Stuff To Blow Your Mind

What's the real science behind beds of nails, sword swallowing and headless women? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie strip away the carnie veneer and get right to the facts…

The Science of Hell: Artists aren't alone in their fascination with Hell. Scientists two have long sought to breach the fiery gates and figure out just how it works. In this episode of Stuff to Blow …

Belief in Hell is problematic at best. How do we relate to our fellow human beings while sorting them into an imagined afterlife of torment? How do we relate to faiths and myths that heap such additi…

Roller Derby Microbiome: Once upon a time, the word "outdoors" wasn't a thing. But then humans invented "indoors," and with it an artificial environment containing an artificial environment of microo…

Cubicle Doom: Can your office cubical kill you? Might an open-floor office plan save your life or drive you to madness? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie examine the scienc…

What is consciousness? Can we test for it? And how to we rectify the seemingly disparate realities of physical brain and immaterial mind? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie …

Insect Love Song: The night is alive with insects. To our human ears their song is mere cacophony, but it's actually a vast web of communication signals. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, R…

Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands:Resist the urge to clap at the next concert or play you attend - IF YOU DARE! Because as Robert and Julie explain in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, applause is v…

Grunting the Conqueror Worm: Behold the conqueror earthworm, a creature introduced to North America mere centuries ago and now virtually unstoppable. And yet some humans know the means of summoning t…

A Cuppa Joe:Just what's in a cup of coffee? Why does it make us feel so invincible and why does it make us poop so much? Find out in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind.

How to Beat the Thought Police: Want to know how to beat a polygraph test? How about current and near-future fMRI lie detection tests? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie tak…

Isolation Chambers: Float Follow-Up: In a previous episode, Robert and Julie discussed the science of sensory deprivation chambers and now they're back from their own first-hand experiences inside th…

Clocking in: What is time? What's the best way to measure it? And is it all an illusion anyway? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie discuss the fourth dimension and the clock…

In this special episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Julie invite six guests to share their recommendations for summer reading. You'll hear from science author Mary Roach, musician DJ Food …

Summer Reading: Robert and Julie's Picks: Once again, your Robert and Julie are here to share some summer reading recommendations with their curious listeners. Explore their delightful buffet of scie…

The Quietest Room in the World: In Minneapolis, MN there's a room that blocks 99.99 percent of all sound. It's a place of intense silence, intense calm and possibly intense madness. What happens when…

Sensory Deprivation Chambers:Fancy a return to the womb? Ready to shut off the world of senses and dive into the inner you? Well, the sensory deprivation chamber awaits you. In this episode of Stuff …

Finnish Ed: STEM education in the US has been on educators and policymakers' minds. One of the reasons is that the US has become far less competitive in terms of turning out a knowledge-based society…

Invisible World of the No. 7:The 7 deadly sins, the 7 continents, the 7 seas: The no. 7 is everywhere. But is its prevalence simply a byproduct of the brain's pattern recognition machinery, does the…

Ventriloquism: The Science of Dummies: It's time to rediscover ventriloquism, the surprisingly deft art of illusion that relies on a keen sense of comic timing and obsessive technique from the perfor…