Mark and Toddcast

We all grew up seeing those weird, illustrated creatures in comic book magazine ads - the promise of "Instant Life!" in the form of "Sea Monkeys." So what are those things? How does "instant life" work? And who created them? Find out on this week's episode.

We once again welcome (5 years later) Dr. Ethan Siegel, theoretical astrophysicist, author, speaker, and smartest guy ever, about next month's launch of the James Webb telescope, how it works, why it's such an advancement from Hubble, what we hope to find, and how Todd gets to believe he is the literal center of the universe. Enjoy!

This week we have an amazing conversation with Al Goncer, an aerospace engineer at NASA, who also happens to be legally blind. We talk to him about his journey to NASA, his loss of sight late in life, and the amazing accessibility technology he uses to navigate life, work, and the internet.

This week we take a look at the astonishing success of giving kids (and adults) what is called an "ambiguous gestural or verbal praise" -- things like a fist bump, a pat on the shoulder, or shouting "Yeah!" to encourage someone along -- over standard character- or behavior-based praise.  High five!

The Voyager space mission, which is now in interstellar space, far beyond our solar system, has a gold record attached to it containing images, words, pictures, greetings, and more, just in case it's discovered by alien life forms.  So what's on it? We fire up our cosmic record player to find out.

It's that time again for our favorite segment "War of Wikipedia," where Mark and Todd go head-to-head to attempt to find the strangest, most interesting, most amusing, or all-together crazy Wikipedia articles trying to sway special guest judge Brian "The Unipiper" Kidd to choosing their story as the victor.

This week we start taking a closer look around our own celestial neighborhood and diving into the weirdness of Uranus. And no, we're not mature about the name. In the news this week: El Salvador eyes Bitcoin, TikTok takes the lead, Mercedes reads our minds, RayBan/Facebook's new sunglasses, Marshawn Lynch goes Beast Mode in Portland, the I-5 freeway cap through the Rose Quarter, and Ned Flanders Crossing.

What does one do if they're losing the space race? If that person is America, there's only one obvious answer: blow up a nuclear weapon on the moon to show how bad-ass we really are. How far did this plan go? Find out on this week's episode. In the news: Willard Scott dies, Mississippi River flows backwards, you can make $6 billion starting an opioid crisis, China's space plans, what the hell is Grimace, and the return of ABBA! Gimme Gimme Gimme!

This week we take a short look at just which private companies are currently working on getting themselves into space. We've all heard about Musk, Branson, and Bezos, but who else is there, and what are their plans? In the news this week: LED streetlights decimate moths, the "Tesla Bot," Portland's iconic Mary's Club to move, Google's "time crystals," a new carnivorous plant discovered in the NW, Ron Popeil sets it and forgets it, and the most important of all the news: CREME SAVERS ARE COMING BACK, BABY!

History repeats itself, of course. But is it possible that it's repeating in cycles of 80 years that can be divided up into 20-year chunks? We explore this idea, as well as discuss moon conspiracies, Jeff Bezos in space, the Louvre sues PornHub, Canada opens its borders to the US again, a bran implant allows a paralyzed man to communicate, and the Oregon Zoo extends its hours.