BrainStuff
Mga Detalye ng Channel
BrainStuff
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.
Kamakailang Episode
2620 episode
How Do Search-And-Rescue Dogs Work?
When every minute counts, search-and-rescue dogs can help locate disaster victims far faster than humans alone. Learn about how they're trained in thi...
BrainStuff Classics: Why Do We Drop a Ball on New Year's Eve?
The tradition of dropping a ball in Times Square to mark the beginning of a new year only goes back about a century. Learn about the history -- plus f...
Can You Really Die of Boredom?
No, you can't literally die of boredom -- but it can lead to some high-risk behaviors. Learn more about boredom, ennui, and how to shake them in this...
BrainStuff Classics: Why Does Cashmere Cost So Much?
Cashmere can be more expensive than other wools because producing it is such an intensive process -- for the goats that grow it and the humans who car...
Why Is There a Pooping Figurine in Some Nativity Scenes?
In Catalonia, there's a two-hundred-year-old tradition of including a figurine of a man pooping in the shadows of Nativity scenes. Learn about el caga...
How Do Rice Cookers Work?
These small appliances help home cooks achieve excellent rice via two categories of technology: ingeniously simple physics, or incredibly complex algo...
How Can Mudlarking Turn Trash Into Treasure?
Mudlarking means sifting through riverbank muck in hopes of finding lost or discarded historical artefacts. Learn how it works, especially in the Rive...
How Do Walruses Work?
These arctic animals have complex social structures and may eat 6,000 clams in a single meal. Learn more walruses in this episode of BrainStuff, based...
What Happens When Your Immune System Turns on You?
Your adaptive immune system remembers specific germs and fights them really effectively -- but it can sometimes make mistakes and attack your own heal...
How Can Slime Mold Think Without a Brain?
Slime molds are collectives of single-celled organisms that don't have neurons, much less brains, but they can move, solve mazes, and remember where f...
What's the Difference Between Cougars, Pumas, and Mountain Lions?
Although there can be small differences, all of these are local names for the same species of cat, Puma concolor. Learn about them in this episode of...
Who Named the Americas?
In the early 1500s, a sailor by the name of Amerigo Vespucci published lurid pamphlets about his travels to a distant continent. Learn how a pair of m...
BrainStuff Classics: Would Turkey Be So Popular Without Thanksgiving?
Americans eat a LOT of turkey around the winter holidays, but why? Learn about turkey's festive history and when we eat the most of it in this classic...
Could a Solar Flare Wipe Out Earth's Electronics?
Powerful events on the surface of the sun, like solar flares and coronal mass ejections, produce radiation and magnetic waves that could indeed affect...
How Can Dolphins Detect Sea Mines?
The U.S. Navy has been training bottlenose dolphins for operations like detecting undersea mines and guarding vessels since the 1960s. Learn about the...
How Does the Skin Barrier Work?
Our skin is our first line of defense as we move through the world, providing both a physical barrier and an immune barrier against microbes and other...
What's the History of Skid Row?
In downtown Los Angeles, the 50-block neighborhood called Skid Row is home to thousands of low-income people who live in tents, run-down hotels, and o...
How Do You Make Hoshigaki?
Hoshigaki are a type of dried fruit made by massaging a persimmon every day for weeks. Learn more about this traditional Japanese treat in today's epi...
How Does Psoriasis Work?
Psoriasis is a condition where an overactive immune system causes discomfort and discoloration of the skin. Learn what we know (and don't know!) about...
Could 'Y'all' Fill a Gap in Modern English?
Unlike other languages, modern English doesn't have a second-person plural pronoun. Learn how 'y'all' is stepping up in this episode of BrainStuff, ba...
Introducing: Health Stuff
Hi, BrainStuff listeners! We're excited to share with you a sneak peek at iHeartPodcasts' latest release, Health Stuff!
Health Stuff: On Health...
BrainStuff Classics: How Do Paleoartists Create Dinosaur Drawings?
Short answer: Very carefully. Learn about the history and modern practices of paleoart in this classic episode of BrainStuff.
See omnystudio.com...
BrainStuff Classics: Why Is the Winchester House Built So Strangely?
We can't prove whether the Winchester Mystery House is really haunted, but it was definitely built for ghosts. Learn the story of how its strange cons...
Is the 'Number of the Beast' an Ancient Riddle?
The number 666 has been adopted by modern horror media as a demonic symbol, but what (or whom) does this number really refer to? Learn about the Book...
Could Piranhas Really Eat a Cow in Under a Minute?
Piranhas are very efficient eaters, but their frothing feeding frenzy seen in horror movies is mostly based on a myth started by Theodore Roosevelt. L...
Göbekli Tepe: How Does Humanity's Most Ancient Monument Work?
In Turkey, a set of prehistoric columns rivals Stonehenge -- but they're 6,000 years older. Learn what we know (and don't know) about the hunter-gathe...
Why Are There Sriracha Shortages?
This blockbuster style of hot sauce started with the Huy Fong brand, but that original 'rooster sauce' is often out of stock. Learn how a combo of wea...
How Do Levees Protect Us?
Levee systems make it possible for us to live alongside bodies of water with less danger of flooding. Learn how engineers design them -- and why levee...
What's the Difference Between Socialism and Communism?
Socialism and communism are often mentioned in the same breath, and they do share a common history, but socialists aren't necessarily communists -- an...
How Do Vaccines Prevent Diseases?
Our bodies can often prevent us from catching the same illness twice, and vaccines use that bodily system to prevent us from getting sick in the first...
BrainStuff Classics: How Did Sealab Work?
In the 1960s, advances in technology allowed brave aquanauts to explore deeper into the ocean than ever before, but the project was shut down. Learn h...
How Do Slow Lorises Work?
The slow loris is the world's only venomous primate, but it looks like a cuddly plush toy. Learn why you shouldn't go in for a snuggle in this episode...
How Do Venus Flytraps Work?
Venus flytraps can photosynthesize like most other plants, but they supplement their diet by catching insects and arachnids. Learn what we know (and d...
How Did Jerry Lawson Change the Course of Video Gaming?
In the 1970s, Jerry Lawson was instrumental in creating the first cartridge-based video game console and the first digital joystick -- and he did it a...
Why Is Glass Transparent?
Glass windows are as solid as the materials that surround them, yet they let light through. Learn the physics of why glass can be so transparent -- an...
BrainStuff Classics: Should We Retest Licensed Drivers Periodically?
Although some driving skills can deteriorate with age, experienced drivers tend to be the safest drivers. To an extent. Learn when and how experts thi...
How Did President Jimmy Carter Work?
As a U.S. President, Jimmy Carter championed education and renewable energy as keystones of a healthy nation. Outside of office, he helped other natio...
Why Are Truffles So Expensive?
Truffles are fungi that grow underground, are almost exclusively foraged, and taste best extremely fresh. Learn about truffle biology, truffle flavori...
How Do Alligator Snapping Turtles Work?
This positively prehistoric-looking freshwater turtle is the largest in North America -- and it catches fish by wiggling a worm-like lure. Learn more...
Did Victorians Really Have a Language of Flowers?
In floriography, flowers and other plants are associated with meanings or sentiments (like physical emoji) -- but could you really send a message with...