Mark and Toddcast

This week we chat about a variety of topics, including our taste experiment with the “Miracle Fruit,” a berry that binds to your taste buds and changes the taste of all the food you eat....

The post #57 – A Little Taste of Everything appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

Is it possible for an entire population to collectively imagine — and agree on — a reality that doesn’t actually exist? Enter the case of “The Berenstein Bears,” whose names were actually “BerenSTAIN,” even though...

The post #56 – You Say “Berenstein,” I Say “Berenstain.” appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

While the main topic of this week’s show is the legendary unsolved plane hijacking and parachute escape of D.B. Cooper over the Pacific Northwest in 1971, we also talk quite a bit about our first-hand...

The post #55 – VR + DB Cooper appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

Aluminum used to be so valuable that the French government once displayed bars of it next to the Crown Jewels, and America capped the Washington Monument with 6 pounds of it to brag about its...

The post #54 – Aluminum: More Than Just Nice Cans appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

New technologies can change history in surprising ways, and no technology has changed the literal map of the world like air conditioning. From the desert ice houses of ancient Egypt, to the “Ice King” and...

The post #53 – How Air Conditioning Elected Ronald Reagan appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

What *is* “True North,” why is it different than “magnetic north,” and what does that have to do with the streets of Portland? We navigate the Earth’s magnetic core in this great episode. Also discussed:...

The post #52 – Earth’s Magnetic Personality appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

In between the worst opening and closing to our podcast ever is the amazing story of Phineas Gage, who survived an 1848 blasting accident that blew a 3-foot long metal rod clean through his face...

The post #51 – The Fascinating Case of Phineas Gage appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

This week we tackle a listener-submitted topic: the physics-defying “EM Drive” rocket. Find out the fantastic promise–yet much less fantastic reality–of “a reactionless propulsion system that supposedly generates thrust by converting electrical energy via microwaves.”...

The post # 50 – The Flux Capacitor of Space Travel appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

Diamond engagement rings are a time-tested tradition. Well, at least since 1940, when the DeBeers “Diamonds are Forever” marketing campaign convinced the world that a) diamonds aren’t worthless, and b) they are inextricably linked to...

The post #49 – Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Marketing Scam appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

Find out how Margaret Hamilton (not the Wicked Witch) pioneered — and coined the word — Software Engineering as she (and her Little Old Ladies) coded, programmed, and literally threaded by hand NASA’s entire Apollo...

The post #48 – No, The *Other* Margaret Hamilton appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.