Do our dogs really understand us when we talk to them? Or do they just hear us and think “that is a terrible sounding bark”? Alex gets us indistinguishably closer to the answer by discussing methods used by researchers to study the cognitive abilities of animals. Bryan tries to convince everyone that Göbekli Tepe represents a lost human civilization that if true, would upend the currently accepted timeline of our ancestors.
Read moreWandering Barycenter EP34 - Social Experiments & Pets
What if we all got got 50k a year for nothing? Well not all of us, only a few. Think that would go over well? Bryan and Alex suspect not so much. Alex explores what drives us to keep a such a wide variety of pets and how those relationships might have come to be… what’s the deal with keeping fish anyway?
Read moreWandering Barycenter EP31 - NCA4 & Big Data
Did you miss the quiet release of the latest climate assessment? Not to worry! Alex covers the basics of what you need to know. Bryan untangles the complicated web of big data and machine learning.
Read moreWandering Barycenter EP27 - Cereal & Truffles
Alex takes a nostalgic walk down the cereal isle to examine the current state of the market and relive some of cereal’s greatest moments. Bryan investigates the highly competitive and sometimes dangerous world of the truffle trade.
Read moreWandering Barycenter EP26 - Weather Manipulation & Left vs Right Brain
Bryan hails the modern history of man’s attempt to control the weather. Has our desire to dominate our surroundings (and others) resulted in successfully manipulating the weather on command? Equally questionable is the potential left/right bias of the human brain. Do you feel you’re more analytical or creative? Alex splits this user suggested theory in half for the second topic this week.
Read moreWandering Barycenter EP24 - Volcanoes & Chicken
Bryan examines the unpredictable and powerful nature of volcanoes. Krakatoa features as the main antagonist as we explore some of the impacts a major eruption can have. Alex goes beyond the coop with a fan requested topic to find out which chicken to buy and why.
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