Where are we in the universe? And what can we learn from all the hilariously wrong guesses and bad maps that got us there? And just how much carrot propaganda was there? Well, we'll see a lot of posters and a few myths to debunk! Images we Talk About: Dunn's Earth & Moon Maps Herschel's Milky Way Map Wright's Island Universes Drawing The Image of M31 from 1919 First Full Image of Earth Carrot Poster 1 Carrot Poster 2 Disney Carrot Characters Dr Carrot Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro (00:04:44) Where are We? (00:45:11) Carrot Propaganda (01:24:04) Outro Support us with a Max Fun Membership! Jo ..read more

You may have heard Epigenetics used as a buzzword, but what is it really? Is it something we know about, something still new, or... both? And what in the world are the World Games, and what makes them better than the Olympics? Links we Talk About: Ella's SciShow Video on X Chromosome Diseases Sport Casting Fin Swimming Haudenosaunee Flag Christopher Root's Incredible Paper on the Colonization of Lacrosse The Adorable NYMuseum Haudenosaunee Video Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro (00:04:21) Epigenetics (00:57:40) The World Games (01:50:54) Outro Support us with a Max Fun Membership! Join our Discord ..read more

On a very special holiday episode, Tom, Caroline, and Ella give the gift of learning!  We've wrapped up our favorite fun facts to give to each other, and even gotten a few presents from some special guests! Support us with a Max Fun Membership! Join our Discord! We also learn about: the the gin craze, no free gin advertisements, gin street and beer street, wrapping paper foley work, pumpkin toadlet balance, silly UK laws, yeah and maybebeallowedtoshootacrossbowatacathedral, keep your kite flying private, kite footloose, beached whales for the queen, suspicious salmon makes sense, honey tu ..read more

Note: if the audio for this episode is the last episode, try downloading, deleting, and redownloading the episode, sorry about that! - Tom Why do leaves change color? No... like really?  Like, show-me-the-scientific-literature-really? After all how mysterious could the answer be? And holy frick we're finally doing a topic on swearing!! What are the eras of swearing, and what is swearing actually good for?  Listen to our episode of Escape this Podcast: Oceananigans pt. 3 - The Bering-toss Strait Images we Talk About: Carotenemia Hands Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro (00:03:34) Autumn Lea ..read more

Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch of Lingthusiasm joins us to casually answer all of our pressing linguistics questions with the most mind blowing facts.  Why does science use so much dang latin, and what is so unique about internet linguistics? Images we Talk About: Gretchen's Favorite Frogs Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro (00:10:58) Latin in Science (00:54:49) Misc & Internet Linguistics (01:22:46) Outro Support us with a Max Fun Membership! Join our Discord! We also learn about: Words that change the state of the universe, a promise is a kind of magic, “people ask me how i make a l ..read more

Cryptids may be spooky, but what about the spooky animals that turned out to be... real?? And what makes a good spooky story? Could it be something secretly... heartwarming?? Timestamps: (00:07:15) Intro (00:04:21) Former Cryptids (00:54:25) The Art of Spooky Stories (01:52:33) Outro Support us with a Max Fun Membership! Join our Discord! We also learn about: Caroline have you never met a vampire? that was from episode number Four Three, what’s spookier than having to be known, Ella met Tom the true Cryptid, the cryptid museum was research, formerly the cryptic mascot: the Okapi, komodo dragon ..read more

What are the superheavy elements, and how did we make them?  And what is public domain day, and why is next year's going to be so interesting? Things we Talk About: The Mickey Mouse Curve Support us with a Max Fun Membership! Join our Discord! Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro (00:03:17) Superheavy Elements (00:37:41) Public Domain Day (01:19:19) Outro We also learn about:  It’s like we’re in school again, ordering the periodic table before discovering the electron, Mendelev didn't even like electrons, the nucleus is an atomic juggling act, atomic high jinks, the Fermi paradox, the Fermi ..read more

For our birthday this year, we've each gifted a topic for one another! For Caroline, an environmental hot take: can invasive species ever be... good? For Tom, an entire topic about one of his favorite hobbies: rock climbing! And for Ella, interviews from the Ig Nobel Laureates this year. Support us with a Max Fun Membership! Join our Discord! Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro (00:09:04) Good Invasive Species (00:46:31) Rock Climbing (01:18:05) Ig Nobel Interviews (02:01:14) Outro We also learn about: In podcast years we’re 60, Ella’s party hat, what’s your favorite color and least favorite invasive ..read more

For our 2nd anniversary and our 50th episode (which it definitely is, don't check) we cooperatively tackled a topic folks have been asking us to do for ages: The Ig Nobel Prize! Check out our new merch! Hats! Posters! Mugs! Images and Videos we talk about: The Levitating Frog Video The Best of Miss Sweetie Poo Ocean Mixing Anchovy Diagram The Grabbing Tentacle Robot Video Necrobotic Spider Diagram Necrobotic Spider Video The Juke 8 Daisuke Practicing his Speech Join our Discord! Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro (00:08:18) The Ig Nobel Prize (00:45:00) The 2023 Ig Nobel Winners (01:28:36) The Ig No ..read more

It's the show's birthday!  And we're going to celebrate with LEARNING!  How much do we really know about the history of keeping time?  When did human speech first arise, and how would we even figure that out?  And when did the concept of birthdays have its birthday? Visit our NEW MERCH STORE! Support us on Maximum Fun! Join our Discord! We also learn about: Your favorite podcast on your favorite torso, the blind watchmaker, time technology is not like iphone upgrades, Ancient or Recent, France’s decimal clocks, counting knots on a ship, of course people cared about keeping ..read more