BrainStuff

When every minute counts, search-and-rescue dogs can help locate disaster victims far faster than humans alone. Learn about how they're trained in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/sar-dog.htm/printable

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The tradition of dropping a ball in Times Square to mark the beginning of a new year only goes back about a century. Learn about the history -- plus four weird things that other cities drop instead -- in this classic episode of BrainStuff.

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No, you can't literally die of boredom -- but it can lead to some high-risk behaviors. Learn more about boredom, ennui, and how to shake them in this episode of BrainStuff, based on these articles: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/emotions/bored-to-death.htm; https://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/human-nature/ennui

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Cashmere can be more expensive than other wools because producing it is such an intensive process -- for the goats that grow it and the humans who care for them. Learn more in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/why-is-cashmere-so-expensive.htm

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In Catalonia, there's a two-hundred-year-old tradition of including a figurine of a man pooping in the shadows of Nativity scenes. Learn about el caganer in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays-christmas/pooping-man-catalan-nativity-scene.htm

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Mudlarking means sifting through riverbank muck in hopes of finding lost or discarded historical artefacts. Learn how it works, especially in the River Thames, in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/archaeology/mudlarking.htm

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These arctic animals have complex social structures and may eat 6,000 clams in a single meal. Learn more walruses in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/walrus.htm/printable

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Your adaptive immune system remembers specific germs and fights them really effectively -- but it can sometimes make mistakes and attack your own healthy cells. Learn how the adaptive immune system works (and how it can go wrong) in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Slime molds are collectives of single-celled organisms that don't have neurons, much less brains, but they can move, solve mazes, and remember where food is located. Learn what we know (and don't know!) about them in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/biology-fields/slime-mold-facts.htm

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Although there can be small differences, all of these are local names for the same species of cat, Puma concolor. Learn about them in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/cougar-vs-mountain-lion.htm

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In the early 1500s, a sailor by the name of Amerigo Vespucci published lurid pamphlets about his travels to a distant continent. Learn how a pair of mapmakers regretted naming that continent after him in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/amerigo-vespucci.htm

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Americans eat a LOT of turkey around the winter holidays, but why? Learn about turkey's festive history and when we eat the most of it in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/menus/turkey-popularity.htm

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Powerful events on the surface of the sun, like solar flares and coronal mass ejections, produce radiation and magnetic waves that could indeed affect electrical and communications systems here on Earth -- though they'd have to be massive. Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/solar-flare-electronics.htm

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The U.S. Navy has been training bottlenose dolphins for operations like detecting undersea mines and guarding vessels since the 1960s. Learn about the Marine Mammal Program in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/dolphin-disarm-sea-mine.htm

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Our skin is our first line of defense as we move through the world, providing both a physical barrier and an immune barrier against microbes and other dangers that could make us sick. Learn how the skin barrier works in this episode of BrainStuff.

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