Mark and Toddcast

How do optical storage formats like CDs and DVDs work? We shed some laser light on the matter in this week’s episode. Also: Todd is in a fog, nerds rend their clothing about “Batman vs....

The post #35 – Optical Storage Is The Pits appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

What meets at the intersection of resonance, oscillation, and the piezoelectric effect? This episode explores how things from electric lighters to the atomic clock keeps ticking. Also: Todd’s over-inflation drama, Mark’s rat infestation, shame-eating and...

The post #34 – A Back-and-Forth About Oscillation appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

Glass is the backbone of the entire modern world, responsible for world-changing revolutions in everything from modern chemistry to yachts to farming to the internet and to the very definition of ourselves. It’s a fascinating...

The post #33 – How Glass Built Humanity appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

Introducing the tardigrade – or “water bear.” A seemingly indestructible little creature, it can’t be frozen or burned or starved or reasoned with, and it’s probably in your backyard (and in space) right now. Also...

The post #32 – Tardigrades – or, “Little Manatees Wearing Terrifying Gas Masks” appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

Humans rely on herd mentality all the time, but what makes a mob? Why do individuals act so differently in a crowd? And how do we avoid becoming part of madness? Let’s discuss. Also: Todd...

The post # 31 – How (and Why) Mob Mentality Works appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

What’s up with gravity? What are the gravity waves we measured pulsing through the fabric of space? Find out how much science still doesn’t understand about this fundamental force. Also: peeling the microwave, Ground Kontrol...

The post #30 – Down With Gravity appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

What’s it like to realize at age 10 you’re colorblind? Or to find out at 30 that peanut butter isn’t green? We talk to actual colorblind human Cory Thomas about the daily logistics and intriguingly...

The post #29 – “I don’t even see color.” appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

How will we rebuild humanity after complete global devastation? The Global Seed Vault located in Norway, of course, which holds 860,000 seeds “just in case.” Also: proof Todd drives “Well above average,” gas waterfall, Mark’s...

The post #28 – What the Phở is “The Vault”? appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

The fluid dynamics discussion flows this week as we’re pressured into Bernoulli’s principles and squeezed into the Venturi Effect. Also on the show: Why don’t we have just one giant nostril?, caucaii, Sanders 404, why...

The post #27 – Bernoulli Puts On The Pressure appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.

How does our brain make snap decisions, and how do external elements and personal bias infect that process? Answer: something called “priming.” Also: why Hulu is full of filthy lies, what is a slide rule(r)?,...

The post #26 – Where Snap Decisions Come From appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.