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BrainStuff

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Whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on BrainStuff to explore -- and explain -- the everyday science in the world around us.

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64 episodes
a few times a week
Avg 11 min
English

Episodes 64

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Today · 9 min
What Was Terrible About Ivan the Terrible?
Ivan IV Vasilyevich wasn't called 'the Terrible' during his lifetime, but he lived up to the name. Learn how he became Russia's first tsar, expanded his power, and terrorized his political enemies -- real and imagined -- in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/ivan-terrible.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Monday · 12 min
How Does the Thymus Work (and What Can Happen When It Doesn’t)?
The thymus is a small organ in the center of your chest that's responsible for getting your immune system's T cells ready to protect you from germs. Learn what we know and don't know about how the thymus works (and about some of the autoimmune conditions that can emerge when it doesn't work as expected) in today's episode of BrainStuff. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Saturday · 7 min
BrainStuff Classics: How Does Venus Work?
Venus is the hottest planet, its years are shorter than its days, and its atmospheric pressure is 92 times greater than that on Earth. Learn how researchers think Venus got this way in today’s classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/46009-venus-explained.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Friday · 12 min
Why Do We Eat Three Meals a Day?
The concept of eating three square meals a day only goes back about 150 years. Learn how technology, marketing, and other factors have shifted our meals and mealtimes in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/biological-reason-to-eat-three-meals-day.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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November 4 · 14 min
How Do Walkie-Talkies Work?
This technology is going on a hundred years old, but for reliable voice communication across relatively short distances, walkie-talkies are still relevant -- and sometimes preferable to cell phones. Learn how they work in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/walkie-talkies.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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November 2 · 9 min
Dimetrodon Wasn't a Dinosaur -- So What Was It?
This four-legged prehistoric animal had a bony sail on its back and was probably scaly, but it was more closely to related to mammals than it was to dinosaurs. Learn about Dimetrodon and other synapsids in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/extinct-animals/dimetrodon.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 31 · 6 min
BrainStuff Classics: How Does Samhain Work?
Samhain is a pagan holiday -- celebrated between the fall equinox and winter solstice -- that helped form modern, secular Halloween celebrations. Learn about Samhain in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays-other/samhain.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 30 · 14 min
What Really Happened at the 'Amityville Horror' House?
After a tragic set of murders in 1974, the next residents at a grand old house in Amityville, New York, claimed the home was demonically haunted. Their story spawned a horror sensation. But was the whole thing a money-making hoax? Did the murderer really hear voices there? Learn what we know (and still don’t know) about what happened in Amityville in today’s episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/amityville-horror-house.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 28 · 13 min
How Is Chocolate Made?
From the seed of a tropical tree to creamy candies, it takes a lot of science to turn cacao into chocolate. Learn how cacao is farmed, fermented, and processed into cocoa products -- plus its history as a drink for 3,000 years -- in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/chocolate.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 26 · 11 min
Was James Dean's Final Car Cursed?
After James Dean died in a car crash at 24 years old, the remains of that car -- a silver Porsche 550 Spyder -- were implicated in a series of other accidents before the car apparently vanished. Learn about the truth, fictions, and remaining mysteries behind Dean's supposedly cursed car in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/james-deans-car-cursed.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 24 · 6 min
BrainStuff Classics: Does the Community of Lily Dale Reconnect the Living and the Dead?
Spiritualism is a 19th-century belief system that holds that the living can communicate with spirits of the dead through mediums. Learn about the community where spiritualism is famously practiced, Lily Dale, in today's classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/lily-dale-where-living-and-dead-reconnect.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 23 · 13 min
How Did the Philadelphia Experiment Work?
The Philadelphia Experiment is a fringe theory that says a secret military project made a WWII ship disappear (or time travel, or eat some of its crew). Learn about the hoax that got the story started -- and why it still persists today -- in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/philadelphia-experiment.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 21 · 13 min
Can Your Hair Really Turn White Overnight?
Tales of some great shock or fright suddenly turning a person's hair white go back thousands of years. Learn what researchers think is really going on -- and how our hair normally goes grey and white -- in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on these articles: https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/can-hair-turn-white-overnight.htm; https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/aging/aging-process/stress-gray-hair.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 19 · 11 min
Why Are Brown Recluse Spiders Not All That Scary?
Brown recluse spiders rarely bite humans, and when they do, it only causes a reaction in about 10 percent of cases. Learn how to identify brown recluses and what their bites do in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/arachnids/brown-recluse-spider-bite.htm (If your urine turns black, seek medical treatment immediatly.) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 17 · 7 min
BrainStuff Classics: When Has a Single Vote Decided an Election?
Voting is an incredibly important way to make your voice heard, but it's very rare for a candidate to win or lose by just one vote. Learn how rare -- and about a few times that it's happened -- in today's classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/can-single-vote-change-election-outcome.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 16 · 11 min
How Do You Grow a 3,000-Pound Pumpkin?
The largest pumpkins in the world now weigh well over a ton, and the record gets broken just about every year. But how (and why) would you go about growing one? Learn how competitive gourd growing works in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://home.howstuffworks.com/grow-giant-pumpkin.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 14 · 13 min
How Do Your Nerves Tell Your Muscles to Function?
Every movement our bodies make -- from waving at a friend to pumping blood -- is goverened by complex electrochemical handshakes among our nerves and our muscles. Learn how voluntary, involuntary, and reflexive movements work in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on these articles: https://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/musculoskeletal/muscle.htm; https://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/nerve.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 12 · 11 min
Why Did the Massive Maginot Line Fail to Stop Hitler?
After years of trench warfare in WWI, France built a line of massive underground bunkers and other defensive fortifications along hundreds of miles of its border. Learn how the Maginot Line worked -- and why it failed to stop the Nazi invasion -- in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-ii/maginot-line.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 10 · 7 min
BrainStuff Classics: Why Are Some Americans Cancelling Columbus Day?
Some U.S. cities and states have officially changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day. Learn why -- and why some Americans disagree with the change -- in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays-other/columbus-day.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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October 9 · 9 min
American Versus British English: What Are Biscuits, Muffins, and Pudding?
The English-language terms for different baked goods vary based on where English is being spoken. Learn why an American cookie is a British biscuit, an American biscuit is a British scone, our muffins have nothing to do with each other, and pudding doesn't have to involve pudding at all in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/great-british-baking-terms-know-scones-from-biscuits.htm See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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