Stuff To Blow Your Mind

It’s time for more listening mail! Robert and Joe use the Nightmare Key to unlock a boss battle with YOUR e-mails... Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s often a gap between feeling and understanding, but language and classification provide us with tremendous tools for self-reflection. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore the concept of kama muta, a broad categorization of emotional states that include loved belonging, patriotism, cuteness, spiritual communion and the feels. (Originally published 1/21/2020) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s Soviet work ethic versus the siren song of fun in 1975’s “Teens in the Universe,” a beautifully crafted and thoroughly weird space adventure. Join Rob and Joe for a Weirdhouse Cinema discussion of robots, space travel and more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, Pharaoh Ahmose I erected a stele detailing a great storm that destroyed tombs, temples and other structures. Does this artifact describe a real atmospheric disturbance? Or is it propaganda? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss the mystery. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of STBYM’s The Artifact, Joe sees visions of orbits within orbits within orbits within orbits... Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spanning centuries of human history, the iconic bonsai tree is a widely recognized example of Japanese mastery. Each miniature tree speaks to the beauty of cultivated nature and the immutability of all things. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss the history of bonsai, its cultural meaning and the underlying science. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here comes the STBYM listener mail, once again. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Their fossils date back 450 million years and their copper-rich blue blood continues to benefit various medical applications. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore the science and history of horseshoe crabs. (Originally published 1/16/2020) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yes, it’s time to grease up Weirdhouse Cinema with a Shaw Brothers horror film from 1976. “The Oily Maniac” is a tale of sleaze, revenge and a rampaging black-magic oil monster. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do insects factor into our traditions of death -- and how do insects handle their own burials? Find out in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind as Robert and Joe discuss ants, termites, Virgil, ancient civilizations, bees and more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of STBYM’s The Artifact, Robert discusses one of the oldest known human prosthetics. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore the science and history of sinkholes. How have these impressive geographic features impacted our world, and what can they reveal about the past? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join Robert and Joe for even more STBYM and Weirdhouse Cinema listener mail. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the book “Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto,” authors Dr. Alan Stern and Dr. David Grinspoon recount the riveting history of the quest to send a spacecraft to the planet Pluto. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Grinspoon chats about the book, the planet and the nature of space exploration. (Originally published 12/31/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s time to lace up for a boxing movie -- but not just any boxing movie. In this episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe discuss the 1989 sci-fi movie “Arena,” in which a lone human fighter puts up his dukes against an entire galaxy of bizarre, alien combatants. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore the science and history of sinkholes. How have these impressive geographic features impacted our world, and what can they reveal about the past? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of STBYM’s The Artifact, Joe talks about a 2004 study of blindfolding and visual hallucinations. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The lock and key are such a central part of modern life, both technologically and metaphorically, but when and how did this technological advancement take place? In this Invention-themed episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe dive into the ancient history of security technology. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's time for more listener mail! Let's dig in. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The natural world evokes various feelings in the mind, but humans spend a great deal of their time within spaces that they themselves designed and built out of the environment. In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind two-parter, Robert and Joe consider the ways that architecture impacts our thoughts and feelings. (Originally published 12/12/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the medical academy where EVERYONE is a suspect in the cannibalistic “Moon Killer” slayings. Yes, from the director of “Casablanca” comes 1932’s “Doctor X.” Join Rob and Joe for a deep gaze into the technicolor abyss in this episode of Weirdhouse Cinema. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From its literary origins in the mirror realm of Lewis Carroll to its terrifying appearance in Charlie Brooker's “Black Mirror,” the frumious Bandersnatch is a monster from which it is useless to flee. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe follow its trail through a maze of choice, freewill, advertising and streaming media. (originally published 1/9/2020) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of STBYM’s The Artifact, Robert discusses the mirrors of English occultist Dr. Dee, including the so-called Devil’s Looking Glass. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Theoretical Physicist Brian Greene’s new book “Until the End of Time” contemplates the entirety of human history and the known universe in a single volume. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe chat with the author about the cosmos, the human experience and science communication during a global pandemic. (Originally published 4/16/2020) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's listener mail time once more, so Robert and Joe catch up on some Stuff to Blow Your Mind holiday mail. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The natural world evokes various feelings in the mind, but humans spend a great deal of their time within spaces that they themselves designed and built out of the environment. In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind two-parter, Robert and Joe consider the ways that architecture impacts our thoughts and feelings. (Originally published 12/10/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Don't switch the blade on the guy in shades -- because that guy might be a psychic alien sent to 1950s Earth to harvest its precious blood. In this episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe dive into Roger Corman’s 1957 low-budget thriller “Not of This Earth.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s easy to think of electricity as the domain of Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and Street Fighter’s Blanka. But as Robert and Joe explore in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, it’s also the domain of microbes -- and it will change the shape of future technology. (Originally published 7/25/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of STBYM’s The Artifact, Joe discusses why people in ancient Egyptian paintings sometimes have little cones on their heads. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“My name is Legion.” In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe consider the Biblical tale of exorcism and swine. What did the story mean? How was it used to enforce our relationship with animals and just how intelligent are pigs? (Originally published 10/17/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's so great a bout a spin kick? Find out in this batch of Stuff to Blow Your Mind listener mail. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can prodigies be created with early specialization? Laszlo Polgar was an educational psychologist who believed they could. He experimented with his own children and the results were fascinating. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did 20-foot-tall giant fungi rule the earth 400 million years ago? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss the puzzling prototaxites fossils from the Devonian period. (Originally published 12/17/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if the nations of the Earth solved all their problems with giant robot gladiatorial battles? That’s the concept behind 1990’s “Robot Jox,” directed by horror wizard Stuart Gordon and written by military sci-fi author Joe Haldeman. Join Rob and Joe for a discussion of mech politics in this Christmas Day episode of Weirdhouse Cinema. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s obvious that our preferences guide our choices, but do our choices also determine our preferences? Join Robert and Joe as they explore this question with the help of a half-century of psychological research and reminiscences concerning Sonic the Hedgehog and Metallica. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of STBYM’s The Artifact, Robert discusses one of humanity's oldest maps -- from a coffin text detailing paths through the Ancient Egyptian Afterlife. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For many of us, toy guns were part of our childhood, but how are we to think about them today? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe look at some of the current thinking on the use of toy weapons in childhood play. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this batch of Stuff to Blow Your Mind listener mail, Robert and Joe catch up on Jim e-mails, Krampus talk and Leshy feedback. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, but is Santa Claus merely a magical entity or does he rise to the status of a god? In this pair of STBYM episodes, Robert and Joe discuss the general attributes of a deity and consider the awesome, reality-warping powers of the one we call Kris Kringle, Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas and of course Santa Claus. (Originally published 12/19/2019 and 12/24/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The shopping mall is a centerpiece of American holiday traditions -- cathedrals of consumerism, if you will. So in this episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe venture into “Chopping Mall,” the 1986 sci-fi horror film that pits teenagers against deadly security robots, “where shopping costs you an arm and a leg.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nope, “Heavy Water” isn’t the new bottled beverage for headbangers. It’s actually an alternate form of water called deuterium oxide that plays a key role in nuclear power plants and the creation of nuclear weapons. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe get to know heavy water. Can you drink it? Why did the Nazis want it? Find out… Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of STBYM's The Artifact, Joe talks about a strange class of tongue-shaped rocks that were believed to have magical and medicinal powers. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Once more, Stuff to Blow Your Mind leans into the holidays -- this time for an invention-minded episode about some of the technologies that bring the winter holidays to life. Join Robert and Joe as they discuss electric Christmas tree lights, tinsel and angelic tree toppers. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Time for more listener mail, with your thoughts on antimetaboles, pole dancing, gravy, weird movies and more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“You are what you eat,” the saying goes -- but does that apply to memories as well? In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind two-parter, join Robert and Joe on a journey through the world of Planaria worms, controversial research, regeneration, behaviorism and even the machinations of the Unabomber. (originally published 11/21/2019) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s time for some early 90s cyber-panic! In this episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe discuss 1993’s “Ghost in the Machine,” in which a serial killer is zapped into the Internet and terrorizes Karen Allen and her painfully cool 90s son. So jack in, get virtual and become one with the screensaver. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You might consider spinning around in a circle either great fun or a one-way ticket to barf town, but spinning and whirling are also tied to childhood development, artistic expression and the pursuit of meditative states. Join Robert and Joe as they explore the spin on Stuff to Blow Your Mind. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of STBYM’s The Artifact, Robert discusses the fictional idea of the poisoned tooth and the real-life innovations that seem to have inspired it. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You might consider spinning around in a circle either great fun or a one-way ticket to barf town, but spinning and whirling are also tied to childhood development, artistic expression and the pursuit of meditative states. Join Robert and Joe as they explore the spin on Stuff to Blow Your Mind. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

STBYM Listener Mail is now weekly! In this short installment, Robert and Joe catch up on some of your thoughts on various Halloween episodes from October. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.