How's your yoga game listener? Do you have a pretty wicked warrior two? A solid downward dog? A blissful savasana? 

You may be pretty awesome... But could you hold your lotus pose UNTIL DEATH?

That's right listener, this week we explore the Sokushinbutsu - Buddhist monks who took their asceticism to the point of death, even becoming mummified while STILL ALIVE...

The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

How's your yoga game listener? Do you have a pretty wicked warrior two? A solid downward dog? A blissful savasana? You may be pretty awesome... But could you hold your lotus pose UNTIL DEATH? That's right listener, this week we explore the Sokushinbutsu - Buddhist monks who took their asceticism to the point of death, even becoming mummified while STILL ALIVE... The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts and Dr Will Grant, proudly brought to you by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

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

How's your yoga game listener? Do you have a pret…

Night of the Living Mummies: The Sokushinbutsu!

Venting might be making you angrier, Neanderthals apparently had a type, and unborn babies are already forming strong opinions about kale. This week we bounce from modern psychology to ancient DNA to fetal facial expressions, with a quick detour into pokie machines and how they might be made a little less addictive.

We start with a meta analysis suggesting venting is not the healthy release we have been sold. Instead of calming you down, it can keep your body fired up and make the anger stick around longer. The less satisfying fix is also the more effective one, doing things that lower arousal like breathing, yoga, and anything that stops you replaying the same rant on loop.

Then we head back to prehistory, where research suggests Neanderthal DNA patterns point to pairings that may have involved Neanderthal men and human women more often than the reverse. The details are complicated, but the headline is simple. Neanderthals are not just history, they are part of us, and the human story has always been messier than we like to admit.

Finally, we look at a study that might explain why some people hate vegetables with the passion of a thousand suns. Fetuses exposed to carrot flavours appeared to react more positively than those exposed to kale, hinting that taste preferences may start before birth. We wrap up with a surprisingly practical idea for pokie machines, adding sounds for losses as well as wins to make the experience less psychologically sneaky.





CHAPTERS:

00:00 Venting Myth 

02:40 Science Debunks Catharsis

04:06 Meta Analysis Breakdown

05:40 Calm Down Not Amp Up

06:59 Jogging And Anger

09:25 Why We Love Anger

10:53 Play Metal And Fun

11:48 Neanderthal DNA Mystery

13:07 Who Mated With Whom

14:17 Neanderthal Dating Bias

15:16 Hybrid Myths and Mechanics

16:28 Picky Eaters Rant

18:54 Fetuses Taste Flavours

20:08 Carrot Smiles vs Kale Grimaces

23:30 Pokies Need Losing Sounds

27:47 Petition and Sign-Off





SOURCES:
 Interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans was strongly sex biased
 Why I risked prison to add a 'Losing Sound' to poker machines
 Flavour Sensing in Utero and Emerging Discriminative Behaviours in the Human Fetus


https://www.sciencealert.com/venting-doesnt-reduce-anger-but-something-else-does-review-finds

Venting might be making you angrier, Neanderthals apparently had a type, and unborn babies are already forming strong opinions about kale. This week we bounce from modern psychology to ancient DNA to fetal facial expressions, with a quick detour into pokie machines and how they might be made a little less addictive.
We start with a meta analysis suggesting venting is not the healthy release we have been sold. Instead of calming you down, it can keep your body fired up and make the anger stick around longer. The less satisfying fix is also the more effective one, doing things that lower arousal like breathing, yoga, and anything that stops you replaying the same rant on loop.
Then we head back to prehistory, where research suggests Neanderthal DNA patterns point to pairings that may have involved Neanderthal men and human women more often than the reverse. The details are complicated, but the headline is simple. Neanderthals are not just history, they are part of us, and the human story has always been messier than we like to admit.
Finally, we look at a study that might explain why some people hate vegetables with the passion of a thousand suns. Fetuses exposed to carrot flavours appeared to react more positively than those exposed to kale, hinting that taste preferences may start before birth. We wrap up with a surprisingly practical idea for pokie machines, adding sounds for losses as well as wins to make the experience less psychologically sneaky.
 
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Venting Myth&nbsp;
02:40 Science Debunks Catharsis
04:06 Meta Analysis Breakdown
05:40 Calm Down Not Amp Up
06:59 Jogging And Anger
09:25 Why We Love Anger
10:53 Play Metal And Fun
11:48 Neanderthal DNA Mystery
13:07 Who Mated With Whom
14:17 Neanderthal Dating Bias
15:16 Hybrid Myths and Mechanics
16:28 Picky Eaters Rant
18:54 Fetuses Taste Flavours
20:08 Carrot Smiles vs Kale Grimaces
23:30 Pokies Need Losing Sounds
27:47 Petition and Sign-Off
 
SOURCES:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea6774?ref=404media.co"> Interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans was strongly sex biased</a></li>
<li><a href="https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/03/why-i-risked-prison-to-add-a-losing-sound-to-poker-machines/?utm_source=Pearls+&amp;+Irritations&amp;utm_campaign=4356d93291-Daily&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_0c6b037ecb-4356d93291-583194139"> Why I risked prison to add a 'Losing Sound' to poker machines</a></li>
<li><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09567976221105460"> Flavour Sensing in Utero and Emerging Discriminative Behaviours in the Human Fetus</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/venting-doesnt-reduce-anger-but-something-else-does-review-finds">https://www.sciencealert.com/venting-doesnt-reduce-anger-but-something-else-does-review-finds</a><a href="https://www.history.com/articles/da-vinci-robotic-lion"></a>
</li>
</ul>

Why Venting Makes You Angrier, Neanderthals Preferred Human Women, and Fetuses Hate Kale"

This week, AI is casually reaching for the nuclear button, a Norwegian scientist has accidentally recreated something that looks a lot like Havana Syndrome, and a brain lesion has turned a marathon runner into an intense foodie. It is a neat little trio of stories that sits right on the edge of science fiction, except the uncomfortable part is that it is all real.

We start with simulated war games where major AI models were put in charge of military decision making. The result is grimly simple. In these scenarios, the systems chose to deploy tactical nuclear weapons most of the time, showing none of the cultural taboo or restraints humans have built around nuclear escalation.

Then we head to Norway, where a scientist tested a pulse energy device on himself to see if it could plausibly cause Havana Syndrome-style symptoms. It did. Which is both a scientific result and a personal mistake, and it raises the obvious question of what happens when this kind of technology moves from theory to wider interest.

Finally, we look at Gorman Syndrome, a neurological twist where a brain lesion appears to flip someone from long distance running to an intense obsession with fine food. It is funny, strange, and a sharp reminder that personality can be less fixed than we like to believe. 

 

CHAPTERS:

 

00:00 Fire Alarm AI Fail

00:46 LLMs in War Games

06:34 Nukes and No Surrender

09:36 Pentagon Wants Anthropic

10:33 Testing AI Weirdness

12:50 Dead Cow Prompt Update

15:07 Car Wash Question Trap

18:10 Lost in the Middle Fix

22:01 Maps and Recursive Islands

23:32 Chasing Longest Line of Sight

26:53 All the Views Map

27:49 What Limits Sightlines

29:23 Havana Syndrome Emerges

31:58 Theories and Investigations

35:14 Norwegian Microwave Experiment

42:20 Official Stance and Confusion

44:04 Extreme Foodie Case Study

47:39 Gourmand Syndrome Explained

51:21 Brain Lesions and Cravings





SOURCES:
AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations
AI Arms and Influence: Frontier Models Exhibit Sophisticated Reasoning in Simulated Nuclear Crises
The Longest Line Of Sight
https://pub.towardsai.net/the-car-wash-question-that-breaks-every-ai-and-the-2-word-fix-nobody-talks-about-21db5c78fc29
https://www.vice.com/en/article/brain-damaged-gourmand-syndrome-foodies-cant-register-your-disgust/
https://www.iflscience.com/gourmand-syndrome-when-brain-injuries-spark-an-obsessive-craving-for-fine-food-and-gastronomy-82546
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/gourmand-syndrome-26067295/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/02/14/havana-syndrome-cia-norway-experiment/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana_syndrome
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pentagon-reportedly-testing-radio-wave-device-linked-to-havana-syndrome/
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/13/politics/havana-syndrome-device-pentagon-hsi

This week, AI is casually reaching for the nuclear button, a Norwegian scientist has accidentally recreated something that looks a lot like Havana Syndrome, and a brain lesion has turned a marathon runner into an intense foodie. It is a neat little trio of stories that sits right on the edge of science fiction, except the uncomfortable part is that it is all real.
We start with simulated war games where major AI models were put in charge of military decision making. The result is grimly simple. In these scenarios, the systems chose to deploy tactical nuclear weapons most of the time, showing none of the cultural taboo or restraints humans have built around nuclear escalation.
Then we head to Norway, where a scientist tested a pulse energy device on himself to see if it could plausibly cause Havana Syndrome-style symptoms. It did. Which is both a scientific result and a personal mistake, and it raises the obvious question of what happens when this kind of technology moves from theory to wider interest.
Finally, we look at Gorman Syndrome, a neurological twist where a brain lesion appears to flip someone from long distance running to an intense obsession with fine food. It is funny, strange, and a sharp reminder that personality can be less fixed than we like to believe.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
CHAPTERS:
&nbsp;
00:00 Fire Alarm AI Fail
00:46 LLMs in War Games
06:34 Nukes and No Surrender
09:36 Pentagon Wants Anthropic
10:33 Testing AI Weirdness
12:50 Dead Cow Prompt Update
15:07 Car Wash Question Trap
18:10 Lost in the Middle Fix
22:01 Maps and Recursive Islands
23:32 Chasing Longest Line of Sight
26:53 All the Views Map
27:49 What Limits Sightlines
29:23 Havana Syndrome Emerges
31:58 Theories and Investigations
35:14 Norwegian Microwave Experiment
42:20 Official Stance and Confusion
44:04 Extreme Foodie Case Study
47:39 Gourmand Syndrome Explained
51:21 Brain Lesions and Cravings
 
SOURCES:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2516885-ais-cant-stop-recommending-nuclear-strikes-in-war-game-simulations/?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email">AIs can&rsquo;t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations</a></li>
<li><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.14740v1?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email">AI Arms and Influence: Frontier Models Exhibit Sophisticated Reasoning in Simulated Nuclear Crises</a></li>
<li><a href="https://tombh.co.uk/longest-line-of-sight?_bhlid=76083cad13ceef0e3e70baaa9134bceb7398bbcd">The Longest Line Of Sight</a></li>
<li><a href="https://pub.towardsai.net/the-car-wash-question-that-breaks-every-ai-and-the-2-word-fix-nobody-talks-about-21db5c78fc29">https://pub.towardsai.net/the-car-wash-question-that-breaks-every-ai-and-the-2-word-fix-nobody-talks-about-21db5c78fc29</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/brain-damaged-gourmand-syndrome-foodies-cant-register-your-disgust/">https://www.vice.com/en/article/brain-damaged-gourmand-syndrome-foodies-cant-register-your-disgust/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.iflscience.com/gourmand-syndrome-when-brain-injuries-spark-an-obsessive-craving-for-fine-food-and-gastronomy-82546">https://www.iflscience.com/gourmand-syndrome-when-brain-injuries-spark-an-obsessive-craving-for-fine-food-and-gastronomy-82546</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/gourmand-syndrome-26067295/">https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/gourmand-syndrome-26067295/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/02/14/havana-syndrome-cia-norway-experiment/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/02/14/havana-syndrome-cia-norway-experiment/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana_syndrome">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana_syndrome</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pentagon-reportedly-testing-radio-wave-device-linked-to-havana-syndrome/">https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pentagon-reportedly-testing-radio-wave-device-linked-to-havana-syndrome/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/13/politics/havana-syndrome-device-pentagon-hsi">https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/13/politics/havana-syndrome-device-pentagon-hsi</a></li>
</ul>

When AI Chooses Nukes, Norway's Brain Gun, and the Syndrome That Makes You a Foodie

This week we have hippos with hidden bits, hearts that take a mechanical detour, and a medical case study that will make you sit down and reconsider every life choice that led you to having a body. It is science at its best and worst, fascinating, useful, and deeply inconvenient.

We start at the zoo, where hippo castration is a real population control tool, partly to manage breeding and partly to reduce aggression. The catch is hippo anatomy is not built for human convenience, with internal testes that turn the whole procedure into a high stakes game of hide and seek inside a very large, very grumpy animal.

Then we move from hippos to hearts, looking at cardiac surgeries that use a heart lung bypass machine. Some patients report a temporary cognitive dip afterward, often called pump brain, and nobody is fully sure why it happens. It might be the machine, the stress of surgery, or subtle changes in blood flow and inflammation, but the mystery is still very much alive.

Finally, we end with a story that makes every listener cross their legs in sympathy. A man developed a rectal urethral fistula after previous surgery, likely linked to a catheter complication during a coma, and his internal plumbing rerouted itself in the most unhelpful way possible. The takeaway is simple. Bodies are fragile, embarrassment is useless, and if something feels wrong, get it checked.






CHAPTERS:

00:00 Hippo Castration Study

05:50 Why Zoos Castrate Hippos

08:11 Internal Anatomy Surprise

13:04 Surgery Method and Timing

15:14 Recovery and Blood Sweat

17:12 Aftereffects and Social Dynamics

18:11 Science Communication Pivot

18:46 Alcohol Messaging Study Setup

21:27 Violence as Communication

21:57 Alcohol Messages That Work

23:25 Counting Drinks Cancer Risk

25:08 Comfortable With Surgery

25:49 Heart Bypass Miracle Machine

29:12 Pumphead Cognitive Decline

33:43 Why the Pump Makes You Dumber

35:46 Fistula Case From Catheter

42:34 Spinosaurus Tank Top Sendoff





SOURCES:

 Rosetta scientist Dr Matt Taylor apologises for ‘offensive’ shirt

 Astonishing Spinosaur Unearthed in The Sahara Is Unlike Any Seen Before

 There's One Simple Method to Lower Alcohol Intake, And It Works

 A randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of combinations of ‘why to reduce’ and ‘how to reduce’ alcohol harm-reduction communications

Westbury, C., & Hollis, G. (2019). Wriggly, squiffy, lummox, and boobs: What makes some words funny? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(1), 97–123.

https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000467 https://people.howstuffworks.com/why-poop-and-wiggle-are-funny-words-according-to-science.htm?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000169182600171X

https://futurism.com/health-medicine/exercise-cardio-stress-research

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0093691X13004275

https://www.discovermagazine.com/why-its-nearly-impossible-to-castrate-a-hippo-4775

https://futurism.com/neoscope/doctors-rectourethral-fistula

https://www.cureus.com/articles/68327-a-curious-case-of-rectal-ejaculation#!/

This week we have hippos with hidden bits, hearts that take a mechanical detour, and a medical case study that will make you sit down and reconsider every life choice that led you to having a body. It is science at its best and worst, fascinating, useful, and deeply inconvenient.
We start at the zoo, where hippo castration is a real population control tool, partly to manage breeding and partly to reduce aggression. The catch is hippo anatomy is not built for human convenience, with internal testes that turn the whole procedure into a high stakes game of hide and seek inside a very large, very grumpy animal.
Then we move from hippos to hearts, looking at cardiac surgeries that use a heart lung bypass machine. Some patients report a temporary cognitive dip afterward, often called pump brain, and nobody is fully sure why it happens. It might be the machine, the stress of surgery, or subtle changes in blood flow and inflammation, but the mystery is still very much alive.
Finally, we end with a story that makes every listener cross their legs in sympathy. A man developed a rectal urethral fistula after previous surgery, likely linked to a catheter complication during a coma, and his internal plumbing rerouted itself in the most unhelpful way possible. The takeaway is simple. Bodies are fragile, embarrassment is useless, and if something feels wrong, get it checked.
 
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Hippo Castration Study
05:50 Why Zoos Castrate Hippos
08:11 Internal Anatomy Surprise
13:04 Surgery Method and Timing
15:14 Recovery and Blood Sweat
17:12 Aftereffects and Social Dynamics
18:11 Science Communication Pivot
18:46 Alcohol Messaging Study Setup
21:27 Violence as Communication
21:57 Alcohol Messages That Work
23:25 Counting Drinks Cancer Risk
25:08 Comfortable With Surgery
25:49 Heart Bypass Miracle Machine
29:12 Pumphead Cognitive Decline
33:43 Why the Pump Makes You Dumber
35:46 Fistula Case From Catheter
42:34 Spinosaurus Tank Top Sendoff
 
SOURCES:
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/14/rosetta-comet-dr-matt-taylor-apology-sexist-shirt"> Rosetta scientist Dr Matt Taylor apologises for &lsquo;offensive&rsquo; shirt</a>
<a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/astonishing-spinosaur-unearthed-in-the-sahara-is-unlike-any-seen-before"> Astonishing Spinosaur Unearthed in The Sahara Is Unlike Any Seen Before</a>
<a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/theres-one-simple-method-to-lower-alcohol-intake-and-it-works"> There's One Simple Method to Lower Alcohol Intake, And It Works</a>
<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306460321001891">&nbsp;A randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of combinations of &lsquo;why to reduce&rsquo; and &lsquo;how </a><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306460321001891">to reduce&rsquo; alcohol harm-reduction communications</a>
Westbury, C., &amp; Hollis, G. (2019). Wriggly, squiffy, lummox, and boobs: What makes some words funny? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(1), 97&ndash;123.
https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000467 <a href="https://people.howstuffworks.com/why-poop-and-wiggle-are-funny-words-according-to-science.htm">https://people.howstuffworks.com/why-poop-and-wiggle-are-funny-words-according-to-science.htm</a>?
<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000169182600171X">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000169182600171X</a>
<a href="https://futurism.com/health-medicine/exercise-cardio-stress-research">https://futurism.com/health-medicine/exercise-cardio-stress-research</a>
<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0093691X13004275">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0093691X13004275</a>
<a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/why-its-nearly-impossible-to-castrate-a-hippo-4775">https://www.discovermagazine.com/why-its-nearly-impossible-to-castrate-a-hippo-4775</a>
<a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/doctors-rectourethral-fistula">https://futurism.com/neoscope/doctors-rectourethral-fistula</a>
<a href="https://www.cureus.com/articles/68327-a-curious-case-of-rectal-ejaculation#!/">https://www.cureus.com/articles/68327-a-curious-case-of-rectal-ejaculation#!/</a>

Night of the Living Mummies: The Sokushinbutsu!

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