If you could talk to an animal, what would you say? Well, we sat down for a beer with Professor Rob Magrath, who kinda actually can talk back to birds! Listen to find out more!

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.

Science stories for people who sit up the back of…

The Wholesome Show

If you could talk to an animal, what would you sa…

Can You Actually Kinda Speak Bird? A Beer With Ornithologist Professor Rob Magrath

We all have our idiosyncrasies, those automatic things we do each day that form the way we are in the world. Whether we scrunch or fold, or leave the toilet seat up or down, these are things we do (or don’t do) automatically. Much like the urgent need to crap your dacks in a Japanese bookstore. 



That’s right, there is a significant portion of Japanese people who feel overcome by a heaving sensation in the rectal passage whilst browsing books. 



In 1985, 29-year-old Japanese woman, Mariko Aoki, contributed an article in the Hon no Zasshi or “Book Magazine” about her strong urge to defecate whenever she visited a bookstore. Surprisingly, a significant number of readers wrote to the editorial department to share their similar experiences. Who would have thought so many people had been fending back faeces in the fiction section?! Turns out a lot. 



CHAPTERS:

00:00 Idiosyncratic & Biological Habits

02:21 The Aoki Mariko Phenomenon 

08:07 Feature Article explains Book Bowel Tendency

12:13 Japanese Survey to Revitalise Bookstores

14:28 Millions suffer with Aoki Mariko Phenomenon 

21:11 Symptoms: Body Shivers & Unusual Urges

26:13 Psychiatrist Speculation: Hyper Response to Stress

33:27 The Wholesome Verdict: Psychological or Sociological Phenomenon?

37:49 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show



SOURCES:
What is “key in lock” syndrome? - Hands on Healthcare
A Doctor Explains Why Bookstores Make Some People Feel the Need to Poop
Bathrooms and Noble - The Current
https://web.archive.org/web/20120509063936/http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/national/news/CK2012042902000077.html
Mariko Aoki phenomenon - Wikipedia
Let’s Talk About Poop. Specifically: bookstore poop | by Judey Kalchik | Artisanal Article Machine | Medium
Mariko Aoki Phenomenon | The Daily Omnivore
The Mariko Aoki Phenomenon: When You Need To Poop After Entering A Book Store | Faculty of Medicine

We all have our idiosyncrasies, those automatic things we do each day that form the way we are in the world. Whether we scrunch or fold, or leave the toilet seat up or down, these are things we do (or don’t do) automatically. Much like the urgent need to crap your dacks in a Japanese bookstore. 
 
That’s right, there is a significant portion of Japanese people who feel overcome by a heaving sensation in the rectal passage whilst browsing books. 
 
In 1985, 29-year-old Japanese woman, Mariko Aoki, contributed an article in the Hon no Zasshi or “Book Magazine” about her strong urge to defecate whenever she visited a bookstore. Surprisingly, a significant number of readers wrote to the editorial department to share their similar experiences. Who would have thought so many people had been fending back faeces in the fiction section?! Turns out a lot. 
 
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Idiosyncratic &amp; Biological Habits
02:21 The Aoki Mariko Phenomenon 
08:07 Feature Article explains Book Bowel Tendency
12:13 Japanese Survey to Revitalise Bookstores
14:28 Millions suffer with Aoki Mariko Phenomenon 
21:11 Symptoms: Body Shivers &amp; Unusual Urges
26:13 Psychiatrist Speculation: Hyper Response to Stress
33:27 The Wholesome Verdict: Psychological or Sociological Phenomenon?
37:49 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show
 
SOURCES:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://hands-onhealthcare.com/what-is-key-in-lock-syndrome/">What is “key in lock” syndrome? - Hands on Healthcare</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.menshealth.com/health/a35767860/bookstores-poop-mariko-aoki-phenomenon-doctor-explains/">A Doctor Explains Why Bookstores Make Some People Feel the Need to Poop</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://thecurrentmsu.com/2022/06/28/bathrooms-and-noble/">Bathrooms and Noble - The Current</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120509063936/http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/national/news/CK2012042902000077.html">https://web.archive.org/web/20120509063936/http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/national/news/CK2012042902000077.html</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariko_Aoki_phenomenon">Mariko Aoki phenomenon - Wikipedia</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://medium.com/artisanal-article-machine/lets-talk-about-poop-117ced5f7ece">Let’s Talk About Poop. Specifically: bookstore poop | by Judey Kalchik | Artisanal Article Machine | Medium</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://thedailyomnivore.net/2020/09/27/mariko-aoki-phenomenon/">Mariko Aoki Phenomenon | The Daily Omnivore</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://forum.facmedicine.com/threads/the-mariko-aoki-phenomenon-when-you-need-to-poop-after-entering-a-book-store.64187/">The Mariko Aoki Phenomenon: When You Need To Poop After Entering A Book Store | Faculty of Medicine</a></li>
</ul>

Book Bowel Syndrome: When Words Truly Move You

Have you ever seen someone in public and you swear you know them from somewhere, you just can’t pick where? Are they an old school friend? The guy who delivers bread to your local cafe? You feel like you know them but it would probably be weird if you started a conversation. Well, that’s a glimpse into the life of a small percentage of the population who recognise with freakish accuracy every face they’ve ever seen. People with this extraordinary gift can find themselves in awkward social interactions due to their detailed memories of people they’ve actually never met. Yes, it can look a tad stalker-ish...



Yenny Seo is one of these unique people (not a stalker). From a young age, she demonstrated an uncanny ability to remember faces - strangers on the street she had seen weeks ago, extras in movies, every person in her university lectures and people in photos on her social media feed. She even caught a serial shoplifter by recognising his face on CCTV.



In 2017, Seo got curious about her skills and stumbled upon the University of New South Wales (UNSW) face test online quiz. Her exceptional performance put her in the top 0.05 per cent of all participants, confirming she was a Super Recogniser. That’s right. Yenny officially has superpowers. And she’s not alone either.



SOURCES:
The super-recognisers of Scotland Yard - New Statesman
‘I’d keep it on the down low’: the secret life of a super-recogniser | Science | The Guardian
Could super recognisers be the latest weapon in the war on terror? 2016 David James Robertson
Super-Recognisers in the Metropolitan Police
DJ Robertson et. al. February 2016 Face Recognition by Metropolitan Police Super-Recognisers PLOS ONE 11(2):e0150036 DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0150036
What is it like to remember all the faces you’ve ever seen? | Psyche Ideas
QPS Super Recogniser Network helps crack 1,000 cases - Queensland Police News
It is widely believed that humans are rather good at recognising faces

Have you ever seen someone in public and you swear you know them from somewhere, you just can’t pick where? Are they an old school friend? The guy who delivers bread to your local cafe? You feel like you know them but it would probably be weird if you started a conversation. Well, that’s a glimpse into the life of a small percentage of the population who recognise with freakish accuracy every face they’ve ever seen. People with this extraordinary gift can find themselves in awkward social interactions due to their detailed memories of people they’ve actually never met. Yes, it can look a tad stalker-ish...
 
Yenny Seo is one of these unique people (not a stalker). From a young age, she demonstrated an uncanny ability to remember faces - strangers on the street she had seen weeks ago, extras in movies, every person in her university lectures and people in photos on her social media feed. She even caught a serial shoplifter by recognising his face on CCTV.
 
In 2017, Seo got curious about her skills and stumbled upon the University of New South Wales (UNSW) face test online quiz. Her exceptional performance put her in the top 0.05 per cent of all participants, confirming she was a Super Recogniser. That’s right. Yenny officially has superpowers. And she’s not alone either.
 
SOURCES:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2016/08/the-super-recognisers-of-scotland-yard">The super-recognisers of Scotland Yard - New Statesman</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jan/16/id-keep-it-on-the-down-low-the-secret-life-of-a-super-recogniser">‘I’d keep it on the down low’: the secret life of a super-recogniser | Science | The Guardian</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://theconversation.com/could-super-recognisers-be-the-latest-weapon-in-the-war-on-terror-56772">Could super recognisers be the latest weapon in the war on terror?</a> 2016 <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-james-robertson-163796">David James Robertson</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.ifsecglobal.com/video-surveillance/super-recognisers-in-the-metropolitan-police/">Super-Recognisers in the Metropolitan Police</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">DJ Robertson et. al. February 2016 Face Recognition by Metropolitan Police Super-Recognisers PLOS ONE 11(2):e0150036 DOI:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150036">10.1371/journal.pone.0150036</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://psyche.co/ideas/what-is-it-like-to-remember-all-the-faces-youve-ever-seen">What is it like to remember all the faces you’ve ever seen? | Psyche Ideas</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://mypolice.qld.gov.au/news/2023/03/01/qps-super-recogniser-network-helps-crack-1000-cases/">QPS Super Recogniser Network helps crack 1,000 cases - Queensland Police News</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/130/1/hancock-tics-2000.pdf">It is widely believed that humans are rather good at recognising faces</a></li>
</ul>

Super Recognisers: People with a mug memory like no other!

Over the millions of years of evolution, we humans have developed into a highly intelligent species. We’ve developed the ability to communicate, we’ve created social order, and established norms and protocols that facilitate a (mostly) harmonious coexistence. Take, for example, the fact that we all know how to stand in line to order a beverage.



But now, after millennia of humans lining up and waiting their turn, it seems all of a sudden there’s an entire generation that doesn’t know how to queue. They loiter in the vicinity of the line, they leave long gaps between them and the person in front, making the queue, if there even is one, ambiguous at best. Are they in the queue? Are they out of the queue? It’s all very unclear and to be honest, when all you want is your coffee, it’s wildly frustrating for us olds.



Now this is making a huge generalisation about a large group of people in society, but someone needs to say it. Sorry Generation Z, we love you, but it seems like you don't know how to queue properly. What’s going on?





CHAPTERS:
00:00 Why can’t Gen Z queue properly
03:33 Queue research: Cultural, Social and Psychology studies
05:33 Cultural Differences in Queuing 
08:50 Gen Z Don’t Care About Queue Jumpers
10:11 Is Social Media to Blame?
13:06 The Legendary AFL Queue of 1965
16:16 Why Queue Fitness Has Dropped
20:42 The Art of Queue Jumping
24:18 Generational Differences and Social Norms
25:45 The Magic of the Seventh Son
30:17 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show



SOURCES:
A global guide to queuing philosophies, from Wimbledon to São Paulo, Quartz
Generation Z more likely to queue-jump and let others do the same, poll claims
No, Argentina's president did not adopt a Jewish child to stop him turning into a werewolf by Uki Goni in The Guardian
Queue Culture: The Waiting Line as a Social System, by Leon Mann in the American Journal of Sociology
The Psychology of Queuing, in Psychology, by A Furnham, L Treglown, G & Horne, G.
What’s Up Doc? Seventh Sons in Victorian and Edwardian Lancashire, by Simon Young in Folklore

Over the millions of years of evolution, we humans have developed into a highly intelligent species. We’ve developed the ability to communicate, we’ve created social order, and established norms and protocols that facilitate a (mostly) harmonious coexistence. Take, for example, the fact that we all know how to stand in line to order a beverage.
 
But now, after millennia of humans lining up and waiting their turn, it seems all of a sudden there’s an entire generation that doesn’t know how to queue. They loiter in the vicinity of the line, they leave long gaps between them and the person in front, making the queue, if there even is one, ambiguous at best. Are they in the queue? Are they out of the queue? It’s all very unclear and to be honest, when all you want is your coffee, it’s wildly frustrating for us olds.
 
Now this is making a huge generalisation about a large group of people in society, but someone needs to say it. Sorry Generation Z, we love you, but it seems like you don't know how to queue properly. What’s going on?
 
CHAPTERS:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">00:00 Why can’t Gen Z queue properly</li>
<li aria-level="1">03:33 Queue research: Cultural, Social and Psychology studies</li>
<li aria-level="1">05:33 Cultural Differences in Queuing </li>
<li aria-level="1">08:50 Gen Z Don’t Care About Queue Jumpers</li>
<li aria-level="1">10:11 Is Social Media to Blame?</li>
<li aria-level="1">13:06 The Legendary AFL Queue of 1965</li>
<li aria-level="1">16:16 Why Queue Fitness Has Dropped</li>
<li aria-level="1">20:42 The Art of Queue Jumping</li>
<li aria-level="1">24:18 Generational Differences and Social Norms</li>
<li aria-level="1">25:45 The Magic of the Seventh Son</li>
<li aria-level="1">30:17 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show</li>
</ul>
 
SOURCES:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://qz.com/quartzy/1322666/a-global-guide-to-queuing-philosophies-from-wimbledon-to-sao-paolo">A global guide to queuing philosophies</a>, from Wimbledon to São Paulo, Quartz</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/generation-z-queue-jump-baby-boomers-uk-poll-a8456286.html">Generation Z more likely to queue-jump and let others do the same, poll claims</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/29/argentina-kirchner-adopt-child-werewolf">No, Argentina's president did not adopt a Jewish child to stop him turning into a werewolf </a>by Uki Goni in The Guardian</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2775696">Queue Culture: The Waiting Line as a Social System</a>, by Leon Mann in the American Journal of Sociology</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=99238">The Psychology of Queuing</a>, in Psychology, by A Furnham, L Treglown, G &amp; Horne, G.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2019.1618068">What’s Up Doc? Seventh Sons in Victorian and Edwardian Lancashire</a>, by Simon Young in Folklore</li>
</ul>

Can You Actually Kinda Speak Bird? A Beer With Ornithologist Professor Rob Magrath

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