In the middle of the Cold War, Soviet scientists apparently developed an explosive so potent it could be used to make nuclear fusion bombs the size of a baseball.

But was it real?

Rod tells Will the story of Red Mercury!

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

In the middle of the Cold War, Soviet scientists apparently developed an explosive so potent it could be used to make nuclear fusion bombs the size of a baseball. But was it real? Rod tells Will the story of Red Mercury! The Wholesome Show is Dr Will Grant and Dr Rod Lamberts, and is 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.

Science stories for people who sit up the back of…

The Wholesome Show

In the middle of the Cold War, Soviet scientists …

Red Mercury!

When you think of the word ‘cult’, what immediately comes to mind for most of us are things like hooded velvet robes, secretive gatherings and doomsday prophesies. Then there’s the charismatic yet nefarious leader brainwashing followers, maybe a forced orgie or two, a spot of mass suicide. Generally not good stuff.



Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton outlines three primary characteristics of destructive cults: a charismatic leader, coercive persuasion tactics, and exploitation of members. Well, that pretty much sums up NXIVM and the Order of the Solar Temple.



It’s pretty well established that there are a lot of bad cults. But are there any good ones? 



CHAPTERS:
00:00 Management cult at Rod’s first job
07:01 Scientology: A Cult or Not?
10:23 10 warning signs of being in a cult
14:14 Order of the Solar Temple 
18:51 NXIVM: Were you a Nazi in a former life?
24:16 Cognitive dissonance and why do people join cults? 
31:23 Female Empowerment in New Religious Movements  
34:55 Ma Anand Sheela and Osho
40:04 Defining Cults: Destructive or Benign
44:17 The Wholesome Verdict on Cults
48:26 What’s next on The Wholesome Show



SOURCES:
Benign Cults vs Negative Cults
Rajneesh movement - Wikipedia
How Scientologists Founded the Pancake Parlour

When you think of the word ‘cult’, what immediately comes to mind for most of us are things like hooded velvet robes, secretive gatherings and doomsday prophesies. Then there’s the charismatic yet nefarious leader brainwashing followers, maybe a forced orgie or two, a spot of mass suicide. Generally not good stuff.
 
Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton outlines three primary characteristics of destructive cults: a charismatic leader, coercive persuasion tactics, and exploitation of members. Well, that pretty much sums up NXIVM and the Order of the Solar Temple.
 
It’s pretty well established that there are a lot of bad cults. But are there any good ones? 
 
CHAPTERS:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">00:00 Management cult at Rod’s first job</li>
<li aria-level="1">07:01 Scientology: A Cult or Not?</li>
<li aria-level="1">10:23 10 warning signs of being in a cult</li>
<li aria-level="1">14:14 Order of the Solar Temple </li>
<li aria-level="1">18:51 NXIVM: Were you a Nazi in a former life?</li>
<li aria-level="1">24:16 Cognitive dissonance and why do people join cults? </li>
<li aria-level="1">31:23 Female Empowerment in New Religious Movements  </li>
<li aria-level="1">34:55 Ma Anand Sheela and Osho</li>
<li aria-level="1">40:04 Defining Cults: Destructive or Benign</li>
<li aria-level="1">44:17 The Wholesome Verdict on Cults</li>
<li aria-level="1">48:26 What’s next on The Wholesome Show</li>
</ul>
 
SOURCES:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://cultbranding.com/ceo/benign-cults-vs-negative-cults/">Benign Cults vs Negative Cults</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajneesh_movement">Rajneesh movement - Wikipedia</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/xyv5qd/the-secret-history-of-pancake-parlour-and-its-links-to-scientology#">How Scientologists Founded the Pancake Parlour</a></li>
</ul>

Community or Control: Has There Ever Been a "Good" Cult?

The teen years can be tough. Let’s be real, it was an awkward time for the best of us. During those tender years, we all did our best to navigate the tumultuous world between childhood and adulthood amidst raging hormones, love triangles and knife fights... the usual teenage stuff.



Ok, perhaps not every teenager gets in a knife fight, but this particular case has all the drama you would expect to find in a daytime soap opera.



The story involves a 15-year-old girl who was employed in a local bar (well that’s the first red flag right there). She was admitted to hospital after a knife fight outside the bar involving her former lover and a new boyfriend. Exactly who stabbed who was not quite clear, but all three participants in the small war were admitted with knife injuries.



Precisely 278 days later… The girl was admitted to hospital once again. This time with acute intermittent abdominal pain. Upon examination, the doctors found something very surprising indeed... A fully grown baby. 



But she couldn’t possibly be pregnant… she didn’t have a vagina!!






CHAPTERS:
00:00 Knife fight admits teenagers to hospital
01:50 Mysterious abdominal pain
02:14 Pregnancy without a vagina
03:35 Medical investigations: How did this happen?
05:55 Lessons from oral pregnancy





PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:
So did you get a root? Tales, definitions and loopholes for defining sex



SOURCES:
Oral conception. Impregnation via the proximal gastrointestinal tract in a patient with an aplastic  distal vagina. Case report, by Douwe A A Verkuyl, in BJOG

The teen years can be tough. Let’s be real, it was an awkward time for the best of us. During those tender years, we all did our best to navigate the tumultuous world between childhood and adulthood amidst raging hormones, love triangles and knife fights... the usual teenage stuff.
 
Ok, perhaps not every teenager gets in a knife fight, but this particular case has all the drama you would expect to find in a daytime soap opera.
 
The story involves a 15-year-old girl who was employed in a local bar (well that’s the first red flag right there). She was admitted to hospital after a knife fight outside the bar involving her former lover and a new boyfriend. Exactly who stabbed who was not quite clear, but all three participants in the small war were admitted with knife injuries.
 
Precisely 278 days later… The girl was admitted to hospital once again. This time with acute intermittent abdominal pain. Upon examination, the doctors found something very surprising indeed... A fully grown baby. 
 
But she couldn’t possibly be pregnant… she didn’t have a vagina!!
 
CHAPTERS:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">00:00 Knife fight admits teenagers to hospital</li>
<li aria-level="1">01:50 Mysterious abdominal pain</li>
<li aria-level="1">02:14 Pregnancy without a vagina</li>
<li aria-level="1">03:35 Medical investigations: How did this happen?</li>
<li aria-level="1">05:55 Lessons from oral pregnancy</li>
</ul>
 
PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://youtu.be/gX-RO_yu7cM">So did you get a root? Tales, definitions and loopholes for defining sex</a></li>
</ul>
 
SOURCES:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Oral conception. Impregnation via the proximal gastrointestinal tract in a patient with an aplastic  distal vagina. Case report, by Douwe A A Verkuyl, in BJOG</li>
</ul>

Can you get pregnant from oral sex? Where There's a Willie, There's a Way

What’s the deal with redheads? It sounds like the beginning of a Seinfeld bit but in all fairness (pun intended), for a group of people who make up only 2% of the population, our flame-haired ginger guys and gals have attracted much attention throughout history. Some of that attention is due to the obvious: redheads are babes.



But the fascination with redheads over the centuries hasn’t all been positive. They’ve also received far more hostile attention like being labelled barbarians by the ancient Greeks and Romans. In Ancient Egypt, redheaded men were burnt as human sacrifices at the grave of Osiris (god of the deceased) and their ashes were scattered to the four winds in the name of a bountiful harvest; red hair symbolised the golden wealth of the corn after all, so… makes sense.



In medieval times, people with green eyes and red hair were considered either witches, werewolves or vampires. There were even alchemical recipes requiring the blood of a redhead to turn copper into gold. Just mix the blood up with the ashes of a basilisk, easy as pie. 



Scientific or not, redheads do seem to carry the reputation of having a somewhat spicy temperament and the people from Charles University in Prague wanted to know if this translated into the bedroom… The science says yes but not in the way you think!





CHAPTERS:
00:00 Why do redheads fascinate us?
03:42 Barbarians and human sacrificing
05:40 Alchemical recipe with the blood of a redhead
07:30 19th century study: Most criminals were redheads
09:31 Ayurvedic medicine and genetics
13:42 Opiate response, Vitamin D and adrenaline 
17:48 Redheads smell like ambergris
19:12 Pain studies: Stabbing and electric currents
21:50 Sexism in redhead stereotypes
24:21 Study on Redheads and Sexuality 
27:08 What’s next on The Wholesome Show



PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:
What The Hell Happened To The Left-Handers?



SOURCES:
Myths about red hair are rooted in fear of difference | Aeon Ideas
The Truth About Redheads
Ginger hair: 13 fascinating facts about redheads
World Redhead Day: 16 fun facts about red hair - Indianapolis
Redheaded women are more sexually active than other women, but it is probably due to their suitors
Science Confirms Redheads Are Equipped With Some Weird Genetic Superpowers - GQ Australia
Red hair - Wikipedia

What’s the deal with redheads? It sounds like the beginning of a Seinfeld bit but in all fairness (pun intended), for a group of people who make up only 2% of the population, our flame-haired ginger guys and gals have attracted much attention throughout history. Some of that attention is due to the obvious: redheads are babes.
 
But the fascination with redheads over the centuries hasn’t all been positive. They’ve also received far more hostile attention like being labelled barbarians by the ancient Greeks and Romans. In Ancient Egypt, redheaded men were burnt as human sacrifices at the grave of Osiris (god of the deceased) and their ashes were scattered to the four winds in the name of a bountiful harvest; red hair symbolised the golden wealth of the corn after all, so… makes sense.
 
In medieval times, people with green eyes and red hair were considered either witches, werewolves or vampires. There were even alchemical recipes requiring the blood of a redhead to turn copper into gold. Just mix the blood up with the ashes of a basilisk, easy as pie. 
 
Scientific or not, redheads do seem to carry the reputation of having a somewhat spicy temperament and the people from Charles University in Prague wanted to know if this translated into the bedroom… The science says yes but not in the way you think!
 
CHAPTERS:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">00:00 Why do redheads fascinate us?</li>
<li aria-level="1">03:42 Barbarians and human sacrificing</li>
<li aria-level="1">05:40 Alchemical recipe with the blood of a redhead</li>
<li aria-level="1">07:30 19th century study: Most criminals were redheads</li>
<li aria-level="1">09:31 Ayurvedic medicine and genetics</li>
<li aria-level="1">13:42 Opiate response, Vitamin D and adrenaline </li>
<li aria-level="1">17:48 Redheads smell like ambergris</li>
<li aria-level="1">19:12 Pain studies: Stabbing and electric currents</li>
<li aria-level="1">21:50 Sexism in redhead stereotypes</li>
<li aria-level="1">24:21 Study on Redheads and Sexuality </li>
<li aria-level="1">27:08 What’s next on The Wholesome Show</li>
</ul>
 
PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://youtu.be/Rfbr1YjRQ_I">What The Hell Happened To The Left-Handers?</a></li>
</ul>
 
SOURCES:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://aeon.co/ideas/myths-about-red-hair-are-rooted-in-fear-of-difference">Myths about red hair are rooted in fear of difference | Aeon Ideas</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.thelist.com/129859/the-truth-about-redheads/">The Truth About Redheads</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/beauty-hair/hair/a32357/redhead-facts/">Ginger hair: 13 fascinating facts about redheads</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.wthr.com/article/news/nation-world/world-redhead-day-red-hair-fun-facts/507-3233cc76-92a6-452a-810a-2860eabe2424">World Redhead Day: 16 fun facts about red hair - Indianapolis</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1000753/full">Redheaded women are more sexually active than other women, but it is probably due to their suitors</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.gq.com.au/grooming/hair/science-confirms-redheads-are-equipped-with-some-weird-genetic-superpowers/news-story/cbc60110544260d0b5eb06f7f0e79845">Science Confirms Redheads Are Equipped With Some Weird Genetic Superpowers - GQ Australia</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair#Culture">Red hair - Wikipedia</a></li>
</ul>

Red Mercury!

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