The crew revisits Near Earth Objects, Dante’s Inferno maybe the first asteroid impact story, and “Science Holes” about smart fart-tracking underwear and a newly discovered space inside us.
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joe: [00:00:00] Hey, welcome back to the Rabbit Hole of Research, the mini here down in the basement studio. You’ve got me, Joe. We’ve- We’ve got
nick: I got
joe: Nick.
We’ve got-
geo: Georgia We’ve got- But Nick’s not in the basement studio Nick is not in
joe: in the
basement studio. He’s not usually- here for The Minis
geo: see how he’s like- Yeah …
you’re
misrepresenting yourself.
joe: from home.
And What do you
nick: I get to work from home one
day a week.
geo: One
day.
joe: from home one day a week. Work
from home. Oh, boy. Yeah, we last episode was the Planetary Defense. We had guest on with us, Charles Blue.
nick: Very good
joe: yeah, a very good episode. He,
Talked about his tabletop exercises that simulate responses to near Earth objects, NEOs, as a what we would do if a giant asteroid was approaching [00:01:00] Earth on a collision course, and it did not include sending a bunch of 60-year-olds up on a last, hurrah mission.
Yeah, if anyone,
nick: anyone was
gonna be sent up
joe: up
there, I would want it to be 60-year-olds. Yeah, that’s right.
geo: You know
what? Do it.
Now that, now that… I mean, 60-year-olds, that sounds
young compared to- Yeah …compared to some
people.
joe: yeah. but yeah, it was a great
nick: Who said that?
joe: It was a great episode. I’m just gonna Move along. I’m Just moving along. I don’t know What you guys are talking about here.
Yeah, it was really fun, so you guys got anything you wanna add to that, or people should go listen to it? and
check it out.
nick: I do have to say that I have a correction to make.
joe: a correction to
nick: I thought Bruce Willis had passed.
joe: He has not … it
nick: brought to
my attention that he is still alive.
joe: that’s ’cause Bruce Willis Dies Hard, man.
Come on, you know that.
nick: Exactly. I don’t know why I
thought he passed last year. [00:02:00] That
was a mistake on my
joe: my end. Yeah.
when you said it- “I apologize
nick: to the Willis family …
joe: I didn’t think
of it ’cause I thought you were just saying about his medical condition, his mental decline, and he can no longer communicate via speech.
And so that’s what I thought you were referring to. Not that he actually passed, but he was no longer in full capacity of, his health.
nick: No, I think After that, I kinda just…
geo: Roney. Yeah, And
joe: After
nick: where my brain made the jump, where I was like,
joe: just… Yeah,
nick: he passed, obviously.
joe: Bruce Willis is still there.
nick: things.”
geo: there.
joe: Yeah. There you go.
all right? Georgia, you got any corrections? I have no corrections, I was,
geo: not that I know of- but I’m sure there was probably a few things I probably
should have
joe: to talk about.
Yeah. I would like to
think-
I
nick: bring out the list?
joe: Yeah.
geo: I was
hoping somebody e- somebody else would let me know what that
was. Put
joe: We’ll just have some handwavium, That’s handwavium by the way.
geo: handwavium,
joe: highlight from the episode Charlie, Charles Blue, our guest, one of the things he’s [00:03:00] doing, I put the link on, is the First Light Con. And it’s really exciting. It’s gonna be the world’s first science and engineering fandom convention. Trying to bring that to y’all in 2027. And unlike other conventions where science is a…
And at the end of that episode, if you listen, he hinted at this, but now I think it’s got some real momentum. And the idea is that most conventions, Dragon Con C2E2,, Mars Con, which are great cons, but the science usually a afterthought. And you have scientists like myself or Charles, science communicators go and then we participate
on panels.
nick: scientist.
joe: Yes. not only…
I try my best.
And
so the idea here is that to have science be the main focus and then the fandom, like our podcast a little bit, that the science sometimes- … as
Georgia pointed out, on the episode. We try to be science forward and bring in our pop [00:04:00] culture.
And yeah, super exciting. I think maybe here in Chicago might be the home of that, at least for
geo: And hopefully The Rabbit Hole can- Yeah …
participate. Be a,
joe: Be there. and-
geo: You know.
joe: Kind of,
Support and
I, it’s a really great. So yeah, keep your ears and eyes on the podcast and the newsletter and we’ll bring more about that.
and I think it’s a really great project,
nick: make sure we post about it and we wanna make sure we support it,
joe: Yep, yep.
geo: And I- Events
nick: and stuff.
joe: I- Yep
geo: I think that’s come out in the last few episodes that we’ve done, is just like how you can really geek out about science and, of course the space travel,
the- Or Tim S
joe: and- How that,
geo: How that, was like that feeling of, awe about, but just in general, you know?
Thank you. Yeah. Being curious. Is gonna make it easy peasy
joe: Yeah. Yep.
geo: to get science
joe: Being curious.
nick: it’s– we try to make it an easy beacon into getting into science by [00:05:00] using the pop culture and everything.
Yeah.
geo: And
sometimes you don’t even need the pop culture. The science is,
joe: That’s right. Yeah,
geo: It, the science- It is … by itself, so- Yeah … I guess that’s kinda what- Yeah
joe: Yeah
geo: what the idea is.
joe: is. Yep. You go down a rabbit hole and, before you know it, you’re talking about epigenetics and gene modification and-
geo: CRISPR
CRISPR and
joe: CRISPR, and black holes and
nick: to our podcast. You know, you’re already here, just listen to it.
joe: yeah.
through. And speaking of podcasts we will be hosting or being hosted by the Lake County Public Library in Merrillville, Indiana talking about DIY podcasting this Saturday- may 23rd. That’s
geo: That’s in
Merrillville. It, it-
joe: This Saturday?
geo: Oh my gosh, Nick.
joe: I forget the time. Is it- 1:00? It’s 1:00. 1 PM yep And-
geo: Central
joe: Time
geo: Time … We’ll probably be recording some of
that. Maybe. So maybe that’ll be something that we can offer something
about.
joe: see Maybe [00:06:00] we’ll have that.
geo: who all the- Or-
joe: listen
to it and
nick: We’ll see how it
joe: what we say,
geo: what we say. Exactly.
joe: Yeah. We might not. No,
geo: promises … a
nick: have
joe: hear from it. Well,
geo: And I hope that nobody
brings like tomatoes or-
Yeah … especially,
joe: in tomatoes? I mean-
geo: canned tomatoes. Like they don’t throw that at us.
joe: What is this, The Muppet Show? What? are you
talking
geo: I was
joe: was- Yeah, right. I
was thinking
geo: thinking
more
Road- Road House, but-
nick: not doing
joe: Road House. Yeah. I I mean- Although Road House, they threw the bottles.
What happens at the Lake County Public Library?
I mean, libraries are supposed to be calm
geo: fancy? You, you know what? If they’re not happy with what we’re saying,
they, it could be a riot.
joe: Yeah.
maybe.
geo: It,
I feel
nick: I feel like I need to set up
some material for
joe: I know. right? Yeah. Could bring some armor.
Maybe a less rowdy crowd, I wanna say that I’ll be in, at the Con Carolinas starting May 29th to May 31st, and that’s down in Charlotte, North [00:07:00] Carolina, so it’ll be a lot of fun.
I have a bunch of panels. My schedule just came out. I’ll be talking about medical science, fact versus fiction, Putting the science in your sci-fi, and I’m even on an after dark panel, superpowers. Ooh. in the
geo: Yeah. Oh, geez. I know. How did
you qualify for that? Hey.
joe: Jeez Louise. I’m teasing. I’m
geo: I mean, geez louise. I’m
nick: a
geo: I’m teasing.
joe: I did. See that, See, I know. I- that’s one of my
favorite graphic novels.
Yeah, and
geo: I don’t know that
graphic
novel.
It’s one where, when you have an
joe: orc, there’s…
Yeah, a lot. Oh, I didn’t know
geo: that was the name of it. Sorry.
joe: And then I’m doing the dark side of science you know, licking rocks, and living in a science fiction world, fantasy zoo, and if you could live in any sci-fi
geo: Wow. These are all-
joe: fun
panels. I’ll be
geo: on. Yeah.
If you
joe: are down in the Charlotte area,
geo: some ideas for episodes.
joe: That’s right. Yeah, no, that’d be fun. and Maybe some guests coming to y’all How many
geo: you [00:08:00] guys coming to y’all. How many panels is that? That’s a lot of panels in a short time. It’s- Three …
joe: two, it’s three on, yeah, three on Friday, and then two Saturday, two Sunday. so.
geo: Whoa, they’re getting
a lot of- Yeah,
joe: Yeah, usually seven. Six, seven is what
geo: of work out of you.
joe: To these type of conventions, and- so I get enough time I can enjoy other people’s panels, and then say hi
geo: kind of- And have you been to this con
before? My
joe: time.
down in… My first time to Charlotte, so if Charlotte fans listening to this podcast, you know,
come say hi and tell me what’s cool to do I’ll go check it out. I got some North Carolina friends, so.
geo: There you go.
joe: Yeah, so that’s it. Cleaning up a few things. A couple weeks ago when Phrique was on the Splatterpunk episode, then we Slay the Lake
happened.
And we actually went to Wisconsin to The Final Girl Bar, which is super cool. Go check it out. They’re really supportive of the arts and, LGBTQ+ authors and writers and [00:09:00] events, so really cool place. But we actually had, there was a Von Rung, a writer, typewriter poet and performer was there, and they actually did a poem for us.
So they had their typewriter and they would, you give them a topic and your name and things, they write this poem, and I asked them if I could read it to y’all so you could share, in this. it was really cool. We’ll hang this up in the studio so whoever come visit you can see it.
“A Salvo Fragment for the Rabbit Hole: of Research Podcast.
Have you
ever considered the scientific basis for telepathy?
Or if
vampires existed, what their genetic code would look like. Then friend, you have found your home. Dive down the rabbit hole. Down there you’ll find a strange biome. Abandoned lighthouses and neon-colored mold. Time warps like a Doppler. And Edith, horrors unfold, and we’ll attempt [00:10:00] to crack the code.
So
geo: Very good. Very good. Yes,
joe: nice. That sums it up. I thought that was… That felt
like-
geo: felt like I
was …in the
middle of a Jeff VanderMeer. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That’s
right …
No- a novel
joe: Jeff Vandermeer.
Yeah. Oh Jeff Vandermeer is an author …
You know
all of them. Sci-fi author. Annihilation.
geo: Oh.
nick: Oh,
okay.
joe: Yep, yeah. Was
geo: didn’t it remind…
gave that kind of vibes, I thought.
Yeah, it
did. I li- I liked it. South of Hell or something. Yeah. Cracking the code. Yeah. Yeah. no, I thought that was
joe: Yeah, no, I thought that was super fun. So very nice. Thank you. That was well worth it. A lot of fun time.
And speaking of fun time, we vended a show, Mayfest at Blue Island we saw some of y’all that listen to the show, came out, supported us.
It was great seeing you as always. and We had a fun time.
nick: a really good
time.
Absolutely.
joe: It was a great day. Little windy, but, you know, JOhn Streets Alliance was one of the sponsors. They’ve been… They are… He’s real- Jawn is really good and [00:11:00] friendly to artists, so if you’re an artist of any type,
you
should look him up and get involved because he puts on great shows around the Chicagoland area, and as always, we had our podcast equipment there.
geo: And
joe: and we asked some questions. We asked we had two questions for people to answer. Would you live on Mars, or would you live in a lava tube?
geo: Non-active lava
joe: A
non-active,
Yeah, I had to explain that ’cause people.
geo: That does sound really- Yeah, dangerous.
nick: lot of questions about That one.
joe: yep, But yeah, let’s let’s hear what people had to say. And there was a a New Orleans-style marching band,
geo: It was awesome … called
joe: the Rabbit Hole.
geo: So- Was it called the
Rabbit Hole? Yeah, he talked about rabbits.
I thought it was called something else, but he was really into
rabbits.
joe: and they weren’t called Rabbit Hole?
geo: them? You know what? I have the card, I have the card upstairs, but he also is one of the people to talk.
joe: He did. He did.
geo: So he’ll-
joe: about rabbits …
geo: we’ll just keep an ear out
for what- Okay … the name of [00:12:00] it is. And-
But it was awesome.
Speaker 5: Hey, welcome back to the Rabbit Hole of Research down here at Maifest in Blue Island, May 9th, 2026. We are feeling good. We’re all set up at our booth, and we can’t wait to chat with y’all. We have two exciting questions today. One is, would you move to Mars? And the other question is, would you live in a lava tube underground?
Can’t wait to chat with y’all. Peace. Or as Nick would say, bye.
Speaker 6: This is Meg and I would move to Mars why? It just sounds nice up there. Give it a shot.
Speaker 12: my Name is Yuvia, and would you live in a lava tube underground? I would say yeah. Why not?
I feel like, yeah, I feel like you need to try new things, and I think that was a new thing for me, so I would say
Speaker 13: yeah.
[00:13:00] Sorry.
Speaker 2: My name’s Amy, and I don’t think I would move to Mars because I like being able to go outside and not die.
Speaker 23: My name is Adolfo. Beyond the, so would you move to Mars or would you live in a lava tube underground? Oof.
I think I would w- I think I would live in a lava tube underground. Yeah, for sure. I love it. All right. Cool. Thank you.
Speaker 9: Hi, my name is Liz. Would I move to Mars? Yes. Views would be beautiful, and it’s all climate controlled, which I’m a big fan of.
Speaker 15: Oh, Nicole, and I would live in a lava tube. Because it was my last chance to live. Wow.
Speaker 17: HeLlo, my name’s Lisset Leon. Would I live in a lava tube underground? The answer is yes. Yes, I would. I’d rather not risk being on the- On the Earth’s surface. Yep.
Speaker 19: My name’s Bradley. And if I would rather move to Mars or live in a lava tube underground, I think I would rather live in the lava tube. Mars just [00:14:00] seems so far out still. I can be on it. Would you want- Lava tubes, decommissioned, I think I can get down with. I’m a lighting technician, so I’ll figure out a way to bring some space and, you know, light it up down there.
It’ll be all good.
Speaker 20: Cool.
Speaker 19: Lava tube’s way better.
Speaker 20: Thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 24: Oh, my name’s John. I would probably go Lava Tube just ’cause you mentioned Matrix Rave, and that just seems like a hell of a time. So it, it’s- Sorry sOmething about Mars freaks me out. So I’m down with that.
Speaker 30: My name is Blake Crawford. I’m from Chicago, Illinois, and the question I’m answering is, would you move to Mars? Honestly, I wouldn’t.
I couldn’t see myself living in a desert. I think that just looks terrible. Also, there’s no trees or no green. It’s just all red. That’s like living in the worst part of Nevada You know what I mean? So I’m not really a big fan of that. Thank you so much. Thank you, man. That was good.
Speaker 21: My name is Chris. No. I’m not moving to Mars now. There’s no stuff there. A Total Recall [00:15:00] Mars, maybe. No other Mars seems appealing. Would you live in a lava tube underground? Only the Legend of Zelda 64 Ocarina of Time, ’cause there’s Gorgons, and those guys seem pretty dope
Speaker: My name’s Kim. I would definitely not move to Mars. I’ve watched too much media. There’s too much unknown and no colonization. I would definitely live in a lava tube underground.
Speaker 26: Sweet. Let’s-
Speaker: I just feel that’s a safer bet ’cause you said that it was non-active, and I consider myself a bit of a prepper, so I think I could.
Speaker 4: Hey, I am Julian Esparza, and the question I wanna talk about is would you move to Mars? I think it would be fun to move to Mars. I think it’s a little bit different from, I mean, of course, here on Earth. I think I would like to see the difference in I guess the gravity and the differ- If Earth fails, maybe there’s life on Mars.
So I feel like that would be the question I would ask myself. Would I be able to live on Mars? And, I mean, that’s [00:16:00] about it, yeah.
Speaker 28: My name is Sherry. Would you move to Mars? I have just finished reading the book The Martian, and no, I would not move to Mars. It seems like a lot of work. .
Speaker 32: Hi, my name is Mike Smith. That is my real name. I am from Chicago, Illinois, and I would like to tell you something about rabbits. There is an event called the Billion Bunny March, which is a real event, and it attracts a lot of animal control, and carrots, and people in crazy costumes.
And the band that I’m in was the official band for the Billion Bunny March for many years, and it was a really good time. I would suggest anybody… And we made friends eventually with animal control. They tried to cast a huge net on us. There was like 200 or 250 of them, and but they couldn’t, you can’t stop that many rabbits no matter what.
It was like the furriest little cuddly fun bunch, and that’s, [00:17:00] we hope to bring the Billion Bunny March we wanna bring it in small versions everywhere, including to Chicago. We have a annual it’s called BunnyCon. It’s a pub crawl on Good Fridays. So if you’re in Chicago on Good Friday, you can count on a great rabbit hole, BunnyCon, carrots, everything you would want in an Easter march.
We could bring it to Mars. We would love to take it to outer space, the Billion Bunny March. There’s certainly enough rabbits. If you need to populate outer space, I think rabbits and cockroaches. I think we’ll have enough population for the whole Mars. And thank you guys for having these incredible zines and artwork that’s made out of woodcuts, and real homemade DIY cool artwork.
This is exactly the kind of roots culture that I love about Chicago, and thank you for having such a good time with us today. I’m in the band Environmental Encroachment, Chicago, Illinois.
Speaker 31: Hello, my name is Kathleen, and the [00:18:00] question is, would I move to Mars, or would I live in a lava tube underground? No. I’m going to stay here on Earth where God designed me to be. And I’m with the Blue Island Stray Dog Project, and we’re on Facebook at Blue Island Stray Dog Project, and we’re on Instagram at BISTrays.
We help dogs who are found loose in this city. We get them homes. We feed them. We care about them. We get them homes, medical care, the whole nine. Please follow us on social media. Thanks.
Okay, would I move to Mars if Donald Trump is still in office? Yes.
Speaker 33: My name is Sharon Powers, and the question is: Would you move to Mars? And I would. I would rather move to Mars than live in a lava tube underground, because I’m thinking I’d have a little more room to space out. I didn’t- I told you my intro. I didn’t realize.
No pun intended, but, you know, to go outside and enjoy the world, [00:19:00] and to see the stars and all that good stuff. .
joe: Hey, we’re back here So- And we got
geo: some great comments. Some-
Some
great- …
joe: comments, yeah. Very
geo: interesting comments Yeah And if we didn’t, if you didn’t catch the name of the band, it’s Environmental Encroachment.
The ma- the Magic Circus Band, unique entertainment, music, costumes, acrobatics, and raw
nick: the whole card.
geo: energy
joe: Circus Band.
Unique entertainment. Music, costumes, acrobatics, and raw entertainment. I know,
geo: lots of rabbits he went
joe: ’cause he talked about rabbits and,
Of rabbits yep. He went all about the rabbits and- … rabbits on Mars and all sorts of stuff, yes very, very- Very
geo: pro rabbits
nick: That’s what
joe: Yeah, so that was fun.
I always, lo- I always enjoy the live events and bringing the little recorder and capturing people, getting them interested in the science, and they’re usually a little hesitant, but then we kind of, “Hey, come on, you can do it.” And Nick was out there handing out [00:20:00] cards and getting
people to
geo: He ha- He handed all the f- all the bookmarks that you had
joe: I did.
So really fun. So- great
geo: I’m
nick: do, you know? Talk
to
geo: great
joe: Looking forward to next year. It’s always a fun time, the May Fest. We’ve been to all five, so looking forward to 2027.
Something,
I
guess we can… This might be science to science hole segment segueing into that.
Do.
geo: And sometimes it’s more than one
joe: It is more science holes. But this one kind of tethers to the planetary defense because usually I give the list and I talk about the references and fiction that may tether to the topic. And since this one was about planetary defense, asteroids, and things crashing to Earth, I had the earliest examples, and I think it was, like, H.G. Wells and The Comet, W.E.B. Du Bois in the ’20s. And I think Nick [00:21:00] said Greek. And I, that, I said no.
geo: So
joe: it, it wasn’t Greek, but 1308, 1314, a little ditty was written, Dante’s Inferno. And so a paper came out by Timothy Burberry, and he said, “Although Dante was not a scientist, he was one of the first persons in history to think through the physical effects of a large mass slamming into the Earth at high speed.
And in Dante’s vision, the devil’s size and velocities are such that when he lands,” i.e. the devil, “he instantly creates hell, a massive circular terraced crater that reaches to the center of the Earth.” And he’s speculating that Dante was talking about, the devil is so big crashing down onto Earth like an asteroid, it would cause all this destruction and crater, and create hell on Earth, [00:22:00] which would probably happen if an asteroid hit in that time for whoever’s on Earth.
And just to put this in perspective, the modern study of meteors was not firmly established until the 19th century, and that’s what we talked about in the episode. So even some of those early stories we talked about Halley’s Comment and the fear, I think Charles brought up like cyanide was found seen spectroscopically in the gas cloud behind Halley’s Comment, and people thought it was gonna, poison everyone.
So you had all these phenomena that were still being understood in the late 1800s, so this was, 500 years or so beforehand when Dante’s Inferno was written. It was, 1833 that was the first kind of meteor shower that was studied that astronomers realized that meteors were astronomical events.
So, yeah, so that might be- we can push it back, maybe Dante’s Inferno was the first kind of fictional account of, of meteor and asteroid impact
on Earth. So
yeah, so I thought that was cool. [00:23:00] Just ‘
quickly cause this we got long episodes we did a few fun things. Of the things I saw and I just thought it was really fun, it was a research presented at Digestive Disease Week. and that was in, earlier
this month,
in
geo: That’s a con you might wanna go
joe: even wanna know. Yeah, And it was smart underwear tracks farts in real time.
geo: time. And
joe: And,
nick: I don’t know what the fuck I can say about that one.
joe: you part of this research study? or…? The
idea was
currently-
geo: he has
dumb underwear
he has
joe: some underwear.
It doesn’t-
geo: Rocks
thank you
nick: Rocks thank you
Joe.
joe: Yeah. He doesn’t,
it’s and so currently, kinda the idea that there’s no way to objectively measure continuous gas production in the gut for lactose intolerance or other digestive conditions. And and it limits researchers learning about the connection between gut metabolism and these symptoms.
So Brantley Hall, a gut microbiome [00:24:00] researcher at the University of Maryland, and a microbiome- Just for folks, that’s all of the microorganisms bacteria, bacteriophages that make up our gut, that, that live in our intestines to help process food, digest, control metabolism, things like that.
And there’s a lot of research that your gut microbiome is important to your overall health. So- like a second brain
yes, and
nick: So
joe: the inter- nervous system your gut has-
geo: it
joe: Go
ahead.
nick: find it so
funny that you chose this one because the one I chose also has to
do with the stomach.
joe: do with the stomach.
and his smart underwear has a gas sensor that attaches to the inside of the underwear, and the researchers found that people with lactose intolerance fart much more than they think. It was a new insight in how people perceive their own
geo: Or maybe admit
joe: And a continuous way to monitor gut [00:25:00] metabolism, which could help scientists better understand gastrointestinal conditions like irritable bowel syndrome. So I thought that
geo: That is inter- I think we talked about doing a digestion
joe: We did. Yeah, I think up, I think season four we’ll have to maybe-
geo: And
maybe we can reach out to somebody at this, Yeah … digest-
Brent Hall
joe: Hall was at the University of
nick: See if we can get ourselves a pair of those underwear for all
of us.
geo: wearing those
joe: We can- … test it. we
geo: we have to do a test of that too,
I wonder if they’re comfortable.
nick: Probably not
joe: I don’t know how the sensor, how big…
I mean, you’re right. I don’t know. I didn’t see a picture of this, So maybe we gotta get some, do a little more
digging in. Research.
But no it’s fun. I mean, a lot of these sensors now, because of the size and what they can do, I mean, this just goes to how we’re really investigating interrogating our biological systems, and there was a, there was another paper.
Maybe I’ll… Nick, you said you had something related to gut? Or,
I don’t, I don’t wanna spend too much time. I mean, we’ve… It’s a, we’re getting a little long
but-
geo: this
quick. make this one quick.
nick: I’ll do a summary. [00:26:00] It’s
monkeys that are eating mud to
avoid
upset stomachs from-
tourist junk food.
joe: junk food. Oh,
wow.
geo: And
nick: so these
monkeys are in highly populated areas,
and anytime they’re eating
The chips
or the
chocolate or ice cream, whatever the tourists and locals give them,
they
end up
eating, mud to help create a barrier or get the minerals that- they need in their micro.
geo: people in their microbiome, too.
joe: Probably,
geo: a barrier or get the minerals that they need. Yeah. Interesting. Probably their microbiome too, probably. And who, and then so mud is digestible for monkeys.
joe: I
don’t know if it’s
geo: digested.
Or, or it’s just being used as a-
nick: it passes through.
geo: it’s ki- it’s kinda like dogs
eating grass, right?
When they
are, when they’re upset, like they’re stom- you notice they’ll try to eat grass
and stuff, they will. I don’t know. That’s what
it may-
nick: The,
joe: Yeah. Yeah.
No, I could see that.
nick: something that they watched for
two years. And it’s
Oh, anytime a monkey’s [00:27:00] eating that stuff, they’re eating
mud too,
and
if the ps- tourist season was lowered, they wouldn’t be eating the mud as often.
joe: Interesting.
geo: Yeah.
nick: And it was like, oh, that’s
geo: maybe, we all need to eat some mud to help us with this, our terrible diet.
joe: Your microbiome. Or
geo: Our,
terrible American diet. Is
joe: you can eat
geo: Can we eat mud?
joe: Some kombucha, yogurt, things that have, fermented foods are are what humans should eat. Don’t- … The
RevHella research does
not recommend people eating
mud. But it-
nick: actually say that humans around the world eat soil, particularly pregnant women in parts of Africa- Asia, and South America, where it is
consumed to help with naza– nausea.
joe: with nausea, Nausea, Nausea,
nick: a- and/or
to provide critical minerals.
joe: I can see the minerals.
yes. I mean,
that
part I can see.
nick: listen to Joe. Go ahead and eat some
joe: No, just don’t eat dirt,
Please Please
not eat… Yeah.
nick: of parasites [00:28:00]
joe: there’s lead.
You’re
right.
geo: It depends on where you’re getting the
mud. Yeah, probably.
joe: Right. I, just don’t…
I’m saying just don’t
go-
geo: But there’s more
research m- maybe needs to be done.
joe: Yeah.
I know.
nick: once you’re in there a little bit,
joe: I’m going to still, I’m gonna disclaim this the RevHella research.
geo: We are not condoning this, right?
joe: Random muds. But yeah,
you probably don’t,
nick: one, make your own.
joe: you, probably don’t have to freak out about it.
I know people with kids, they want them to be really clean. But I think there’s a lot of research with on the same idea about digging in dirt, being around animals, things like that helps with preventing allergies
and being allergic to different foods and different environmental factors.
So ‘
geo: ‘Cause you, ’cause it’s something about exposure. If
you’re never, if you’re never
exposed to certain things.
joe: Yeah. Especially when you’re young. I think that’s when- you really your body is still developing.
geo: depend, it really depends on where though. ‘Cause
environ- Ed
Marcus.
joe: Denmark was-
Mm-hmm
nick: sorry,
geo: I was just [00:29:00] gonna say environmentally there can be some very hazardous-
Yeah … do you know what I
mean,
joe: carcinogens,
teratogens, lead, things like that.
geo: So depending on where the kids are playing, I guess. Yeah,
If you…
Right. And And then we’re gonna have,
joe: and we’re gonna have episodes on that where we talk about different things and environmental factors.
But you’re absolutely right.
geo: What were you gonna
say?
Denmark
nick: that Denmark was switching their
plastic
parks over to
wood
parks with dirt mud-
as the bottom,
and
it’s
actually already started to improve the children’s
Health.
joe: Oh, wow. Really good. Yeah.
nick: of everything.
It’s oh, that was a really cool thing that they just- put out there
joe: that they just- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think it’s, I think it’s important, and it’s something that especially more industrialized and living in cities, you get away
from
kind of those activities, but no it’s nice. Got the garden, get the kids out digging in dirt getting a little dirty. It’s good for them. Yeah. The only other one I had, which is really [00:30:00] interesting, and this is, we’ve been running a few minis. If people go back, I think from this episode, a few minis Nick and I, we got in Georgia.
We kinda had to hash out what small meant and
from small in, in
imaging to…
Yeah. Because this is– And then the next, I think the next mini, then there was the whole newly discovered bacterial defense mechanism where it was using a protein to make DNA.
Instead of usually you go DNA to protein is what we’ve been taught, and it’s kinda dogma. And it, this system was actually doing a reverse, which is really fascinating. And there’s another discovery that’s coming out is this interstitial space. And so-
geo: three times fast.
Yes.
joe: We have two systems in our bodies that circulate fluids. One would be the lymphatic system, which kinda removes excess fluids from tissues, and that was discovered way back in 1622. And then just six years [00:31:00] later it was discovered the cardiovascular system which pumps blood through our arteries, veins, and capillaries.
So it’s these two major systems for fluids. And the idea was that these two systems are they’re not connected. Like, they act inter-independent of each other, and they go. And so it was in 2021 that some scientist researchers, they were looking at skin of people with tattoos, and they saw in the biopsies that the ink particles had traveled deeper into the body than they expected if you have two different systems.
And they said, and it was they realized that this travel was through the skin and this interstitial space beneath it. And so the space is like a connective A material that was connecting these kind of layers there. And So this was a big surprise, and it has a lot of implications for our health.
Because understanding this this kind of interstitial space it can allow pathways between organs, allowing [00:32:00] fluids, cells, molecules to move between them before reentering the lymphatic and cardiovascular system. So a space in between. And scientists are calling this large interconnected network the inner system, which is-
probably even harder to say three times. And one of the really fascinating things is that in other organisms in particular plants, which people always think are, lower and less complex than humans, but this is how, the, it’s been known that their system passing fluids and things, that they have this kind of interstitial space that functions to actually transport materials between different parts of the plant.
And so in some ways, in, in the headline was that in this is that, “I knew it, we’re all plants.” and so a lot of people are saying this interstitial space might be a primitive-
geo: seems like, so a whole- …kind of
a- It opens up a whole new area of study
joe: Indeed, it does. Yeah, so really [00:33:00] exciting.
And this space has existed , maybe through evolution, that this isn’t some new, this isn’t a new human thing. This is actually maybe a primitive system- of
geo: analogous- Just
that we didn’t
understand
joe: So really, that it was really exciting. So I like that because I think Nick’s, your whole point in that episode was have we under- do we understand everything about our, physiology and things like that and how cells work?
And I said, “No, I don’t think we do. We don’t understand everything,” and there’s still things to learn.
geo: And that’s a pretty big thing.
joe: And this is a big one, right? Our anatomy, right?
And yeah, and we’ll… And I think there’s episodes where we’re gonna touch on this later in the season, women’s health in particular.
I think we’re gonna touch on that in a few episodes and how little that research has been done in disabilities, things like that. So yeah, it’s ex-exciting and this is current, this is new, this is today. So people, And you might not have seen these stories. I’m about to link to the article.
There’s a nice New York [00:34:00] Times article about this research, and they got graphics and stuff, so I’m gonna throw that in the show notes And y’all’s can check it out you can-
nick: So, the lesson I’m learning from this is
more tattoos, right?
joe: more tattoos, right? More tattoos. That’s right. Look at tattoos and research.
geo: I mean- Yeah
joe: get more. I don’t have, I don’t have any tattoos, so maybe I have to get
a we go get a tattoo I gotta get a Rabbit Hole of Research tattoo. I know
geo: I know
nick: a place we can go. go. Let’s do it. Let’s get our Rabbit Hole of Research tattoos.
Nice.
joe: Nice.
Georgia, are you getting one?
geo: are you game? Sure.
joe: There it is. You heard it
here.
geo: already tattooing.
nick: We are
all getting
tattoos, and We will post
them online.
geo: them
joe: That’s Nice.
geo: I’m sure that, that’s gonna get people excited.
Yeah.
joe: No, this
is cool. This interstitial space is really
it’s really
neat. I really, yeah, I was fascinated by it.
Just how long. I mean, you think 16, 1622 [00:35:00] 1628,
geo: 1628
joe: that’s when the two major, systems, lymphatic and cardiovascular, was identified And
learned. And now, 400-some years later
geo: we- You find the in between …find another
joe: the in between …
geo: In between. It’s
nick: so wild.
joe: Yeah. And that’s like imaging tools. All our tools are being, you know, being developed, and the research that, that goes in, and the public funding of research leads to these types of things, which will have real health and scientific outcomes for the betterment of people.
So I think Charles that was the other thing in that episode.
geo: you can keep people-
joe: about that … and that’s right, curious and understanding
geo: understanding the world Problem-solving And,
joe: That we haven’t figured it all out. That’s the issue. People think science is at its , end.
But really we might be, you know, at our beginning in terms of what we’re learning and understanding. So, yeah.
nick: Oh, yeah. I mean, we’re still surface level.
There’s so much more.
joe: only know[00:36:00]
nick: So much.
geo: No,
joe: level. There’s so much more. Yeah. So much. No,
it’s really cool. So yeah, we’ll keep bringing you the
science
nick: The science holes.
joe: The
science holes …and yeah.
if
geo: I don’t know if there was any comments or anything that we didn’t address or- Not
joe: or- Not that I have. You had something though, from a fan, I believe.
geo: I got a nice piece of artwork from Alex, and and it’s celebrating libraries and librarians.
joe: librarians.
Yep, Which you
geo: And, yeah. So very nice, and it even says, “Georgia, you rock,”
joe: you
geo: which is so sweet. Yeah. So, yeah.
joe: Yeah. thank you.
geo: So
nick: have to post that on the
geo: I will. We’re running out of space here where Joe has,
joe: Studio?
nick: in the Basement studio …
geo: studio
joe: yep.
Yeah, cool. Yeah, this is awesome. Yeah, we’ll put a picture. We’ll post it Yeah,
fans, you got comments… you got comments, questions, episode ideas you know, send it our way. I know
Alex has … [00:37:00] We’ve gotten other questions about so many episodes and, yeah, it’s been fun joining the conversation, so we love it.
nick: Yes, thank you for commenting and talking about us to your
friends. Please continue that so We
have We, we’re, we’ll do this whether
you listen or not, but,
geo: We’re, we’ll do it so many listeners, but, you know-
Right … give you more bit more incentive.
joe: fun if you actually listen. Yep. Cool. I think that’s,
nick: Do you… Oh did you guys wanna
cover anything media that you guys have watched and consumed?
geo: Guys have been into? Yeah. We’re watch- On this one. No, you can- If you want. No we’re watching Widow’s Bay- Yeah … on Apple TV, and it’s, of course, being released once a week, so there’s only three episodes so
far. Four. or maybe Four,
nick: How do you guys like
joe: Yep.
geo: Oh, it’s so
good.
It has a
very Stephen King quality to it, like Stephen King mixed with a Twin Peaks kind of quality.
joe: And I think a couple minis ago I said The Fog ’cause it had- Yeah … that reference. But yeah- Yeah … that, that [00:38:00] kind of creepy old town secret. yeah,
geo: fun, like kind of A quirky- A lot of fun. Yeah … yeah. And
joe: in it. So no really fun.
And then we’re still in, in the middle of For All Mankind- I think we’re making our way almost to
geo: the
end
It’s almost over
joe: We finished Daredevil Reborn
geo: and- And
watched-
joe: really
geo: watched the special little,
Punisher
nick: For sure. so we got that one. The Last Kill.
joe: So that was really,
really fun.
And that’s gonna… The tease of an episode, we’re doing a disability and horror episode. That’s gonna come in the end of September with Grace Daly as our guest Bram Stoker nominee. But we’ll know by the release of the episode if she wins or not ’cause that’s in June StokerCon. But yeah, it’s it was really a great episode and I thought about when we watched, it, I was like, man, that will tether right into that episode.
So I’m sure we’ll talk about it again because it was it was a really getting-
geo: was a very emotional, very- PTSD
joe: Yep, yep, PTSD kind of,
geo: and,
joe: just dealing with that,
geo: showing [00:39:00] how smart
nick: a human he is.
joe: They humanized it really well. Yeah, so that’s kind of
digging
into that, those shows or finishing the shows.
geo: I’m reading Pachinko
nick: I’ve been
geo: and I’m sorry, but I don’t remember the author. Min Lee, I think. But it is so good. I’m only halfway through, but so really good. How about you, Nick?
nick: watching a lot of the shows that you guys
have,
the Daredevil, The
Punisher. I started
Severance.
joe: Severance. Oh, very Nice. Oh. Yeah.
Very good. yeah.
geo: How far are you in that?
nick: like two episodes.
joe: Two episodes. Okay. Very good,
geo: No, it’s really-
We
gotta do like- … really good …a whole space episode, maybe episode, maybe season four. We’re starting to think about season four if you’re listening to this.
to this,
There’s so much
there. it in for when The
nick: Backrooms comes out,
joe: comes out and- Yeah. I
don’t– Season, season- three
geo: that’s coming up next week I wanna [00:40:00] say.
joe: Yeah.
nick: No, not next week, is
joe: No, not
geo: I don’t know. I think it is, the end of
May.
joe: Yeah. Yeah.
geo: And Mandel- and
Mandalorians next week. Mandalorians. It’s so many… And then
I wanna see that- Wait
a second.
joe: Day after my birthday.
geo: I wanna
s- That’s right, Mandalorian. Yeah, you… Hint, hint.
nick: mean,
I already
said happy birthday to Joe like a
joe: What are you talking about? In your time machine. And then- … going on
nick: guys,
geo: th-
nick: don’t know what’s going on. Space and time are combining.
geo: Oh, have you seen the trailer for that movie called Obsession?
Have you seen… Oh.
nick: I know
the
writer-director ’cause he used to
do YouTube videos and shorts that were always really funny,
geo: it looks really good
nick: Yeah.
I– that’s
what I’ve heard.
geo: Yeah.
I was like, “Oh my gosh, I wanna see that.” And they did a really fun like marketing. Did you see, like they did
that-
nick: it’s
the pho- phone number for
geo: [00:41:00] ph- Phone number
for Nikki
Y- yeah Did you get my text?” And also there was this big billboard, and it starts out with, “Oh, I love you,” you know, da. And then they just keep adding like, “Did you get my text?”
And then this billboard just keeps adding more stuff to it and anyway, I think that’s, that looks like a good one too.
nick: Oh,
yeah. The those two are gonna be some heavy-hitting
horror films
for the year. Very excited for those.
joe: Yeah.
nick: but yeah.
joe: Yeah.
nick: Think, the last thing did I say I was playing Borderlands four?
joe: 4?
No, you didn’t
nick: I’ve been playing That lately,
joe: might be- Cool.
nick: And- Marvel
Cosmic Invasion,
joe: Marvel Cosmic Invasion.
nick: Is, like,
an arcade
side-scroller beat-em-up.
joe: up. Nice.
nick: of fun with
joe: My favorite. Joe, I’m
nick: Joe, I’m gonna need you to get on that.
joe: I know. I gotta do that.
I love side-scrollers,
geo: No, I gotta
do that. I love side-scrollers.
I
don’t e- I don’t even know what a side-scroller is. That’s
joe: my [00:42:00] jam.
geo: I don’t even know what that is.
But that’s okay. You don’t have to explain it
right now.
joe: now.
geo: But
also- Yeah … did you
check out another game from, not to be telling what you check out, but there was another game.
nick: Oh, the thing.
geo: thing. Yeah. The thing reboot.
nick: Being remastered. I think I actually bought Joe the original copy of that for
the PS2, I wanna say
two years ago
or so.
joe: I don’t think so.
nick: Yes, I did. I definitely did.
joe: You It must still be at your
house ’cause You didn’t get it. Really? Yeah,
it ‘
is. No, it to you man. I thought you bought it outside Fuzzy
nick: Line, ’cause I had found
joe: I’m telling the truth. You didn’t. I thought you said- you didn’t. Wait, that sound
geo: familiar, Joe … you
talked it, but I don’t have-
I don’t have- Oh. We don’t
have the, you don’t have the
c- no.
joe: no. I didn’t get it, man …
geo: you don’t have the cons- that
joe: Yeah, and
geo: console, right?
joe: somewhere. I don’t have
it. I would probably Just put it up. Yeah. No, you didn’t give it to me. It’s still at your house.
geo: somewhere. I don’t
have
nick: truck.
joe: Check my truck. yeah.
[00:43:00] I
don’t think you put it in there. It’s
geo: give it to me. It’s still at your
joe: like Santa in a
geo: might suck,
yeah.
Like a, like Jenna and the stockings. I thought I gave it to you
outside.
nick: could have sworn I gave it to you
outside of Fuzzy Line.
joe: didn’t. I
don’t think you did. Way, man.
geo: I don’t
nick: I
joe: Yeah. I don’t have it. You didn’t we’ll have to get back
to that.
nick: I
joe: Yeah,
nick: am in
a different timeline. What
joe: are, yeah. That’s
geo: I am in a different timeline You are, yeah. That’s why I’m not expecting it.
That’s why
you and me. Can I
joe: Didn’t I give it No.
Yeah. you’ll…
I mean, you come to the studio all the time. you know what’s here. It’s not here.
nick: I just assumed you never put it up.
joe: No, why would… I got all this other Thing stuff
geo: Oh,
wow. Yeah, you still have it. It’s just in your house.
house.
joe: All
right. Okay
geo: is
we’ll
have to
revisit.
joe: Yeah.
Yeah, Yeah, let’s let the fans go. What
side you
on?
nick: to
geo: to do.
joe: universe are you in?”
geo: in?
joe: [00:44:00] Nick gave Joe the Thing game, PS2 game, or Nick did not give Joe the Thing 2 game.
All
so with that, let’s, we’re gonna say goodbye.
Hope you enjoyed this Mini.
geo: Was a
Very small-
joe: Yeah, you got me.
Joe. Nick.
We got Nick.
geo: Georgia.
joe: We got Georgia.
And we went down
some
nick: And we went down
some holes.
joe: We went down many holes. Y’all stay safe, stay curious. We love
y’all.