We Have Concerns

A research lab has apparently created a healthy seaweed superfood that tastes like bacon! ... Yeah, that sounds like total marketing speak to us, too. Anthony and Jeff discuss the whole concept of twisting marketing health and wellness to people and the science news community's tendency to jump on a catchy headline. Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns And here’s the Stitcher link: http://bit.ly/stitcherwhc Today's story was submitted by Sean Williams. OSU researchers discover the unicorn – seaweed that tastes like bacon! Thanks, Sean! If you want to submit a story, email it to wehaveconcernsshow@gmail.com or our subreddit! Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Support the show and get bonus episodes, videos, Discord community access and more! http://patreon.com/wehaveconcernsJeff on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffcannata.bsky.socialAnthony on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/acarboni.bsky.social

We talk a lot about whether we can trust robots, but can robots trust us? HitchBOT was a robot on a goodwill tour of the world, depending on the kindness of strangers to get from one end of a country to the other. After successful tours of Canada and various parts of Europe, it came to the US. We killed it. We killed it good. What does this say about the US? What about the future of AI? GET SOME WE HAVE CONCERNS SHIRTS: http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Submit a story! Email wehaveconcernsshow@gmail.com or visit our subreddit Today's story was submitted by literally everyone on the planet. HitchBOT Homepage HitchBOT, the hitchhiking robot, gets beheaded in Philadelphia HitchBOT Was A Literal Pile Of Trash And Got What It Deserved Here's Video of the Jerk Who Killed hitchBOT (Update: It's a Hoax) Support the show and get bonus episodes, videos, Discord community access and more! http://patreon.com/wehaveconcernsJeff on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffcannata.bsky.socialAnthony on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/acarboni.bsky.social

Presidential Candidate Zoltan Istvan is raising money to tour the country in a bus that looks like a coffin to promote the Transhumanism philosophy of immortality. Has there ever been a political stance more perfect for Anthony and Jeff? Use technology to defeat human frailty, force the public to confront their own mortality, and maybe even work some time in for Volcano Boarding. This is how you earn the We Have Concerns endorsement. We Have Concerns is entirely listener supported! To keep us ad-free and get early episodes/bonus content, check out our Patreon: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns And here’s the Stitcher link: http://bit.ly/stitcherwhc Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Today’s story was sent in by atomlinson89: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/immortality-bus-with-presidential-candidate-zoltan#/story If you’ve seen a story you think belongs on the show, send it to wehaveconcernsshow@gmail.com or leave it on the subreddit: http://reddit.com/r/wehaveconcerns Support the show and get bonus episodes, videos, Discord community access and more! http://patreon.com/wehaveconcernsJeff on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffcannata.bsky.socialAnthony on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/acarboni.bsky.social

In this episode, recorded in front of a live audience at the NerdMelt Showroom in Los Angeles, Anthony and Jeff wrestle with their feelings after seeing the results of an experimental Chinese medial procedure. A factory worker in the Hunan province would have lost his hand after it was sliced off in an industrial accident - if not for the fact that surgeons re-attached it to his leg and allowed it to live there for a month while his wound healed enough for it to be grafted back onto his arm. It is a disturbing image, but is it a reassuring concept? We Have Concerns is entirely listener supported! To keep us ad-free and get early episodes/bonus content, check out our Patreon: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns And here’s the Stitcher link: http://bit.ly/stitcherwhc Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Today’s story was sent in by Adrian Gonzales: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/surgeons-successfully-graft-hand-patients-leg-again If you’ve seen a story you think belongs on the show, send it to wehaveconcernsshow@gmail.com or leave it on the subreddit: http://reddit.com/r/wehaveconcerns Support the show and get bonus episodes, videos, Discord community access and more! http://patreon.com/wehaveconcernsJeff on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffcannata.bsky.socialAnthony on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/acarboni.bsky.social

Sonja Lang has created the world's smallest functional language. Her creation, Toki Pona, contains only 123 total words, and holds simplicity as its highest ideal. Jeff is enamored by language and charmed by the idea of designing one from scratch to fulfill a specific aesthetic, while Anthony is frustrated by the lack of nuance and potential for confusion. Together, they attempt to communicate what makes for great communication. We Have Concerns is entirely listener supported! To keep us ad-free and get early episodes/bonus content, check out our Patreon: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns And here’s the Stitcher link: http://bit.ly/stitcherwhc Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Today’s story was submitted by Joan: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/toki-pona-smallest-language/398363/ If you’ve seen a story you think belongs on the show, send it to wehaveconcernsshow@gmail.com or leave it on the subreddit: http://reddit.com/r/wehaveconcerns Support the show and get bonus episodes, videos, Discord community access and more! http://patreon.com/wehaveconcernsJeff on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffcannata.bsky.socialAnthony on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/acarboni.bsky.social

For the last ten years, a man in the UK has been waking up every day thinking it is March 14th 2005, the day he was scheduled to receive a root canal. Anthony and Jeff think this sounds like something out of a romantic comedy, but stop to consider what it might actually be like for the man and his family. Could it ever be a good thing? We Have Concerns is entirely listener supported! To keep us ad-free and get early episodes/bonus content, check out our Patreon: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns And here’s the Stitcher link: http://bit.ly/stitcherwhc Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Today’s story was submitted by PowderblueKes: http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com//news/world/reverse-groundhog-day-u-k-man-wakes-up-every-day-thinking-its-march-14-2005-and-doctors-have-no-idea-why If you’ve seen a story you think belongs on the show, send it to wehaveconcernsshow@gmail.com or leave it on the subreddit: http://reddit.com/r/wehaveconcerns Support the show and get bonus episodes, videos, Discord community access and more! http://patreon.com/wehaveconcernsJeff on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffcannata.bsky.socialAnthony on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/acarboni.bsky.social

A hotel has opened in Japan that is staffed almost entirely by robots. While this does seem like a cheap gimmick to Anthony and Jeff, they are still intrigued by the idea, and imagine what staying in such a place must be like. We Have Concerns is entirely listener supported! To keep us ad-free and get early episodes/bonus content, check out our Patreon: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns And here’s the Stitcher link: http://bit.ly/stitcherwhc Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Today’s story was submitted by Vrbatim: http://www.engadget.com/2015/07/15/japans-first-robot-staffed-hotel/ If you’ve seen a story you think belongs on the show, send it to wehaveconcernsshow@gmail.com or leave it on the subreddit: http://reddit.com/r/wehaveconcerns Support the show and get bonus episodes, videos, Discord community access and more! http://patreon.com/wehaveconcernsJeff on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffcannata.bsky.socialAnthony on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/acarboni.bsky.social

A company in the Netherlands is teaming up with the city of Rotterdam to introduce pre-fab roads made from recycled plastics, which will eliminate the harmful emissions that result from asphalt, and allow for simple installation and removal. Jeff and Anthony, of course, can't help but think of Lego bricks, and wonder what other problems giant toys could solve. We Have Concerns is entirely listener supported! To keep us ad-free and get early episodes/bonus content, check out our Patreon: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns And here’s the Stitcher link: http://bit.ly/stitcherwhc Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Today’s story was submitted by Kelly Zanylo: http://gizmodo.com/this-company-wants-to-test-plastic-roads-that-can-be-ma-1717475902 If you’ve seen a story you think belongs on the show, send it to wehaveconcernsshow@gmail.com or leave it on the subreddit: http://reddit.com/r/wehaveconcerns Support the show and get bonus episodes, videos, Discord community access and more! http://patreon.com/wehaveconcernsJeff on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffcannata.bsky.socialAnthony on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/acarboni.bsky.social

Scientists have linked together the brains of monkeys to collectively control the movements of an artificial arm, proving that connected brains can cooperate to solve problems. Further, a separate study linked brains of rats together to combine isolated data, effectively creating one larger, more capable super-brain. Jeff and Anthony certainly don't see any issues with the beginning of rat super-brains generated out of armies of linked rat minds. Nothing can go wrong with that, so... no concerns in this episode! We Have Concerns is entirely listener supported! To keep us ad-free and get early episodes/bonus content, check out our Patreon: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns And here’s the Stitcher link: http://bit.ly/stitcherwhc Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Today’s story was submitted by many people, including Donald Thompson and Nathan Gregerson: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jul/09/monkey-brain-net-raises-prospect-of-human-brain-to-brain-connection If you’ve seen a story you think belongs on the show, send it to wehaveconcernsshow@gmail.com or leave it on the subreddit: http://reddit.com/r/wehaveconcerns Support the show and get bonus episodes, videos, Discord community access and more! http://patreon.com/wehaveconcernsJeff on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffcannata.bsky.socialAnthony on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/acarboni.bsky.social

A new paper, published in the Journal of Sensory Studies, attempts to categorize different kinds of picky eaters, in an effort to help parents better deal with their kids at mealtime. Jeff and Anthony take a look at the various categories and confess which flavor of persnickety snacker they were... and still may be. We Have Concerns is entirely listener supported! To keep us ad-free and get early episodes/bonus content, check out our Patreon: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns And here’s the Stitcher link: http://bit.ly/stitcherwhc Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Today’s story: http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/06/scientists-try-to-figure-out-picky-eating-kids.html If you’ve seen a story you think belongs on the show, send it to wehaveconcernsshow@gmail.com or leave it on the subreddit: http://reddit.com/r/wehaveconcerns Support the show and get bonus episodes, videos, Discord community access and more! http://patreon.com/wehaveconcernsJeff on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffcannata.bsky.socialAnthony on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/acarboni.bsky.social