Fun Fact

Arik uncovers what things are really named after, Allen goes subatomic, Arik marvels at astronomical coincidence, and Allen considers extraterrestrial flight.

• Titan
• Do subatomic particles have a colour?

Allen dives in to diodes, Arik explores the origin of taxis, and Allen reveals an unsavoury fact about zygotes.

• Steve Mould on LEDs and solar panels
• Why blue LEDs were almost impossible
• Thornton Blackburn

Arik throws peanuts, Allen tries to cook vegetables, photographers try to prompt a good pose, and the earth’s magnetic field threatens to cause trouble.

• High-altitude cooking
• Say cheese
• Geomagnetic reversal

Scientists discover where birds go, the trouble with coin flips, the limits of the human body, and what exactly you can find in the Perseus Molecular Cloud.

• The majestic Pfeilstorch
• XCKD’s What If: What if Nascar had no rules?
• The Perseus Molecular Cloud

Science discovers our galaxy’s flavor, machinists discover precision measurements, and Arik discovers why you shouldn’t rent a car in Germany.

• Galaxy’s centre tastes of raspberries and smells of rum, say astronomers
• What Does Space Taste Like and Why Does It Matter?
• Thousandth of an inch

We check in on platypi and Polaris, consider zero’s parity, and make a decision about booby traps.

• Polaris
• Parity of zero
• Legality of booby traps

Allen thinks about cans, Arik thinks about governance, and everybody thinks about the Roman Empire.

• Why are cranberry sauce cans upside down?
• Roman Dictator
• Why do bees make honey?

Allen considers ancient honey, Arik considers ancient surgeries, and some jobs may or may not get automated.

• Honey’s Eternal Life, Explained
• Caesarean section
• ATMs and tellers

Allen showcases a very surprising study, Arik recounts a very Canadian heist, and somebody loses a finger.

• Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma when jumping from aircraft: randomized controlled trial
• Inside Quebec’s Great, Multi-Million-Dollar Maple-Syrup Heist
• The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist
• Sugar Shack
• Dr Sam Moghtaderi’s finger-loss quiz

Arik improves an idiom, Allen shares a good news fact, Arik shares a grammar fact, and Allen locates your bones.

• You can’t have your cake and eat it too in other languages
• Status update on pandas
• Pisiform bone
• Sesamoid bones

Arik and Allen attempt a live episode, Allen attempts to store dry ice, Arik attempts to use the word “relative”, and Allen attempts to explain what salt does.

• Carbon capture and storage
  • Permanent storage of carbon dioxide in the marine environment: The solid CO2 penetrator
• Starboard and larboard - NOAA
• Do fish drink?

Allen explains why summer exists, Arik outlines a trademark scheme, and Allen betrays Arik with a fishy biology fact.

• Seasonal lag
• List of genericized trademarks
• Cladistics, the effort to recategorize living things into clades

Allen goes deep on whale ingestion, and Arik explains what’s really going on with dinosaurs.

• National Geographic on the plausibility of whales swallowing humans
• Dinosaur
  • Evolution of birds
  • Ornithischia
  • Saurischia
  • Scott_D._Sampson
  • ‘Dinosaurs Among Us’ Retraces an Evolutionary Path

Our sun proves a nuisance, the former Soviet Union makes a trade, we consider pepper seeds, Isaac Newton considers an apple, mice consider some cheese, rats get exonerated, and we share a superior alternative to implausible.

• What would the sun sound like?
• List of common misconceptions
• It Shipped That Way #6, where Arik and Allen talk about engineering leadership, software architecture, and Netflix’s culture

Women handle backward buttons, Allen handles a lot of feedback about very improbable things, and Arik handles digested asparagus.

• Why Zippers Are On Different Sides For Men And Women’s Clothing
  • Sumptuary law
• Understanding the Birthday Paradox
• Universally unique identifiers (UUID)
• Why Does Asparagus Make Your Pee Smell?