Brain Junk

The term Jimmy Legs describes both a syndrome and the restless leg bumping up and down that some of us do when nervous or full of energy. Let’s find out where the name comes from!SHOW NOTES:Seinfeld The Jimmy Leg“She’s throwing off my whole sleep,” Kramer, SeinfeldCDNC Jimmy Leghttps://www.stripes.com/news/new-names-same-navy-1.90423 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

Welcome to our gigantic, fact filled 100th episode!!!! Thank you, Brain Junkies, we couldn’t have done it without you! We’ve gathered together ther weirdest & wackiest bunch of 100 facts from pop culture, history, animals and science to pack your brain.Show Notes:Ikea’s Game of Thrones CapeAcrobatic Pizza Toss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftQZl9e8PbISquirrel Tracker!Find those landmines. Rats hard at work saving lives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbiljkkJ4NI Cats landing on their feet. Slow motion fall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtWbpyjJqrUThe tale of Hotfoot Teddy and how he became Smokey Bear. (Not Smokey the Bear you philistines).First Cat memes. Thank you, Henry Whittier FreesPINK DOLPHINSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!More Pink!Lake Hillierby Viaggio Routard (Flickr)Creative commonsKentucky Moonbow Skip to :55 min to get right to the moonbow.Coke floats. Sometimes. https://youtu.be/SxX58LyX0xgHere’s aaaallllll my 50 facts and their sources. Same order as episode for your convenience. ABPop CulturePl

What happens when you cross a intestinal invading fungus or bacteria with carbohydrates? You get very very drunk. Trace explores the weird world of Auto-brewery syndrome. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

If you’re thinking, wait, I thought it was tenderhooks, you’re not alone. Amy explains this early 18th century idiom that describes having a sense of anxious anticipation.Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenterhook Tenterhooks or tenter hooks are hooked nails in a device called a tenter.  Tenters were wooden frames which were used as far back as the 14th century in the process of making woolen cloth. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/on-tenterhooks-origin-meaning-phraseA tenterhook is defined as “a sharp hooked nail used especially for fastening cloth on a tenter. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

On Feb 3rd, 1945, The all women of color, Six-Triple-Eight, was sent overseas to clear a two year backlog of mail. They were told it would take six months to a year to get every letter and package sorted and delivered. The Six-Triple-Eight did the entire job in three months. We salute you, women of the 6888th. This episode is a small part of their story.SHOW NOTES: Link to a great film footage of the 6888th. https://www.womenofthe6888th.org/image: Wikimedia Commonshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcodee This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

Call them, donuts, or doughnuts, or olykoeks, or pete de souer, they are deep fried doughy goodness and we’re taking an entire episode to sing their praises and sling some facts about donuts. Probably not the best choice for the month of January, but you’ve tossed all your resolutions to the side by now, so have a crispy fried, cinnamon sugar dusted ring of yumminess, and have a listen.Voodoo Doughnut Courtesy Wikimedia Commonshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcodeShow Notes:https://grammarist.com/idiom/dollars-to-doughnuts/https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/71300/15-delicious-facts-about-doughnutshttps://www.factretriever.com/doughnut-facts  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

Can living in a more enriching environment increase your ability to learn and make you more relaxed? Dr. Kelly Lambert set out to answer this question with rats, tiny cars, and a handful of Froot Loops.SHOW NOTES: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

During the 1960s when we were racing to the moon, computing tech made a huge leap. Computers had to be small to fit in the Apollo capsules and it was seamstresses who sewed the super precise hardware together with copper wire.SHOW NOTES:NASA / Wiki Commons This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

Happy New Year! Welcome to our funniest episode yet. Scientists avert international tension between Sweden and Russia, learn something we didn’t know about herring, and win an Ig Nobel. GO SCIENCE! Show Notes:The Guardian-Farting HerringHuff Post Fish Fart to CommunicateSchool of HerringImage courtesy Public Domain Pictures Creative Commons License This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

It’s the LAST episode of 2019! Brain Junk has grown so much over the past twelve months & we are so grateful to have you all along for the ride. We’re winding up the year with a huge outtakes special with all the stuff that usually hits the cutting room floor. This style of episode takes THE LONGEST to edit, so don’t expect another one until the end of 2020. (it’s gonna be a busy year!) Happy New Year to all of you, our dearest Brain Junkies. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

Whether you celebrate your winter solstice on Dec 21st in the northern hemisphere or June 21st in the southern, cultures around the world love to gather together to celebrate the return of the sun in wacky and unusual ways.In today’s episode, we’ve got tons to talk about. In Japan, people eat fancy KFC on Christmas (winter solstice’s holiday cousin), in Antartica, you might do a polar plunge at McMurdo Station, and there’s more…Curl up under a blanket (or slap on some flip flops and hit the beach, you listeners down south) it’s time for some winter traditions.SHOW NOTES:The Mari Lwydby R. Fiend https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

Barn owls come in three colors, a tawny brown, a mix of brown a white, and all white. It didn’t make sense to researchers how a white owl could be a successful nighttime hunter…but they are.image: Karen Arnold, PixabayIf you need to learn more! https://phys.org/news/2019-09-barn-owls-moonlight-stun-prey.html This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

That’s right. Way back in the early 1900s, when women were protesting for the right to vote, there was a four-foot eleven-inch woman teaching the Suffragettes how to defend themselves. Make way for Edith Margaret Garrud. Image Courtesy Mary Evans Picture Library via the BBC Image Courtesy Islington Local History Center via BBC.  Show Notes: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34425615https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmeline_Pankhursthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jujutsu Welcome to Brain Junk. I’m Trace Kerr and I’m Amy Barton and this is a Brain StormAB: Jiu Jitsu Suffragettes is what I want to talk about today.TK: Okay. You mentioned this to me and I typed it into the list of things to talk about and I am very intrigued.AB: Yes. So first a couple of little background jiu jitsu as a martial art. Are you familiar? Is that one that you’re familiar with?TK: Vaguely. Okay. Let’s just assume no, I know nothing.AB: Some of them are straight on. I’m going to try to hit you as much as I can. I’m taking you down. Jujitsu

Who is the brightest, the most likely to crush the SAT, the one pet who has the brains to out think them all? Is it your cat or your dog?SHOW NOTES:Who is smarter?Dogs (The lovely Ruby would agree)Or cats?Leap and Haku are too sleepy to care.Show Notes:Science Alert Cats vs DogsStudy done by neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel from Vanderbilt University in the US.Spoiler alert!It’s dogs. Episode TranscriptWelcome to Brain Junk, I’m Trace Kerr and I’m Amy Barton. And this is a Brain Storm. AB: I’m curious for your answer. TK: Okay. AB: You have cats and dog. TK: Yes. AB: Which one is smarter? TK: Uh, that really kind of diff between the two of us. AB: We would need an operational definition of smart. TK: Well yeah, I know cause I’m like, I know, that’s exactly what I just did there. Well I would have to say that from a training standpoint, dogs are easier because you know, I’ve trained a dog and cats. I don’t know. I mean somebody who lays around it as absolutely nothing and gets human beings to do everythi

Either way you spell it, you either love that black candy or can’t get away fast enough. Amy dives into why.Image Credit: Pixaby -gate74https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcodeNCCIH LicoriceHuffPost Licorice Episode Transcript:Welcome to Brain Junk. I’m Trace Kerr, and I’m Amy Barton, and this is a Brain Storm. Actually this is a Brain Freeze Brain Storm.TK: Yeah, this is our ice cream episode. Why do we not have ice cream? I’m all, where is my ice cream?AB: Um, my pants aren’t fitting very well as it is. So no ice cream for us today.TK:Um, I’m getting punished for that, but all right.AB: It’s only going to be peripherally about ice cream for a brief moment.TK: Okay.AB: We went into the Brain Freeze Creamery, which I totally recommend are on Grand* here in Spokane. And the kids that were working there, they’re probably like 23, they’re not kids. The scoopers that were working that day were like offering us samples. And I’m cruising the case and I saw one called blackless licorice. I said, nah.

Bad dad mushroom jokes, a “bleeding” mushroom, the world’s largest organism, and so many fungus facts! That little brown mushroom on your pizza has fungal cousins that are more unexpectedly interesting than you would have thought.Bioluminescent Jack-O-Lantern Mushroomhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcodeHow about Zombie Ants?Ant infected with the cordyceps fungus.image: Susanne Sourell https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcodeBleeding Tooth FungusBleeding Tooth FungusImage: Hydnellum peckii – Young specimen – Bellamonte (TN), Italy – 17/08/2005 – personal photo – B.BaldassariCreative Commons License Business Insider Largest Living OrganismImage courtesy Pixabyhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode Image credit Wikimedia Commonshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcodeAtlas Obscura Chicken of the Woods This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.subst

In the late 19th century, London had the beginnings of homeless shelters. They weren’t always comfortable (try sleeping in a four-penny coffin), but it was better than being left drunk and alone out in the cold. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

Trend setting science from 1975. We can’t tell you anything else, it would spoil the surprise! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

Trace and Amy try to stump each other with the wildest, weirdest, most outrageous animal facts they could find. There’s chemical warfare snails, bird arsonists, toads with babies bursting out of their backs and MORE. Listen in and play along.Show Notes: SPOILERS!!!!Fire Hawks: Black Kites and Whistling Kites in Queenslandimage: Mark Marathonhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode TRUE!Koala toes and Human Fingerprintsimage: Janine Duffyhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode FALSE (kinda)Geography Cone Snail stunning a fish with insulinimage: Baldomero Oliverahttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode TRUE!!!  The Surinam Toad:   The mother gestates her babies on her back and then they pop out of her skin. Gross and TRUE. https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/surinam-toad  The horned screamer (Anhima cornuta) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horned_screamerA sort of pheasant like bird with a terrific shriek and a horn on it’s head and it’s alllll TRUE. Collared P

Before they even hatch, Yellow Legged Gull chicks seem to be communication to their nest mates. Amy dives into the how and why. Show Notes:https://www.sciencealert.com/baby-birds-can-communicate-with-each-other-from-inside-their-unhatched-eggsScience Alert - Michelle StarrUnhatched bird embryos can not only hear the warning calls of adult birds - they can communicate that information to their unhatched brothers and sisters sharing the same nest, remaining safely tucked away in their shells until it is safe to hatch.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-019-0929-8Authors Jose C Noguera & Alberto VelandoDepartamento de Ecología y Biología Animal, Universidad de Vigo, Vigo, SpainEcology and Animal Biology Department, Spain Episode Transcripts:Welcome to Brain Junk. I'm Trace Kerr and I'm Amy Barton and this is a Brain Storm.AB: I'm pretty excited about this one because it's how baby birds communicate before hatching. Isn't that great? Cause we've talked a little bit about how newborns learn when they sleep