July 17, 2025 • 9 mins
On Thursdays, we bring you a handful of odd science stories for our segment called #StrangeScience.World’s biggest Mars rock sells for $5.3 million at auction. What are ‘blue zones’? 5 places on Earth where the healthiest people live
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, it's time for strange science.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Strange sence.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
It's like weird science, but strange. A meteorite that is
the largest known piece of Mars on Earth has sold
at auction for five point three million dollars. Who bought it, well,
that person wishes to remain anonymous. It happened at Seth
(00:32):
Ofvies yesterday at the auction. It's known as Nwa. It's
pretty fun, NWA one six seven eighty eight. It's fifty
four pounds, which is massive compared with other meteorites from Mars,
they tend to be small fragments. Meteorites, going back to
(00:54):
our science lessons, are what is left when a comet,
asteroid or meteorites revives its passage through the Earth's atmosphere.
It was discovered in November of twenty twenty three in Niger,
and they said that NWA sixteen seven eighty eight is
a monumental specimen, around seventy percent larger than the next
(01:17):
biggest piece of Mars ever found on Earth. It's also
very rare. Only about four hundred Martian meteorites have ever
been found on Earth.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
How does that happen?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Like you're walking around Niger and you're like, oh, there's
a big rock. That's a big rock, fifty four pounds.
Oh that looks like it's from Mars, or that just
looks different. You phone it in, Like, who do you
even call? I'm just wondering the next time, you know,
piece of Mars turns up, what do we say? You know,
we're hiking in the San Gabriels and we're like, this
(01:49):
looks different. This doesn't like it's supposed to be there.
You call the police, you say, I think I've got
a rock that's that's different. You'd be called a crazy person.
How does that even get phoned in? But another big question?
Who spends five point three million dollars on that? Is
that something that would be cool to show? If at parties?
You know, you have your friends over and you've got
(02:10):
this like big rock and a glass case. You like,
this is from Mars and I bought it for five
and a half million dollars. The Blue Zones five places
on Earth where the healthiest people live. Here they are,
and guess what, there's one that is in our backyard
or in our front yard if you're in San Bernardino,
(02:30):
all right. One of them located eight miles off the
coast of Turkey and the aeg and c Ikaria has
some of the world's lowest rates of middle aged mortality
in dementia. The mountainous highlands of Sardinia claim the highest
concentration of Centurian men. It has extremely low death rate
(02:57):
when it comes to sixty five. Nicoya is located in
a region of Central America the world's lowest rate of
middle aged mortality, the second highest concentration of male centurions.
And then who where do you think? In San Bernardino County,
(03:21):
Loam Melinda Loa Melinda credited with giving residents ten more
healthy years than the average American. Why well, daily meals
follow a biblical diet, grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, just
like what Deborah Mark eats. Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables.
(03:43):
You eat this stuff, I've noticed you. Yeah, you feel
you feel better, you feel lighter, you feel better.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
There's just something to be said about that.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Although you know you have motivated me to eat zero
processed foods though, because I would, I'd grab some sun chips, think, oh,
that's a healthy alternative to potato chips. But it's all
processed stuff. And I know you're you're not doing ry.
So I decided forget it. Every time I think about
certain things, I remember what you said about even though
I'm a vegan, I still eat processed foods once in
(04:14):
a while. So now I have eliminated that as well.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
I mean, I just I we do so many stories
about the processed foods and how they're so bad for
you that it kind of started sinking in for me,
and so I kind of started weeding them out. And
then once I started weating them out, it doesn't taste
as good anymore. And I've started eating like debor and
like squirrels and grains and fruits and nuts and vegetables,
and it really does make you feel better, it does.
(04:39):
And it's low Melinda. And then these other places they're like, yeah,
heavy and vegetables, healthy fats, not as much meat. Avocados,
y avocados the way to go. Man, it's brought my
cholesterol down. They're gonna put me on a statin Deborra,
and I said, hell, no.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Okay, let me just tell you this real quick. I
went to the earlier this week and I had blood
work done, and even though I'm a vegan, my cholesterol
is so high.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's genetic. Man, There's nothing I can do. There is
it is?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
I work out every day.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
One in three, one in three Americans is going to
have it, and it has nothing to do with with
your diet.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
How high is it? Is it twenty nine? Oh, that's
not that bad because two hundred is normal.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
So it's twenty nine? And then is that my good
one or my bad wood? Now I don't know.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Oh, well that does make a difference.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
They're both high.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Note.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Well, yeah, I'm not on men. Yeah, that's just genetic.
That's just genetic that. I think your borderline. I think
you're okay. I am a doctor. Now all right, Why
does food by the campfire taste better? The answer, turns out,
has less to do with the food itself and more
to do with the atmosphere. Of course it does. It's
(05:52):
the chemistry, it's the psychology, the evolution of us sitting
by a fire cooking things, nostal's joy, ancient pull of
the warm glow. This has gathered us for millennia, beneath
the stars.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
It's all of it.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
You could eat anything around the campfire and it would
be fabulous. Robert Dunn is an evolutionary biologist. He's the
author of Delicious, The Evolution of Flavor and How It
Made Us Human, And he says, when you're around a fire,
you're kind of in the pot.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Well, I don't know if I want to be in
the pot.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
With the food, but okay, he says, you're fully experiencing
the results of the cooking and of the eating. He says,
it's the interplay of smell, texture, temperature, sound, memory, even
a narrative. Again, this is one of those things where
you know you don't need a study, right, you just
know that campfire food tastes better. But if you are
paid a bunch of money as a researcher to study this,
(06:46):
how cool will that be?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
I got to go back out to the campfire and
eat a hot dog and see if it tastes better
than the hot dog I just had in the kitchen
or the backyard. All right, And then finally the one
that you know you're gonna just be dying to hear about,
why do cats love concrete slabs? This is gonna be
one of those moments that I write down for when
Gary rejoins us.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, Gary, things got a little dark.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
At one point, I heard myself say why do cats
love concrete slabs and then proceeded to elaborate on that.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
But it's it is comical.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
If you are on Instagram or TikTok, if you are
into the more specific subgenre of cat talk, shoot me,
you may have come across some crazy feline behavior. There
are apparently numerous videos of excited cat owners presenting their
pets with concrete slabs.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Where is the off button? Where's the off?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Why?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, I'm glad somebody cares. I care so much.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Even taking trips to the hardware store, these people are
to pick up some pavers and then, when present dented
with their new gift, these cats investigate it and ultimately
seem to really enjoy their hard new toy. But why why,
you ask? It's because they can pee on it, that's right.
(08:17):
The porous nature of concrete offers cats somewhere to deposit
their scent and smell is very important for cats. Cats
use their urine and their pheromones as a way to communicate.
An individual cat's urine marking alerts other cats of his
(08:37):
or her presence and makes a statement about things like
what a piece of property it's his? How long ago
was he in the area on that piece of property
and over time, how many times has he peed on
the slab? Is he just a new owner of this
property or has he had this concrete slab for quite
(08:59):
some time? Can I take this slab from the other
cat or has his urine been there for quite some time.
That's how they communicate. Felines also use their urine to
advertise when they're looking for a mate. H.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
So there's that.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
They say that the same porous property in the concrete
might also be good for one of the most common cat.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Behaviors, which is scratching. So there you go. Man.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
If I start taking videos of myself going to the
hardware store for a concrete paver to present to my cat,
I don't know. You're gonna have to put me somewhere,
put me in some sort of center,
All right, it's time for strange science.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Strange sence.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
It's like weird science, but strange. A meteorite that is
the largest known piece of Mars on Earth has sold
at auction for five point three million dollars. Who bought it, well,
that person wishes to remain anonymous. It happened at Seth
(00:32):
Ofvies yesterday at the auction. It's known as Nwa. It's
pretty fun, NWA one six seven eighty eight. It's fifty
four pounds, which is massive compared with other meteorites from Mars,
they tend to be small fragments. Meteorites, going back to
(00:54):
our science lessons, are what is left when a comet,
asteroid or meteorites revives its passage through the Earth's atmosphere.
It was discovered in November of twenty twenty three in Niger,
and they said that NWA sixteen seven eighty eight is
a monumental specimen, around seventy percent larger than the next
(01:17):
biggest piece of Mars ever found on Earth. It's also
very rare. Only about four hundred Martian meteorites have ever
been found on Earth.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
How does that happen?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Like you're walking around Niger and you're like, oh, there's
a big rock. That's a big rock, fifty four pounds.
Oh that looks like it's from Mars, or that just
looks different. You phone it in, Like, who do you
even call? I'm just wondering the next time, you know,
piece of Mars turns up, what do we say? You know,
we're hiking in the San Gabriels and we're like, this
(01:49):
looks different. This doesn't like it's supposed to be there.
You call the police, you say, I think I've got
a rock that's that's different. You'd be called a crazy person.
How does that even get phoned in? But another big question?
Who spends five point three million dollars on that? Is
that something that would be cool to show? If at parties?
You know, you have your friends over and you've got
(02:10):
this like big rock and a glass case. You like,
this is from Mars and I bought it for five
and a half million dollars. The Blue Zones five places
on Earth where the healthiest people live. Here they are,
and guess what, there's one that is in our backyard
or in our front yard if you're in San Bernardino,
(02:30):
all right. One of them located eight miles off the
coast of Turkey and the aeg and c Ikaria has
some of the world's lowest rates of middle aged mortality
in dementia. The mountainous highlands of Sardinia claim the highest
concentration of Centurian men. It has extremely low death rate
(02:57):
when it comes to sixty five. Nicoya is located in
a region of Central America the world's lowest rate of
middle aged mortality, the second highest concentration of male centurions.
And then who where do you think? In San Bernardino County,
(03:21):
Loam Melinda Loa Melinda credited with giving residents ten more
healthy years than the average American. Why well, daily meals
follow a biblical diet, grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, just
like what Deborah Mark eats. Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables.
(03:43):
You eat this stuff, I've noticed you. Yeah, you feel
you feel better, you feel lighter, you feel better.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
There's just something to be said about that.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Although you know you have motivated me to eat zero
processed foods though, because I would, I'd grab some sun chips, think, oh,
that's a healthy alternative to potato chips. But it's all
processed stuff. And I know you're you're not doing ry.
So I decided forget it. Every time I think about
certain things, I remember what you said about even though
I'm a vegan, I still eat processed foods once in
(04:14):
a while. So now I have eliminated that as well.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
I mean, I just I we do so many stories
about the processed foods and how they're so bad for
you that it kind of started sinking in for me,
and so I kind of started weeding them out. And
then once I started weating them out, it doesn't taste
as good anymore. And I've started eating like debor and
like squirrels and grains and fruits and nuts and vegetables,
and it really does make you feel better, it does.
(04:39):
And it's low Melinda. And then these other places they're like, yeah,
heavy and vegetables, healthy fats, not as much meat. Avocados,
y avocados the way to go. Man, it's brought my
cholesterol down. They're gonna put me on a statin Deborra,
and I said, hell, no.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Okay, let me just tell you this real quick. I
went to the earlier this week and I had blood
work done, and even though I'm a vegan, my cholesterol
is so high.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's genetic. Man, There's nothing I can do. There is
it is?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
I work out every day.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
One in three, one in three Americans is going to
have it, and it has nothing to do with with
your diet.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
How high is it? Is it twenty nine? Oh, that's
not that bad because two hundred is normal.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
So it's twenty nine? And then is that my good
one or my bad wood? Now I don't know.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Oh, well that does make a difference.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
They're both high.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Note.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Well, yeah, I'm not on men. Yeah, that's just genetic.
That's just genetic that. I think your borderline. I think
you're okay. I am a doctor. Now all right, Why
does food by the campfire taste better? The answer, turns out,
has less to do with the food itself and more
to do with the atmosphere. Of course it does. It's
(05:52):
the chemistry, it's the psychology, the evolution of us sitting
by a fire cooking things, nostal's joy, ancient pull of
the warm glow. This has gathered us for millennia, beneath
the stars.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
It's all of it.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
You could eat anything around the campfire and it would
be fabulous. Robert Dunn is an evolutionary biologist. He's the
author of Delicious, The Evolution of Flavor and How It
Made Us Human, And he says, when you're around a fire,
you're kind of in the pot.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Well, I don't know if I want to be in
the pot.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
With the food, but okay, he says, you're fully experiencing
the results of the cooking and of the eating. He says,
it's the interplay of smell, texture, temperature, sound, memory, even
a narrative. Again, this is one of those things where
you know you don't need a study, right, you just
know that campfire food tastes better. But if you are
paid a bunch of money as a researcher to study this,
(06:46):
how cool will that be?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
I got to go back out to the campfire and
eat a hot dog and see if it tastes better
than the hot dog I just had in the kitchen
or the backyard. All right, And then finally the one
that you know you're gonna just be dying to hear about,
why do cats love concrete slabs? This is gonna be
one of those moments that I write down for when
Gary rejoins us.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, Gary, things got a little dark.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
At one point, I heard myself say why do cats
love concrete slabs and then proceeded to elaborate on that.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
But it's it is comical.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
If you are on Instagram or TikTok, if you are
into the more specific subgenre of cat talk, shoot me,
you may have come across some crazy feline behavior. There
are apparently numerous videos of excited cat owners presenting their
pets with concrete slabs.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Where is the off button? Where's the off?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Why?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, I'm glad somebody cares. I care so much.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Even taking trips to the hardware store, these people are
to pick up some pavers and then, when present dented
with their new gift, these cats investigate it and ultimately
seem to really enjoy their hard new toy. But why why,
you ask? It's because they can pee on it, that's right.
(08:17):
The porous nature of concrete offers cats somewhere to deposit
their scent and smell is very important for cats. Cats
use their urine and their pheromones as a way to communicate.
An individual cat's urine marking alerts other cats of his
(08:37):
or her presence and makes a statement about things like
what a piece of property it's his? How long ago
was he in the area on that piece of property
and over time, how many times has he peed on
the slab? Is he just a new owner of this
property or has he had this concrete slab for quite
(08:59):
some time? Can I take this slab from the other
cat or has his urine been there for quite some time.
That's how they communicate. Felines also use their urine to
advertise when they're looking for a mate. H.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
So there's that.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
They say that the same porous property in the concrete
might also be good for one of the most common cat.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Behaviors, which is scratching. So there you go. Man.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
If I start taking videos of myself going to the
hardware store for a concrete paver to present to my cat,
I don't know. You're gonna have to put me somewhere,
put me in some sort of center,
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