We Have Concerns

Climate change is having all sorts of unexpected side-effects. One of which has been recorded over the last 14 years by Pesky Pete of Pesky Pete's Poison Ivy Removal. It turns out, poison Ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac love warmer climates and higher carbon dioxide, and have been growing bigger, faster and itchier than ever before. Jeff and Anthony pull out the calamine lotion to discuss this disturbing phenomenon.

Gallup Polls, famous for its political odds-making every election cycle, has released a new poll that attempts to draw correlation between general happiness and certain everyday activities - like saying hello to your neighbors. As Anthony and Jeff dig into the data, however, it reveals the way polling can seemingly justify misleading conclusions.

An enormous new publicly available dataset containing over 1,300 studies of millions of people from across the world, establishes reliable relationships between personality traits and cognitive abilities. Jeff and Anthony dig into this vast amount of information to see if our assumptions about the relationship between intelligence and personality are true.

A French company has developed a new way to pull cargo ships using a kite, which it says could help reduce their fuel consumption and cut their carbon emissions by an average of 20%. Jeff and Anthony examine the details of this wild approach to determine if this could really change the greenhouse impact of global shipping.

In 1948, environmentalists actually used parachutes to relocate beavers into their natural habitat in Idaho, hoping to encourage their numbers to increase. Anthony and Jeff discuss the novel method of moving species in and out of different environment, and whether its wise to be altering nature in this was at all.

Scientists in Russia have thawed worms trapped in the Siberian Permafrost 46,000 years ago and found that the creatures returned to normal activity. Could their ability to survive in a state of suspended animation offer clues for humans to survive extreme, inhospitable conditions? Anthony and Jeff talk about what the permafrost gives and what it could take away from the future of humanity.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is the idea that the least skilled people overestimate their abilities more than anyone else. But a new study suggests that the mathematical approach used to show this effect may be incorrect. Jeff and Anthony discuss one of the most often cited psychological papers of all time and why it might not say what we all think it says.

According to a new study, napping appears to be associated with a larger brain volume in adults, raising the possibility that it could offer some protection against neurodegeneration. Anthony and Jeff are big fans of naps, and discuss all the ways we need to rethink our society to make them more acceptable.

According to a new study, it's now possible to sift scraps of human DNA out of the air, water, or soil and decipher personal details about the individuals who dropped them. Jeff and Anthony take a look at the technology that makes this possible, and sort through the ramifications.

When a cycling accident left Gert-Jan Oskam paralyzed after his spinal cord was damaged in his neck, few believed he would ever walk again. But a new device has created a digital bridge between his brain and the nerves below his injury, allowing him to control his legs again. Anthony and Jeff discuss the breakthroughs that make this possible and what it could mean for the future.