You are big bang stuff

200th edition, universe in birth, Towers of Silence, and more podcasts and links to make you think (and of course some for fun).

Apr 28, 2024

Welcome to Hurt Your Brain #200, the place to get podcasts and links that will make you think, sent every other Sunday (usually?).

In case you missed that above, this is edition #200! So much joy and so many great people have entered my life because of this newsletter (and of course countless amazing podcasts), and I’ll forever be grateful for that. If you want to meet cool people, start a newsletter.

I’ll celebrate properly one day, but today let’s get right to some great podcasts and parts of the internet that provide some interesting things to chew on.

PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS

The Universe: Ep 1 — The First Fraction of a Second

The Big Idea: If you tell me author/podcaster/YouTuber John Green and Astrophysicist/author/science communicator Dr Katie Mack are collaborating on a podcast, I’ll listen sight unseen (or listen hearing unheard?). And that’s exactly what I did.
Green serves as the curious co host who frames and leads the discussions, and Dr Mack serves as the expert co host who is practiced in explaining incredibly complex topics to a lay audience.
I’ve long loved Carl Sagan’s quote that we are stardust, and more recently the idea that we are space, but thanks to this episode I now have the fun idea that we are big bang stuff.
Here’s nice two minute trailer on YouTube with some great visuals.
I can’t wait to see what they serve up the rest of the season in this limited series Crash Course Pod.

Stuff You Should Know: The Dubious Science of Arson Investigation

The Big Idea: Now that real science is finally tip-toeing into the picture very recently, it’s now apparent that the long held assertions of arson investigations are complete hogwash and pseudoscience.
The history of why is interesting and the cases of wrongful convictions are heartbreaking.

99 Percent Invisible: Towers of Silence

The Big Idea: Parsis in India follow Zoroastrianism, and have practiced something called Sky Burials for hundreds of years, in which vultures depose of the dead within structures called Towers of Silence. When the vultures disappeared in the early 2000s, things got complicated.
I first heard of this from a Radiolab episode, but this 99 Percent Invisible version is excellent. It goes into more detail and explores things from a more personal place. Worth listening to even if you had heard the one from Radiolab, and very worth listening if you haven’t.
The written story on the 99PI website (with photos).

From the archive (taken from edition #107), and to pair well with The Universe recommended above:

NASA’s Curious Universe: Our Window to the Stars [new NASA short narrative storytelling pod].

A short account on the dramatic launch and subsequent “rescue-mission” to fix the Hubble telescope.
The fix for the *very* minor but devastating mirror imperfection was analogous to putting glasses on Hubble.
I knew Hubble can see across the electromagnetic spectrum using different filters and instruments, but I loved this analogy for just how little our little eyes can see of the universe:
“Imagine going to a piano concert and the musician sits down and can only play 3 notes around middle C."

Hey look, an old drawing I’m not embarrassed by!

The whole concert is just those three notes in different combinations.
Now imagine the difference in sound if you walk into a different concert hall and it's a full symphony.
The amount of light we can see with our eyes on Earth, even through a regular telescope is like those three concert notes. And the light Hubble sees is not only the whole piano, but an entire symphony orchestra. This is because visible light is just a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the atmosphere clouds even the light we do see.
A great video from Vox explaining how Hubble pictures are colored using the different filters.

PODCAST LINKS

The Current State of Podcast Apps in 2024 [written by me]. Two big players and a long, long tail.

Unlocking the Potential of Fiction Podcasts: A Call to Podcast App Developers. A great breakdown from Evo Terra on why so many podcast apps fail miserably in serving listeners of fiction podcasts. The app capability chart warmed my little podcast app nerd heart. Also, be sure to subscribe to The End, Terra’s weekly newsletter recommending fiction podcasts.