Podcast contagion

The ability of podcasts to infect you with enthusiasm, and some great podcasts and links to make you think.

Welcome to Hurt Your Brain #206, the place to get podcasts and links that will make you think, sent every so often.

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I wrote something about how podcasts can “infect” you with enthusiasm. And now that I think of it, the first recommendation below is also about an infection, but a very different kind. It’s podcast contagion all around.

Please enjoy these podcasts by very talented people.

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PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS

Incubation: Shingles – The Mystery of Pain

• The Big Idea: Shingles can be a really not great time and can cause long term complications, and you are at risk to develop it as you get older if you had chicken pox (they are the same virus, shingles is when it rears its ugly head in an unpleasant way decades later).

• If you are Gen Z or a young millennial, you probably had the chicken pox vaccine, something us old millennials missed out on!

• Chicken Pox is actually not a “pox,” like smallpox or cowpox, it’s a type of herpes virus. 

• The whole second season of Incubation is great, and I tore through the current episodes in two days. If you like science and the history of medicine done in an easy to digest format, you’ll love this show.

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Ologies with Alie Ward: Odonatology (DRAGONFLIES) with Jessica Ware

• The Big Idea: Dragonflies are awesome and the best, but don’t say that too loud in front of a damselfly. 

• I realized I hadn’t listened to Ologies (my apologies, won’t do it again) in a while, and after checking their feed this new episode immediately caught my eye (and then my ear). It’s great.

• I realized how badass dragonflies are years ago when a horsefly landed on my Mom’s knee while sitting, and before she could swat it away a frickin dragonfly swooped down and grabbed it right off her.

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Big Brains: Why Can’t Scientists Agree On The Age Of The Universe?

• The Big Idea: Well scientists mostly agree on the age of the universe, but one group has evidence that it’s 13.7 billion years old, and another has a different type of evidence showing it’s closer to 13.8 billion. 

• When scientists disagree and work towards a consensus, we all win. The science behind both types of evidence is pretty fascinating.

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Search Engine: How did the first democracy die?

• The Big Idea: For no particular reason at all, this felt like a timely episode. Roman history sometimes gets all the glory, but Greek history is interesting for many more reasons than just Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. 

• The way Athens rose to power and eventually lost it is not a story I had heard in full, and makes me want to learn more ancient history (beyond the philosophers).

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PODCAST LINKS

Two Podcasts with Contagious Enthusiasm. Podcasts have a special ability to transfer enthusiasm. I share the story of how an episode of Twenty Thousand Hertz got me hooked on Hamilton, and how Comic Sans and Filling the Void are two shows very worth your time.

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OTHER LINKS TO MAKE YOU THINK

14 Classic Works of Literature Hated By Famous Authors. Some truly entertaining takedowns/rants by famous others, like Virginia Woolf’s assessment of Ulysses by James Joyce. Or how Mark Twain starts about Pride and Prejudice: “I haven’t any right to criticize books, and I don’t do it except when I hate them.”

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I poured all the galaxies in the Universe into a pool. This photographer taught himself how to use Blender (a free rendering and visual effects software) and makes some really fantastic space themed videos. I love visual metaphors to understand the vastness of the universe and this video is full of them.

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FOR FUN

Me anytime I watch something fantasy with my family

If only stress could power our nation.

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Please like or comment (or reply) if you want to share any comments. See you next time.

P.S. I have two movie recommendations for you if you are in the mood for some under the radar mind bendy sci-fi. I’ve had “watch Coherence” as a reminder in my phone for about two years and we finally watched it. It’s a phenomenal very low budget indie movie and it’s honestly more interesting than 90% of studio produced sci-fi. Still thinking about it a few days later. Read the basic description if you want but I recommend going in cold (and it’s currently on Peacock). Then be amazed when you read up on how they made it. While reading about Coherence I kept seeing recommendations for Predestination, which we also just watched and is also very good (currently on Netflix). Ethan Hawke is great and Sara Snook is phenomenal. Again, don’t read anything about it.