The Brain Candy Podcast

The Brain Candy Podcast

Laugh and learn with Susie Meister PhD & Sarah Rice MFT from MTV's The Challenge as they cover psychology, pop culture, human interest, and science, and make everything from The Kardashians to quantum physics accessible to all.

Episodes

July 17, 2025 57 mins

Sarah went camping with her family and it was predictably calamitous in the best way possible. We hear why kids don't ride bikes anymore, parents are chauffeurs, and why it matters. We talk about how much camp meant to Sarah growing up and then as a counselor, and we lament that tragedy in Texas at the Christian camp. Sarah explains why customer service is so bad now, why you shouldn't accept it, and what you can do about ...

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7:40 - Table Of Content, Episode Topic Breakdown. - Sarah is feeling extra tough today because her testosterone levels are through the roof and people think Susie looks like a villain, so we're quite the pair. Hear what traits you need to be perceived as cool. We have a new catchphrase and we think it's super book (you heard us). People are getting AI Avatars of their family members to talk to them after they die, and we s...

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4:54 - Today's table of contents.

Susie's mom is seeing the world in a whole new way, but don't get too excited yet. We discuss the phrase "honk if you're horny," and debate whether you're actually supposed to honk or not. Sarah talks about "mushroom coffins," which claim to decompose human body in 45 days as compared to 30 years or more using other methods. We discuss cities that are overrun with tourists and the anger it ...

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3:18 - Today's Topic Breakdown - It's a Documentary Roundup on today's show, with Sooz Reviews of the My Mom Jayne, the latest installment of Trainwreck (Poop Cruise! Oh my!), and Sally Ride. We learn how Jayne Mansfield was a victim of a Hollywood system that objectifies women and society's decision to put women, especially beautiful women, into a very small box, and the ways secrets can tear families apart. We discuss th...

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Susie's mom has been ill, and now she's on the mend, but she seems to have a bigger problem on her hands--namely an infestation of raccoons INSIDE her house. We talk about the doofus who sat his buns down on a Swaroski crystal chair at a museum and destroyed it. We discuss Barbara Walters, her ambition, and why she was kind of a jerk to women despite being a trailblazer at the same time. We debate whether we should start a...

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Susie has another new enemy this week and this time it's conflicting with her passion for oral hygiene. Sarah had to so sly vigilante justice this weekend when she saw some old creepers leering at women at the club. We discuss the Astroworld concert tragedy where ten people were crushed to death due to a lack of crowd control, poor planning, and too many people in the audience. We learn about the "right to repair" movement...

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Today we hear about an incident Susie had at the gym with a man claiming a machine she was using, and she wonders if other women have experienced something similar. We find out why young people are increasingly believing in love at first sight. And Susie explains why therapy culture might be leading to childlessness. Tons of great mental health content in this episode!

Jump straight to the action you're looking for:

5:00 Sus...

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Sarah went to Vail Pride and is getting very emotional about her LGBTQ journey, the self-doubt she's grappled with, and her goal of self-acceptance. We explore why we're often hardest on ourselves and more accepting of others. Sarah talks about a study on rule followers, and we speculate about why people follow rules even when no one would know if they broke it. We discuss why procrastination can be about avoiding feelings...

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Sarah had a run-in at Home Depot where she was offered free plants, and she said no! And now she has regrets for being so honest and having integrity. Susie gives a tribute to her beloved Brian Wilson. We find out why Amelia Earhart wasn't actually a great pilot (seems like the disappearance should've tipped us off), but instead was just ahead of her time in...influencing. Susie explains how Amelia's famous flight has dist...

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Susie and Sarah had a little reunion and they're still riding that sweet high. We're happy Susie wasn't on the flight where a little girl was allowed to take over the intercom and sing a Moana song to a non-consensual audience. Sarah tells us about a company that raised millions of dollars from investors posing as an AI tech company when really they had hundreds of people working behind the scenes manually performing tasks...

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Susie and Sarah are headed to a baseball game, but first Susie needs to explain the importance of safety and the precariousness of Buc Fever after a man recently fell at a game. We disuss the P Diddy sketch artist who appears to have the same talent as the recent caricaturist Sarah had, and why Sarah thinks he doesn't know how to draw people of color. We talk about the Pee Wee Herman documentary, how he came to resent the ...

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Sarah got mixed up in a felony and for a second was going to take matters into her own hands and try to apprehend the bandit because she "loves justice." Thankfully she realized Ann Taylor Loft's Loss Prevention isn't worth fighting for. Scientists turned a spider web red, and while we want to be excited we can't figure out why we should care. We discuss our least favorite creatures and we realize Susie's hatred of stink b...

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Sarah had a "tick fiasco" in the wilderness, and she'll never be the same. We get some updates from Susie about Pete Rose's eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame since his death and we hear the scandal involving the Napalm Girl image we discussed recently, and how the wrong photographer may have taken credit for the last fifty years. We hear actually useful happiness tips that are more fun than the usual ones we alread...

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Sarah thought she was being frugal and industrious, but now she has a stained sink and a broken olive oil dispenser. We learn why an AI tech bro wants to see your eyeballs, and Susie's mad about it. We hear cicadas play Pachelbel's Canon in D on their abdomen (or buttholes?). Sarah says an adult star got a billboard to advertise her OnlyFans, but Christians are defacing it for Jesus. We find out what causes someone to have...

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Sarah is getting into birding and Susie is getting into the Elks. What we're saying is we're old. But we're happy. Unfortunately a lot of people aren't happy, but don't worry, we have the data on what can solve that problem, and it turns out it's not that hard. We share our own ideas of what hell is, and basically it's us being bad at literally anything. We find out how one woman went blind doing something we've all done! ...

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Sarah is getting old all of a sudden, and she is not happy about it. She claims she has an old lady body now, and we talk about how humans age in two big bursts at 44 and 60. Sarah saw a man taking pics of young girls at the beach so we debate whether she should've confronted him. Frogs have been croaking (get it?) at alarming numbers due to storm drains, so someone created the cutest solution you ever heard of. We discuss...

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Susie went to a Micky Dolenz of the Monkees concert, and the next day a stranger stopped her at the grocery store to make a comment about something Susie did at the show. We learn why medical professionals and workers at senior facilities are being trained to stop using "elderspeak" with their patients. They say that the baby talk and cutesy language infantilizes older folks and causes greater resistance to care and more a...

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Scientists think they might have found a planet that is "brimming with life," and we're pretty sure whoever lives there is way smarter than earthlings. We learn about a climber who had to be rescued twice in one week because he forgot his phone on the mountain. And we discuss a vintage story about a hiker who was lost and couldn't be rescued because when first responders called him he didn't pick up because he didn't recog...

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Sarah and her gf got a caricature, and it is truly the stuff of nightmares. We debate whether the "artist" was intentionally making it awful, why he wanted to give her gigantic boobs, and what message he was trying to send. Sarah watched a new series on Netflix and now she is fascinated by equine social culture, but is simultaneously against horse racing. We do have some questions about horse transportation--not when you r...

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Susie is sharing a tragic tale of why her dancing at the gay wedding was cut short. They also had a peek at each other's sacral dimples and will update you about their size, scope, and scale. Is bigger better? Find out. Susie watched a documentary about songwriting and they discuss the mystery and wonder of the "flow state," what we think causes inspiration, and why it's so curious. We learn about an unhoused person who wo...

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