Brain Junk
Brain Junk is an off-the-wall, totally unbelievable but true podcast where Amy Barton and Trace Kerr shake up science & history in the hunt for answers to questions you never knew you wanted to know. We bring you the inside scoop on things like: Can goldfish drive? How do whales not drown while eating? Who had the first prosthetic eye? We cannonball off the question high dive every other Tuesday -- those of you in the front seats, bring your ponchos. We're out to flood your brain. brainjunkpodcast.substack.com
Episodes
We've had a hell of a good time spending the past 6 years scrounging up weird science and history junk for you to listen to! It's been a privilege knowing there a lots of fact junkies out there like us, digging through our podcast like raccoons in a trashcan. Our legacy is 328 fantastic episodes and we hope you never stop coming back when you need a little weird and wacky in your life.
We'll still be on Instagram...
Amy lives for a good shenanigan so of course she adores MIT's tradition of playing hacks (aka pranks) on Harvard and Yale. The biggest one you've ever heard of turned out to be a fake but don't worry, there's still some great ones from the past 75 years that were real!
Show Notes:
Atlas Obscura: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-harvard-stadium-pigeon-prank-that-pavlov-would-be-proud-of
In a weird turn of events, it's ants performing surgery when one of them has a leg injury instead of scientists whacking the legs off. Okay,we lied, the scientists are doing it too...
Show Notes:
Episode 71: Ants on Stilts (it's just as horrible as it sounds) https://brainjunkpodcast.com/podcast/71-ants-on-stilts/
Current Biology article: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/...
Imagine rolling up to excavate an ancient ruin only to spend the day carrying out buckets full of crabs! Today we get to know the Potamon fluviatile crab.
Show Notes:
National Geographic article: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/river-crab-ancient-rome
Musei In Commune Roma, The sculpture of Constantine: https://www.mercatiditraiano.it/en/percorsi/percorsi_p...
Have you ever wondered if a hit of helium would change the sound of an alligator's bellows? Lucky for us, there are scientists out there who wanted to know.
Show Notes:
BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54197198
Kyoto University Ig Nobel announcement: https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/news/2020-09-29
Amy looks into how companies change over time. Start making glass jars, segue into making aerospace technology, and end up only doing metal fabrication. We look at a few other companies too!
Show Notes:
Ball historical timeline: https://www.ball.com/our-company/our-story/history-timeline
Wikipedia on Ball Corp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_Corporation
Scientists wanted to know if plants scream and tortured tomatoes to find out the answer. Beckett (Trace's youngest spawn) wanted to know, if plants do scream, can our pets hear it and is this why cats knock plants off shelves?
Show Notes:
YouTube sound of Plants "screaming": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-_AGgoJ3VA
Sci News, Plants Emit Ultrasonic Sounds When Stressed, Gr...
Amy laid the perfect web of "lies"; she lured Trace into an episode about shapeshifting women and then sprang the trap...this episode is about the Joro spider. We talk about the convergence of giant invasive spiders and Japanese mythology.
Show Notes:
Joro Spider (warning, there are spider photos): https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/millions-of-joro-spiders-are-moving-up-the-east-coast-...
How do we define and study the little voice in your head? Is it something you HEAR, hear or is it something you think? For some of us, there's no inner monologue, for others, it's so loud in there, it's hard to participate in the outside world. Trace fell down the research stairs on this one! It's a double header of things we hear and see in our heads. Get ready for anendophasia and aphantasia!
Show Not...
Who knew that a simple combination of oats, water and salt could make for a yearly competition that's lasted for 30 years? We dive into the history of oats in Scotland and the famous Golden Spurtle competition!
Show Notes:
Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship: https://www.goldenspurtle.com/
BBC: World Porridge winner crowned October 2023: https://www.bb...
We're heading into the end of summer break so it's time for a mash up of wacky facts. Fake navels, cheetahs in heat, the weenus and MORE. Oh yes, we adore a good internet fact deep dive. Also, Trace does drop the 's**t' word once.
Show Notes:
Amazon fake navels: https://www.amazon.com/Belly-Button-Stickers-Fashion-Longer/dp/B0CC5TZ23P?th=1
SCMP Fake belly button article: http...
It's tiny, inscrutable, made with spider silk, and we really don't know much about the mysteries of it's intricate construction.
Show Notes:
Nat Geo https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/silkhenge-spiders-ecuador-mystery
Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silkhenge
Internet archive htt...
In the spring, fish like perch travel through the rivers in the Netherlands to find places to spawn. They used to get stuck behind Weerdsluis lock: waiting for it to open. But not anymore! A virtual doorbell was created to help let the lock keeper know they're there. Hot tip, starting March 3, 2025, you can go to their website to hit the doorbell!!!!
Show Notes:
...
It's a super long length summertime episode with the sex lives of penguins, periods in space, Humpback whale sex, swearing parrots, terminal velocity poop, & penis size vs. nose size. Buckle up!
Show Notes:
Dr. George Murray Levick (1876–1956): unpublished notes on the sexual habits of the Adélie penguin
The Guardian: 'Sexual depravity' of penguins th...
Smarter than the mafia, more cunning than a pickpocket in Paris, long-tailed macaques in Bali are all about snatching valuables from tourists and bargaining for tasty snacks.
Show Notes:
Long tailed macaques info from the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center
YouTube BBC Video of things getting stolen!!
<...Amy's bringing the BATS. We've got more cool facts about bat communication and how some of them compete for food (it's sonic warfare for sure).
Show Notes:
Episode 214 Sky Puppies Mama fruit bats and their kiddos
Episode 242 Bat Chat 1 A smorgasbord of bat shenanigans
University of Bristol: Bats avoiding collisions in the air
Did Trace complain about clickbait titles in this episode? Yes. Did she ALSO use a clickbait title for this very episode? Absolutely. Sea scallops like light and it turns out that works in the favor of fisheries and the environment.
Show Notes:
Oceanconservancy.org: Scallops
Fishtek Marine YouTube on the tech and study. Also their website
While doing the show notes for this episode, Trace looked into tips and tricks for when you take a vacation and have to drive on the opposite side of the road. The advice? Don't panic and purchase travel insurance LOL. There are so many different historical reasons for how countries chose what side of the road to drive on.
Show Notes:
Lancaster-Philadelphia Turnpike
Nothing like rubbing yourself down with snakeskin jerky to keep yourself from getting eaten. Today we check out the parallel evolution of the California ground squirrel and rattlesnakes. It's an olfactory camouflage arms race that on a bad day, ends with someone getting eaten.
Show Notes:
UC Davis: Squirrels Use Snake Scent
Royal Society B: Donning your en...
Nighttime waking and scattered thoughts are problem solving's evil twin. If you find yourself awake at 3 am obsessing over your problems, remember that stress and hormonal imbalances can really damage the quality of your sleep.
Show Notes:
IFL Science: Why Do We Wake Around 3am And Dwell On Our Fears And Shortcomings?
VeryWellmind.com:...
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