Fatal insomnia, 8-hours of sleep, postpartum psychosis, an AI imaging controversy, a new cat species, questions that keep scientists up at night, and swimming cyborg cockroaches.
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Episode 89 Transcript
In Episode 89: The Mini, Joe, Nick, and Georgia recap Episode 88: The Crazies, and tie up a few loose ends. Who was the man that stopped sleeping? Did mattress companies invent the eight-hour of sleep for marketing? And there are a couple fun events happening at Reed’s Local, a Halloween Bike ride on October 29th, and a Karaoke Costume Party on the 31st.
In the Science Holes: The Nikon microscopy contest winner was found to have used Generative AI enhancements, and the crew discusses. The New York Times curated a list of 100 questions that scientists ponder, and Nick thinks this should be our next 100 episodes. A new cat species may turn out to be more than one, raising questions about conservation efforts, and Georgia and Nick wrestle with what a species even is (episode ideas: X-Men/Homo Superior, and Planet of the Apes). A modified parasite drug could bring some relief to endometriosis suffering, and Nick was freaked out by the cyborg cockroaches, but all Joe could think about was The Fifth Element and Georgia wondered what protections bugs get in scientific research.
Go visit our friends at Reed’s Local (Say Hi to Melissa):
- Cycling Club, Oct 29 at 5:30: Ride 4 to 8 miles through the Avondale neighborhood and check out the Halloween decorations.
- Halloween Karaoke, Oct 31: Costume contest with a cash prize.
Stop by if you’re in Chicagoland, and tell Melissa the Rabbit Hole of Research sent you.

Order the Touch of Noir 2027 Wall Calendar by Jim and Georgia—
12 months of all-original art by Jim and Georgia; pre-orders open now, with mailing expected in September
Words // Friends with Sara: Replay on YouTube
Jump to Joe’s Reading (But you should listen to all the amazing authors)
Check out what the RHR crew is creating:
Joe:
- Named by the Guild Literary Complex as one of the 35 Writers to Watch!
- Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories Anthology featuring a new story by Joe!
- Joe’s Sci-fi physiological thriller Novel: Will You Still Love Me If I Become Someone Else?
It’s science for Weirdos
Want to support the show? Tell your friends. Follow us on social media, Discord, share the podcast, and let us know what topics you are excited about. And to see all the content (studio images and artwork) subscribe to the Rabbit Hole of Research newsletter!
Stay curious, stay speculative, stay safe, and we’ll catch you in the next rabbit hole. Love Y’all!
Hang with the Crew:
Podcast Cross-Appearances:
- Watch Joe on Joe Compton’s YouTube channel 21Grams
- The RHR crew on Ben Tanzer’s This podcast will change your life: episode three hundred seventy-nine
Events & Conventions:
Joe:
- Art show Ultrastructure: Science is Fun, with Carol Estes at Promise You Art House in Highland IN, Until November.
- Family Day: Seeing the Invisible World to Build a New One; in conjunction with the fall exhibition: teamLab: Everything Exists in Infinite Continuity, at the Smart Museum of Art In Hyde Park, IL, Nov 14th, 11-3pm
- Art and Science lecture about zombies, Dec 10 at Parlour and Ramp, 2130 W. 21st St., Chicago.
Georgia:
- The inaugural 4th Street Print Fest exhibit at Chesterton Art Center is still up (go check out Georgia’s artwork and a panel with Georgia on Nov 7th). The exhibit goes until November 28th.
- Black, White and Gray Exhibition — Fulton Street Collective, Chicago
Upcoming Episodes
*The Mini will now be every other episode!
- Episode 90: Witch PleaseGuest: Bill Halliar (@skeletongue)
- Episode 92: Surviving After the ApocalypseGuest: Wil McCarthy
- Episode 94: Doomsday series 1: Dr. Doom, Science and AlchemyGuest: Rengasayee (Sai) Veeraraghavan, PhD
- Episode 96: Doomsday series 2: Building Dr. Doom and His WorldGuest: Julio A. Guerra (@artedeguerra)
- Episode 98: Season 3 recapGuest(s): TBA
What the Crew is Digging, Links, Resources, and Topics Mentioned in mini and/or full episode:
- Fatal familial insomnia (FFI), a rare inherited disease that destroys the ability to sleep
- Silvano (1984), the Italian man whose case helped lead to FFI’s discovery. Prions had destroyed his thalamus.
- Thai Ngoc, the Vietnamese man who reportedly stopped sleeping around 1962.
- Sleeping in pieces: Segmented (biphasic) or polyphasic sleep has deep historical roots, but modern health views are mixed.
- Mattress companies and the eight-hour night: They didn’t invent the six-to-eight-hour guideline. Large population and peer-reviewed studies did, and mattress companies used it as a benchmark in their advertising.
- The short-sleeper gene: A small number of people with a genetic mutation function normally on about four hours of sleep. Genes found to be involved: SIK3-N783Y, ADRB1, DEC2 (BHLHE41), NPSR1 and GRM1
- Georgia’s “brain washing” at night: This is the glymphatic system, discussed on an earlier episode. NBC News: A Night’s Sleep Cleans Brain of Harmful Toxins
Postpartum psychosis court cases
- Andrea Yates: drowned her five children in 2001 in Houston. She was convicted in 2002, the verdict was overturned on appeal, and a 2006 jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity.
- Lindsay Clancy: Her trial ended in a mistrial on September 4, 2026, and the case remains unresolved.
Animal research rules for bugs and invertebrates:
- In the US, the Animal Welfare Act and the Public Health Service Policy (which covers NIH-funded research) don’t cover insects or other invertebrates, so work with cockroaches and fruit flies doesn’t require ethics review.
- Octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish are protected elsewhere: the EU has protected them in research since 2013 and the UK since the 1990s (all cephalopods in 2012).
- In the US, NIH proposed guidance in 2023 to require ethics review for cephalopod research, but it’s 2026 and nothing has been finalized.
Science Holes:
1. Nikon Small World image and motion competition winner used AI?
- The first-place winner of the 16th Nikon Small World in Motion video competition was disqualified in October 2026. The entry was a microscope video of abnormal cilia beating in a patient with primary ciliary dyskinesia, a rare genetic respiratory disorder. Nikon said the video “did not comply with the competition rules regarding generative AI” but didn’t say how. The entrant said he used AI only in post-processing grayscale images to highlight features. Outside scientists said the video looked computer-generated and didn’t resemble real cilia.
- Link: Digital Camera World
2. The New York Times’ 100 questions science is trying to answer
- The Times curated 100 questions by asking scientists, then a second list of 100 from the public. The lists are unranked.
- Joe highlighted Question #6, “What is curiosity?”, submitted by Victor Ambros, a molecular biologist at UMass Chan Medical School.
- Link: NYT
3. New cat species discovered
- Leopardus tilcayo is the first new cat species described in over 100 years and genomic analysis shows that tiger cats that were once treated as one species, is really five.Study: Current Biology
4. Mouse trial offers hope for endometriosis
- Researchers modified niclosamide, an FDA-approved tapeworm drug, to help it dissolve in blood, and target rogue immune cells. In mice a single injection reduced pain symptoms and slowed lesion growth, and in some cases stopped it.
- Co-author Kanako Hayashi (Washington State University) called endometriosis understudied and underfunded.
- Study: Advanced Healthcare Materials
5. ‘Cyborg’ cockroaches go diving
- Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) with electrodes attached to their brains and sensory organs can be controlled remotely. 3D-printed suits connect tubes to their breathing apparatus allow them to swim underwater.
- Link: Popular Science
Science Terms
- Fatal familial insomnia (FFI): A rare inherited prion disease that damages the thalamus and gradually destroys the ability to sleep. It leads to hallucinations and is typically fatal within a few years.
- Prion / misfolded protein: A misfolded protein is one folded into the wrong shape, so it can’t do its job and may clump. A prion is a misfolded protein that makes normal copies of itself misfold, too.
- Thalamus: A deep brain structure that relays sensory signals and helps regulate sleep and wakefulness.
- Insomnia: Ongoing trouble falling or staying asleep. This is common, unlike FFI.
- Sleeping in pieces: Sleeping in two or more periods instead of one unbroken block.
- Postpartum depression: Depression that follows childbirth.
- Postpartum psychosis: A rare, severe condition, usually within weeks of giving birth, involving hallucinations, delusions, and confusion.
- Schizophrenia: A chronic psychiatric disorder involving hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking.
- Cilia: Tiny hair-like structures on cell surfaces that move fluid or mucus, such as in the airways.
- Pseudo-coloring: Assigning colors to grayscale image data so features are easier to see.
- De-noising: Removing random graininess from an image.
- Generative AI: AI that creates new content, such as images or text, so it can add details the original data never contained.
- Peer review: Independent experts check research before it’s published.
- Species: Classically, a group that can breed and produce fertile offspring, though definitions vary. Genetic analysis is now used to tell species apart.
- Genetic incompatibility: When populations are similar genetically but can no longer mate and reproduce successfully, a sign they may be separate species.
- Endometriosis: A chronic condition in which tissue similar to the uterine lining grows outside the uterus, causing pain and inflammation.
- Off-patent drug: A drug whose patent has expired, so anyone can make it.
- Human trials: Tests of a treatment in people, which come after animal studies. They’re expensive because participants must be compensated and cared for if there are side effects.
- Invertebrate: An animal without a backbone, such as an insect or octopus.
Media Holes: What the Crew is Digging:
TV and film
- Below (Netflix, 2026). Six-episode limited series.
- Son of Ingagi (1940). Directed by Richard C. Kahn and written by Spencer Williams. Billed as the first science-fiction horror film with an all-Black cast.
- Pachinko (Apple TV+). 2 seasons, 2022. Series adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s novel.
- Lanterns (HBO, DC Studios). 2026.
- VisionQuest (Disney+, Marvel). 2026.
Books
- Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (2017).
- Blood Slaves (2025) and Blood Rising (Aug 25, 2026) by Markus Redmond. Books one and two of The Blood Saga.
- The Sea-King and the Sorceress: Life and Death in the Viking Age (2026) by Neil Price.
- Strange Animals (2026) by Jarod K. Anderson
Video games
- Control Resonant (Remedy Entertainment). Released Sept 24, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Mac to follow later in 2026.
- Alan Wake and Max Payne. Earlier Remedy games.
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Transcript
00:00:00 joe: Hey Welcome back to The Rabbit Hole of Research down here in the basement studio for the mini. You’ve got me, Joe
[00:00:11] Nick: You got Nick
[00:00:12] joe: We got Nick
[00:00:13] Georgia: Georgia
[00:00:14] joe: And we have Georgia. Excellent. We’re all
sane.
[00:00:20] Nick: crew’d up.
[00:00:21] joe: All crewed up
yep.
That’s what we were at Reed’s Local recording that one with Melissa and Luke Fun, fun trip.
So yeah, so Melissa had a few things going on. A cycling club October 29th. They’re gonna be riding through Avondale, checking out all the Halloween decorations, and they’re doing karaoke on the 31st, costume contests, and cash prizes. So
[00:00:53] Georgia: Very
[00:00:54] joe: be a fun … time,
Sent that in.
[00:00:56] Nick: Sounds like a great time
[00:00:57] joe: Yeah, both of those sound like fun.
Go do [00:01:00] some karaoke, dress up.
[00:01:02] Georgia: Yeah, I wish we lived
[00:01:03] Nick: would go
[00:01:04] joe: Yeah. Yeah, not too
[00:01:06] Nick: find a way to get my bike out there. I’ll go
[00:01:08] joe: Yeah, right. Right. Rent a bike. Get one of those divvies, right? That was kind of fun
[00:01:14] Nick: I don’t know. I like my own bike.
[00:01:17] joe: Yep. Yeah, I got a few things on calendar. So just had the opening at the Promise You Art House, and so that
[00:01:25] Nick: Which was a good show
[00:01:27] joe: Thank you. Thank you. That exhibit will be up until November. And then November 14th, I’ll be doing something at the Smart Museum of Art in Hyde Park in conjunction
with
[00:01:39] Nick: was that?
[00:01:41] joe: TeamLabs,
[00:01:41] Nick: Oh, November
[00:01:42] joe: November 14th.
It’ll be in the show notes, so subscribe and you’ll get all this, and then I’ll be talking zombies in December way out there. So keep your eyes on the newsletter for that.
[00:01:54] Georgia: Where are you doing that?
[00:01:55] joe: At Parlor and Ramp, located downtown Chicago
yeah. [00:02:00] Cool. Georgia, you still got a couple things going on?
[00:02:03] Georgia: Oh well, the print exhibit is still up at the Chesterton Art Center, I believe until November 28th.
[00:02:11] joe: Hmm.
[00:02:13] Georgia: And we’re gonna have an art talk on November 7th, and they have a lot of other events and stuff going on there.
But,
But
I think that’s about it.
[00:02:25] joe: Excellent. And
[00:02:26] Nick: is your calendar still available, Georgia?
[00:02:30] Georgia: It is. And it’s good because it’s not 2027 yet, so it’ll still
[00:02:36] Nick: Yeah. I
[00:02:37] joe: get it in
time for
[00:02:38] Nick: a little time
[00:02:40] joe: Yeah.
[00:02:40] Georgia: Yep.
[00:02:41] joe: That’s all we have is time. Time is on our
[00:02:45] Georgia: No, time is slipping away
[00:02:48] joe: slipping out. Cool. Cool
[00:02:49] Nick: on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’
[00:02:52] Georgia: the future.
[00:02:55] joe: That’s a
[00:02:55] Nick: Thanks, Georgia. I’m glad you
picked that one up Yeah, right. Thought we were gonna… I didn’t think we were [00:03:00] going there. But a few things in the episode just to re-go over before we go to our science and media holes. One, Luc had mentioned a man who could not sleep. I did put this in a newsletter when the episode came out, but wanted to touch on it again.
[00:03:13] joe: It’s a real-life condition where a person completely loses the ability to sleep. It’s called fatal insomnia, and there was a case in ’84 Silvano, he was an Italian man that helped them discover FFI, which is fatal familial insomnia, so it’s kind of a genetic disorder. And after watching some of his family members die from this inability to sleep, he developed total insomnia, hallucinations, and he passed away within months of having no sleep.
And so they found that he had misfolded proteins, prions had destroyed his thalamus the brain’s sleep regulating center. So really interesting. We had
talked about the prions before, these proteins that cause normal proteins to misfold.
And then I think maybe [00:04:00] Luc was referring to Thai Ngoc, a Vietnamese man who reportedly stopped sleeping around 1962 following a fever during the Vietnam War.
But unlike FFI, the fatal familial insomnia, he has lived for decades without normal sleep while remaining surprisingly active.
[00:04:19] Georgia: Wow.
[00:04:19] joe: So yeah. Wow.
So kind of crazy. So.
[00:04:22] Georgia: And I would say that fatal insomnia-. is fairly rare.
[00:04:27] joe: Yeah, I believe so. Yep, yep. It’s not common.
[00:04:29] Georgia: common … A- although insomnia- is very
[00:04:33] Nick: That is a very real thing.
[00:04:34] Georgia: Yeah.
[00:04:35] joe: Yes,
people do suffer from insomnia. But not… Usually they can work around it or medications, things like that to help them fall asleep.
[00:04:42] Georgia: but- And I was thinking back to when we talked about it before- Mm-hmm
that your brain gets like washed- at night.
[00:04:50] joe: talk- Yep.
That was on the episode. I forget which one.
[00:04:53] Nick: Oh yeah, I do remember
that
[00:04:54] Georgia: sometimes I think about that when I’m like laying in bed awake, like, “Oh, no, [00:05:00] my brain’s not not getting washed
[00:05:03] joe: So I was gonna mention, speaking of sleeping, as Melissa said, sleeping in pieces, and she had mentioned that mattress companies invented the eight-hour sleep kind of idea.
They did not. That was done through a number of studies large population studies peer review studies, that six to eight hours is the recommended amount of sleep. Mattress companies just kind
[00:05:26] Georgia: kind of- They probably really seized on that
[00:05:28] joe: that idea- Yeah … and kind of used it as a benchmark in
[00:05:31] Georgia: sure that there wasn’t other studies that didn’t show that, but then the mattress just really made that?
[00:05:41] joe: No, the large population studies says that the majority of people need six to eight hours of sleep to function properly. They have more recently found that there are people with a genetic mu- mutation that only need four hours or so of sleep to function normally.
But that, once again, is the minority, not
[00:05:59] Georgia: a very-
[00:05:59] joe: [00:06:00] Right. So- …
[00:06:00] Georgia: small number
[00:06:01] Nick: How would you find out if you are part of that?
[00:06:03] joe: You would have to get genetically tested and sequence those gene regions, and then they’ll go, “Oh, look at that. You have the mutation.” I think I put in the show notes which genes those are,
[00:06:16] Georgia: But I do think socially and culturally There are times when it was believed that, you could get up in the middle of the night and do things and then go back to
[00:06:28] joe: is this idea that sleep is in pieces, is…
That’s an idea out there. But the overwhelming amount of data and evidence su- shows that six to eight hours of continuous sleep is the ideal. So that’s just peer review studies. Just wanted to say it wasn’t no- we play into mattress companies for a lot, but it wasn’t-
[00:06:48] Georgia: They are a front
[00:06:49] Nick: but like, what do they actually do?
[00:06:51] Georgia: Some sort of evil-
[00:06:53] joe: There are a lot of… I… Well, there’s mattress stores, not the mattress companies
themselves. So-
[00:06:58] Georgia: the deal with that?
[00:06:59] joe: [00:07:00] Okay,
a different Okay, that’s a different thing. Georgia, you had mentioned in that episode about the woman that killed her children after suffering postpartum depression. So I, I did look that up.
There were actually two cases. I think one was this Andrea Ye- Yates. I was gonna say Yeats, but it’s Andrea Yates. That’s
a St- Stephen King, The Stand. She drowned her five children in… This was 2001 in Houston Texas. She suffered from severe postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis, and schizophrenia, and she also had a history of kind of psychiatric hospitalizations and suicide attempts.
She was initially convicted of capital murder, but that verdict was overturned on appeal due to erroneous testimony regarding expert witness statements on insanity. And in 2006, a jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity, and she was committed to a mental health facility. More recently, and this might have been the one you were thinking about, Georgia, ’cause [00:08:00] you said it was recent, was Lindsay Clancy.
She was a nurse from Duxbury, Massachusetts, killed her three young children in 2023, and she said that postpartum psychosis was the cause. She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and her televised trial did end in a mistrial in September 2026 when we were recovering from our power outage.
[00:08:23] Georgia: I was gonna say it’s very recent.
[00:08:25] joe: Yeah. And the case remains unresolved, so those are kind of two-
[00:08:28] Nick: I think that’s the one I was thinking about too
[00:08:30] joe: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a good episode. A lot of great media to check out that was mentioned in there, but these were a few of the real things I wanted to touch back on.
I looked into a little bit for y’all. So once again, it’ll be in the show notes if you follow that. You probably already read these, ’cause I put it in the original episode show notes, but wanted to put a little spotlight on it.
[00:08:49] Nick: Hey, I mean, can never make it less
[00:08:53] joe: That’s right, yeah. We wanna
[00:08:54] Nick: You wanna find that information, we’ll make it available
[00:08:57] joe: get it there too, yeah, so that you’ll have it.
[00:08:59] Georgia: And [00:09:00] maybe you can read the show notes like in the middle of the night when you
[00:09:03] joe: You can read the show notes in the middle.
[00:09:04] Georgia: The show notes in the middle of the
[00:09:06] joe: my show notes are
[00:09:07] Georgia: notes are exciting. And maybe then you’ll go back to
[00:09:10] joe: My show notes are Very exciting. and Exhilarating.
[00:09:17] Nick: you– all those drawings you do in the margins, Joe, fantastic.
[00:09:21] joe: would go
[00:09:21] Nick: Those need to be in the
[00:09:23] joe: he would go down more rabbit holes and not go to sleep, so, but cool. Speaking of holes, you guys ready for the science holes? We got something, anything you wanna mention about the episode? We can wrap that sequence
more
[00:09:40] Nick: I, just– It was a– It’s always a good time to go down to Reed’s.
[00:09:44] joe: Yeah. No, it was. Go check it out if you guys are here in Chicagoland. Go stop by Reed’s, friends of the podcast. Tell
[00:09:52] Nick: or if you’re visiting
[00:09:54] joe: the Rabbit Hole sent you.
[00:09:55] Georgia: Or if you’re from somewhere else, you may wanna make a special [00:10:00] trip.
[00:10:00] joe: Yes. Yeah, ma’am. Mm-hmm. Let us know.
[00:10:02] Nick: why I said if you’re visiting. Come
[00:10:04] joe: Let us know. We’ll meet you out there.
[00:10:06] Georgia: that can be your destination.
[00:10:08] joe: Have a little Malort with y’all
[00:10:11] Nick: Gladly have some more lore with you guys
[00:10:13] joe: Cool. Science holes, going down. Science
[00:10:17] Nick: We got some science hoes.
[00:10:20] joe: I need, like, little laser sound effects. Cool.
You
got… I got a few. It was a busy week, or, I mean, I don’t know. I put these together. They didn’t necessarily come out this week,
[00:10:33] Georgia: I was gonna say, I didn’t know we had any kind of rule that
for that,
’cause I probably really-
[00:10:39] joe: And there’s
[00:10:39] Georgia: deviated from that if we did
[00:10:42] joe: I don’t know.
[00:10:43] Nick: What? Georgia deviating from the rules?
[00:10:46] joe: exciting-
[00:10:47] Georgia: developments from this week only
[00:10:51] joe: from this week’s news No, no not this week. Just when I see it, but yeah. No, there’s a few things. You guys just want me to go, or you guys-
[00:10:57] Georgia: Yeah, I’m completely science-hole-less.
[00:10:59] joe: All right. [00:11:00] Well, I’ll take you down. We’ll go down some holes here.
So one, th- a couple, these are quick hitters, I think. But might lead to a little bit of conversation.
But one was the Nikon Small World Image and Motion competition winner was announced with this really cool lung cilia-moving light microscope pseudo-colored animation or video that they said they captured using a microscope.
But it turned out that they actually processed it with AI and might have done other stuff with AI. It’s a little unclear. And so they were disqualified, and the second place winner won.
And then there was a interesting conversation about processing images from microscopy using AI.
[00:11:43] Georgia: Which you would know a little bit about … a
[00:11:46] joe: Well, no, I don’t use AI. Oh.
but-
I do know
[00:11:47] Georgia: you would know about-
[00:11:48] joe: yes, that’s what I- …
[00:11:49] Georgia: microscopy
[00:11:50] joe: Oh, okay … images, yes and looking out, and representing those images.
And the conversation was interesting about, there’s a lot of different post-processing, de-noising images or [00:12:00] pseudo-coloring images to make it more accessible as you’re trying to understand the research that was done. But where is that line at? And then the other line is, in, this competition, is there a line when you add decoration to an image to make it more accessible to the public?
And so it was c- it was really interesting and I think,
it-
[00:12:20] Georgia: And then there’s the issue between whether you use AI to make that-
[00:12:26] joe: That’s right. That’s
right …
[00:12:26] Georgia: the, those colors. Or let’s say you get out a marker and you do it with your hand, then
[00:12:31] joe: what’s that? Is it… the same?
[00:12:32] Georgia: You know what I mean?
[00:12:33] joe: What I mean? And when they pointed out this one… Oh, go ahead, Nikki. I was
[00:12:37] Nick: Which one is more acceptable? Like,
[00:12:39] joe: If
[00:12:39] Nick: AI is not acceptable for that. But then again, I
[00:12:43] joe: you’re coloring
it, if you’re just
[00:12:44] Nick: are going ahead and using it more often
[00:12:47] joe: is AI doing? It’s a black box. You don’t know. Because you could go with this pixel value, make it green, with this pixel value, make it yellow, and it goes through, which I don’t know if that’s AI necessarily.
But what an interesting thing- And then is it [00:13:00] generative AI or just AI? Right. Right. does
AI start with just editing the image to do denoising or something, and then it decides to, as in this video, to add extra things that the cells weren’t doing to add clarity that wouldn’t be there necessarily from this type of image, which then sets up false standards, so other people trying to collect those types of images, they go, “Well, I saw this really great image.
How come you can’t do that?” And you have the
public
[00:13:28] Nick: Dilute your findings,
[00:13:30] joe: Sure
[00:13:30] Georgia: but wait, go
[00:13:31] Nick: it can’t be, you know
[00:13:33] Georgia: But go back to what this contest was. It was Nikon-
[00:13:38] joe: was Nikon,
[00:13:39] Georgia: and it was about seeing small things. Yes. Was it supposed to be scientific?
[00:13:44] joe: Yes,
[00:13:44] Georgia: it was. It had, it, it
[00:13:45] joe: to be using equipment I believe Nikon, but I didn’t re- I didn’t read these, the rules of this contest.
But yes, using microscopy equipment, you’re capturing some phenomenon of life or of science, and [00:14:00] that’s the idea of the competition.
[00:14:01] Georgia: So it wasn’t like-
[00:14:03] joe: Make the prettiest or
the best animation artistic- Right … you know, like whatever. Exactly. It was that these images were for science.
[00:14:11] Georgia: Okay, and which was deemed-
[00:14:14] joe: Yes
[00:14:14] Georgia: The m- most interesting, the Yep, yep. Exactly. Or most visually stunning. Mm-hmm.
[00:14:21] joe: And
there was, there were stories attached, the announced winner that used AI they had a story. These were patient samples. A lung from a young patient and show this.
So that was the other thing ’cause it is f- public picked it up. The story gets picked up,
Nikon small world.
Yeah.
And so if patients see that in, in the public, when you go to your doctor, and then they show you an image that’s of lesser quality, which is the real image, and then they go, “Well, I saw… How come I don’t get, you know, this beautiful image like that?”
Or, how do…” You know. So once again, you set up these expectations- Mm-hmm … not only in the research community, but in the public community, and you have to be careful with that [00:15:00] when you add decoration and things
like that to the image, so.
[00:15:03] Georgia: chosen, they thought it was, that’s the way it looked, the-
[00:15:07] joe: Yeah
[00:15:07] Georgia: when they just did it.
[00:15:08] joe: And once again, that was this came up in that discussion, is that, at first glance, it looks right, but if you study it, you can start finding issues. So I don’t study cilia in lung. And so seeing the image, it just looks really cool, and at first glance, I probably wouldn’t think much of it.
But people who study that and look at these types of images all the time, they were quick to pick up that the scale was wrong, that the cilia were doing things that they shouldn’t do, that the imaging, the way the image looked, it looked over-processed and you really couldn’t get an image like that in, in any microscope, in any technology we have existing today.
If you look at it, and when I started looking at it, it was like, “Oh yeah, this does look bizarre,” the cilia, like, going inside of cells and doing weird things that cilia shouldn’t do no matter where they exist at.
And I was just going to say AI was used here, [00:16:00] but you know, people cheat at these things, and so competitions, like there’s wildlife imaging competitions- And they have rules like don’t use stuffed animals, right? Because people would take a stuffed animal- and put it on, set up their shot, and then, “Wow, look at that,” you know, “It’s a great shot.”
So people will go into lentghs to get the, a nice image or try to manipulate the image to do that. Those things have happened. So we don’t know what the intent was. This could’ve been we don’t know if they were potentially trying…
They were using it for a purpose to help, clean up the image, and then AI added something, or they go prompt it, “Hey, make da.” We, we don’t know and I don’t wanna imply that
[00:16:41] Nick: don’t know. I feel like it is a form of cheating. Like,
If you can’t use steroids in sports, this is cheating.
[00:16:51] joe: Yeah.
[00:16:52] Georgia: Yeah, no, I agree because the whole thing wasn’t about making a… It was about-
[00:16:59] joe: Yeah
[00:16:59] Georgia: You [00:17:00] know what I’m
[00:17:00] joe: saying? Mm-hmm. mm-hmm.
[00:17:01] Georgia: I can’t
[00:17:01] joe: Yeah … And I think, I mean,
personally, I think when you’re interacting with the public, it you have, you should be honest about that. And if you did use AI, then you should go, “This was AI enhanced.”
And then people will maybe not take it as true. But then it’s a science image and we tell people, “Oh, science is about finding absolute truth, and peer review and going back through it.” And, using AI in science, the, the thing about it, unlike other disciplines, is that people do go through and try it again.
if another researcher tried to repeat this experiment and cannot get that image- then your career would be ruined, which is really special about science, is that there is this, this iterative process, so.
[00:17:45] Georgia: I
think it’s interesting, and you wonder if more was out about this contest and about this, all this whole thing because of this controversy. Like,
[00:17:56] joe: It’s a, it’s like the 13th year. It’s a really popular contest. Oh.
[00:17:59] Georgia: [00:18:00] sure it is
[00:18:00] Nick: No, but Georgia is saying that it’s brought a lot of new people
[00:18:04] joe: Oh, right. yeah. Maybe, yeah. Yep, they could have. Yeah, which is,
[00:18:08] Nick: Right? Is that what you
were talking about, Georgia?
[00:18:10] joe: Yeah, Yep, yep, yeah
Mm-hmm.
[00:18:11] Nick: Okay. I didn’t wanna step over you for that one and
[00:18:13] joe: really
[00:18:14] Nick: be wrong
[00:18:15] joe: the links to it if you didn’t see it or know about this, this Nikon Small World Image Competition. It’s really cool and fascinating.
I always look
[00:18:22] Georgia: Have you ever thought about entering something?
[00:18:24] joe: mm-hmm? I have not. I don’t really use any Ni- I don’t do a lot of light- Oh … microscopy, so, and I don’t use any Nikon- Okay … equipment. I’m imagining that’s one of the conditions of the contest. Like, I could be wrong, it could just be any image, but usually they’re nice, really nice light micrographs
and-
Yeah
They have motion to them. The things I look at have been fixed and are no longer- Right … moving and not even living, so. Right. But yeah. Okay.
Yeah, so that was cool. So that’s we bring up AI in here, and that’s, you see it in different aspects. And it was a interesting conversation because AI, just like, you use [00:19:00] spellcheck and things like that in, in writing, you know, it it’s there.
It lives among us, but then it’s where’s that line at, I think- Mm-hmm … And when has that line been crossed? And like I always think, decision-making, did you make the decision or did the AI make the decision to do whatever? And then the other thing is that you don’t know what it’s doing. So in science, where you have to have repeatable
[00:19:20] Georgia: have to know what it’s doing, yeah
[00:19:22] joe: you can’t tell the next person, “Oh, just put the prompt in AI and it’ll do this,” ’cause it won’t. It’ll do something different
every time.
and we don’t know what that, that mix is. And, same thing in writing and crafting. You tell it to prompt and it gives you some paragraph or something. You don’t know how it came up with that, that paragraph.
You didn’t do it. You didn’t… The genesis wasn’t there of yours, so. But interesting.
The other thing I saw that was curious and once again, a, a popular more science thing, was The New York Times. They curated a list of 100 questions scientists or science is trying to answer, and they queried scientists.
And then I [00:20:00] think they did a follow-up list where they, curated 100 questions from public responses.
[00:20:04] Georgia: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:05] joe: And,
And I, I went through the list. I don’t know if I went through all 100 questions to be honest. But,
[00:20:11] Nick: Why didn’t you throw 100 questions,
[00:20:13] Georgia: did they rank them like these were the best-
[00:20:15] joe: no or the most important? They were just- They were just random … it
was random. Okay. It wasn’t a, a ranked list. Mm-hmm. But number six, I thought and relevant to what we do and we talk about a lot is: what is curiosity?
[00:20:27] Nick: I’m surprised we haven’t done that as an episode
[00:20:29] joe: That was Victor Ambros, a molecular biologist, at UMass Chan Medical School. Who actually- Submitted that.
It was a cool list and I’ll put a link in the show notes so people can go find that and check it out.
Read the list and let us know what your favorite question is, I guess. Yeah
[00:20:47] Nick: Yeah. Like, that one is definitely, like, one that I could see us having a whole episode about. . Maybe we should be answering the questions.
[00:20:55] joe: Yeah we could go through episodes.
[00:20:59] Nick: That’s the [00:21:00] next 100 episodes we
[00:21:01] joe: the next hundred episodes- … is going through your list. I don’t know. I think that would be that’d be pretty
[00:21:07] Nick: For answering scientist questions.
[00:21:10] joe: Yes, that’s what we’re gonna do.
[00:21:12] Nick: What’s next, one Joe?
[00:21:13] joe: But yeah, so we, on other Minis we had talked about science moving forward, and we always think, oh, everything is set, and we talked about discovering new species and how that happens and destroy environments we’re missing things.
So they just actually identified for- over the first, I mean, more than 100 years, a new cat species-
[00:21:36] Georgia: Oh, I saw
[00:21:37] joe: that.
they have. Yeah, yep. So the,
[00:21:39] Georgia: yeah.
[00:21:40] Nick: I’m sorry, a new what?
[00:21:41] joe: Cat species, the leopardus tilcayo, it’s smaller than a house cat and covered in leopard-like spots. It’s a really,
[00:21:50] Georgia: And where did
[00:21:51] joe: looking uh, animal …
[00:21:53] Georgia: or something? Or-
Where was that?
[00:21:56] joe: it was in South, it’s a group of South American tiger [00:22:00] cats. And they were thought to be just one species, covering from Brazil to Costa Rica,
but what they’re finding is that genetically there’s more, you know, five or so or different species in there. And so it’s really interesting ’cause, what was interesting was that if you just look at it and go, “Oh, this is one species. Look how much territory it covers, and it’s doing really well.”
But then when you go and you do this genomic study and you go, “Well, actually, there’s five different species and they’re not doing so well. They’re actually endangered now because they’re not as
[00:22:30] Georgia: when you say they discovered a new cat species, it almost sounds like they discovered four new cat species.
[00:22:40] joe: So that was the the idea here.
[00:22:42] Nick: So is it just that they just now noticed it? Or is it that like the natives knew about it that scientists didn’t?
[00:22:52] joe: I don’t know what the natives knew or the people in those populations, so they didn’t really cover that. But I think scientists [00:23:00] assumed that these were the same species, and it was through genetic analysis that they determined that they were not the same, that they were different enough to be individual species, if that makes sense.
[00:23:14] Georgia: I don’t They, they look, look
look similar. It’s like it kinda makes sense, but then when I think about it, it doesn’t make sense. Like, I guess the whole idea of what is a species and, like, what makes something a different species.
[00:23:28] joe: So a species it’s a cla- way to classify things
[00:23:31] Georgia: I understand, but like could they just like one day go, “Oh my gosh, there’s a whole nother human species and we didn’t realize.
[00:23:40] joe: I mean, that was the… So that the movement, the fiction a little bit, that was the idea with the mutants in the Marvel Universe, the X-Men e- and et cetera, that they were becoming a different species.
They were no longer Homo sapien. They were Homo superior, I think Magneto would…
[00:23:58] Nick: Homo superior. Yep, that is the [00:24:00] correct
[00:24:00] joe: yeah. So that was, that’s the, that is that idea that if you accumulate unique genes there, there could be different behavioral categories. There also a lot of times you could have genetic incompatibility where you no longer…
You are similar genetically, but you no longer can mate or reproduce successfully.
[00:24:21] Nick: So like if– can these cats still reproduce and stuff or no? Like with each other or
[00:24:28] joe: That I don’t know. I mean, I’m not sure if they’ve tested that also, right? Because they’re just, they just figured out that they’re different, so I don’t know if they’ve now
gone
[00:24:38] Georgia: different?
[00:24:39] joe: Into- Do
[00:24:39] Georgia: you
[00:24:39] joe: know
[00:24:39] Georgia: what
[00:24:39] joe: I mean?
so genetically, so there must be… They must have looked and there must be genetic differences that they can point to that would make them, have enough different genetic makeup that you go, “Okay, these two things aren’t…
They’re similar, but they’re different species.”
[00:24:56] Nick: Yeah. Yeah I think I wanna look more into that one, see like what, [00:25:00] why they determined this
[00:25:03] joe: yeah,
I- it was just fascinating that you have going through using genetic tools now that, and that changes conservation efforts if you think about it. You go from this is one big species to potentially, five different species within this family, and they all should be protected, right?
Yeah, I’ll put the links up on that, so that’s a very,
[00:25:26] Nick: I think I would like to do more into that episode. Like dive into that
[00:25:33] joe: No, I mean, genetics as a, and speciation
[00:25:36] Nick: that’ll be a Planet of the Apes episode
[00:25:38] joe: Planet of the Apes. Yeah, there you go.
[00:25:40] Nick: That’s a connection right there
[00:25:44] joe: Yep. Yeah
Okay. One follow-up to our disability and horror episode.
I thought this was interesting. There was a mouse trial that that showed some promise for endometriosis. And so we had talked on the disability episode with Grace [00:26:00] about that and her experience suffering with that condition.
And so they took a a drug that was used to treat parasitic infections niclosamide, and made a weakened form of that or tweaked it a little bit, and it helped to ease the symptoms of this chronic condition of endometriosis in mice. And gave this to the mice, this modified drug, and, they developed fewer, smaller lesions, than mice that had not been given a drug.
So kind of, seemed to be a breakthrough in treatment
[00:26:34] Nick: That’s really good, right?
[00:26:36] joe: yeah. Yep, yep. So hopefully, fingers crossed that keeps on a positive track,
[00:26:41] Nick: Oh, yeah. Like, that’d be great. Like,
[00:26:44] joe: So yeah
[00:26:45] Nick: It’s always good to see that things are being cured still
[00:26:49] joe: Yeah, or people are treat- we were talking about women’s health and research
and-
[00:26:52] Georgia: If find something like that, what’s the next step then? They just keep doing [00:27:00] more studies with
[00:27:01] Nick: Will it be in and
[00:27:02] Georgia: mice or-
[00:27:03] joe: Yeah, probably start to apply to go to human trials and to get folks to invest in it and kind of go.
And it’s always, it’s hard ’cause when you take older drugs and I don’t know how they… This was tweaked and but sometimes if there’s an older drug you’re just modifying or a different dosage the patent is worn off. It’s no longer available, so drug companies aren’t necessarily excited about it ’cause they can’t make tons of money.
So there are other mechanisms and government-funded mechanisms to do human
trial
studies, so.
[00:27:32] Georgia: subsidies are important.
[00:27:35] joe: so yeah. Right.
[00:27:36] Nick: Let me ask Joe a question real quick
[00:27:38] joe: You mean grants?
[00:27:40] Georgia: Yeah,
like-
subs- Yeah … things being subsidized- Oh, right … is what I mean.
[00:27:44] joe: By, yeah, yep, grant money or research grants or government-funded, public-funded, yep, research.
Mm-hmm.
[00:27:51] Nick: So in other countries, do they have the same problems or no?
[00:27:55] joe: With
[00:27:56] Nick: Like with getting medicine in the mainline, [00:28:00] mainstream, like
[00:28:01] joe: You mean if it’s a older drug that’s off patent now yeah. I mean, it’ll be similar anywhere, right? Because if you’re at a drug company, and you invest research dollars into an older drug, and then anyone can make it, then you won’t get your investment back. And that’s to Georgia’s point, then the subsidies come in and say, “Well, if you work on this, you’re being compensated for the work and the effort to push it forward.”
So yeah. Yep. And then the trials and all that ’cause the human trials are expensive, right? You have to compensate people , take care of them if there are side effects, things like that. So, it’s an investment and time, but yeah. It sounds like they’re moving forward, so, at least the initial research seems really promising.
So hopefully that will allow them to keep going through, forward with it.
[00:28:48] Nick: So what…
[00:28:48] joe: Oh, go on.
[00:28:50] Nick: Oh, do you have any other rep or sign
[00:28:52] joe: one. Just one last-
[00:28:54] Georgia: you got a lot of ’em
[00:28:56] joe: Well, a couple I
[00:28:56] Georgia: is this, Swiss cheese?
[00:28:58] joe: But the title caught my eye, [00:29:00] Cyborg Cockroaches Go Diving. And they’ve been working on this for a while to connect electrodes to the, kind of the, the brains or sensory organs of cockroaches Madagascar hissing cockroaches, and then controlling them to remote control their movements and send them places. They’ve been using it, yeah, they’ve been using them to go into disaster areas, things like that, to search around.
So you get into small crevices. But this paper is interesting as they made this 3D-printed suit, and then it would it would attach tubes to the insects, breathing apparatus. And then they could go un- underwater, which is, that’s a, a few inches of water. So they weren’t like, scuba diving in the ocean or anything.
But it did work. Like, they could get them under there. They could then move them around and have them swim. And so there’s all this kind of, idea that they could explore different areas or, pipes and things like that. So yeah, it was [00:30:00] interesting to
see how they’re doing that,
[00:30:01] Nick: to me
[00:30:02] joe: It reminded me though, and the title caught my eye and attention ’cause I thought of Fifth Element. And there’s a scene where he sends the-
[00:30:08] Georgia: Oh, yeah …
[00:30:10] joe: cockroach- to listen to their president and figure out where the stones are at. If you’ve seen Fifth Element you’ll know what I’m, that scene I’m talking about.
So I think we should do a, we should do a episode on Fifth Element ’cause I think that’s a- Or cockroaches. Yeah, there it is. Cockroaches, cats.
[00:30:24] Georgia: Yeah,
[00:30:25] Nick: one kind of idea,
[00:30:26] Georgia: I know,
[00:30:26] Nick: I could do it
[00:30:27] Georgia: they are fascinating.
[00:30:29] joe: Yep. So-
[00:30:30] Georgia: Well, my other question is, okay, so they’re doing research with these cockroaches.
And I know this sounds like I’m making fun, but I’m not. You have animal trials and you have human trials, and you have to, there’s certain rules, right?
[00:30:47] joe: Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
[00:30:48] Georgia: Because you shouldn’t be causing un- undue suffering for… I mean, do cockroaches and bugs have the same kind of- don’t know. What would you say that?[00:31:00]
[00:31:00] joe: Yeah they usually don’t because they’re invertebrates, so-
[00:31:04] Georgia: they feel like they just don’t feel pain?
[00:31:06] joe: Exactly right. I would have to look at the animal care protocols, but I don’t … They’re not as strict as they would be. That was the issue, same issue that comes up with octopus research or- Yeah … squid research
They’re
[00:31:18] Georgia: invertebrates
are very smart. Right.
[00:31:19] joe: And so- because they’re
invertebrates, they’re not protected, and that was a
We, I think on a, another mini we talked about how they were trying to get more protections for octopus and especially under research because they do have this level of intelligence. But you’re absolutely right. That type of thing, like fruit flies there’s a lot of fruit fly research and things like that, but there’s really no … Like, when I worked with fruit flies
in genetics lab, there wasn’t any, protocols or do this. No, it was just, put ’em to sleep and count ’em, wake ’em up, mate ’em, and, , you’re doing this test on whatever.
But yeah, so. Right. Yeah it’s really,
[00:31:51] Georgia: I mean, you think about some of these cockroaches.
[00:31:54] joe: Yeah.
[00:31:55] Georgia: And when you said it was a hissing
[00:31:57] joe: cockroach. Yeah. They’re- So they’re- Pretty big, yeah … they’re- They are. Yep, yep, [00:32:00]
[00:32:00] Georgia: And I actually- Yeah … have known people to have
[00:32:03] joe: pet
They collect them, right.
Yep. Yeah. They do things with them. Yep.
[00:32:05] Georgia: it just made me think, you know, like, I don’t know
[00:32:08] Nick: gross.
[00:32:09] joe: Yep.
[00:32:10] Nick: I’m so sorry. That just gave me the shivers.
[00:32:14] joe: Yeah. I don’t know.
[00:32:16] Nick: Well, what kind of media holes have you guys been going down?
[00:32:20] joe: Georgia?
[00:32:20] Georgia: . Started watching that show called Below
[00:32:24] joe: Below, mm-hmm. Yeah. The Netflix?
[00:32:26] Georgia: Netflix, yeah.
[00:32:29] joe: Yeah.
[00:32:29] Georgia: It’s pretty good. We’re not too far into it yet, so.
[00:32:33] joe: Yeah, just a couple episodes into it,
[00:32:35] Georgia: we did watch the Son of… What was it?
[00:32:38] joe: Ingagi.
[00:32:39] Georgia: Son of Ingagi.
[00:32:41] joe: Yeah, it was really cool. It was 1940, and it was really it was the first horror film or known horror film to feature an all-Black cast. Directed by Richard C. Kahn. And that was really really unique in 1940. Usually, Black characters who [00:33:00] weren’t servants or deviants of some, some sort or, uneducated. So in this here, they were scientists detectives-
The doctor … um,
[00:33:08] Georgia: A woman
[00:33:09] joe: the woman. So yeah, it was really it was really interesting. And there was a original film, 1930s Ingagi, which was a exploitation film. And it was
[00:33:19] Georgia: you know what that means, Ingagi? Is that the name of… I didn’t, I don’t really know
[00:33:25] joe: Ingagi is actually Rwanda for… It means gorilla. Oh. It’s kind of in, in that language. So Eastern Africa tourist context it’s used. So there’s like the Ingagi Park View Lodge near Rwanda’s volcanic national park.
So it’s , a term that was used, and it was used grossly in a 1930s movie the fake documentary, and it was just a pretty gross hoax movie that was purported as real. So, you know. And so you’re right.
I wonder if Son of Ingagi was kind of taking that back. And there was an ape [00:34:00] man in the basement like that the doctor was doing research on or controlling it with a gong.
[00:34:08] Georgia: You know what I really enjoyed was the music. There was the band in it. And the, and I’m trying to remember their name,
[00:34:14] joe: the Four Toppers
[00:34:15] Georgia: oh, wait, The Four Toppers. Oh, The Four Toppers.
[00:34:17] joe: The Four Toppers that was it,
yeah.
[00:34:19] Georgia: And I
[00:34:19] Nick: like I know that
[00:34:20] Georgia: I gotta get, do some research and see if that was an actual band.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Anyway
[00:34:27] Nick: it, uh, am I thinking of Frankie Valli and the
[00:34:32] Georgia: There was something with the… No, but I think you’re right. There was something with toppers in it. Let me
[00:34:39] Nick: ‘Cause if I’m not mistaken, I think they were in Fallout,
[00:34:43] joe: The four
[00:34:44] Nick: or their
[00:34:44] joe: were in Fallout?
[00:34:45] Georgia: Oh, well, I love the way they use retro music in Fallout. That’s, like, my favorite
[00:34:52] Nick: Oh, yeah. They– It’s so aesthetic
[00:34:55] Georgia: It’s so good, yeah [00:35:00] Anyway
[00:35:00] Nick: what about you, Joe?
[00:35:01] joe: Yeah, what Georgia said.
[00:35:03] Nick: Oh.
[00:35:05] Georgia: You know what
[00:35:05] Nick: I didn’t know if you read any books or anything
[00:35:08] joe: I finished,
Pachinko?
Is it Pachinko.
Pachinko. Like a pachinko
[00:35:12] Nick: a pachinko machine
[00:35:13] joe: Like a pachinko machine, yes, that’s exactly right.
So I did read
that.
[00:35:18] Georgia: He read that on my recommendation.
[00:35:20] joe: Right.
[00:35:21] Georgia: And it
[00:35:21] joe: about on the podcast.
[00:35:22] Georgia: it was very good, right?
[00:35:24] joe: Yes, I just said it was good.
[00:35:26] Georgia: And- It
[00:35:26] Nick: Was good, right, Joe?
[00:35:28] Georgia: I told-
[00:35:29] joe: a finger at me.
[00:35:30] Georgia: I told you so. No. And then she has a new book out, and … ‘Cause I think Pachinko came out, like, 10 years ago or something
[00:35:41] joe: like that.
[00:35:42] Georgia: Mm-hmm. And they also made a show.
Was it on HBO? I don’t know. But now finally we can watch the show since Joe read the book
[00:35:54] Nick: is it something that you have to watch the show for, or let’s read the book first,
[00:35:58] Georgia: Well, that’s a rule [00:36:00] that Joe put onto it, so
[00:36:02] joe: then watch the movie just
[00:36:04] Georgia: Or the show
[00:36:04] joe: It’s
just what I like to do. Yeah. Show or movie, if there’s a
[00:36:07] Nick: it was like, it’s really in, you have to know backstory
[00:36:12] joe: No, I don’t think so.
[00:36:14] Nick: Got it.
[00:36:15] joe: reading,
[00:36:15] Nick: know it
[00:36:17] joe: reading-wise, I’m reading Blood Rising. Marcus Redman. I read the first book of his in the series, Blood Slaves, and so it’s a alternate history where An African vampire was enslaved in early America and then used that power to free Himself and others on a plantation.
So this is book two in that series, so pretty good.
[00:36:45] Nick: Damn.
[00:36:46] joe: And then,
yeah,
[00:36:47] Nick: to check that one out. What was it called?
[00:36:48] joe: Blood Slaves was the first one, and then two is Blood Rising. Yep, so Blood Slaves. It’ll be in the show
[00:36:54] Georgia: Yeah, that sounds really good …
[00:36:55] joe: It was a really good read.
[00:36:57] Georgia: Is that like a current– Is that a
[00:36:59] joe: [00:37:00] Yeah, no, a couple years ago, and I think the, the second one just came out this year, so pretty, pretty
[00:37:04] Nick: Oh, cool. So it’s just still an ongoing story
[00:37:07] joe: Still ongoing, so- Still ongoing, or as far as I know. Book two, so I haven’t finished it, so I don’t know where it’s gonna end. And but yeah really good.
And then I’m reading stuff about Vikings and The Sea King and the Sorceress just came out, and it’s Neil Price, and he’s written other books.
But it’s all about tackling the stereotypes of Vikings and this book talks about how they’re a lot more diverse and, interesting than some of the things that we’ve heard or learned about them, so. Right. Exactly. So, so yeah, so just a couple things in there that are interesting.
But how about
[00:37:43] Nick: Very cool.
[00:37:44] joe: What’s going on?
[00:37:45] Nick: I just finished up the Lantern show, watched the season finale. That was really good. Enjoyed that. It feels like DC’s doing a good swing back.
[00:37:56] joe: Oh, nice
[00:37:57] Nick: as well as [00:38:00] Marvel’s vision Quest
[00:38:02] joe: Vision Quest. Yeah, how’s that?
[00:38:04] Nick: First two episodes are fantastic so far. Has me hooked. But yeah I can’t wait to see more of this show.
[00:38:12] joe: Yeah, it’s cool
[00:38:13] Nick: And then I started playing Control
[00:38:15] joe: Resin?
[00:38:16] Nick: Resonant.
[00:38:17] joe: Resent
Resent
[00:38:19] Nick: Yes. And I honestly think it is fantastic. It might be my game of the year.
[00:38:27] joe: Oh, wow
[00:38:29] Nick: Yeah. I’m
about?
I can’t say without giving spoilers, so I will have to talk to you about that off mic ’cause I… Yeah, it’s a whole… It’s in this is the second game in the series, but it’s also in a greater game universe by Remedy, which is with the Alan Wake storyline where, yeah, it’s all [00:39:00] together and it’s…
I love it. Yeah. I think you would end up liking the backstory and lore of this ga- these games, Joe.
[00:39:08] joe: Oh,
[00:39:08] Nick: It’s very tw- David Lynchian
[00:39:10] joe: Oh, that’s kinda cool. I’ll have to check that out. Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
[00:39:14] Nick: I, it’s a… I’ve been a fan of their games for a minute. They started, or they had games back like Max Payne, which you might be familiar with
[00:39:24] joe: Doesn’t sound familiar
[00:39:26] Nick: No, that was on like the PS2 era
[00:39:29] joe: Yeah. I don’t know. Don’t
remember.
[00:39:32] Nick: yeah.
[00:39:33] joe: Cool. Cool
[00:39:35] Nick: Yeah that’s pretty much what– where I’ve been at lately. I restarted Strange Animals ’cause Georgia recommended it to me a while ago, and then for whatever reason, I stopped, but I just picked it up again. So I’ll be able to give more information once I get further in that.
[00:39:57] joe: Very good
[00:39:58] Nick: But
[00:39:59] joe: With [00:40:00] that, you have me, Joe
[00:40:02] Nick: You got Nick
[00:40:03] joe: got Nick.
[00:40:05] Georgia: And Georgia.
[00:40:06] joe: We got Georgia.
[00:40:08] Nick: And we went down some mini hole
[00:40:12] joe: safe, stay curious
[00:40:15] Nick: Bye.