We Have Concerns

Researchers have created remote-controlled crawling insects before, forcing a bug’s legs to move by electrically stimulating its muscles. But now, for the first time, the muscles that control flight in beetles have been identified, allowing the same technology to create remote-controlled flying bugs. Jeff and Anthony wonder how this breakthrough will be used, and long it will take to assemble the vast cyborg beetle army that will destroy us all.

It turns out the idea of human pheromones, tiny molecules that can attract a mate, or make you more likable, are a total fabrication invented to sell perfume. While pheromones do exist in goats and other creatures, there is no proof that human beings have them at all. Anthony and Jeff look into the strange, and surprisingly recent history of pheromone "science" and wonder how one company could single-handedly put a concept like that into the world.

A quadriplegic woman who has trained her neural impulses to control a robotic arm, has now flown a jet airplane using only her mind. Anthony is thrilled by the prospect of someday being able to control aircraft with his brain, while Jeff worries about the ramifications of announcing this new feat at the "Future of War Convention."

A man in Britain has been diagnosed with "auto-brewery syndrome." Due to an overgrowth of yeast in his stomach, every time he eats carbohydrates, his body turns them into alcohol and he gets drunk. Jeff and Anthony struggle to decide if this is the greatest gift a human can receive, or a horrible curse destined to ruin lives.

The residents of St. Pauli, a party district in Hamburg, Germany, were fed up with drunk revelers urinating on the sides of their buildings, so they turned to science to stop the behavior. Painting the most peed-upon areas with an extremely hydro-phobic coating effectively turned the walls into reflectors, bouncing the urine right back onto the culprits. Jeff and Anthony applaud the ingenuity, and wonder how many other problems can be solved this way.

You've heard Anthony and Jeff warn you about the far-reaching influence of the dreaded Spike Lobby. Now it gets real. An article in The Guardian outlines the numerous locations in the UK installing spikes in public places to get rid of homeless loiterers. The guys think this is a disproportionate, inhumane approach, and can only imagine one culprit...

With a headline like "Man Gets Bionic Eye, Sees Wife for the First Time in 20 Years", you might expect a tearful moment of feel-good sentimentality. But the truth of the moment, as evidenced by the article's embedded video, is much more honest and real about the state of technology. Anthony and Jeff applaud the headline's "man" for his genuine reaction, and make fun of media headlines for their self-congratulatory tone.

The New Zealand-based Martin Aircraft Company, now listed on the Australian stock exchange, is taking orders for the "world's first practical jetpack" and Jeff couldn't be more excited. But at $200,000 and at its current size, Anthony wonders if practical is really the right word. Also, the guys pitch their idea for Jetpack Rescue Squad and Anthony eats during the show, like a real professional.

The mummified remains of a Buddist monk have been discovered inside a statue that dates back over 1,000 years. Even more fascinating, studies reveal that the monk may have been self-mummified! Jeff and Anthony learn the excruciating, lengthy procedure once used to begin the embalming process while still alive, and wonder how enlightened one must be to attempt it.

A very special 100th episode of We Have Concerns, recorded in front of a live audience at the Nerdmelt Showroom in Los Angeles! Anthony and Jeff discuss the potential to sell your feces to science for use in treating patients with C diff. Donors can earn up to $13,000 per year for their excrement, but the standards are quite high for what constitutes sellable poop.

A new article on i09 describes animal behaviorist John Calhoun's quest to create the perfect mouse city, complete with abundant food, recreation, and even rodent apartments. Now referred to as the "Behavioral Sink", the utopian underground mouse habitat quickly degraded into an apocalypse, as the mice turned on one another and the bloated population died out. Anthony and Jeff can't help but see parallels to modern life, but also take a moment to consider what kind of guy spends his time attempting to perfect rat cities.

*not necessarily a guarantee One robotics company, Clearpath Robotics, has promised never to make autonomous killing machines, and hopes all future tech companies will get on board with the no killer robot promise.  Problem solved, right?  Jeff and Anthony aren't so sure, and see a future where solemnly swearing with no take-backs might not be enough. This episode also features French robots, so there's that.

The tiny organism known as the hydra is a half inch tube of jelly that inhabits fresh water all over the world, and it may well be functionally immortal.  What does that mean?  Anthony and Jeff try to make sense of a creature that can re-grow any part of itself and live for thousands of years - and imagine what that might be like for them.

Now that private companies are getting into space, the legalities of who can own celestial bodies comes into question.  Specifically, a company called Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas wants to start selling inflatable habitats and property on the moon.  Jeff and Anthony discuss the archaic treaties and laws that govern space ownership now, how it might change, and, of course, space pirates.

According to researchers at Macquarie University, couples in long-term relationships develop inter-connected memory systems.  Each partner can remember only a few details, but together they piece together a more accurate whole, ostensibly off-loading parts of the job to the other.  Anthony is intrigued by this, and what it means for replacing human interaction with machines, while Jeff wonders how much can just be attributed to laziness and coincidence.