We Have Concerns

An octopus at the Sea Life Aquarium in New Zealand has been trained to take photos. When visitors stand in front of his tank, Rambo the octopus reaches inside the casing of the underwater camera and presses the button, capturing the image of his "guests". Anthony reveals his long-held hatred of all cephalopods and fear that they will someday live in trees, while Jeff wonders how one trains an octopus, anyway.

A 30-year-old Russian man Valery Spiridonov has volunteered to become the world's first head transplant. His terrible, degenerative spinal disease has forced him to resort to drastic actions, but some scientists are worried that the resulting neural confusion of a human head transplant may actually be worse than death. Jeff and Anthony wonder what kind of doctor would try such a thing, and consider the ramifications.

A new biotech startup aims to have synthetic, bioprinted eyeballs on the market by 2027. These could not only solve vision problems, but actually upgrade the eye to apply filters or even record video. Jeff, Anthony, and special guest Trisha Hershberger debate whether cool new functions are worth giving up your natural born eyes.

Cosmologist Fergus Simpson published a new scientific paper in which he suggests that intelligent aliens, if they exist, are likely enormous, weighing at least 650 lbs. Jeff and Anthony are skeptical of Mr, Simpson's mathematical model, but suspect first contact with gigantic aliens might not go smoothly.

Researchers studying the movements of tarantulas in different climates have discovered that at higher temperatures spiders can actually move much faster. This is due to fluid in their joints becoming more viscous in high heat. The trade-off is that they also become more wobbly and out of control. Jeff and Anthony imagine the hydraulic robots that might be created based on this information, and worry about running from them on a warm day.

Historians uncovered an Old English book of Medieval remedies and decided to recreate and test them in modern conditions. Shockingly, one of the potions, made up of garlic, onions, and the bile from a cow's stomach was actually more effective at treating MRSA than modern antibiotics. Jeff and Anthony marvel at the wisdom that can be derived from trial and error, and wonder what other ailments alchemy can treat.

Seattle cancer researchers are hoping that they will be able to use scorpion venom to fight deadly brain cancer through a new product called "Tumor Paint." Jeff and Anthony consider the challenges of attacking cancer in the most sensitive areas of the human body and hope something deadly can combat something deadlier. Also, they remember their short-lived cartoon series, Cancer Killers: Tumor Squad.

Plastic water bottles are a massive global pollution problem, but new biotech aims to replace traditional non-biodegradable containers with a thin, algae membrane. The result is an amorphous spheroid of H2O that is inexpensive to produce and has zero impact on the environment. Anthony and Jeff are ready for the blob water future, and have been working up a series of biohacker adventure novels in anticipation.

Scientists recently discovered a species of sea slug takes genes from the algae it eats, allowing it to photosynthesize like a plant and survive for months at a time on sunlight. Anthony thinks that if we can replicate this process in humans, he might finally be able to shed the need for daily meals, while Jeff wonders if it means he'll end up looking green and needing to be outside much more often.

Anthony and Jeff consider the plight of mice in a cage, given the opportunity to drink clean, natural water, or water laced with illicit drugs. Is their choice dependent on the pure addictive properties of the drugs, each individual mouse's brain chemistry, or a simple lack of other interesting things to do? What does this experiment tell us about how we approach drug use in humans? And why is there always a 7-11 involved?