We Have Concerns

Why are humans so prone to running late? New findings published in Hippocampus suggest greater familiarity with an area leads us to overestimate its physical distance, but also has the opposite effect on our judgments of travel times through that space – that is, we underestimate how long it will take us to travel through highly familiar routes. Anthony and Jeff discuss this quirk of the human mind, and how to combat its effects.

According to a new study, layers of the upper atmospheres of cold brown dwarf planets sit at temperatures and pressures resembling those on Earth, and could host microbes that surf on thermal updrafts. These represent a whole new area of potential life in the galaxy. Jeff and Anthony discuss finding life on a planet with no actual surface, and what that might mean.

When a loved one died in parts of England, Scotland, or Wales in the 18th and 19th centuries, the family would grieve, place bread on the chest of the deceased, and call for a man to sit in front of the body. The family of the deceased watched on as this man, the local professional sin eater, absorbed the sins of the departed’s soul. Jeff and Anthony discuss the job of sin-eater, and whether they think it's an honest day's work.

A trio of fishermen in Oman made the catch of a lifetime when they came upon something far more valuable than their normal haul: 176 poundsof sperm-whale vomit. The substance – actually an intestinal secretion called ambergris – could fetch close to US $3 million. Why is whale vomit so valuable? Jeff and Anthony explain.

Yellowstone National Park contains a narrow corridor less than two miles wide where evildoers could do literally anything, including commit murder, and the law couldn't touch them. Jeff and Anthony discuss the Yellowstone Murder Zone, and how to best use its strange rules to their advantage.

After months of speculation and leaked documents, NASA's long-awaited EM Drive paper has finally been peer-reviewed and published. And it shows that the 'impossible' propulsion system really does appear to work. Jeff gloats as Anthony considers what this might mean for our prospects of dying in space.

A man in Cologne, Germany was recently tried and convicted to ten months in prison for modifying a bottle recycling machine and swindling tens of thousands of euros from the national recycling system. Jeff and Anthony discuss schemes and the human propensity to do way more work than necessary, just to feel like they are cheating the system.

Some 82% of middle-schoolers couldn’t distinguish between an ad labeled “sponsored content” and a real news story on a website, according to a Stanford University study of 7,804 students from middle school through college. The study is the biggest so far on how teens evaluate information they find online, and it has Anthony and Jeff wondering what the future of "news" will bring.

Ancient viruses and bacteria that have been cryogenically frozen for millennia are waking up, due to global warming. Siberia's permafrost and Greenland's glaciers are melting and thawing, releasing spores that haven't been seen on Earth in millions of years. Can there be a silver lining to this horrifying turn of events? And will Anthony and Jeff discover it, or just melt into their own puddle of anxiety?

US military scientists have used electrical brain stimulators to enhance mental skills of staff, in research that aims to boost the performance of air crews, drone operators and others in the armed forces’ most demanding roles. The successful tests of the devices pave the way for servicemen and women to be wired up at critical times of duty, so that electrical pulses can be beamed into their brains to improve their effectiveness in high pressure situations. Anthony is very excited about this prospect, but Jeff is worried about what it means for America's soldiers.

Police in southern China are punishing drivers who dazzle other road users with full-beam headlights by making them stare into the lights for a minute. Does the punishment fit the crime? Is it effective? Jeff and Anthony discuss.

According to a report from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, researchers have converted human feces to oil using a process called hydrothermal liquefaction. Hydrothermal liquefaction “mimics the geological conditions the Earth uses to create crude oil, using high pressure and temperature to achieve in minutes something that takes Mother Nature millions of years.” Anthony and Jeff discuss the benefits and costs of turning your poop into the crudest of oils.

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London who study bees suggest that insects have something like emotional states, and that a sweet treat can change the way bumble bees make decisions, producing something akin — although perhaps distantly related — to optimism. Anthony and Jeff digest this info, and try to make sense of an emotional honeybee.

Some info about this episode: 1) It was recorded right after the US Election 2) We didn't intend it to be an entire episode, it just sort of happened. We had concerns, y'know? 3) You don't have to listen to this one. There's a new episode coming day after tomorrow. Feel free to skip this one. 4) We love you.

How do you handle nuclear waste that will be radioactive for millions of years, keeping it from harming people and the environment? It isn’t easy, but a researcher has discovered ways to immobilize such waste – the offshoot of decades of nuclear weapons production – in glass and ceramics. Jeff and Anthony discuss the idea of glass harnessing nuclear waste, and what that might mean for the world.