Welcome to part 5 of Life in a Herd! 

In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking the bodies of our modern world into the river. In this episode we talk with Associate Professor Cynthia Webster, from the Department of Marketing and Management at Macquarie University.

Enjoy!

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts (@rodl) and Dr Will Grant (@willozap), proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (@ANU_CPAS)! This series has been produced with some research funding for a studentship from The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre.

Welcome to part 5 of Life in a Herd! In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking the bodies of our modern world into the river. In this episode we talk with Associate Professor Cynthia Webster, from the Department of Marketing and Management at Macquarie University. Enjoy! The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts (@rodl) and Dr Will Grant (@willozap), proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (@ANU_CPAS)! This series has been produced with some research funding for a studentship from The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre.

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

A Little Bit Of Science

Welcome to part 5 of Life in a Herd! 

In this se…

Life in a Herd Part 5 - Let's Make Health Cool (Ironically) with Cynthia Webster

A Rome-based research team discovered poetry can jailbreak AI systems by bypassing safety filters that normal prompts can't crack, making verse a genuine cybersecurity vulnerability. Medieval physicians believed flatulent foods like beans and onions were aphrodisiacs because intestinal gas supposedly enhanced sexual performance, Palmer Luckey, the tech billionaire behind Oculus, now advocates for submarines that tunnel through Earth's crust for national defense, while a Dublin man contracted penile tuberculosis from working with deer in a rarely documented case of genital TB.

Poetry defeats AI security by exploiting how language models process poetic structure, proving Aristotle's warnings about poets in governance were surprisingly futuristic. Medieval fart-based aphrodisiacs never worked but show humanity's eternal optimism for simple bedroom solutions, while Luckey's crust-submarine idea sounds insane until you remember he actually made VR mainstream. The Dublin TB case demonstrates that tuberculosis can infect any body part and that working with animals carries risks nobody considers - including your genitals contracting lung diseases.

The biggest threats to AI are poets, the worst aphrodisiacs involved intestinal wind, crust submarines might actually happen, and deer can give you dick tuberculosis. Science is weird, history is weirder, and Palmer Luckey wants to make it weirder still.

 

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

02:07 Plato's Republic and AI Poetry

03:54 The Power of Poetry in AI

07:59 Historical Aphrodisiacs and Fertility

19:01 Simultaneous Orgasms and Farting

19:36 Windy Meats and Fertility Myths

24:19 Palmer Luckey and Virtual Reality

31:00 Penile Tuberculosis: A Rare Case

36:50 Smart Toilets and Privacy Concerns





SOURCES:

‘End-to-end encrypted’ smart toilet camera is not actually end-to-end encrypted

Scientists Discover “Universal” Jailbreak for Nearly Every AI, and the Way It Works Will Hurt Your Brain

Adversarial Poetry as a Universal Single-Turn Jailbreak Mechanism in Large Language Models

Palmer Luckey on the Future of Warfare

Beans, ale & 'windy meats': surprising 17th-century aphrodisiac

When Beans were the Food of Lust

Why you don’t want to get tuberculosis on your penis

A Rome-based research team discovered poetry can jailbreak AI systems by bypassing safety filters that normal prompts can't crack, making verse a genuine cybersecurity vulnerability. Medieval physicians believed flatulent foods like beans and onions were aphrodisiacs because intestinal gas supposedly enhanced sexual performance, Palmer Luckey, the tech billionaire behind Oculus, now advocates for submarines that tunnel through Earth's crust for national defense, while a Dublin man contracted penile tuberculosis from working with deer in a rarely documented case of genital TB.
Poetry defeats AI security by exploiting how language models process poetic structure, proving Aristotle's warnings about poets in governance were surprisingly futuristic. Medieval fart-based aphrodisiacs never worked but show humanity's eternal optimism for simple bedroom solutions, while Luckey's crust-submarine idea sounds insane until you remember he actually made VR mainstream. The Dublin TB case demonstrates that tuberculosis can infect any body part and that working with animals carries risks nobody considers - including your genitals contracting lung diseases.
The biggest threats to AI are poets, the worst aphrodisiacs involved intestinal wind, crust submarines might actually happen, and deer can give you dick tuberculosis. Science is weird, history is weirder, and Palmer Luckey wants to make it weirder still.
&nbsp;
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction
02:07 Plato's Republic and AI Poetry
03:54 The Power of Poetry in AI
07:59 Historical Aphrodisiacs and Fertility
19:01 Simultaneous Orgasms and Farting
19:36 Windy Meats and Fertility Myths
24:19 Palmer Luckey and Virtual Reality
31:00 Penile Tuberculosis: A Rare Case
36:50 Smart Toilets and Privacy Concerns
 
SOURCES:
<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/03/end-to-end-encrypted-smart-toilet-camera-is-not-actually-end-to-end-encrypted/">&lsquo;End-to-end encrypted&rsquo; smart toilet camera is not actually end-to-end encrypted</a>
<a href="http://google.com/url?sa=D&amp;q=https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/universal-jailbreak-ai-poems%3Futm_social_handle_id%3D2557446343%26utm_social_post_id%3D611990555%26utm_source%3Dwww.garbageday.email%26utm_medium%3Dnewsletter%26utm_campaign%3Dthe-cozy-living-room-meltdown%26_bhlid%3Db734a51604080ce74827d99b11c625c6045c84a5&amp;ust=1765336260000000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0A9FRJ828QQ9-HCmcGeaFq&amp;hl=en">Scientists Discover &ldquo;Universal&rdquo; Jailbreak for Nearly Every AI, and the Way It Works Will Hurt Your Brain</a>
<a href="https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1">Adversarial Poetry as a Universal Single-Turn Jailbreak Mechanism in Large Language Models</a>
<a href="https://x.com/omnishwin/status/1996301434611220705">Palmer Luckey on the Future of Warfare</a>
<a href="https://www.historyextra.com/membership/beans-pulses-what-food-aphrodisiac-17th-century/">Beans, ale &amp; 'windy meats': surprising 17th-century aphrodisiac</a>
<a href="https://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/en/publications/when-beans-were-the-food-of-lust/">When Beans were the Food of Lust</a>
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/11/why-you-dont-want-to-get-tuberculosis-on-your-penis/">Why you don&rsquo;t want to get tuberculosis on your penis</a>

Poetry for AI Hacking, Flatulent Foods as Aphrodisiacs and Penile Tuberculosis

Sika deer on Japan's Yakushima Island let macaque monkeys groom them in exchange for food scraps and sexual mounting, creating what scientists awkwardly call "interspecies sexual behaviour with mutual benefits."

Nederland, Colorado hosts annual "Frozen Dead Guy Day" festivals celebrating Bredo Morstoel, whose body has been preserved in a shed on dry ice for decades after his grandson's cryogenic dreams failed.

Brazilian Butt Lifts cause "BBL smell" - a rancid odour from fat necrosis when transferred fat cells die and rot inside the body, which surgeons rarely mention before surgery.

Milan researchers found commuters offered seats to pregnant women more often when Batman was on the train, proving superhero costumes trigger prosocial behaviour because nobody wants to look bad in front of Batman.

AI-generated recipes tell people to bake cakes for days and combine impossible ingredients, confidently presenting unworkable instructions that ruin dinner.

Chinese researchers discovered rock, paper, scissors players stick with winning choices or switch after losses, revealing predictable patterns that can be exploited.

From deer trading sex for grooming to frozen dead guy festivals and butt lifts that smell like death - nature is uncomfortable, humans are weird and technology can't cook. Maybe stick to human recipes, don’t try to freeze Grandpa and think twice before committing to a bouncy-butt medical procedure. 





CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:35 Interspecies Sexual Mutualism

01:24 Unexpected Observations: Monkeys and Deer

06:15 Frozen Dead Guy: A Bizarre Tale of Cryogenics

14:03 Batman and Prosocial Behavior

20:20 Hilarious AI-Generated Food Recipes

30:39 The Ultimate Rock, Paper, Scissors Strategy

33:54 The Dark Side of Plastic Surgery

39:59 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

 

SOURCES:

Rock, Paper Scissors Study 

Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/thanksgiving-dinner-ai-recipes-slop

https://www.aiweirdness.com/ai-recipes-are-bad-and-a-proposal-20-01-31/

https://www.aiweirdness.com/the-neural-network-has-weird-ideas-16-03-05/?ref=aiweirdness.com

https://aiweirdness.tumblr.com/post/190721709472/ai-vintage-american-cooking-a-combination-that?ref=aiweirdness.com

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/macaque-monkey-deer-mate-sex-ride

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a60887514/diy-cryonics-frozen-dead-guy/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Dead_Guy_Days

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bbl-smell-is-real-and-just-as-gross-as-it-sounds/

https://plasticsurgery.org.au/procedures/surgical-procedures/buttocks-lift/

Sika deer on Japan's Yakushima Island let macaque monkeys groom them in exchange for food scraps and sexual mounting, creating what scientists awkwardly call "interspecies sexual behaviour with mutual benefits."
Nederland, Colorado hosts annual "Frozen Dead Guy Day" festivals celebrating Bredo Morstoel, whose body has been preserved in a shed on dry ice for decades after his grandson's cryogenic dreams failed.
Brazilian Butt Lifts cause "BBL smell" - a rancid odour from fat necrosis when transferred fat cells die and rot inside the body, which surgeons rarely mention before surgery.
Milan researchers found commuters offered seats to pregnant women more often when Batman was on the train, proving superhero costumes trigger prosocial behaviour because nobody wants to look bad in front of Batman.
AI-generated recipes tell people to bake cakes for days and combine impossible ingredients, confidently presenting unworkable instructions that ruin dinner.
Chinese researchers discovered rock, paper, scissors players stick with winning choices or switch after losses, revealing predictable patterns that can be exploited.
From deer trading sex for grooming to frozen dead guy festivals and butt lifts that smell like death - nature is uncomfortable, humans are weird and technology can't cook. Maybe stick to human recipes, don&rsquo;t try to freeze Grandpa and think twice before committing to a bouncy-butt medical procedure.&nbsp;
 
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction
00:35 Interspecies Sexual Mutualism
01:24 Unexpected Observations: Monkeys and Deer
06:15 Frozen Dead Guy: A Bizarre Tale of Cryogenics
14:03 Batman and Prosocial Behavior
20:20 Hilarious AI-Generated Food Recipes
30:39 The Ultimate Rock, Paper, Scissors Strategy
33:54 The Dark Side of Plastic Surgery
39:59 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
&nbsp;
SOURCES:
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2014/05/win-at-rock-paper-scissors-by-knowing-thy-opponent/">Rock, Paper Scissors Study</a>&nbsp;
<a href="http://google.com/url?sa=D&amp;q=https://www.nature.com/articles/s44184-025-00171-5&amp;ust=1764735240000000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1pjSrt4z7mSD0yQjEjvohl&amp;hl=en">Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect</a>
<a href="https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/thanksgiving-dinner-ai-recipes-slop">https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/thanksgiving-dinner-ai-recipes-slop</a>
<a href="https://www.aiweirdness.com/ai-recipes-are-bad-and-a-proposal-20-01-31/">https://www.aiweirdness.com/ai-recipes-are-bad-and-a-proposal-20-01-31/</a>
<a href="https://www.aiweirdness.com/the-neural-network-has-weird-ideas-16-03-05/?ref=aiweirdness.com">https://www.aiweirdness.com/the-neural-network-has-weird-ideas-16-03-05/?ref=aiweirdness.com</a>
<a href="https://aiweirdness.tumblr.com/post/190721709472/ai-vintage-american-cooking-a-combination-that?ref=aiweirdness.com">https://aiweirdness.tumblr.com/post/190721709472/ai-vintage-american-cooking-a-combination-that?ref=aiweirdness.com</a>
<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/macaque-monkey-deer-mate-sex-ride">https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/macaque-monkey-deer-mate-sex-ride</a>
<a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a60887514/diy-cryonics-frozen-dead-guy/">https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a60887514/diy-cryonics-frozen-dead-guy/</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Dead_Guy_Days">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Dead_Guy_Days</a>
<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/bbl-smell-is-real-and-just-as-gross-as-it-sounds/">https://www.vice.com/en/article/bbl-smell-is-real-and-just-as-gross-as-it-sounds/</a>
<a href="https://plasticsurgery.org.au/procedures/surgical-procedures/buttocks-lift/">https://plasticsurgery.org.au/procedures/surgical-procedures/buttocks-lift/</a>

Interspecies Love, Annual Frozen Dead Guy Day, and Stinky Brazilian Butt Lifts

Horseshoe theory proposes that political extremes loop back around until far-left and far-right ideologies find disturbing common ground, sharing authoritarian tactics, propaganda methods, and contempt for democratic norms despite claiming opposite values. 

Scientists are using AI to decode brain activity and caption your thoughts, raising serious questions about privacy and future thought-policing. The technology has remarkable potential for medical applications like helping locked-in patients communicate, but it's also concerning for policing applications where authorities might claim to know what you're thinking even when the AI is wildly guessing. Despite frankly not-so-great accuracy, it sets us on a path toward the dystopian surveillance that sci-fi has warned about for decades.

Your fingers and toes developed from genetic blueprints originally designed for a fish's cloaca, meaning your hands evolved from ancient fish butt architecture through evolution's tendency to repurpose existing solutions. Your ability to type, paint, play piano or give someone the finger exists because millions of years ago evolution looked at fish butt genes and decided to work with them.

 Harry Whitaker's attempt to collect every element from the periodic table ended with police at his door after he stockpiled explosives and radioactive materials, proving that even well-intentioned scientific curiosity needs tempering before it crosses into illegal weapons manufacturing.





CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction 

01:40 Exploring Horseshoe Theory in Politics

03:33 The Impact of Trump on Science and Health Policy

04:38 Pandemic Preparedness and Public Health

09:33 AI Mind Captioning: Decoding Brain Activity

14:13 Evolution of Tetrapod Digits

14:55 Genetic Regulatory Landscapes

15:33 Research on Fish and Mice Genes

16:18 The Role of Hox Genes

19:54 Harry Whitaker's Science Obsession

25:19 Conclusion and Call to Action

 

SOURCES:

NIH Directors: The World Needs a New Pandemic Playbook

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-decodes-visual-brain-activity-and-writes-captions-for-it/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j8we4e52lo

https://futurism.com/science-energy/police-uk-chemistry-explosives?utm_source=beehiiv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=futurism-newsletter&_bhlid=4a7d20a111b1d23ddf489d65fbd96596ee739749

https://www.sciencealert.com/fish-buttholes-may-be-the-reason-we-now-have-fingers-study-finds

Horseshoe theory proposes that political extremes loop back around until far-left and far-right ideologies find disturbing common ground, sharing authoritarian tactics, propaganda methods, and contempt for democratic norms despite claiming opposite values.&nbsp;
Scientists are using AI to decode brain activity and caption your thoughts, raising serious questions about privacy and future thought-policing. The technology has remarkable potential for medical applications like helping locked-in patients communicate, but it's also concerning for policing applications where authorities might claim to know what you're thinking even when the AI is wildly guessing. Despite frankly not-so-great accuracy, it sets us on a path toward the dystopian surveillance that sci-fi has warned about for decades.
Your fingers and toes developed from genetic blueprints originally designed for a fish's cloaca, meaning your hands evolved from ancient fish butt architecture through evolution's tendency to repurpose existing solutions. Your ability to type, paint, play piano or give someone the finger exists because millions of years ago evolution looked at fish butt genes and decided to work with them.
&nbsp;Harry Whitaker's attempt to collect every element from the periodic table ended with police at his door after he stockpiled explosives and radioactive materials, proving that even well-intentioned scientific curiosity needs tempering before it crosses into illegal weapons manufacturing.
 
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction&nbsp;
01:40 Exploring Horseshoe Theory in Politics
03:33 The Impact of Trump on Science and Health Policy
04:38 Pandemic Preparedness and Public Health
09:33 AI Mind Captioning: Decoding Brain Activity
14:13 Evolution of Tetrapod Digits
14:55 Genetic Regulatory Landscapes
15:33 Research on Fish and Mice Genes
16:18 The Role of Hox Genes
19:54 Harry Whitaker's Science Obsession
25:19 Conclusion and Call to Action
&nbsp;
SOURCES:
<a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/nih-jay-bhattacharya-covid-pandemic-lab?utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&amp;utm_content=20251119&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;lctg=649424b00004c5bb890840e7&amp;utm_term=The%20Atlantic%20Daily">NIH Directors: The World Needs a New Pandemic Playbook</a>
<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-decodes-visual-brain-activity-and-writes-captions-for-it/">https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-decodes-visual-brain-activity-and-writes-captions-for-it/</a>
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j8we4e52lo">https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j8we4e52lo</a>
<a href="https://futurism.com/science-energy/police-uk-chemistry-explosives?utm_source=beehiiv&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=futurism-newsletter&amp;_bhlid=4a7d20a111b1d23ddf489d65fbd96596ee739749">https://futurism.com/science-energy/police-uk-chemistry-explosives?utm_source=beehiiv&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=futurism-newsletter&amp;_bhlid=4a7d20a111b1d23ddf489d65fbd96596ee739749</a>
<a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/fish-buttholes-may-be-the-reason-we-now-have-fingers-study-finds">https://www.sciencealert.com/fish-buttholes-may-be-the-reason-we-now-have-fingers-study-finds</a>

Life in a Herd Part 5 - Let's Make Health Cool (Ironically) with Cynthia Webster

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