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>

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