Stuff To Blow Your Mind

Due to a strange combination of nature and nurture, some children unfortunately develop into murderers. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian try to understand what causes juvenile homicide, how likely it is and whether these offenders may kill again. Through studies in psychopathy and neuroscience we're looking for an answer to the scariest question: Could my child be a killer? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the form of recreational ecstasy, the psychoactive drug MDMA carries with it a stigma of wide-eyed ravers, free love and counterculture pharmacological spirituality. But beyond its cultural legacy, MDMA offers a potent therapeutic tool for doctors and therapists -- if we can only unravel its mysteries. Join Robert and Christian for a look at past and current studies into the healing properties of this powerful substance. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some of you have tried the ecstasy. Others have merely heard about the drug on a TV sitcom, or heard about it in a news report. Either way, MDMA's power resonates through our culture -- and sometimes it's hard to distinguish the truth form the misinformation. But what exactly is this psychoactive agent? Where does it come from and what sort of effect does it have on the human experience? Join Robert and Christian as they explore the origins and properties of MDMA. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In their previous episode, Robert and Joe explored the geometric hallucinations of Tetris syndrome. Now they're back for a serious look at the ways in which a good dose of cascading, interlocking tetrominoes might just cure what ails ya -- from lazy eye to full-blown post-traumatic stress disorder. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To play a game of "Tetris" is to invite a geometric invasion into your mind. After hours of intense block manipulation, you finally set aside your gaming device. You take a deep breath, close your eyes -- and there the frenzied, multicolored tetrominoes continue to cascade across your vision. They build walls in your dreams and shape the patterns of your very thought. What's going on inside the mind of a "Tetris" player and what can we learn from so-called "Tetris" syndrome. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe explore. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Thanksgiving in the United States, so Robert, Joe and Christian dine with their devoted mailbot Karnie to consider a selection of Stuff to Blow Your Mind listener mail related to recent episodes. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unless you've lived your life in a childless fortress of seclusion, you've likely encountered the maddening, high-pitched whine of a complaining child. But what is whining? Is it universal? Why is it so annoying and just what's being communicated between parent and child? In this episode of the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast, Robert and Joe explore. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We tend to think of mummification as either an environmental event or a mortuary act perpetrated by others, but mummification can also occur as an act of ritualized self destruction. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian consider the Sokushinbutsu of Japan, who once engaged in a process of ascetic self mummification that spanned years of extreme body modification. Their purpose? To travel through time... Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may call it "rods from god," project Thor" or a glorious "hypervelocity rod bundle," but this theoretical space weapon comes down to one devastating reality: A space-empowered nation's ability to raise a 20-foot tungsten rod up into orbit and then drop it on an enemy target with mass-accelerated force. No bombs, no lasers, just pure reentry power. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian explore the feasibility of rod-based warfare. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each year, the Ig Nobel prizes honor the weirdest and wackiest contributions to humanity's scientific understanding of the natural world. In this pair of Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast episodes, Robert, Joe and Christian unpack each of this year's winners. In this episode, explore the wonders of dinosaur chickens, medicinal speed bumps, passionate kisses, dino chickens, Moulay Ismael the Bloodthirsty and the sting index. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.