place?We explore the weird habit of the Middle Ages of putting animals in court room trials!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 7, 201959 min

The 1947 Children's New Illustrated Encyclopedia!

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The past - they say - is a different country. They do things differently there... And the best way to see those differences (and laugh and cry at them) is to flick through old time encyclopaedias. So we sat down with the 1947 Children's New Illustrated Encyclopedia, and explored how the world was explained to children in 1947. Join us to find out!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 30, 201958 min

The Indiana Pi Bill!

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The number pi (π) is... rather unwieldy. It starts with a fairly simple '3', but then continues past the decimal place with a collection of basically random digits... Here's the first one hundred or so digits: 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067Edward J Goodwin didn't like this messiness, so he had an idea: legislate a much simpler definition of pi! Instead of that long collection of numbers, just use 3! (Or 3.2, or 4...)Well, that was a dumb idea. But we love dumb ideas at The Wholesome Show, so we explored!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 25, 201941 min

Searching For A Truth Serum!

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It's been the stock of movies for decades - and dreams for centuries - but do truth serums exist? Spoiler alert (you already knew this): they don't. But that's not for the lack of trying! We explore the heroes (or villains) of science trying to bring this mythical chemical into being!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 16, 201958 min

The Pseudo Science of Generations

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What 'generation' are you, listener? Too cool Gen X? Permanently bottom of the economic hierarchy Millenial? Or plutocrat Baby Boomer?You may have been born during one of these time periods, but it turns out when you look at any actual science, the idea of 'generations' is pretty damn flimsy. So we explored!The Wholesome Show is normally Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, but in this episode we're led by substitute teacher Sam Vilkins!As normal, The Wholesome Show is proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at The Australian National University!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 26, 201850 min

Tumblr For Old People!

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In recent weeks the popular website Tumblr made radical changes to it's terms of use - basically, banning rude and naughty content! To celebrate / explore / commiserate this milestone, we old science communicators brought in our Senior Generation Z correspondent Sam Vilkins to explain to us what this crazy website is (was) all about...The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 19, 201843 min

The Terrible History of The Lobotomy

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For a few decades in the middle of the 20th century, an icepick - inserted moderately carefully through the gap between a patient's eye and their skull into their brain (and then jiggled around a little bit) - was the height of psychiatric medicine. Even though it came with a 15% death rate, it was all the rave! We explore the terrible terrible history of the lobotomy!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined today by Joe Duggan!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 14, 20181h 17m

The Trial Of The L'Aquila Seven

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In April 2009, the Italian city of L'Aquila was hit by a devastating earthquake. 309 people were killed. More than 1,500 were injured, some 20,000 buildings were destroyed and 65,000 were temporarily displaced. Some estimates put the damage at $16 Billion.Less than a year later, six leading Italian scientists and one government official were charged with manslaughter in connection with the case.Did they fail to predict the unpredictable? Were they scapegoats blamed by an angry public? Or were they foolhardy in the face of fear?We explore the trial of the L'Aquila Seven!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, joined toady by Sam Vilkins, and proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 6, 201852 min

Open Plan Offices!

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Listener, how do you feel about your co-workers? Do you love them deeply, or would you describe them like this?"I have inevitably come to despise my co-workers with every molecule of my stressed and wretched being."Well... I hope not the latter. But someone out there does feel this way, and they feel this way because of OPEN PLAN OFFICES. This episode we explore the nightmarish hellscape of our 9 to 5. Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 28, 201853 min

Tabby's Star!

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Every now and then scientists hit on something weird - something in the wide world out there behaving not quite as you'd expect. Astronomer Dr Tabetha S. Boyajian discovered one of these weird things: a star with something strange orbiting it. Could it, just possible, be home to super advanced aliens???We explore the potential (but, in all fairness, not super likely) alien megastructures surrounding KIC 8462852, or Tabby's Star!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 23, 201838 min

The Chemistry Crimes of Thomas Midgley Jr

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If you knowingly put a toxin into the environment at global scales - but it helps your car go faster - is that a bad thing? (Short answer - yes!). Longer answer: we explore the chemistry crimes of Thomas Midgley Jr!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 16, 20181h 2m

The Murderous Doctrine of Trofim Denisovich Lysenko

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Between the 1930s and the 1960s, Trofim Denisovich Lysenko was heralded as a hero of the Soviet Union - a champion of science, a legend of agriculture, a feeder of the nation.But it was all bullshit: Lysenko was a charlatan, a fraud whose pseudoscience saw millions starve to death and legitimate scientists executed. It was a dark time indeed. So we explore!The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 8, 20181h 11m