At a girls' boarding school in what's now Tanzania, a fit of giggles expanded into a months-long epidemic of stressed-out laughter affecting hundreds of people. Learn what we know (and still don't know) about this mass psychogenic illness in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/human-nature/behavior/1962-tanganyika-laughter-epidemic.htm

At a girls' boarding school in what's now Tanzania, a fit of giggles expanded into a months-long epidemic of stressed-out laughter affecting hundreds of people. Learn what we know (and still don't know) about this mass psychogenic illness in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/human-nature/behavior/1962-tanganyika-laughter-epidemic.htm

Whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on BrainStuff to explore -- and explain -- the everyday science in the world around us.

BrainStuff

What Caused the Laughter Epidemic of 1962?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/ea9f02e7-e523-44ed-a93f-b3da00cdba8b/transcript

Turning cream into a stick of butter involves some complex chemistry, crystallization, and (traditionally) fermentation. Learn more -- plus the difference between sweet cream, cultured, and European butters -- in today's episode of BrainStuff.

Turning cream into a stick of butter involves some complex chemistry, crystallization, and (traditionally) fermentation. Learn more -- plus the difference between sweet cream, cultured, and European butters -- in today's episode of BrainStuff.

How Does Butter Get Its Texture, Flavor, and Color?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/cc3a766a-1eda-44ba-9eaa-b4b301559a42/transcript

Some idioms have a fairly clear origin, but others have been lost to time and legend. Learn about the game that inspired calling dibs, the media that created calling shotgun, and why the 'real' McCoy was probably a number of people -- all in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on these articles: https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/famous-inventors/why-do-people-call-things-the-real-mccoy.htm; https://people.howstuffworks.com/what-are-dibs-and-why-do-call-them.htm; https://people.howstuffworks.com/riding-shotgun-phrase.htm

Some idioms have a fairly clear origin, but others have been lost to time and legend. Learn about the game that inspired calling dibs, the media that created calling shotgun, and why the 'real' McCoy was probably a number of people -- all in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on these articles: <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/famous-inventors/why-do-people-call-things-the-real-mccoy.htm">https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/famous-inventors/why-do-people-call-things-the-real-mccoy.htm</a>; <a href="https://people.howstuffworks.com/what-are-dibs-and-why-do-call-them.htm">https://people.howstuffworks.com/what-are-dibs-and-why-do-call-them.htm</a>; <a href="https://people.howstuffworks.com/riding-shotgun-phrase.htm">https://people.howstuffworks.com/riding-shotgun-phrase.htm</a>

Why Do We Call Dibs and Shotgun, and Who Was the Real McCoy?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/c230d16e-e723-436a-9deb-b4b20029305d/transcript

The Batagaika crater (or, technically, megaslump) is a massive pit caused by thawing permafrost -- and it's only getting bigger. Learn what paleontologists have found there (and why geoscientists are worried about it) in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on these articles: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/batagaika-crater.htm; https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/permafrost.htm

The Batagaika crater (or, technically, megaslump) is a massive pit caused by thawing permafrost -- and it's only getting bigger. Learn what paleontologists have found there (and why geoscientists are worried about it) in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on these articles: <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/batagaika-crater.htm">https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/batagaika-crater.htm</a>; <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/permafrost.htm">https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/permafrost.htm</a>

Why Is Siberia's Batagaika Crater Known as the Doorway to Hell?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/4849221a-2c25-4dbf-be5a-b4ad0145651e/transcript

What Caused the Laughter Epidemic of 1962?

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