Using a protein found in a squid called the opalescent inshore squid, scientists recently found a way to change the refractive index of human kidney cells to resemble that of their environment. They’re not quite invisible, but they do become nearly completely transparent when those cells are mixed with a salt solution. Jeff and Anthony discuss what transparent skin might be like and whether they would want it. Then, the blood of horseshoe crabs is used to test for bacterial contamination, thus s...
Jun 13, 2020•46 min•Ep. 611
What's the deal with birds... is a question Anthony and Jeff often ponder, but it's also the title of a new study released in the Scientific Journal of Research and Reviews - which sounds like a legitimate journal, but is actually a repository of mostly useless garbage. Turns out, there are a lot of predatory journals muddying the waters of scientific reporting. Anthony and Jeff take a look at this disturbing trend and try to figure out a way through it. Then, it's time to get concerned about fl...
Jun 05, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 610
GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns The Cannonball Run is a simple, and highly illegal, record that despite having no governing body, is infamous within car culture. To set a Cannonball Run record, you must traditionally start at the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan, then traverse the entire United States of America as fast as possible to finish at the Portofini Inn in Redondo Beach, California. And now, thanks to open freeways during the COVID19 qua...
May 29, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 609
(Sorry about the slight buzz in Anthony's audio this week. OUR BAD) A team of researchers injected human stem cells into mouse embryos. Just over two weeks later, the team had more mature mouse embryos that contained up to 4% human cells. These cross-species hybrids, called chimeras, are the first time anyone has been able to create an animal that was made up of as many human cells as these mice. Anthony and Jeff talk about how much human is too human for animals, and whether they'd take a heart...
May 22, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 608
A University of Saskatchewan (USask) research team has uncovered how bats can carry the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus without getting sick—research that could shed light on how coronaviruses make the jump to humans and other animals. Anthony and Jeff discuss why is could have been bats all along, and how we can get that menace out of all of our gotham cities. Then, a 32-year-old marketer took sheltering in place to the next level when he became trapped in a California ghost...
May 15, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 607
If we are all inaccurate perception machines, fallible even in our own ability to process and recall events we experienced, then surely our language should represent how unknowable all things are, right? Enter E-Prime, a version of the English language that eliminates any form of the verb 'to be'. Jeff and Anthony discuss how valuable or annoying this could be. Then, most people see splashes of colors and flashes of light on a not-quite-jet-black background when their eyes are closed. It’s a phe...
May 08, 2020•56 min•Ep. 606
There are more than 2,000 active satellites orbiting Earth. At the end of their useful lives, some will continue circling as "zombie" satellites — neither alive nor quite dead. Steve Tilley, an amateur radio operator living in Canada, has a passion for hunting them down. Jeff and Anthony discuss his discoveries and whether he deserves the title of Badass. Then, tales of people being killed by meteorite impacts date back to biblical times. But few deaths, if any, have been documented. Now, Turkis...
May 01, 2020•52 min•Ep. 605
Screens, social media, and the internet... it's destroying the minds of young people, right? Well, a new study aims to answer that very question by comparing kid behavior from 2010 to kid behavior in 1998. Anthony and Jeff discuss the results, and whether the worry is more about the parents than the children. And it isn't often an entire new field of science is invented, but Leda Kobziar of the University of Idaho did just that. Jeff and Anthony learn about pyroaerobiology, and how it might revo...
Apr 24, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 604
Birds. No one likes them. But how can they balance like they do, perched on wires and branches? It turns out scientists have only recently discovered an avian lumbrosacral organ - literally a second balancing mechanism, in the lower spine of birds. Anthony and Jeff try to make sense of this new discovery and sort through their distrust of birds. And it turns out an entire country of readers has been reading a wildly different version of Bram Stoker's Dracula. The Icelandic translation has only r...
Apr 17, 2020•51 min•Ep. 603
Biologists at Tufts University, Douglas Blackiston and Michael Levin have created all programmable organisms called xenobots — golems dreamed in silicon and then written into flesh. The implications of their existence could spill from artificial-intelligence research to fundamental questions in biology and ethics. Jeff and Anthony discuss how these new entities came to be and what they could mean for the future. And new footage has revealed a trailing ribbon of conjoined tentacled clones sweepin...
Apr 11, 2020•50 min•Ep. 602
An Australian astrophysicist and research fellow at a Melbourne university injured himself by attempting to invent a device that stops the coronavirus outbreak. Anthony and Jeff discuss the perils and pluck of attempting to help, even outside your own area of expertise. And people living by the East Yorkshire coast were warned about hungry seagulls left wanting by lack of visitors with the country on lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. Jeff and Anthony examine the impact of social distanci...
Apr 03, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 601
The Patreon: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns The Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WeHaveConcerns/ Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata
Mar 30, 2020•6 min•Ep. 601
Thanks so much for sticking with us for 600 episodes! We take a look back at what made us laugh (and learn!). In this episode, we introduce the greatest character in the show's history. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http...
Jul 03, 2018•30 min•Ep. 600
The sheer abundance of stars in the universe suggests that, somewhere, an intelligent lifeform should be warming itself on a distant planet. Even if life evolves rarely, ET should be phoning. Yet, by all appearances, humanity seems to be flying solo in our galaxy, and perhaps the universe. Many solutions have been proposed to solve this riddle, known as the Fermi Paradox. Researchers of Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute believe It’s likely intelligent life doesn’t exist at all, ou...
Jul 01, 2018•19 min•Ep. 599
Bees seem to understand the idea of zero – the first invertebrate shown to do so. When the insects were encouraged to fly towards a platform carrying fewer shapes than another one, they apparently recognised “no shapes” as a smaller value than “some shapes”. Jeff and Anthony zero in on the topic. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the ...
Jun 29, 2018•20 min•Ep. 598
If you could taste human flesh in an ethical way, would you? A man was recently in a motorcycle crash that put him face-to-face with the macabre hypothetical. When a car hit his bike and sent him careening into a nearby forest, his foot was shattered to the point that he would never walk on it again. When the doctor asked if he wanted to amputate, his one question was, “Can I keep it?” He invited his closest friends for a very personal dinner. Jeff and Anthony make a pact. GET BONUS EPISODES, VI...
Jun 27, 2018•21 min•Ep. 594
The Stanford Prison Experiment, one of the most famous and compelling psychological studies of all time, told us a tantalizingly simple story about human nature. This experiment has been included in many, many introductory psychology textbooks and is often cited uncritically. But its findings were wrong. Very wrong. And not just due to its questionable ethics or lack of concrete data — but because of deceit. Jeff and Anthony try the experiment out for themselves and flip a coin to see who gets t...
Jun 25, 2018•20 min•Ep. 593
Hawaii's big island recently got a little bit hairier. Golden filaments resembling human hair measuring up to two feet in length are draped across parts of the island—an unusual effect of the ongoing eruption from Kīlauea volcano. These strands may look like biological matter, but they’re actually made of glass. Jeff and Anthony look into discount Hawaiian vacation packages. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns ...
Jun 22, 2018•20 min•Ep. 592
Did climate change already kill all the aliens we've been searching for? According to astrophysicist Adam Frank, it's certainly a possibility — and whether humans are doomed to the same fate may already be out of our hands. Jeff and Anthony once again consider the repercussions of running the air conditioner during a recording session. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcer...
Jun 20, 2018•20 min•Ep. 591
In 2015, a psychologist in Italy figured out how to induce a drug-free altered state of consciousness by asking 20 volunteers to sit and stare into each other's eyes for 10 minutes straight. Not only did the deceptively simple task bring on strange 'out of body' experiences for the volunteers, it also caused them to see hallucinations of monsters, their relatives, and themselves in their partner's face. Jeff and Anthony have been recording this podcast for years, facing each other. We finally ha...
Jun 18, 2018•20 min•Ep. 590
NASA is talking to several international companies about forming a consortium that would take over operation of the International Space Station and run it as a commercial space lab, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in an interview. The White House touched off a heated discussion about the future of the orbiting laboratory earlier this year when it said it planned to end direct government funding of the station by 2025, while working on a transition plan to turn the station over to the pri...
Jun 15, 2018•22 min•Ep. 589
It turns out those gut feelings or pits in your stomach may actually come from your second brain. Scientists from Australia have discovered that human beings have a second brain, and it is located in the butt. Called the enteric nervous system (ENS), it controls the muscle movement in the colon independently of the central nervous system. Jeff and Anthony try to make it through the episode without butting heads. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcern...
Jun 13, 2018•19 min•Ep. 588
When considering musical artists, your favorite record of theirs is often the first to which you listened. It makes sense that the first album one encounters of a band will, over time, accumulate the most repeat listens. It has the chance to rack up plays before the listener explores the rest of the catalog. However, there might be more to this. Jeff and Anthony liked this study better after a few reads through. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcern...
Jun 11, 2018•18 min•Ep. 587
What’s in a name? A lot, apparently. New research suggests that your first name shapes the way other people perceive your age, personality, and how good you are at your job – and the findings could mean some classic psychology experiments were wrong. Jeff and Anthony are doing their part to discredit their own names. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If...
Jun 08, 2018•23 min•Ep. 586
A new study aimed to examine the benefits of vitamin and mineral supplements for prevention of heart disease, stroke and premature death. This found the most commonly studied ones had no effect, while some less common ones did have an effect. The review also found some supplements can be harmful. Jeff and Anthony will comment after they finish fighting over the good Flinstones vitamin flavors. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your swee...
Jun 06, 2018•19 min•Ep. 585
A global team of scientists plans to scour the icy depths of Loch Ness next month using environmental DNA (eDNA) in an experiment that may discover whether Scotland’s fabled monster really does, or did, exist. Whenever a creature moves through its environment, it leaves behind tiny fragments of DNA from skin, scales, feathers, fur, faeces and urine. This story has really left a mark on Jeff and Anthony. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all...
Jun 04, 2018•21 min•Ep. 584
PATRONS GET A BONUS EPISODE WITH MICA. LISTEN TO IT HERE: https://www.patreon.com/posts/19007770/ There are roughly (or, if you prefer, ruffly) a billion dogs on the planet. Although dogs and humans have been existing alongside one another for tens of thousands of years, experts say 85 percent of the world’s dogs are feral. When pups are between two and three months old, their mothers will abandon them for any number of reasons. Without mothers, how are these abandoned pups supposed to survive? ...
Jun 01, 2018•23 min•Ep. 583
How you behave in Starbucks may reveal something about whether your ancestors grew wheat or rice. That’s the conclusion of a new study in China, which finds that people descended from wheat farmers—who largely rely on themselves—typically drink coffee alone, whereas descendants of rice growers—who must work with their community to build complex irrigation fields—tend to sip in groups. Jeff and Anthony wonder where Pumpkin Spice Latte drinkers came from. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MOR...
May 30, 2018•22 min•Ep. 582
The number of self-check out terminals around the world is predicted to reach 325,000 by 2019 and some stores have even become fully self service. But for some supermarket customers, the removal of store clerks has been a green light for dishonest behaviour. Customers are now relatively autonomous in the picking, payment and packing of goods they wish to purchase, but trusting them to process an honest and correct transaction is not without problems. Jeff and Anthony have an unexpected item in t...
May 28, 2018•21 min•Ep. 581
Biologists report they have transferred a memory from one marine snail to another, creating an artificial memory, by injecting RNA from one to another. This research could lead to new ways to treat traumatic memories with RNA -- perhaps a traumatic memory could be altered -- and perhaps new ways to restore lost memories. Jeff and Anthony wonder if this technique could be used to help them forget their awkward teenage phases. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/...
May 25, 2018•20 min•Ep. 580
