We Have Concerns

A quadriplegic woman who has trained her neural impulses to control a robotic arm, has now flown a jet airplane using only her mind. Anthony is thrilled by the prospect of someday being able to control aircraft with his brain, while Jeff worries about the ramifications of announcing this new feat at the "Future of War Convention."

A man in Britain has been diagnosed with "auto-brewery syndrome." Due to an overgrowth of yeast in his stomach, every time he eats carbohydrates, his body turns them into alcohol and he gets drunk. Jeff and Anthony struggle to decide if this is the greatest gift a human can receive, or a horrible curse destined to ruin lives.

The residents of St. Pauli, a party district in Hamburg, Germany, were fed up with drunk revelers urinating on the sides of their buildings, so they turned to science to stop the behavior. Painting the most peed-upon areas with an extremely hydro-phobic coating effectively turned the walls into reflectors, bouncing the urine right back onto the culprits. Jeff and Anthony applaud the ingenuity, and wonder how many other problems can be solved this way.

You've heard Anthony and Jeff warn you about the far-reaching influence of the dreaded Spike Lobby. Now it gets real. An article in The Guardian outlines the numerous locations in the UK installing spikes in public places to get rid of homeless loiterers. The guys think this is a disproportionate, inhumane approach, and can only imagine one culprit...

With a headline like "Man Gets Bionic Eye, Sees Wife for the First Time in 20 Years", you might expect a tearful moment of feel-good sentimentality. But the truth of the moment, as evidenced by the article's embedded video, is much more honest and real about the state of technology. Anthony and Jeff applaud the headline's "man" for his genuine reaction, and make fun of media headlines for their self-congratulatory tone.

The New Zealand-based Martin Aircraft Company, now listed on the Australian stock exchange, is taking orders for the "world's first practical jetpack" and Jeff couldn't be more excited. But at $200,000 and at its current size, Anthony wonders if practical is really the right word. Also, the guys pitch their idea for Jetpack Rescue Squad and Anthony eats during the show, like a real professional.

The mummified remains of a Buddist monk have been discovered inside a statue that dates back over 1,000 years. Even more fascinating, studies reveal that the monk may have been self-mummified! Jeff and Anthony learn the excruciating, lengthy procedure once used to begin the embalming process while still alive, and wonder how enlightened one must be to attempt it.

A very special 100th episode of We Have Concerns, recorded in front of a live audience at the Nerdmelt Showroom in Los Angeles! Anthony and Jeff discuss the potential to sell your feces to science for use in treating patients with C diff. Donors can earn up to $13,000 per year for their excrement, but the standards are quite high for what constitutes sellable poop.

A new article on i09 describes animal behaviorist John Calhoun's quest to create the perfect mouse city, complete with abundant food, recreation, and even rodent apartments. Now referred to as the "Behavioral Sink", the utopian underground mouse habitat quickly degraded into an apocalypse, as the mice turned on one another and the bloated population died out...

*not necessarily a guarantee One robotics company, Clearpath Robotics, has promised never to make autonomous killing machines, and hopes all future tech companies will get on board with the no killer robot promise. Problem solved, right? Jeff and Anthony aren't so sure, and see a future where solemnly swearing with no take-backs might not be enough. This episode also features French robots, so there's that.