Synopsis
Small minds, big questions
Episodes
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MSG
08/03/2019Some links and sources from this episode: Washington Post: Why Americans still avoid MSG, even though its 'health effects' have been debunked Columbia Undergraduate Research Journal: A Racist Little Hat: The MSG Debate and American Culture Umami Information Center: What is Umami Journal of Environmental Health: Monosodium Glutamate and the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome: A Review of Food Additive Safety Washington Post: The Scoop on MSG
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Darwin
30/11/2018Sources from this episode: Be wary of these two: they might try to sell you something. But we're only using them for myths, which is exactly what this type of nonsense site is good for. Crystalinks: Native American myths of creation Mesosyn: Hindu creation myth Strange Science: Benoît de Maillet Encyclopedia Britannica: What Darwin Got Right (and Wrong) About Evolution The Guardian: Why everything you've been told about evolution is wrong The New Yorker: The Fantasy of the Deathbed Conversion
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Thomas Crapper
12/10/2018Sources for this episode: Quora (yes, it's not a reliable source): How did people "use the toilets" before there were toilets? Historic UK: The Throne of Sir John Harrington Wikipedia: Thomas Crapper
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Jurassic Park
14/09/2018I was not provided the sources. You'll have to take us at our word until I'm given them!
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Schizophrenia
24/08/2018Sources for this episode: Wikipedia: Kurt Schneider Schizophrenia.com: Symptoms of Schizophrenia and Schizophrenia Diagnosis
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Ring around the rosie
15/06/2018Links and references from the episode: Wikipedia: Ring a Ring o’ Roses William Wells Newell: Games and Songs of American Children Metafolklore: Ring Around the Rosie Wikipedia: San Francisco plague of 1900–1904 Youtube: Footloose "Dancing Warehouse" Scene
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Errata 01
01/06/2018References from this episode: There's no "new" and "old" brain Wikipedia: Triune brain How should you pull off a bandaid? Medical Journal of Australia: Fast versus slow bandaid removal: a randomised trial Fine hair is less likely to ingrow WebMD: Ingrown hair Puberty is happening earlier and earlier The Guardian: Why is puberty starting younger? The Alexander mosaic hasn't faded mostly because of oxide-based pigments American Journal of Archaeology: Chemical Classification and Provenance of Some Roman Glazed Ceramics Pigs can sweat, but not through their cloven hooves International Journal of Biometeorology: The evolution of sweat glands The Earth Pyramid is meant to be "green," not "renewable Earth Pyramid: Construction Soldiers probably had to wait months to return home after World War II Wikipedia: Demobilization of United States armed forces after World War II We got rid of DDT, not DEET Wikipedia: DEET Carrot cake wasn't invented in WWII Wikipedia: Carrot cake Vitamin B com
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Animal grab bag
18/05/2018Sources from this episode: Bullfighting Wikipedia: Bullfighter Leigh & Morris: With the World's Great Travelers, Volume 3 Bats The Verge: Not even bats are 'blind as a bat' National Geographic: 6 Bat Myths Busted Goldfish The Daily Mail (sorry): Old goldfish Telegraph: Fish's memories last for months, say scientists
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Dog-o-vision
20/04/2018Some links from this week's episode: Pet Health Network: Are dogs really colorblind? ColBlindor: Deuteranopia—Red-green color blindness Whole Dog Journal: Structure of the canine eye Daily Treat: 7 dog myths you totally thought were true The Spruce Pets: What are the biggest dog myths? Clive Maxfield: Color vision: one of nature's wonders
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Early photography
06/04/2018Links and references from this episode: Camera obscura Wikipedia: Camera obscura Encyclopædia Britannica: Photography Nicéphore Niépce Maison Nicéphor Niépce: The History of Photography Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre Mental Floss: Daguerreotype Q&A Henry Fox Talbot Wikipedia: Calotype Later photography Wikipedia: Collodion process Smiling in early photographs IEEE Transactions on Computational Imaging: A Century of Portraits: A Visual Historical Record of American High School Yearbooks Library of Congress: Her Majesty’s gracious smile. An instantaneous photograph from life Critical Studies in Media Communication: Why We Say “Cheese”: Producing the Smile in Snapshot Photography
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Vitamin A, B, C
23/03/2018Some links from the show: Vitamin A and night visions British Journal of Opthalmology: Night vision in a case of vitamin A deficiency due to malabsorption Types of vitamin A National Institutes of Health: Vitamin A Overdosing on vitamin A Wikipedia: Hypervitaminosis A How vegans get B12 PETA: Vegan B12 sources that will make you healthy in body and mind Linus Pauling's vitamin C quest Vox: How Linus Pauling duped America into believing vitamin C cures colds Does vitamin C treat colds? Cochrane Library: Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold WebMD: Vitamin C for the common cold
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Recumbent birth
09/03/2018We come to a shocking conclusion this week: if you're pregnant, you should probably go to a hospital. Some sources from this episode: Midwives require accreditation Wikipedia: Midwife Somewhere between 1 and 1.5% of women died giving birth in the 1700s Slate: The Disturbing, Shameful history of Childbirth Deaths Twilight sleep was an early approach to sedation that wasn't quite... ideal. Wikipedia: Twilight sleep
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Muscle soreness
23/02/2018References from the show: Types of soreness Wikipedia: Delayed onset muscle soreness Wikipedia: Acute muscle soreness A very helpful review on all things soreness Sports Medicine: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness More articles BJSM: Stretching before or after exercise does not reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness IJSPT: The effects of self-myofascial release using a foam roll or roller massager on joint range of motion, muscle recovery, and performance: a systematic review JAT: Effects of massage on delayed-onset muscle soreness, swelling, and recovery of muscle function
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State of the union
09/02/2018Some notes and sources from the episode: State of the Union Addresses of the Presidents of the United States www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou.php. George Washington's Mount Vernon: First Annual Address to Congress Franklin D. Roosevelt: Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union - January 6, 1941. The American Presidency Project: www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16092 George W. Bush: Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union - January 29, 2002. The American Presidency Project: www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29644 George Washington's first state of the union address George Washington's Mount Vernon: www.mountvernon.org/education/primary-sources/state-of-the-union-address U.S. Constitution. Art. II, Sec. 3
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Divorce
27/01/2018Here's a correction: I accidentally said DEET instead of DDT, and just ran with it. You'll have to forgive us for being silly. Some links and references used for the show: How divorce has changed since the 1980s AARP: Divorce, 1981-style The military and divorce Wevorce: Marriages—another casualty of war? Divorce statistics United States Census Bureau: Number, timing, and duration of marriages and divorces: 2009