December 30, 2025 • 30 mins
It’s the 44th annual Part-Time Genius Awards! We’re honoring the people—and creatures—behind the year’s best stories, including a fungus that plays keyboards, a rare snail looking for love, a very nerdy math holiday, an incredible invention for astronauts who enjoy baking, an experiment with Batman, and more. Grab your tuxedo and let’s send 2025 off in style.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Guess what, Mango, what's Ouwell, we are finally here. This
is the end of twenty twenty five, and you know
what that means. It's actually time four and I think
this is right, the forty fourth annual Part Time Genius Awards.
It's hard to believe we've been doing this for forty
four consecutive years, or about this single interruption, like that's
we were doing this this awards as a podcast before
(00:45):
podcasts were podcasts before Mango.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
How long ago?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
This was forever ago, so long. We used to do
it on our Walkmans. Yeah, Sony Walkman's. We were just
like tape it and mail it to one another and
just synk them up.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Incredible, incredible.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
But you know, this is one of the things I
look forward most too, because end of your lists are
always really fun. But somehow looking at the things that
are so weird and so wonderful just makes my heart leap.
You know. It's so fun to see all the things
that improve over the course of the year, even in
really difficult years like this one.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, that's right, And you know, weird and wonderful is
exactly what we have on deck here today, because this
year's honorees include an invention that will make it easier
to enjoy cast roles in space. I know that was
a concern of ours, A musical mushroom, a very nerdy
new math holiday, and that's just to name a few.
So change into your fanciest of outfits, poor glass of
(01:43):
something festive, and let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners,
(02:07):
welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson, and as
always I'm joined by my good friend mangesh Hot Ticketer
and over there in the booth wearing the fanciest tuxedo
I think I've seen in a long time, and holding
a briefcase that's been handcuffed to his arm.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
That's all.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I didn't notice that until we just started here. That's
our PALIN producer, Dylan Fagan. But actually I think I
get it. It's like how Ernst and young people show
up at award shows with the vote tallies and the
names of the award winners, right yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Super secure, Except we already have all of tonight's winners
written down right here. I'm not sure we need to
go to those lens.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, it's true, it's true. All right, Well, I hope
Dylan has the key for that thing at least. But Mengo,
before we give our first award out, I'm curious if
you could give yourself an award for something that you
did this year, what would it be?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Hmmm. I think the most impressive thing I did this
year is that when I realized that kids started saying
six to seven after someone accidentally said like six to seven,
I stopped using those numbers insequentially. Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yes, yeah, that's a.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Real numerical awareness award, I think is what I'd get
for this year.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
That is really really impressive. So I think I win
the award for enduring during an entire day where I
had worn two different pairs of shoes or two shoes
from different pairs, and I stuck it out. I didn't retreat,
I didn't go back to the hotel. It was a
busy day in New York. We were trying to get
stuff done, and I just went with it. I just
(03:40):
embraced it. People pointed out all day long. I told
them what happened, and I endured, and I was really
proud of myself.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Oh I love that it's very fashioned forward too. Did
you try to sell it as something that's like, oh,
this is going to come around next year.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I know a couple people ask that, and I haven't
noticed whether they've followed up with actually doing this themselves,
but I'm gonna say that they did. I'm going to
say that this started a trend. We'll probably notice it
going in the next year.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I'm glad. I'm glad we can make our listeners aware
as well. So let's get started with our first award,
which is the Grammy Award.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
So Mango, I don't I hate to break this to you.
I don't think we can give out a Grammy Awards
that's actually well definitely trademarked.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, So not that Grammy Award. It's our own Grammy Award.
It's the Generating really awesome Mushroom Music Yes Award, And
that yes, I think makes me sound like Uncle Baby
Billy from Writers Stones. But this award goes to John
Ross and Andy Kidd. They are a pair of UK
(04:42):
based experimental artists also known as Bionic and the Wires,
and they describe themselves as a fusion of technology, art
and nature, which is a fancy way of saying they
attach bionic arms to mushrooms and make them play instruments.
So do you want to hear a club?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
I mean obviously so yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
So that is from a video uploaded earlier this year
called Mushroom in the Wild playing Keyboard. It has one
point four million views on YouTube, and it's exactly what
it sounds like. There's a wild mushroom with sensors attached
to its cap, and those sensors are connected to a
pair of bionic arms and it is so cute. Each
one is holding a little mallet and they play a
(05:38):
tiny synthesizer. It is just the very best thing I've
seen today.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
That is fantastic. And this isn't a special mushroom that
went to Juilliard. It's just a regular mushroom growing in
the woods, right.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah. It really taps into their innate abilities. So here's
how it works. The mushroom is alive, which means it's
doing stuff like photosynthesis, it's doing stuff chemically and growing.
All these active processes generate bioelectrical signals, and that's what
the sensors are picking up and registering as vibrations. Those
(06:09):
vibrations get converted to motion and that means the bionic
arms holding the mallets. And there's just something so strange
and beautiful about listening to music made by an individual mushroom,
which is not a sentence I'd ever thought.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
I'd said, Yeah, I didn't see that one coming. All right, Well,
our next award is a game changer for folks who
love trying new foods but hate being surprised by a
blast of painful spice. Now we're calling it the putting
the hot ones guy out of work Award, and it
goes to this team led by Weijun Ding and Jinghu
at the Shanghai Institute of Technology. See, the only way
(06:46):
to tell if a food is spicy is to taste it.
And if it is spicy and you can't handle the heat,
while by tasting it, you've exposed yourself to the thing
that you're trying to avoid. Right, it's a real dilemma here.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I guess you could have someone else tasted for you,
like the way kings used to have tasters.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
That is one way you could, but people would probably
just stop going on to eat with you, I'm guessing.
And luckily researchers have invented an artificial tongue that uses
a special sensor to detect the presence of capsation and
other spicy compounds like alison, which gives fresh garlic that burn.
And the way they came up with this is actually
pretty amazing. So you've seen hot ones. What do they
(07:23):
have standing by in case guests start to panic?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
A glass of milk?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Right, It's exactly right. So milk has proteins called casins
that bind to spicy compounds and neutralize the heat. So
this artificial tongue sensor contains milk, powder and chemicals that
conduct an electrical current. Now, when it comes in contact
with the spice, the current decreases, indicating that the casin
is binding to something hot. So they tested the tongue
(07:49):
with peppers, ginger, garlic, and a lineup of eight other
different hot sauces, and overall it was as accurate as
a panel of human testers and detecting these different spice levels.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I love that because I love eating hot food, and
I love that you can have a measure that other
people can rely on, you know, because I feel like
I'm not a good indicator of how hot something is. Yep, Well,
this next award is definitely cool. I am calling it
the Golden Banana Peel Award, and it goes to Martin Muser,
Oshroff Attila and Sergei Zukomlinov at Zarland University in Germany
(08:27):
because earlier this year they figured out the real reason
why we.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Slip on ice. I assume they came up with something
more scientific than because ice is slippery.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, And in fact, they disproved a theory that's been
around for about one hundred and fifty years. So back
in the eighteen hundreds, a British engineer named James Thompson
suggested that two forces conspire to make us wipe out
on icy surfaces, pressure and friction. In other words, when
you step on ice, your weight applies pressure, and because
your shoes are warmer than the ice, that pressure makes
(08:59):
some of the ice melt. Then friction kicks in, making
your foot slide against the wet surface. But it turns
out that's actually not quite what's happening. So using computer simulations,
Muser and his team discovered that molecular die poles are
the real source of slipperiness. So you're probably wondering what
a die pole is.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I only think of north pole, South pole. Is there
a die pole that's like an addition to that or something.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
That's kind of the same idea. So molecules can have
degrees of positive and negative charge or polarity, and a
positive end and a negative end, and these poles orient
them in a particular direction. Now, when water freezes, the
molecules align in a nice, tidy crystal structure. But when
you step on it, the orientation of molecules in your
(09:46):
shoe messes everything up. It's like walking into Martha Stewart's
kitchen and throwing a bucket of ping pong balls everywhere. Right,
So when the ice crystal structure is disrupted, some of
it falls apart and turns back to liquid, so you go.
Of course, none of this will prevent you from slipping
on ice, but at least now you can impress people
with your knowledge of molecular physics while you're waddling along
(10:08):
a frozen sidewalk.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
That is pretty cool. I'm guessing you may get more
mileage out of this one than I do, since you
live in the Northeast and I'm in Alabama. But still
pretty cool in the end. All right, Well, time for
our fourth award, and Mango, I have a question do
you remember what you were doing on September sixteenth, twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Mm, probably desperately searching for a blated gift for my
kid's birthday.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Well, what you should have been doing is celebrating Pythagorean
triple square day, which was identified by a recent Williams
College grad named Jake Malarkey. I love that is the
last name, and his math professor, Colin Adams.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So I remember the Pythagorean theorem partially because I remember
Shack saying he was like the Pythagorean theorem and there
was no solution. C squared is the solution of But
how does that apply to a random band September.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It's not a random day September sixteenth, twenty twenty five
or nine sixteen twenty five. All three of those numbers
are perfect squares. Nine is three squared, sixteen is four squared,
and twenty five is five squared. And you'll notice something
about those numbers, right, Sure, they're consecutive exactly, and it
gets better or at least mathier. So that sequence three
(11:27):
four five is a Pythagorean triple, which goes back to
the theorem we learned in school. A squared plus b
squared equals c squared. Substitute the numbers in for A,
B and C three squared plus four squared equals five
squared or nine plus sixteen equals twenty five.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yes, yeah, it's like a like a magic try.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Nope, it's actually just math. But yeah, it's still very cool.
And September sixteenth, twenty twenty five was the only date
in this century that nails the Pythagorean triples square. So Congress,
as to Jake and Colin, we're giving you the Once
in a Blue Moon Award. I actually think this one
is really really cool.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yeah, it's really fun. So speaking of rarities, next up,
it's the Wingman Award, or the year it's the wing Woman,
because it's going to a New Zealand cartoonist and illustrator
named Giselle Clarkson. I actually checked out her art online
and it is really wonderful. But that's not why she's
getting an award tonight. She is being honored for her
(12:27):
efforts to find a rare snail a mate. And before
you start picturing a dating app for snails, let me explain.
So one day Giselle was pottering around in her garden
and she noticed an unusual snail. It's shell coil to
the left, not to the right, which might not sound
like a big deal, but for snails it is a
very rare mutation. In fact, just one in forty thousand
(12:50):
snails have it. And the thing is, lefty snails can
only mate with other lefty snails because their shells affect
the position of their reproductive organ and so if a
lefty stail tried to mate with a righty things just
would not line up.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
That is wild.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And if it's only one in forty thousand snails, in
the odds of two lefties finding each other, I mean,
that's so so small.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, it really is so Luckily, Gazelle has always been
interested in snails, and as soon as she spotted this
little guy, she knew he was special and that if
he was going to find his true love, he would
need some help. So she named him Bed, moved him
to her tank in her living room, and teamed up
with New Zealand Geographic magazine to launch a campaign to
(13:33):
find him a mate. Now, before everyone runs outside to
start checking their yards for left shelled snails, I should
mention that New Zealand has pretty strict rules about importing
animals even if they're looking for love, which means Ned's
partner needs to be a Kiwi. Now, Gazelle hasn't found
a match for him just yet, but she is holding
out hope. So if you happen to be in New Zealand,
(13:55):
keep your eyes peeled for a snail who looks a
little different, maybe a little lonely. And if they enjoy
taking long walks in the garden, that'll help too. All right, Well,
fingers Crossed, twenty twenty six is Ned's lucky year. All right,
we have to take a quick break. But when we
come back, Water Buffalo's who made a midlife career pivot
(14:15):
and what it takes to cook in space, So don't
go anywhere. Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're
closing the book on twenty twenty five by handing out
(14:38):
our coveted end of year awards. I know everyone is
covening them, but if you're feeling left out, do not worry.
We also have a limited number of our official, equally
coveted Part Time Genius membership cards, and we'll send you
one for free if you give us your name, address
and one fun fact. You can leave a message at
three or two four oh five five nine two five.
(15:00):
That is our part Time Genius hotline, or you can
email us at high Geniuses at gmail dot com. That's
Hi Geniuses at gmail dot com. You can also dm
us on Instagram or Blue Sky. There are no shortage
of ways to reach out.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I mean, I feel like Mango. Honestly, it's the best
deal of the season. It really is just such a
cool thing. Not only do these cards look super snazzy,
I mean they're also a great way to win an argument.
Can't agree on what's the longest river in Europe? Slap
one of these puppies on the table and whatever you say.
I mean, who's going to argue with a card carrying
part time Genius.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah, I'm not sure how this works, but the Volga
is the longest river in Europe. Card or no card.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
That is word for word what my daughter told.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Me, Mango.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So how about you just give out the next award?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
All right, Well, it's time for one of the most
competitive awards of the evening. It's the Bovine Glow Up Award,
and it honors the member of the cattle family who
underwent the most positive trend information this year. This can
be in terms of appearance, or self confidence or just
general well being. So there's a lot of opportunities here
to be entered into this one, and it's always down
(16:10):
to the wire with this one. But the twenty twenty
five winner is Todd. So Todd's a Todd. Todd did
it freaking finally, you know what I mean. He's a
five year old water buffalo with black fur, and he
won first place at the annual water Buffalo Beauty pageant
in chn Bury, Thailand.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
We had all been keeping an eye on Todd this
whole time, you know, certainly aware of some elements of
his progress. But why is there a beauty contest for buffaloes?
Aren't they, you know, treated as like beasts of burden
normally mango please? I mean this, The term is draft animals,
not beasts of burden. But even that doesn't apply in
this case because while water buffaloes used to plow fields
(16:52):
and rice pattis in Thailand, most farms have long since
switched to tractors, so that made plowing faster, but it
also left farmers with a conundrum. Water buffaloes have been
a major part of Thai agriculture, for generations, and people
who work side by side with them didn't like the
idea of selling them off for meat. So about a
decade ago, a group of farmers decided that they'd start
(17:14):
pampering their buffaloes instead. They gave them comfy pins and
a space to rome, and so folks even began treating
their herds to daily baths and a special high vitamin diet.
So pretty soon Thailand's buffaloes were looking so big and
so healthy that people started holding competitions just to show
them off. These events rekindled national interest in water buffalos,
(17:37):
and now the Thai government offers assistance to any farmers
who want to join the festivities. How does a water
buffalo beauty contest even work? Right? Like? Who determines that
one water buffalo is more beautiful than another? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I mean, I guess high qualified judges that that's who
does it. And they wear these bolo ties and cowboy
hats so you'll know that they're legit. Like once you
have those things on, you're like, oh, this person, they
get it. So and the judges rank each contestant in
these three categories. There's horn size, there's hoof smoothness, and
overall physique.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
So they're judging how buff is your buff.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
That's exactly right. And like I said, Todd, the buffalo
won Best in Show this year. It was his first competition,
but I'm guessing not his last. He shared this honor
with his owner, who's a food vendor and a farmer,
which I thought was just so sweet. And the farmer
says here, it's like the saying goes, people raise buffaloes
and buffaloes raise people. It's like a family member. Did
(18:38):
you say that in your house, lockering up all the time.
I mean that was sort of the main thing we
lived by.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
People raise buffaloes and buffaloes raised people. I love it.
Now a family member with prize winning horns and super
smooth hoofs is a great thing. But our next award
is good news for any aspiring astronaut worried about the
menu options, especially on long haul space flights. It is
the Pie in the Sky Award and it goes to
(19:09):
aerospace engineer Jim Sears of Boulder, Colorado. So earlier this year,
Sears unveiled a next gen space oven called SAATED, which
is an acronym for safe Appliance, tidy, Efficient and delicious.
It is barely larger than a toaster, but it's poised
to have a big impact on space based cuisine, finally
(19:29):
providing astronauts with a practical way to cook food in
zero gravity.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I was actually thinking about this not too long ago,
because obviously, growing up you would, you know, one of
the most exciting things going to like science stores or
things like that, was buying all the sort of replica
space food or whatever. And I was wondering, like, how
much that's advanced? Are they not cooking now in space?
Are they still just eating freeze dried ice cream up there?
I mean, it's not quite that dire, but it is close.
(19:55):
Like most of the food served on NASA missions and
aboard the ISS is freeze dried or dehydrated, and the
only way to like quote unquote cook it is to
soak it in water. Flammability is obviously a huge concern
in space, so cooking with high heat hasn't been an option. Yeah,
I can see how an open flame would be a
bad idea, but I feel like, you know, with an oven,
the heat sources contain there, So why are space ovens
(20:17):
just now catching on?
Speaker 1 (20:19):
The major hold up actually has been the lack of gravity.
So with the standard connection oven, a fan pushes heat
around because hot air cooks food faster when it's circulating,
but you actually need gravity for that. So Sears came
up with an oven that used conductive heat transfer, which
relies on direct contact rather than air currents. So basically,
(20:39):
you load your ingredients inside this metal cylinder, which spin
its around so fast that it creates its own artificial
gravity through centrifugal forces, and this pushes the food up
against the walls of the cylinder, which are heated with
ceramic heaters, and a few minutes later you've got this
perfectly crisp cylindrical pizza or you know, a rich, moist
(21:01):
cylindrical birthday cake. It's pretty great.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It actually kind of sounds like those tilta worlds at
a carnival.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
It is, except the walls are hot and the passengers
are pizza dir Yeah. Yeah, But you know what's amazing
is that soon astronauts will be able to enjoy home
cooked or rather space cooked meals up there. And you know,
it might not be the best news for their waistlines,
but it should do wonders for them morale.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, I think i'd be more willing to book a
trip to Mars if I knew they were serving pizza
on the way. But speaking of tasty treats and hard
to reach places, our next award is the Cherry on
Top Award, and it goes to the mystery man in
Colorado who gave ice cream to weary mountain hikers over
Labor Day weekend.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
What's the story here, Like he just posted up in
a parking lot and headed out ice cream to people
coming down.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
No, he made it much more fun than that. So
this guy did something truly next level. He hauled a
sixty pound pack loaded with dry ice and ice cream
bars all the way to the sum of Huron Peak
and gave treats to climbers as a reward for actually
reaching the top and for listeners who aren't experienced mountaineers
like me and Mango. You know, Huron is one of
the tallest peaks in the Rockies, measuring over fourteen thousand feet.
(22:14):
I mean it's hard to carry your own weight into
thin air like that, much less an extra sixty pounds
of ice cream. Oh my god, I remember being at
like twelve thousand the game elevation in Nepal and Tibat
and like carrying a backpack up a flight of stairs
and it was just insane. I feel like crazy, And
I was like in my twenties and I was fit
(22:36):
at the time. But you know, taking sixty pounds of
ice cream, I feel like I'd be bragging about that NonStop.
But what's weird about this is it feels like we
don't actually know this snow angel's name. Yeah, and he
didn't just withhold his name. He actually wore disguise consisting
of sunglasses and a fake mustache. But you know, word
of his generosity spread fast that day, as you might imagine,
(22:59):
and hikers on the way down and told other people
what was going on, which of course made everyone extra
motivated just to reach the summit. Actually read about one
guy who had brought his two kids on the climb
and when they finally made it to the peak, they
just ran straight to the ice cream man, which is
just so sweet to think about.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, but I feel like they're gonna be bummed every
time they climb a mountain from now on. It's not
ice cream waiting yet. That's a good point. Just this lousy,
breathtaking vista. So sticking with costume, heroes. It is time
for our ninth award, the Bruce Wayne on a Train Award.
So tell me, Will, what would you do if you
(23:36):
were downtown and you suddenly spotted Batman walking towards you?
Would you behave any differently?
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I always love your hypotheticals, and I assume you mean
if I saw a random guy dressed as Batman, because
I would definitely cross the street because he's almost certainly
going to ask me to take a selfie and then
charge me ten bucks for it.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah. I mean that's fair. But you're an outlier on
this one, because, according to a recent study, being in
the presence Batman makes the average person more altruistic. This
research was led by Italian psychologist Francesco Panini, and he
says it's because spontaneous environmental factors increase pro social behavior,
(24:15):
or the act of helping others. So when something snaps
us out of our routines, we tend to be more
attuned to the people around us. And what does this
have to do with Patman again? Yeah? So to test
this phenomena, Panini and his team did this experiment on
the Milan subway to see how many passengers would give
up their seats to a visibly pregnant woman. Then they
(24:35):
ran the same experiment, except this time they had a
man dressed as Batman enter from another part of the train.
Without Batman, only thirty seven percent of passengers offered up
their seats, but when faced with the unexpected appearance of
the dark Night, that number rose to sixty seven percent.
Now here's a strange thing, though, forty four percent of
the passengers who gave up their seats on the Batman
(24:57):
train didn't recall even having seen which I actually suggests
that unpredictable events can increase pro social behavior even when
we aren't fully aware of them, so think of it
as pro social osmosis.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Wow, well, there you go. That's pretty wild, all right, Mango.
I hate to say it, but we have reached our
final award of the evening.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
We should have patted this out with a bunch of
musical guests like at other award shoes. Right, I feel like, I, uh,
maybe I should play that mushrooms clip again.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Maybe later. For now, I just want to hand out
this last award because we've shared some pretty life affirming
stories tonight, but this one is reality affirming. It's called
the Red Pill Award, and it goes to a team
of physicists at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. Now,
they recently proved that the universe is not, in fact
a computer simulation. How great is that?
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I mean, it is nice to have confirmation, I guess,
but I didn't know that was the thing that everyone
was questioning.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I mean, there's always somebody asking these kinds of questions.
And yes, the notion that we exist in a virtual
world created by an advanced alien laptop does sound ridiculous,
but it's annoyingly difficult to rule out the possibility because
you know, if we can't trust our own faculties, how
can we know for sure that we're not in a simulation?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Right, It's like you can't prove a negative And I
guess there's no way to investigate this thing kind of scientifically.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Well that is until now. So earlier this year, these
researchers in British Columbia they published a mathematical proof that
shows it's not just unlikely that our universe is a simulation.
It's impossible. This is head spinning stuff. But the long
and short of it is that some aspects of physical
reality cannot be explained solely through computation. There's this deep,
(26:38):
fundamental layer of existence that's just pure information, and it's
not to be the realm from which space time emerged,
and there's no algorithm that can actually account for it.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
So a computer can't have made the universe because a
computer can't understand the foundation of the universe.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
That's pretty much it put simply. In one of the
leads on the study, doctor Mirfasil explained it this way.
Any simulation is inherently algorithmic, it must follow programmed rules.
But since the fundamental level of reality is based on
non algorithmic understanding, the universe cannot be and could never be,
a simulation.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
That is amazing, But it just dawned on me that
there is a downside to this, and what is that
The chances of me ever learning kung fu just completely cratered.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, it is tragic but also true. But I can
actually live with that if it means our whole existence
isn't just a bunch of ones and zeros on some
alien's hard drive, you know.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yeah, that's fair. And I also like the with AI
getting more pervasive every day, there's at least one thing
about the universe that'll just never get to know. And
on that note, that's a wrap on the forty fourth
annual Part Time Genius Awards. If you want to read
more about these incredible stories of breakthroughs, come find us
on Blue Sky and Instagram. Will be posting some of
(27:55):
those links before we go. I just want to say
how much we appreciate yourself over the past year, whether
you've called in, requested a membership card, you've left a
nice rating. You know, lots of people have sent in
photos of themselves being inspired by the show. Some people
have sent illustrations. This incredible illustrator named Rihanna Karzu who
(28:16):
who did that? It just means a ton to us,
and it's really wonderful to note that there are so
many of you who share our love for science and
history and weird corners of the world. And so I
just want to say thank you for staying curious. We
will be back next year, which is also next week
with another brand new episode, and in the meantime, from
Will Dylan, Barry Gabe and myself, thank you so much
(28:39):
for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio. It is hosted by my good pal Will Pearson,
who I've known for almost three decades now. That is
(29:02):
insane to me. I'm the UTA co host, Mangeshatikular aka Mango.
Our producer is Mary Phillips Sandy. She's actually a super producer.
I'm going to fix that in post. Our writer is
Gabe Lucier, who I've also known for like a decade
at this point, maybe more. Dylan Fagan is in the booth.
He is always dressed up, always cheering us on, and
(29:24):
always ready to hit record and then mix the show
after he does a great job. I also want to
shout out the executive producers from iHeart my good pals
Katrina and Norvel and Ali Perry. We have social media
support from Calypso Rallis. If you like our videos, that
is all Calypso's handiwork for more podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio.
(29:45):
Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or tune in wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. That's it from us
here at Part Time Genius. Thank you so much for listening.
You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Guess what, Mango, what's Ouwell, we are finally here. This
is the end of twenty twenty five, and you know
what that means. It's actually time four and I think
this is right, the forty fourth annual Part Time Genius Awards.
It's hard to believe we've been doing this for forty
four consecutive years, or about this single interruption, like that's
we were doing this this awards as a podcast before
(00:45):
podcasts were podcasts before Mango.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
How long ago?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
This was forever ago, so long. We used to do
it on our Walkmans. Yeah, Sony Walkman's. We were just
like tape it and mail it to one another and
just synk them up.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Incredible, incredible.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
But you know, this is one of the things I
look forward most too, because end of your lists are
always really fun. But somehow looking at the things that
are so weird and so wonderful just makes my heart leap.
You know. It's so fun to see all the things
that improve over the course of the year, even in
really difficult years like this one.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, that's right, And you know, weird and wonderful is
exactly what we have on deck here today, because this
year's honorees include an invention that will make it easier
to enjoy cast roles in space. I know that was
a concern of ours, A musical mushroom, a very nerdy
new math holiday, and that's just to name a few.
So change into your fanciest of outfits, poor glass of
(01:43):
something festive, and let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners,
(02:07):
welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson, and as
always I'm joined by my good friend mangesh Hot Ticketer
and over there in the booth wearing the fanciest tuxedo
I think I've seen in a long time, and holding
a briefcase that's been handcuffed to his arm.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
That's all.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I didn't notice that until we just started here. That's
our PALIN producer, Dylan Fagan. But actually I think I
get it. It's like how Ernst and young people show
up at award shows with the vote tallies and the
names of the award winners, right yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Super secure, Except we already have all of tonight's winners
written down right here. I'm not sure we need to
go to those lens.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, it's true, it's true. All right, Well, I hope
Dylan has the key for that thing at least. But Mengo,
before we give our first award out, I'm curious if
you could give yourself an award for something that you
did this year, what would it be?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Hmmm. I think the most impressive thing I did this
year is that when I realized that kids started saying
six to seven after someone accidentally said like six to seven,
I stopped using those numbers insequentially. Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yes, yeah, that's a.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Real numerical awareness award, I think is what I'd get
for this year.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
That is really really impressive. So I think I win
the award for enduring during an entire day where I
had worn two different pairs of shoes or two shoes
from different pairs, and I stuck it out. I didn't retreat,
I didn't go back to the hotel. It was a
busy day in New York. We were trying to get
stuff done, and I just went with it. I just
(03:40):
embraced it. People pointed out all day long. I told
them what happened, and I endured, and I was really
proud of myself.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Oh I love that it's very fashioned forward too. Did
you try to sell it as something that's like, oh,
this is going to come around next year.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I know a couple people ask that, and I haven't
noticed whether they've followed up with actually doing this themselves,
but I'm gonna say that they did. I'm going to
say that this started a trend. We'll probably notice it
going in the next year.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I'm glad. I'm glad we can make our listeners aware
as well. So let's get started with our first award,
which is the Grammy Award.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
So Mango, I don't I hate to break this to you.
I don't think we can give out a Grammy Awards
that's actually well definitely trademarked.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, So not that Grammy Award. It's our own Grammy Award.
It's the Generating really awesome Mushroom Music Yes Award, And
that yes, I think makes me sound like Uncle Baby
Billy from Writers Stones. But this award goes to John
Ross and Andy Kidd. They are a pair of UK
(04:42):
based experimental artists also known as Bionic and the Wires,
and they describe themselves as a fusion of technology, art
and nature, which is a fancy way of saying they
attach bionic arms to mushrooms and make them play instruments.
So do you want to hear a club?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
I mean obviously so yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
So that is from a video uploaded earlier this year
called Mushroom in the Wild playing Keyboard. It has one
point four million views on YouTube, and it's exactly what
it sounds like. There's a wild mushroom with sensors attached
to its cap, and those sensors are connected to a
pair of bionic arms and it is so cute. Each
one is holding a little mallet and they play a
(05:38):
tiny synthesizer. It is just the very best thing I've
seen today.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
That is fantastic. And this isn't a special mushroom that
went to Juilliard. It's just a regular mushroom growing in
the woods, right.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah. It really taps into their innate abilities. So here's
how it works. The mushroom is alive, which means it's
doing stuff like photosynthesis, it's doing stuff chemically and growing.
All these active processes generate bioelectrical signals, and that's what
the sensors are picking up and registering as vibrations. Those
(06:09):
vibrations get converted to motion and that means the bionic
arms holding the mallets. And there's just something so strange
and beautiful about listening to music made by an individual mushroom,
which is not a sentence I'd ever thought.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
I'd said, Yeah, I didn't see that one coming. All right, Well,
our next award is a game changer for folks who
love trying new foods but hate being surprised by a
blast of painful spice. Now we're calling it the putting
the hot ones guy out of work Award, and it
goes to this team led by Weijun Ding and Jinghu
at the Shanghai Institute of Technology. See, the only way
(06:46):
to tell if a food is spicy is to taste it.
And if it is spicy and you can't handle the heat,
while by tasting it, you've exposed yourself to the thing
that you're trying to avoid. Right, it's a real dilemma here.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I guess you could have someone else tasted for you,
like the way kings used to have tasters.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
That is one way you could, but people would probably
just stop going on to eat with you, I'm guessing.
And luckily researchers have invented an artificial tongue that uses
a special sensor to detect the presence of capsation and
other spicy compounds like alison, which gives fresh garlic that burn.
And the way they came up with this is actually
pretty amazing. So you've seen hot ones. What do they
(07:23):
have standing by in case guests start to panic?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
A glass of milk?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Right, It's exactly right. So milk has proteins called casins
that bind to spicy compounds and neutralize the heat. So
this artificial tongue sensor contains milk, powder and chemicals that
conduct an electrical current. Now, when it comes in contact
with the spice, the current decreases, indicating that the casin
is binding to something hot. So they tested the tongue
(07:49):
with peppers, ginger, garlic, and a lineup of eight other
different hot sauces, and overall it was as accurate as
a panel of human testers and detecting these different spice levels.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I love that because I love eating hot food, and
I love that you can have a measure that other
people can rely on, you know, because I feel like
I'm not a good indicator of how hot something is. Yep, Well,
this next award is definitely cool. I am calling it
the Golden Banana Peel Award, and it goes to Martin Muser,
Oshroff Attila and Sergei Zukomlinov at Zarland University in Germany
(08:27):
because earlier this year they figured out the real reason
why we.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Slip on ice. I assume they came up with something
more scientific than because ice is slippery.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, And in fact, they disproved a theory that's been
around for about one hundred and fifty years. So back
in the eighteen hundreds, a British engineer named James Thompson
suggested that two forces conspire to make us wipe out
on icy surfaces, pressure and friction. In other words, when
you step on ice, your weight applies pressure, and because
your shoes are warmer than the ice, that pressure makes
(08:59):
some of the ice melt. Then friction kicks in, making
your foot slide against the wet surface. But it turns
out that's actually not quite what's happening. So using computer simulations,
Muser and his team discovered that molecular die poles are
the real source of slipperiness. So you're probably wondering what
a die pole is.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I only think of north pole, South pole. Is there
a die pole that's like an addition to that or something.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
That's kind of the same idea. So molecules can have
degrees of positive and negative charge or polarity, and a
positive end and a negative end, and these poles orient
them in a particular direction. Now, when water freezes, the
molecules align in a nice, tidy crystal structure. But when
you step on it, the orientation of molecules in your
(09:46):
shoe messes everything up. It's like walking into Martha Stewart's
kitchen and throwing a bucket of ping pong balls everywhere. Right,
So when the ice crystal structure is disrupted, some of
it falls apart and turns back to liquid, so you go.
Of course, none of this will prevent you from slipping
on ice, but at least now you can impress people
with your knowledge of molecular physics while you're waddling along
(10:08):
a frozen sidewalk.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
That is pretty cool. I'm guessing you may get more
mileage out of this one than I do, since you
live in the Northeast and I'm in Alabama. But still
pretty cool in the end. All right, Well, time for
our fourth award, and Mango, I have a question do
you remember what you were doing on September sixteenth, twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Mm, probably desperately searching for a blated gift for my
kid's birthday.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Well, what you should have been doing is celebrating Pythagorean
triple square day, which was identified by a recent Williams
College grad named Jake Malarkey. I love that is the
last name, and his math professor, Colin Adams.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So I remember the Pythagorean theorem partially because I remember
Shack saying he was like the Pythagorean theorem and there
was no solution. C squared is the solution of But
how does that apply to a random band September.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It's not a random day September sixteenth, twenty twenty five
or nine sixteen twenty five. All three of those numbers
are perfect squares. Nine is three squared, sixteen is four squared,
and twenty five is five squared. And you'll notice something
about those numbers, right, Sure, they're consecutive exactly, and it
gets better or at least mathier. So that sequence three
(11:27):
four five is a Pythagorean triple, which goes back to
the theorem we learned in school. A squared plus b
squared equals c squared. Substitute the numbers in for A,
B and C three squared plus four squared equals five
squared or nine plus sixteen equals twenty five.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yes, yeah, it's like a like a magic try.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Nope, it's actually just math. But yeah, it's still very cool.
And September sixteenth, twenty twenty five was the only date
in this century that nails the Pythagorean triples square. So Congress,
as to Jake and Colin, we're giving you the Once
in a Blue Moon Award. I actually think this one
is really really cool.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yeah, it's really fun. So speaking of rarities, next up,
it's the Wingman Award, or the year it's the wing Woman,
because it's going to a New Zealand cartoonist and illustrator
named Giselle Clarkson. I actually checked out her art online
and it is really wonderful. But that's not why she's
getting an award tonight. She is being honored for her
(12:27):
efforts to find a rare snail a mate. And before
you start picturing a dating app for snails, let me explain.
So one day Giselle was pottering around in her garden
and she noticed an unusual snail. It's shell coil to
the left, not to the right, which might not sound
like a big deal, but for snails it is a
very rare mutation. In fact, just one in forty thousand
(12:50):
snails have it. And the thing is, lefty snails can
only mate with other lefty snails because their shells affect
the position of their reproductive organ and so if a
lefty stail tried to mate with a righty things just
would not line up.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
That is wild.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And if it's only one in forty thousand snails, in
the odds of two lefties finding each other, I mean,
that's so so small.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, it really is so Luckily, Gazelle has always been
interested in snails, and as soon as she spotted this
little guy, she knew he was special and that if
he was going to find his true love, he would
need some help. So she named him Bed, moved him
to her tank in her living room, and teamed up
with New Zealand Geographic magazine to launch a campaign to
(13:33):
find him a mate. Now, before everyone runs outside to
start checking their yards for left shelled snails, I should
mention that New Zealand has pretty strict rules about importing
animals even if they're looking for love, which means Ned's
partner needs to be a Kiwi. Now, Gazelle hasn't found
a match for him just yet, but she is holding
out hope. So if you happen to be in New Zealand,
(13:55):
keep your eyes peeled for a snail who looks a
little different, maybe a little lonely. And if they enjoy
taking long walks in the garden, that'll help too. All right, Well,
fingers Crossed, twenty twenty six is Ned's lucky year. All right,
we have to take a quick break. But when we
come back, Water Buffalo's who made a midlife career pivot
(14:15):
and what it takes to cook in space, So don't
go anywhere. Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're
closing the book on twenty twenty five by handing out
(14:38):
our coveted end of year awards. I know everyone is
covening them, but if you're feeling left out, do not worry.
We also have a limited number of our official, equally
coveted Part Time Genius membership cards, and we'll send you
one for free if you give us your name, address
and one fun fact. You can leave a message at
three or two four oh five five nine two five.
(15:00):
That is our part Time Genius hotline, or you can
email us at high Geniuses at gmail dot com. That's
Hi Geniuses at gmail dot com. You can also dm
us on Instagram or Blue Sky. There are no shortage
of ways to reach out.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I mean, I feel like Mango. Honestly, it's the best
deal of the season. It really is just such a
cool thing. Not only do these cards look super snazzy,
I mean they're also a great way to win an argument.
Can't agree on what's the longest river in Europe? Slap
one of these puppies on the table and whatever you say.
I mean, who's going to argue with a card carrying
part time Genius.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah, I'm not sure how this works, but the Volga
is the longest river in Europe. Card or no card.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
That is word for word what my daughter told.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Me, Mango.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So how about you just give out the next award?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
All right, Well, it's time for one of the most
competitive awards of the evening. It's the Bovine Glow Up Award,
and it honors the member of the cattle family who
underwent the most positive trend information this year. This can
be in terms of appearance, or self confidence or just
general well being. So there's a lot of opportunities here
to be entered into this one, and it's always down
(16:10):
to the wire with this one. But the twenty twenty
five winner is Todd. So Todd's a Todd. Todd did
it freaking finally, you know what I mean. He's a
five year old water buffalo with black fur, and he
won first place at the annual water Buffalo Beauty pageant
in chn Bury, Thailand.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
We had all been keeping an eye on Todd this
whole time, you know, certainly aware of some elements of
his progress. But why is there a beauty contest for buffaloes?
Aren't they, you know, treated as like beasts of burden
normally mango please? I mean this, The term is draft animals,
not beasts of burden. But even that doesn't apply in
this case because while water buffaloes used to plow fields
(16:52):
and rice pattis in Thailand, most farms have long since
switched to tractors, so that made plowing faster, but it
also left farmers with a conundrum. Water buffaloes have been
a major part of Thai agriculture, for generations, and people
who work side by side with them didn't like the
idea of selling them off for meat. So about a
decade ago, a group of farmers decided that they'd start
(17:14):
pampering their buffaloes instead. They gave them comfy pins and
a space to rome, and so folks even began treating
their herds to daily baths and a special high vitamin diet.
So pretty soon Thailand's buffaloes were looking so big and
so healthy that people started holding competitions just to show
them off. These events rekindled national interest in water buffalos,
(17:37):
and now the Thai government offers assistance to any farmers
who want to join the festivities. How does a water
buffalo beauty contest even work? Right? Like? Who determines that
one water buffalo is more beautiful than another? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I mean, I guess high qualified judges that that's who
does it. And they wear these bolo ties and cowboy
hats so you'll know that they're legit. Like once you
have those things on, you're like, oh, this person, they
get it. So and the judges rank each contestant in
these three categories. There's horn size, there's hoof smoothness, and
overall physique.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
So they're judging how buff is your buff.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
That's exactly right. And like I said, Todd, the buffalo
won Best in Show this year. It was his first competition,
but I'm guessing not his last. He shared this honor
with his owner, who's a food vendor and a farmer,
which I thought was just so sweet. And the farmer
says here, it's like the saying goes, people raise buffaloes
and buffaloes raise people. It's like a family member. Did
(18:38):
you say that in your house, lockering up all the time.
I mean that was sort of the main thing we
lived by.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
People raise buffaloes and buffaloes raised people. I love it.
Now a family member with prize winning horns and super
smooth hoofs is a great thing. But our next award
is good news for any aspiring astronaut worried about the
menu options, especially on long haul space flights. It is
the Pie in the Sky Award and it goes to
(19:09):
aerospace engineer Jim Sears of Boulder, Colorado. So earlier this year,
Sears unveiled a next gen space oven called SAATED, which
is an acronym for safe Appliance, tidy, Efficient and delicious.
It is barely larger than a toaster, but it's poised
to have a big impact on space based cuisine, finally
(19:29):
providing astronauts with a practical way to cook food in
zero gravity.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I was actually thinking about this not too long ago,
because obviously, growing up you would, you know, one of
the most exciting things going to like science stores or
things like that, was buying all the sort of replica
space food or whatever. And I was wondering, like, how
much that's advanced? Are they not cooking now in space?
Are they still just eating freeze dried ice cream up there?
I mean, it's not quite that dire, but it is close.
(19:55):
Like most of the food served on NASA missions and
aboard the ISS is freeze dried or dehydrated, and the
only way to like quote unquote cook it is to
soak it in water. Flammability is obviously a huge concern
in space, so cooking with high heat hasn't been an option. Yeah,
I can see how an open flame would be a
bad idea, but I feel like, you know, with an oven,
the heat sources contain there, So why are space ovens
(20:17):
just now catching on?
Speaker 1 (20:19):
The major hold up actually has been the lack of gravity.
So with the standard connection oven, a fan pushes heat
around because hot air cooks food faster when it's circulating,
but you actually need gravity for that. So Sears came
up with an oven that used conductive heat transfer, which
relies on direct contact rather than air currents. So basically,
(20:39):
you load your ingredients inside this metal cylinder, which spin
its around so fast that it creates its own artificial
gravity through centrifugal forces, and this pushes the food up
against the walls of the cylinder, which are heated with
ceramic heaters, and a few minutes later you've got this
perfectly crisp cylindrical pizza or you know, a rich, moist
(21:01):
cylindrical birthday cake. It's pretty great.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It actually kind of sounds like those tilta worlds at
a carnival.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
It is, except the walls are hot and the passengers
are pizza dir Yeah. Yeah, But you know what's amazing
is that soon astronauts will be able to enjoy home
cooked or rather space cooked meals up there. And you know,
it might not be the best news for their waistlines,
but it should do wonders for them morale.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, I think i'd be more willing to book a
trip to Mars if I knew they were serving pizza
on the way. But speaking of tasty treats and hard
to reach places, our next award is the Cherry on
Top Award, and it goes to the mystery man in
Colorado who gave ice cream to weary mountain hikers over
Labor Day weekend.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
What's the story here, Like he just posted up in
a parking lot and headed out ice cream to people
coming down.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
No, he made it much more fun than that. So
this guy did something truly next level. He hauled a
sixty pound pack loaded with dry ice and ice cream
bars all the way to the sum of Huron Peak
and gave treats to climbers as a reward for actually
reaching the top and for listeners who aren't experienced mountaineers
like me and Mango. You know, Huron is one of
the tallest peaks in the Rockies, measuring over fourteen thousand feet.
(22:14):
I mean it's hard to carry your own weight into
thin air like that, much less an extra sixty pounds
of ice cream. Oh my god, I remember being at
like twelve thousand the game elevation in Nepal and Tibat
and like carrying a backpack up a flight of stairs
and it was just insane. I feel like crazy, And
I was like in my twenties and I was fit
(22:36):
at the time. But you know, taking sixty pounds of
ice cream, I feel like I'd be bragging about that NonStop.
But what's weird about this is it feels like we
don't actually know this snow angel's name. Yeah, and he
didn't just withhold his name. He actually wore disguise consisting
of sunglasses and a fake mustache. But you know, word
of his generosity spread fast that day, as you might imagine,
(22:59):
and hikers on the way down and told other people
what was going on, which of course made everyone extra
motivated just to reach the summit. Actually read about one
guy who had brought his two kids on the climb
and when they finally made it to the peak, they
just ran straight to the ice cream man, which is
just so sweet to think about.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, but I feel like they're gonna be bummed every
time they climb a mountain from now on. It's not
ice cream waiting yet. That's a good point. Just this lousy,
breathtaking vista. So sticking with costume, heroes. It is time
for our ninth award, the Bruce Wayne on a Train Award.
So tell me, Will, what would you do if you
(23:36):
were downtown and you suddenly spotted Batman walking towards you?
Would you behave any differently?
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I always love your hypotheticals, and I assume you mean
if I saw a random guy dressed as Batman, because
I would definitely cross the street because he's almost certainly
going to ask me to take a selfie and then
charge me ten bucks for it.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah. I mean that's fair. But you're an outlier on
this one, because, according to a recent study, being in
the presence Batman makes the average person more altruistic. This
research was led by Italian psychologist Francesco Panini, and he
says it's because spontaneous environmental factors increase pro social behavior,
(24:15):
or the act of helping others. So when something snaps
us out of our routines, we tend to be more
attuned to the people around us. And what does this
have to do with Patman again? Yeah? So to test
this phenomena, Panini and his team did this experiment on
the Milan subway to see how many passengers would give
up their seats to a visibly pregnant woman. Then they
(24:35):
ran the same experiment, except this time they had a
man dressed as Batman enter from another part of the train.
Without Batman, only thirty seven percent of passengers offered up
their seats, but when faced with the unexpected appearance of
the dark Night, that number rose to sixty seven percent.
Now here's a strange thing, though, forty four percent of
the passengers who gave up their seats on the Batman
(24:57):
train didn't recall even having seen which I actually suggests
that unpredictable events can increase pro social behavior even when
we aren't fully aware of them, so think of it
as pro social osmosis.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Wow, well, there you go. That's pretty wild, all right, Mango.
I hate to say it, but we have reached our
final award of the evening.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
We should have patted this out with a bunch of
musical guests like at other award shoes. Right, I feel like, I, uh,
maybe I should play that mushrooms clip again.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Maybe later. For now, I just want to hand out
this last award because we've shared some pretty life affirming
stories tonight, but this one is reality affirming. It's called
the Red Pill Award, and it goes to a team
of physicists at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. Now,
they recently proved that the universe is not, in fact
a computer simulation. How great is that?
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I mean, it is nice to have confirmation, I guess,
but I didn't know that was the thing that everyone
was questioning.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I mean, there's always somebody asking these kinds of questions.
And yes, the notion that we exist in a virtual
world created by an advanced alien laptop does sound ridiculous,
but it's annoyingly difficult to rule out the possibility because
you know, if we can't trust our own faculties, how
can we know for sure that we're not in a simulation?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Right, It's like you can't prove a negative And I
guess there's no way to investigate this thing kind of scientifically.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Well that is until now. So earlier this year, these
researchers in British Columbia they published a mathematical proof that
shows it's not just unlikely that our universe is a simulation.
It's impossible. This is head spinning stuff. But the long
and short of it is that some aspects of physical
reality cannot be explained solely through computation. There's this deep,
(26:38):
fundamental layer of existence that's just pure information, and it's
not to be the realm from which space time emerged,
and there's no algorithm that can actually account for it.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
So a computer can't have made the universe because a
computer can't understand the foundation of the universe.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
That's pretty much it put simply. In one of the
leads on the study, doctor Mirfasil explained it this way.
Any simulation is inherently algorithmic, it must follow programmed rules.
But since the fundamental level of reality is based on
non algorithmic understanding, the universe cannot be and could never be,
a simulation.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
That is amazing, But it just dawned on me that
there is a downside to this, and what is that
The chances of me ever learning kung fu just completely cratered.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, it is tragic but also true. But I can
actually live with that if it means our whole existence
isn't just a bunch of ones and zeros on some
alien's hard drive, you know.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yeah, that's fair. And I also like the with AI
getting more pervasive every day, there's at least one thing
about the universe that'll just never get to know. And
on that note, that's a wrap on the forty fourth
annual Part Time Genius Awards. If you want to read
more about these incredible stories of breakthroughs, come find us
on Blue Sky and Instagram. Will be posting some of
(27:55):
those links before we go. I just want to say
how much we appreciate yourself over the past year, whether
you've called in, requested a membership card, you've left a
nice rating. You know, lots of people have sent in
photos of themselves being inspired by the show. Some people
have sent illustrations. This incredible illustrator named Rihanna Karzu who
(28:16):
who did that? It just means a ton to us,
and it's really wonderful to note that there are so
many of you who share our love for science and
history and weird corners of the world. And so I
just want to say thank you for staying curious. We
will be back next year, which is also next week
with another brand new episode, and in the meantime, from
Will Dylan, Barry Gabe and myself, thank you so much
(28:39):
for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio. It is hosted by my good pal Will Pearson,
who I've known for almost three decades now. That is
(29:02):
insane to me. I'm the UTA co host, Mangeshatikular aka Mango.
Our producer is Mary Phillips Sandy. She's actually a super producer.
I'm going to fix that in post. Our writer is
Gabe Lucier, who I've also known for like a decade
at this point, maybe more. Dylan Fagan is in the booth.
He is always dressed up, always cheering us on, and
(29:24):
always ready to hit record and then mix the show
after he does a great job. I also want to
shout out the executive producers from iHeart my good pals
Katrina and Norvel and Ali Perry. We have social media
support from Calypso Rallis. If you like our videos, that
is all Calypso's handiwork for more podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio.
(29:45):
Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or tune in wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. That's it from us
here at Part Time Genius. Thank you so much for listening.
Part-Time Genius News
Hosts And Creators
Will Pearson
Mangesh Hattikudur
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