It’s pretty natural for humans to gravitate towards the most attractive person in the room. But do animals do it too? At Stockholm University, researchers decided to see if chickens could spot a hottie. They trained these birds to peck at faces on a screen and found that chickens prefer the same facial features that humans rate as attractive. Apparently, hotness isn’t just a matter of human opinion. Even a chicken can pick out a looker. Does that make us RSPCA approved?

Accidentally Breaking a Video Game World Record

In 2007, Billy Baker started writing a book about jugglers. At the time,  there was a controversial movement to turn the performance art of juggling into a competitive sport but this story isn’t about juggling. It’s about video games. During his research, Baker’s curiosity led him from online juggling forums down the rabbit hole of video games where he learned the world record of Tetris stood at 327 lines. Here’s the twist…his own wife easily scored up to 500 or 600 lines on her old Game Boy at home. She was just casually breaking a video game world record without even knowing.

Jackalopes: When Myth Meets Mutation

You’ve heard of the jackalope, right? That legendary rabbit with antelope horns. Turns out, they might just be real. Back in 1933, virologist Richard Shope discovered a virus that causes rabbits to grow cancerous horn-like growths all over their face. Suddenly, the jackalope isn’t just a campfire story. What if the tales we’ve written off to be myths were actually sightings of cancerous rabbits? 

 

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Theories of Physical Attractiveness

02:29 Chickens and Human Hotness

06:27 Juggling and Competitive Sports

07:46 Speedrunning Super Mario Brothers

10:37 Cryptozoology and Mythical Creatures

11:47 The Jackalope: America's Mythical Creature

12:15 Historical References to Horned Rabbits

14:38 The Shope Papilloma Virus Discovery

17:08 Modern Day Jackalope Sightings

 

SOURCES:

'Bizarro World’: That's what my wife and I entered when we drove up to an arcade in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, where she would attempt to break an official world record in the classic video game Tetris.

Ghirlanda S, Jansson L, Enquist M. Chickens prefer beautiful humans. Hum Nat. 2002 Sep;13(3):383-9. doi: 10.1007/s12110-002-1021-6. PMID: 26192929.

INFECTIOUS PAPILLOMATOSIS OF RABBITS

It&rsquo;s pretty natural for humans to gravitate towards the most attractive person in the room. But do animals do it too? At Stockholm University, researchers decided to see if chickens could spot a hottie. They trained these birds to peck at faces on a screen and found that chickens prefer the same facial features that humans rate as attractive. Apparently, hotness isn&rsquo;t just a matter of human opinion. Even a chicken can pick out a looker. Does that make us RSPCA approved?
Accidentally Breaking a Video Game World Record
In 2007, Billy Baker started writing a book about jugglers. At the time,  there was a controversial movement to turn the performance art of juggling into a competitive sport but this story isn&rsquo;t about juggling. It&rsquo;s about video games. During his research, Baker&rsquo;s curiosity led him from online juggling forums down the rabbit hole of video games where he learned the world record of Tetris stood at 327 lines. Here&rsquo;s the twist&hellip;his own wife easily scored up to 500 or 600 lines on her old Game Boy at home. She was just casually breaking a video game world record without even knowing.
Jackalopes: When Myth Meets Mutation
You&rsquo;ve heard of the jackalope, right? That legendary rabbit with antelope horns. Turns out, they might just be real. Back in 1933, virologist Richard Shope discovered a virus that causes rabbits to grow cancerous horn-like growths all over their face. Suddenly, the jackalope isn&rsquo;t just a campfire story. What if the tales we&rsquo;ve written off to be myths were actually sightings of cancerous rabbits?&nbsp;
&nbsp;
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Theories of Physical Attractiveness
02:29 Chickens and Human Hotness
06:27 Juggling and Competitive Sports
07:46 Speedrunning Super Mario Brothers
10:37 Cryptozoology and Mythical Creatures
11:47 The Jackalope: America's Mythical Creature
12:15 Historical References to Horned Rabbits
14:38 The Shope Papilloma Virus Discovery
17:08 Modern Day Jackalope Sightings
&nbsp;
SOURCES:
<a href="https://archive.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2007/08/19/bizarro_world/">'Bizarro World&rsquo;: That's what my wife and I entered when we drove up to an arcade in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, where she would attempt to break an official world record in the classic video game Tetris.</a>
<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26192929/">Ghirlanda S, Jansson L, Enquist M. Chickens prefer beautiful humans. Hum Nat. 2002 Sep;13(3):383-9. doi: 10.1007/s12110-002-1021-6. PMID: 26192929.</a>
<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2132321/">INFECTIOUS PAPILLOMATOSIS OF RABBITS</a>

From tales of historical idiocracy and scientific genius to weird and wacky cultural phenomena, Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant are here to take you on a wild conversational journey, deep diving into the crevices of science, history and culture that you never knew existed. 

From tales of historical idiocracy and scientific genius to weird and wacky cultural phenomena, Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant are here to take you on a wild conversational journey, deep diving into the crevices of science, history and culture that you never knew existed.

Bizarre science history from academics with beers

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