Is there any evidence-based reason cannibalism shouldn’t make a comeback? It’s a question that really should come with a warning label, but we couldn’t resist digging into it properly this week.

We’ve got researchers running the numbers on human-eating, rats in MRI “snuggle sacks” while tripping on mescaline, ants living their best fake-queen lives thanks to a tapeworm, and an eel story that is both medically relevant and spiritually scarring.

We also take a quick detour into the delicate art of scanning animal brains without turning the whole experiment into a panic response, plus a reminder that humans have always been weird about big animals (including the time people could literally walk into a whale’s mouth, until they ruined it for everyone).

So that’s the week: cannibalism analysed like a spreadsheet problem, parasites cosplaying queens, and a cautionary tale that should permanently retire “DIY constipation remedies” as a concept. Stay curious, stay critical, and for the love of all that is holy, keep the eels in the water.

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 Introduction

00:28 Should We Be Cannibals?

02:43 Math Model Approach

04:11 Disease Chain Risks

05:42 Kuru And Prions

07:19 Limits And Social Payoffs

08:34 Anthropic: Rare Books AI Scanning

10:53 Destroying Books To Digitise

14:59 Mescaline Rats In MRI

20:52 Rats Head Posts Training

22:36 Other Species Training

24:57 Malm Blue Whale Exhibit

30:10 Cordyceps Ant Zombies

31:01 Tapeworm Queen Ants

34:58 Orcas Fear Pilot Whales

35:46 Eel Medical Oddity

SOURCES:

• https://www.bnr.nl/nieuws/tech-innovatie/10604219/tweedehandsboekverkopers-slaan-alarm-ai-bedrijven-kopen-obscure-boeken-op-om-te-versnipperen
• https://esawebb.org/
• https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2607.09460
• https://www.sciencealert.com/thermodynamics
• https://www.sciencealert.com/amazing-footage-shows-how-eels-escape-death-after-being-swallowed
• https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijscr.2024.110401
• https://doi.org/10.1016/S0039-6060(03)00076-X
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmoid_colon
• https://www.sciencealert.com/why-you-dont-faint-every-time-you-stand-even-though-you-should
• https://www.sciencealert.com/harmful-bacteria-can-trigger-pain-in-your-gut-and-now-we-know-how
• https://bsky.app/profile/jordantyranny.bsky.social/post/3mrsiprbgac2k
• https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/33/gronberg_magnusson.php
• https://www.404media.co/ai-companies-are-buying-tons-of-old-books-because-theyre-free-of-ai-slop/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter

• https://www.sciencealert.com/mathematics-reveals-why-human-cannibalism-keeps-reappearing

• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9017993/

• https://www.sciencealert.com/a-hallucinogenic-compound-found-in-cacti-may-rewire-the-brains-sensory-filter

• https://www.sciencealert.com/a-wild-parasite-makes-ants-live-longer-and-tricks-others-into-worshipping-them-scientists-finally-know-how