22 February 2021

Episode 165: SoupCast!

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn, Laura, Gem, and Lauren discuss soup’s history as a religious conversion tool, the science of bone broth, and the discredited claim that bat soup was responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, then everyone attempts (and fails!) to define what, exactly, makes something a soup.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.

Souperism: Souperism (Wikipedia) | Origins of the Irish Famine term “take the soup” (Irish Central) | Edward Nangle and the Achill Island Mission (History Ireland) | Irish Potato Famine (History Channel)

Bone Broth: Dietary Collagen: Should Consumers Believe the Hype? (Today’s Dietitian Magazine) | Collagen: The Fibrous Proteins of the Matrix (NCBI Bookshelf) | What’s the scoop on bone soup? (Harvard Health) | Bone Broth vs. Stock: What’s the Difference? (Epicurious) | Bone Broth Analysis: Reader Research (alive) | Ask the Expert: What’s the Deal With Bone Broth? (Today’s Dietitian Magazine)

COVID-19 Wasn’t Caused by Bat Soup: Where did COVID come from? WHO investigation begins but faces challenges (Nature) | Covid-19: Infectious coronaviruses ‘circulating in bats for decades’ (BBC News) | How the myths surrounding bat soup came to represent our collective fear and confusion over COVID-19 (National Post) | Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Transmission (CDC)

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Posted by on 22 February 2021 in Geekery, History, Religion and tagged , , , , , .

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25 January 2021

Episode 164: Food Aid

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Laura leads the panel in a discussion of food aid, both foreign and domestic, and the ways in which the global pandemic has influenced the delivery of services.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.

International Aid: Food Aid for the Hungry? (Global Policy Forum) | Understanding food assistance (Global Affairs Canada) | Aid (Wikipedia) | When Food Isn’t the Answer to Hunger (NYT Opinionator Blog) | How Can Food Aid be More Effective? (United Nations University) | In An Email, Hillary Clinton Once Wrote: ‘Plumpy’Nut?’ Plumpy What? (NPR) | Malnutrition (WHO) | Food for Peace (Wikipedia) | U.S. International Food Assistance
Report (USDA)

Food Banks: How food banks in Canada work, and why they’re necessary (Local Love) | A Snapshot of Food Banks in Canada and the COVID-19 Crisis: Key Findings (Food Banks Canada) | Food banks call for inclusion in emergency planning, pointing to spike in demand due to COVID-19 (The Globe and Mail) | ‘The worst is yet to come’, report warns as Ontario food banks see rise in first-time users (Global News) | Toronto food banks see big increase in demand amid COVID-19 pandemic (CBC News) | Food banks provide low nutritional value: study (CBC News) | Hunger Count 2019 (Food Banks Canada) | One in seven Canadians experiencing food insecurity during the pandemic: report (CTV News) | Hey Canada, Why Don’t You Have Food Stamps?

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Posted by on 25 January 2021 in Humanism, Politics and tagged , , , , .

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25 December 2020

Episode 163: Limitless

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn, Laura, Lauren, and Gem discuss people who push their bodies to the limit, including saturation divers, ultramarathoners, mountaineers, and stratospheric skydivers.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.

Additional Music: “Friends” by Dragon Sound, “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service

Saturation Diving: The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver (Atlas Obscura) | Nutritional considerations during prolonged exposure to a confined, hyperbaric, hyperoxic environment: recommendations for saturation divers (Extreme Physiology & Medicine) | What It’s Like to be a Saturation Diver (ScubaDiving.com) | High Pressure Diving Nervous Syndrome (NCBI Bookshelf) | Saturation diving (Wikipedia) | SEALAB (Wikipedia) | Saturation diving; physiology and pathophysiology (PubMed)

Ultramarathons: 120 Minutes Over 26.2 Miles: A Statistical Approach (FloTrack.org) | The new Vaporfly NEXT% (Nike) | Eliud Kipchoge Two-Hour Nike Shoes (Runner’s World Inside Look) | What happens to your body during an ultramarathon (Washington Post) | Why ultramarathons are easier than you think (RedBull.com) | Eliud Kipchoge Marathon Strategy (Runner’s World) | The sub-2 hour marathon attempt: The pacing strategy (The Science of Sport) | Craziest Ultramarathon Races (Men’s Journal) | Barkley Marathons (Wikipedia) | Nike Vaporfly Shoes Controversy (NPR) | LZR Racer (Wikipedia)

Such Great Heights: 14 Fast Facts about Mount Everest (The Explorer’s Passage) | There Are Over 200 Bodies on Mount Everest, And They’re Used as Landmarks (Smithsonian Magazine) | Climbing Mount Everest, explained (National Geographic) | Edmund Hillary (Wikipedia) | Tenzing Norgay (Wikipedia) | Tourism, Waste, and the Effects of Climate Change on Everest (National Geographic) | The Problem (Mount Everest Biogas Project) | Reinhold Messner (Wikipedia) | Peter Habeler (Wikipedia) | Mountaineering (Wikipedia) | Interview with Climbers About Reaching Mount Everest Summit Without Oxygen (National Geographic) | Norton Couloir (Wikipedia) | Astronauts Hail Skydiver Felix Baumgartner’s Record-Breaking Supersonic Jump (Space) | Alan Eustace Jumps From Stratosphere, Breaking Felix Baumgartner’s World Record (The New York Times) | Space diving (Wikipedia) | Red Bull Stratos (Wikipedia) | World’s Highest Skydive! Daredevil Felix Baumgartner Makes Record-Breaking Supersonic ‘Space Jump’ (Space) | Skydiving From the Edge of Space (The Atlantic) | All About Stratosphere Jumps (Skydive Taft) | Ask the Captain: Highest altitudes for planes (USA Today) | The Composition of the Stratosphere (Encyklopedia klimatologiczna) | Helium shortage: Why the world’s supply is drying up (CNBC)

Something Nice: Whoops! We forgot to actually say the name of the show that Ashlyn recommended (or maybe I accidentally cut it out)! It’s called Taskmaster.

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Posted by on 25 December 2020 in Geekery, Medicine, Science and tagged , , , , , .

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23 November 2020

Episode 162: Nutrition Myths

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Laura leads the panel on a discussion of several nutrition myths that just won’t die. Topics include expiry dates, nightshades, and pink salt.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.

Expiry Dates: Expiration Dates Don’t Mean What You Think (Adam Ruins Everything) | This man ate ‘expired’ food for a year. Here’s why expiration dates are practically meaningless. (The Washington Post) | Is Your Food Expired? Don’t Be So Quick to Toss It (TIME) | Date labelling on pre-packaged foods (Canadian Food Inspection Agency)

Nightshades: Are Nightshades Bad for You? Not If You’re Healthy (Vice) | What are dietary lectins and should you avoid eating them? (Mayo Clinic) | Solanaceae (Wikipedia)

Pink Salt: Stabilization of iodine in salt and other feed materials (Wisconsin) | An Analysis of the Mineral Composition of Pink Salt Available in Australia (Nutrition Research Australia) | Chemical Composition of Table Salt (ThoughtCo) | Sodium: Dietary Reference Intakes for Adequacy (NCBI Bookshelf)

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Posted by on 23 November 2020 in Medicine, Science and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

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19 October 2020

Episode 161: Prophecy

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn, Laura, and Lauren lead Gem on a whirlwind tour of various prophecies and prophets, including the caged prophet of St. Lambert’s Church, the Prophecy of the Popes, and blind soothsayer who supposedly predicted that Trump would get COVID-19.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.

Correction: The Superior General of the Jesuits is called the “Black Pope”, not the “Dark Pope”. Oh well.

St. Lambert’s Church: Why 3 Man-Sized Cages Hang From a Medieval German Church Steeple (Mental Floss) | Anabaptist (Britannica) | Reformation Apocalypticism: Münster’s Monster (Christian History Magazine)

The Prophecy of the Popes: Prophecy of the Popes (Wikipedia) | Saint Malachy (Wikipedia) | Vatican Apostolic Archive (Wikipedia) | Arnold Wyon (Wikipedia) | Pope Francis will be last Pontiff Irish saint predicted (IrishCentral.com) | Top 10 Prophecies You Don’t Know (Listverse) | Martin Luther (Wikipedia) | Avignon Papacy (Wikipedia) | The Western Schism (Western Civilization) | Western Schism (Wikipedia) | Girolamo Simoncelli (Wikipedia)

Baba Vanga: Baba Vanga (Wikipedia) | Fair warning: Bulgarian prophet predicted Obama would be last U.S. president (The Washington Post) | Blind mystic Baba Vanga’s poignant message to world days before she died (Mirror Online) | Blind mystic Baba Vanga predicted Donald Trump’s coronavirus plight, claim fans (Mirror Online) | Blind mystic Baba Vanga ‘predicted Donald Trump’s coronavirus battle’ after saying ‘president will get sick in 2020’ (The Sun)

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Posted by on 19 October 2020 in History, Religion, Skepticism and tagged , , , , , , .

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