Show Notes for TWS122: I brain, therefore I thought
On the show this week:
- Didn’t See That Coming…
- I Have Something On My Brain
- History Has Been Cancelled Due To Ratings and Cutbacks
- More Than Met the I (EXTRAS)
This week’s Challenge Question:
On one level, everything around us is just things – including us. But there is another layer, a semantic layer, a layer of what things mean, an invisible layer right on top. Is that layer as real as the other layer – or maybe even more real?
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Full links to all stories covered and many more after the jump!
- Theme Song: Caffeine by Grubspoon from The Podsafe Music Network
- Promo: Bell’s In The Batfry — John Bell puts on a show of unending wackiness with many character voices but fewer people — and I’ve been fortunate enough to guest on a couple of episodes. Truly brilliant!
- Promo: The House Of Grey — When you don’t remember who you are, the world is not that stable, either. A tale of mystery and magic in a slightly alternate present.
- Didn’t See That Coming…
- And people say that they don’t get their money’s worth for food! – Metro: Sliced mouse found in frozen peppers
- Makes you kinda wonder how they make the sausage.. – Ananova: Salami… ‘It’s a bit of an animal’
- When cats have fancy doors and people have none, we live in a terrible world, perhaps.. – Ananova: Purr-fect entrance
- Couch kitteh sais: you fart too much! – The Spokesman-Review: Used couch came with furry stowaway
- Generations of reporters have been waiting to file this story. – Ananova: Rip Van Winkle can’t sleep
- Maybe she’s just a poor test-taker… – Ananova: Teen’s tummy ache was a baby
- Why should we find this disturbing? It’s all natural, after all. – Ananova: Mum bathes baby in breast milk
- Never forget to question machines.. – The UK Telegraph: Motorist who drove along railway line tells police sat nav was to blame
- Apparently, 20 years is old for a dog. – NewsDay: Port Jefferson dachshund is world’s oldest dog
- The old children’s stories will have to change: “The ducks go bark, bark, bark..” – The UK Telegraph: Duck who thinks she is a dog baffles onlookers
- A bird who wants to be a Tiger (Woods). – The UK Telegraph: Parrot who plays golf and basketball becomes YouTube hit
- A bat even more blind than most. Goodbye, space cadet! – CNN: Space shuttle Discovery blasts off with bat stowaway
- EXTRA: Fish that see like us? Yeah, but would they appreciate modern art, either? – ScienceDaily: Elephant Shark Genome Sequence Leads To Discovery Of Color Perception In Deep-sea Fish
- Life floats. – ScienceDaily: New Microorganisms Discovered In Earth’s Stratosphere
- Why is life left-handed? – ScienceDaily: Clues To A Secret Of Life Found In Meteorite Dust
- This also is the reason that SPAM might never be eliminated. – ScienceDaily: Traffic Exposure May Trigger Heart Attacks
- EXTRA: Does bartering like this really work when the object under discussion happens post-life? – Yahoo!/Reuters: Ad offers free funeral for construction work
- AND THEY ALL WENT TO HAPPY HAPPY LAND FOREVER AND EVER. BECAUSE HAPPY HAPPY LAND WAS ON THE EDGE OF A BLACK HOLE, SO THEY LITERALLY FELL FOR AN ETERNITY. – New Scientist: Stephen Hawking’s bedtime stories
- EXTRA: I’m tired of the poor alien visitors getting the blame for what is *obviously* a high-school prank! I mean, who in high school *didn’t* cut the reproductive organs, several soft tissues, etc off of an untraumatized cow with laser-like precision in the middle of the night without anyone ever finding out? I mean, really! – KUSA-TV/NBC: Colorado rancher blames aliens for cattle mutilations
- EXTRA: Maybe this is how they lure the unsuspecting bovine into the mutilation trap.. Or abattoire.. – Yahoo!/AP: Cattle respond to magnetic fields from power lines
- EXTRA: Transparent aluminum, anyone? (Actually, they already created a semi-transparent form of aluminum, and there is no saying just how strong this substance will actually be; well, they might have said, I don’t remember.) – ScienceDaily: Metal Discovered To Become Transparent Under High Pressure
- EXTRA: There’s some sort of cybernetic loop being formed when a person can interface with their machine.. Granted, it’s an appendage, not integration. Still: next step! – The UK Telegraph: Computer programmer from Finland has lost finger replaced with USB drive
- EXTRA: The amazing aerogel which weighs less than air but is stronger than steel! (And costs more than diamonds, I think..) – New Scientist: Robots could flex muscles that are stronger than steel
- EXTRA: Like the Jamaican bobsled team, only this guy was from Scotland. – Ananova: African skier qualifies for Winter Olympics
- EXTRA: Turns out, if we built better schools and engaged students, they would be less likely to feel alienated and angry.. DUH! – New Scientist: Some schools may be breeding grounds for teen killers
- EXTRA: There’s something disturbingly genious about the devious twins.. – Ananova: Twins released as court cannot tell them apart
- EXTRA: Nothing like good, old-fashioned shame to make the world a better place. Something tells me a parent was involved in this idea. – Ananova: Shopkeeper takes on litter louts
- EXTRA: Oh, those wacky gnomes! (Cue: 70s sitcom “Wah Wah” music.) – The UK Daily Record: Firemen called to rescue garden gnome from roof of building
- EXTRA: The famous people appear pretty much at random, and from all over the spectrum of politics, entertainment, literature, etc. Well worth looking at. – The UK Telegraph: 103 famous faces in one painting
- EXTRA: At least there wasn’t an unpleasant surprise inside. – BBC: Mystery over gift-wrapped postbox
- EXTRA: I’ve flown on SouthWest airlines before, and I can attest to the fact that they don’t make your trip fancy, but they make it pleasant. – Ananova: Rapping flight attendant
- I Have Something On My Brain
- A little to the left, then in the back (of the fridge). – ScienceDaily: Where Does Consciousness Come From?
- Not so proud of yourself now, are you, human!?! – ScienceDaily: Brain On A Chip?
- The smartest thing you can do might be to be born to smart parents.. – ScienceDaily: More Evidence That Intelligence Is Largely Inherited: Researchers Find That Genes Determine Brain’s Processing Speed
- Or, conversely: being dumb leads to evolution.. – ScienceDaily: High IQ Linked To Reduced Risk Of Death
- I thought the rule was “use it or lose it”? Crap! Then again, the author of the study is likely older, too. – BBC: ‘Brain decline’ begins at age 27
- EXTRA: Go for it! By the time your 27, it’s too late! – STV: Maths genius, 13, heads for university
- Didn’t we see that part in Claire’s brain in Heroes? – Science Daily: Tiny Brain Region Key To Fear Of Rivals And Predators
- “We can team – and so can you!” – ScienceDaily: Nice Guys Can Finish First And So Can Their Teams
- I learned this back in highschool: boring classes teach you nothing. – ScienceDaily: ‘The Unexpected Outcome’ Is A Key To Human Learning
- “We will wash that crime, right outta your head!” – Science Daily: Spotless Mind? Fear Memories In Humans Weakened With Beta-blocker Propranolol
- I hope that the number 1 insanity is “thinks they are sane”. – Time/CNN: Redefining Crazy: Researchers Revise the DSM
- Just because you are crazy does not mean that are not fit to rule.. – Ananova: MPs send mayor to shrink
- Just because it *is* this way, doesn’t mean that it *has to be* this way. But I really don’t care. – ScienceDaily: Key To Happiness Is Gratitude, And Men May Be Locked Out
- EXTRA: … because you don’t have any? Must re-read this article, but I can’t afford to.. – New Scientist: Why money messes with your mind
- Sometimes having the answers — even the wrong answers — can be quite comforting.. – New Scientist: Religious people less anxious, brain activity shows
- EXTRA: Oh dear, we forgot to issue the “Apocalypse for Dummies” book to the crowd ahead of time? – New Scientist: Did climate conference just confuse the politicians?
- EXTRA: It’s a little sad to see that the prototypes of immersive, 5-sense VR look just like the goofy prototypes of 20 years ago… – New Scientist: Ultimate virtual reality will trigger five senses
- EXTRA: One of those stories which makes me itch, because it does not appear to be substantiated by anything. I almost hate to put a link up, because it will give them link love they might not deserve. Still, if we give robots the ability to care, will they care too much? It sometimes takes kids quite a while to mature and grow out of clinginess – if ever! – but are we giving desire without reason? – Muckflash: Robot Programmed to Love Goes too Far
- Things have significance, even beyond their simple physicality.. – Ananova: Cuppa tastes better from favourite mug
- EXTRA: I’m all for beliefs, but when it turns to activism of any kind I get disturbed.. – BBC: Gambians ‘taken by witch doctors’
- EXTRA: No word yet on his web-spinnning or super-strength, but they’re coming, I’m sure. – CBS: Man Says Spider Bite Helped Him Walk
- EXTRA: The big tip: follow the river! Too much credit to the show, too little credit to common sense.. – Ananova: TV tips saved lost backpackers
- History Has Been Cancelled Due To Ratings and Cutbacks
- Forget Spring! It’s corndog day! – National Corndog Day: America Start Your Ovens, National Corndog Day is March 21st!
- Its a return to simpler times, before debt and sadness.. and the Internet.. – STV/Reuters: More Americans go fishing as recession deepens
- Nostalgia is a force stronger than gravity or time. – Ananova: Pensioner turns shed into cinema
- Sweet, sweet surrender.. – Ananova: Man gives notice on cake
- What if she get’s an F on marriage? – Ananova: Art student seeks husband for uni project
- EXTRA: Using the word “goobledegook” when dismissing overly florid language seems ironic. – Ananova: Gobbledegook ban for councils
- EXTRA: Fact 1: it always occurs on a Friday. Fact 2:… – Yahoo!/LiveScience: 5 Facts About Friday the 13th
- EXTRA: I hear that living also takes years off your life.. – New Scientist: Mild obesity takes years off your life
- EXTRA: Spontaneous combustion? Or just a gin-soaked old man? – Newsday: Elderly bicyclist catches fire, dies
- EXTRA: Hadn’t expected anyone to just, well, publish it like that. Or it to be that short. Or boring. *sigh* – The Examiner: How to do a blessing or consecration rite for the extrication of paranormal phenomena
- EXTRA: Is there a stipulation that “new owner is responsible for shipping”? – Yahoo!/Reuters: For sale — an English village
- EXTRA: It has been widely suggested that humans and dinosaurs lived in vastly different times.. Yet I’ve seen crocodiles… – ScienceRay: Did Humans and Dinosaurs Co-Exist?
- EXTRA: Aw, aren’t they cu- OHMIGOD IT’S EATING MY HAND! – Yahoo!/AP: Researchers find pint-sized meat-eating dinosaur
- EXTRA: Poor T-Rex.. Once, the king of Dinosaurs.. Now like a deposed Prince.. – STV/Reuters: Fossil sea monster’s bite makes T-Rex look feeble
- EXTRA: Turns out, ancient dinosaurs may have either needed a haircut or would need to preen feathers. Also: turkeys as modern dinosaurs suggest that the ancient world would be very tasty.. – BBC: Fossil hints at fuzzy dinosaurs
- EXTRA: Because even the minor thrill of seeing exposed real boobies on the runway is probably too much for the ultra-conservative crowd.. – Ananova: Female robot heads for catwalk
- EXTRA: Something tells me that looking too closely to any mythical person destroys the myth. Why bother? Truth is over-rated, and good stories are often more valuable.. – Yahoo!/AP: Hood not so good? Ancient Brits questioned outlaw
- EXTRA: I suspect Robin Hood. – The New York Times: In Arrow Case, Few Leads but Much Puzzlement
- EXTRA: On the other hand, sometimes the truth is more valuable as a story.. – BBC: Cleopatra’s mother ‘was African’
- EXTRA: Hard to say which part is myth and which part is truth here, although it does reinforce the belief that you really shouldn’t believe in anything too strongly.. – Time/CNN: Scholar Claims Dead Sea Scrolls ‘Authors’ Never Existed
- EXTRA: Uh-oh.. Has the pessimism about the future reached the scientific world? Are we starting to close off those interesting possibilities due to recession? 😉 (Only mildly kidding..) – New Scientist: Faster-than-light ‘tachyons’ might be impossible after all
- More Than Met the I (EXTRAS)
- EXTRA: More examples of the animal world being more clever – and perhaps more dangerous – than we originally assumed.. – BBC: ‘Armed’ chimps go wild for honey
- EXTRA: Not so much topless as blacktop-full.. – Philidelphia Daily News: ‘Toads Gone Wild,’ Roxborough-style
- EXTRA: The combination of “Reality TV” and “paranormal” just seems like a cognitive dissonance, somewhere.. – The Examiner: Chicago’s ‘Paranormal Cops’ take on reality TV
- EXTRA: Just because there isn’t currently a scientific explanation doesn’t make it wrong. This should be tattooed on skeptic’s foreheads. 😉 – The Malaysia Star: Human hair to ward off wild boar
- EXTRA: Well, that’s kinda asking for it.. – CBS/AP: Gunman Dressed As The Joker Shot By Police
- EXTRA: Oh dear, I’m sure there’s a television show in there somewhwere.. – The UK Telegraph: Mystery sleuth fights crime with anonymous tip offs
- EXTRA: Turns out, not all of what Dylan produces smells so sweet.. – Ananova: Blowing in the wind?
- EXTRA: Sounds rivetting! Much like.. actual rivets. – The UK Telegraph: China plans opera version of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital
- EXTRA: I hope the stage was reinforced. – Ananova: Not so tiny dancers
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