We Have Concerns

A medical condition called Witzelsucht causes people to compulsively create puns and bad jokes all day long. Anthony thinks this might explain Jeff's Dad Joke tendencies, and starts the episode ready to diagnose Jeff with the disease. But Jeff pulls out possibly the most deft bait-and-switch of all time, to avoid it. You don't want to miss this one.

A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that neighbors of lottery winners are unusually likely to go bankrupt, and the larger the lottery prize, the more likely bankruptcy becomes. Jeff and Anthony talk about keeping up with the Joneses, and Appleby's riblets. There's a surprising amount of discussion of riblets.

Residents of Windsor, the industrial Canadian city that lies just across the river from Detroit, have been experiencing a monotonous type of noise pollution that is usually just referred to as 'The Hum,' and it's been happening for years. No one knows what it is, but Jeff and Anthony have some theories.

Psychologists at Sussex University published a new study that claims a horse can not only tell whether a human might be in a bad mood by simply looking at the human's facial expression, it can do so from a photograph. Anthony and Jeff discuss the emotional empathy of animals, and also perform the entire, full-length Mr. Ed theme song from memory. So no one would blame you if you skip this one.

Fire behaves very differently in zero gravity, and NASA wants to study it. The problem? It is very, very foolish to set fire to something inside a spacecraft, and there are specific rules prohibiting flammable material even being on board. But those clever NASA scientists have come up with a very smart solution. Jeff and Anthony take a look at their the plan and consider the issue of space fire.

Nineteen-year old British programmer Joshua Browder has created a robotic appeal system for parking tickets. Since its inception in 2015, this robo-lawyer has successfully appealed $3 million worth of tickets. Anthony is ready to move all of his legal affairs to non-humans, while Jeff wonders how long it will take the government to out-bureaucracy the robot.

For centuries, Peruvian locals talked about a river in the Amazon that burns so hot it can kill. Now, Peruvian geoscientist, Andrés Ruzo has actually found it. Jeff and Anthony discuss Indiana Jones-esque adventures into the jungle, boiling rivers, and, for some reason, Jolt Cola.

In an extremely strange case that can’t be found anywhere in medical history, a girl from Deesa, Gujarat in India has been unlucky enough to be chosen as the host for an ant nest — right inside of her ear. Indeed, at least 10 to 15 large ants are emerging from the girl’s ear everyday. Jeff, Anthony, and special guest Travis McElroy contemplate the horror of having an ant's nest inside your skull. This episode is not for the squeamish.

A scientist at the University Medical Centre Maribor, Slovenia has presented a way to encode data directly into the DNA of plants, which would continue to pass along that genetic information to all subsequent generations. Jeff is enamored with the idea of plant life that can be used for archival purposes, but Anthony is much more interested in new plastic data discs that will last forever.

An 18-year old in Florida posed as a doctor for a year without, apparently, any qualifications whatsoever. Anthony can relate, and he and Jeff discuss what is more important, having a skills, education, and certification of the medical field, or the pure, unfettered desire. Turns out, it's those first three.

Certain birds of prey are picking up burning sticks from brush fires and dropping them in dry grass. Why? Because then all the little critters will run away from the fire and out into the open, where the birds can snatch them up. Jeff and Anthony delve once again into the intelligence and dickish nature of birds.

Writer Jeff Wilser ate nothing but processed, packaged junk food for an entire month, and still managed to lose 11 pounds. His hypothesis: If you limit your caloric intake to a moderate amount, but eat garbage, can you still be healthy, feel great, and lose weight? Anthony and Jeff tackle this question, too, and wonder if this is junk science as well as junk food.

New research published in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that being an early riser is in some people's DNA -- and not in others'. The study isolated 15 areas in the human genome that are associated with the tendency toward or against "morningness." Anthony and Jeff discuss their own struggles with rising early, and whether they think it is built into their DNA.

While investigating non-English words associated with positive emotions and concepts, a British researcher recently discovered 216 foreign words for which there is no English translation. The conclusion being that without words for so many positive emotions, perhaps English speakers represent a demonstrably less positive culture. Jeff and Anthony are both fascinated with language, but argue about whether this observation has any merit.

A very different kind of episode of We Have Concerns, this one was recorded live at the PAX South convention in San Antonio Texas, and consists entirely of questions from the audience. It also features not one, but two eulogies for the very much alive Anthony Carboni, and Jeff Cannata's bid to play Mr Fantastic.