Your Brain on Facts
255 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 156 ratingsHost Moxie LaBouche brings you a weekly half-hour of things you didn't know, things you thought you knew, and things you never knew you never knew. Topics range from the history of nursing to the Balinese funeral rite David Bowie requested, from the origin of the Vulcan salute to the theft of Canada's strategic maple syrup reserve. This is your brain on facts. yourbrainonfacts.com
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Episodes
Physician, Test Thyself
January 29, 2019 11:30 - 37 minutesIf you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, even if it means inhaling strange gasses, being stung by wasps, or swallowing patient's bodily fluids. Check out our new tiers and limited time special offer on Patreon. Music by Kevin MacLeod Read the full script. Reach out and touch Moxie on FB, Twit, the 'Gram or email. You can also leave a question or fact of your own on my voicemail at 804-404-2669. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More Cowbell (and Goat Bagpipe), with guest host Archivists Bet On Sexy Witches
January 22, 2019 11:30 - 32 minutesWhat is the oldest playable instrument we've found? How do you make music with lightning? From clacking rocks together to the magnificent Marble Machine, musical instruments are as varied as our imaginations. Special guest, Elizabeth from Archivists Bet On Sexy Witches Music by Kevin MacLeod All music used remains property of its original owner and was used under the fair use doctrine for educational purposes. Read the full script. Reach out and touch Moxie on FB, Twit, the 'Gram or email. Yo...
This Means War?
January 15, 2019 11:30 - 32 minutesMankind has waged war for many reasons: land, oil, a pretty face, a wooden bucket, you name it. How did a pig put the US and UK on the brink of war in Canada? Who declares hostility over watermelon? And what about the Golden Stool? Support the show Music by Kevin MacLeod Read the fill script. Reach out and touch Moxie on FB, Twit, the 'Gram or email. You can also leave a question or fact of your own on my voicemail at 804-404-2669. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sigmund Freud Was Full Of S***
January 08, 2019 12:00 - 56 minutesSigmund Freud may be the father of psychoanalysis, but he got a LOT of stuff wrong. Special guest extravaganza with Bunny Trails, Ignorance Was Bliss, Interesting Sex, and The Story Behind podcasts. Support the show Music by Kevin MacLeod Read the full script. Reach out and touch Moxie on FB, Twit, the 'Gram or email. You can also leave a question or fact of your own on my voicemail at 804-404-2669. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It's A Small Plate After All
January 01, 2019 12:00 - 31 minutes7 billion people spread across 59 million square miles, but we all need to eat and we eat more things that are than same than different. Learn about pizza preference, drunk foods, and truly unique fare around the world. Support the show Music by Chris Haugen Read the fill script. Reach out and touch Moxie on FB, Twit, the 'Gram or email. You can also leave a question or fact of your own on my voicemail at 804-404-2669. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Christmas Spirit (and Monsters and Other Fun)
December 18, 2018 11:30 - 32 minutesYou've probably heard about the Austrian Christmas demon Krampus, but what about Befana, the Italian Christmas witch? In what country do you need reservations for Xmas dinner at KFC? Where do people wish you happy holidays with a specific request for presents? Promo: Soulstory podcast Watch the Yule Goat. Support the show Music by Kevin MacLeod Read the fill script. Reach out and touch Moxie on FB, Twit, the 'Gram or email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Meeting New Peoples
December 11, 2018 11:30 - 31 minutesIn our instantly-connected world, there are entire groups of people you may never have heard of, whether they have never had contact with others or they live alongside the better known population. Learn about the Sami of Norway, Yali of New Guinea, Ladakhi of India, and more. Support the show Music by Kevin MacLeod and Audionautix. Read the script. Reach out and touch Moxie on FB, Twit, the 'Gram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Format War Veteran
December 04, 2018 11:30 - 33 minutesAs long as we have had media on which to record our art, there have been competing formats. While more modern examples like Betamax vs VHS or Blu-ray vs HD DVD may leap to mind, format wars go back as far as the days of Thomas Edison and the first audio media, wax cylinders. We'll also look at 8-tracks, 16-2/3 RPM records, "self-destructing" DVD's, and a string of Sony failures. Mentions: EngineerGuy Music by Kevin MacLeod Read the script. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or ...
Baptism By...
November 27, 2018 11:30 - 31 minutesFrom naming ceremonies around the world and adult circumcisions, to unexpected disasters and baptising the dead whether they want it or not, we look at different ways people are made part of their faith or community. Music by Kevin MacLeod and Tabletop Audio. Read the script. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Surprise Polyglot
November 20, 2018 11:30 - 35 minutesThink you don't speak French because you failed it in high school? Wouldn't know Hindi from Urdu? You actually speak them every day! Mentions: NativLang, Marge Bruchac's letter Music by Kevin MacLeod, and Chris Haugen. Read the script. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Read A Rainbow
November 13, 2018 11:30 - 32 minutesFrom the Yellow Pages and Golden Book, to Mao's little red book, three different green books and more! Music by Kevin MacLeod, Audionautix, and Rooster Teeth (I love you, please don't sue). Read the script. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Panto to Python - a history of British Comedy
November 06, 2018 11:30 - 37 minutesFrom music hall to Red Dwarf, pantomime to Absolutely Fabulous, we look at the history of British comedy, the names, shows, and historical events that made it what it is today. Like what you hear? Become a patron of the arts for as little as $2 a month! Music: Kevin MacLeod and John Phillips Sousa. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Cannibal! The Podcast, with Nature Vs Narcissism and Sketch Nerds
October 30, 2018 10:30 - 32 minutesThere are many reasons why an individual or group would eat other people - religious rites, shows of strength, signs of respect, and of course desperation. Cannibalism can be split into four often overlapping categories: by choice, by necessity, endo-cannibalism (eating people within your group), and exo-cannibalism (eating people outside your group). Special guests: Heather from Nature Vs Narcissism and Seth from Sketch Nerds. Music: Kevin MacLeod and Tabletop Audio Reach out and touch ...
Words You Can't Say On TV Or Radio, with special guest JoChristie
October 23, 2018 10:00 - 31 minutesGeorge Carlin wasn't wrong with his list of 7 dirty words you can't say, but he missed a whole lot. Everyday parts of our media and surprisingly innocuous things were banned from movies, TV, and radio for the better part of the twentieth century. Lucille Ball was pregnant on "I Love Lucy," but they weren't allowed to say the word 'pregnant.' Movies were forbidden from showing drugs, murder, silhouettes of nudity, "excessive kissing," and a lot more. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, ...
Short-lived, Long-remembered, with Based On A True Story podcast
October 16, 2018 10:00 - 28 minutesThere are some musicians that leave an enduring legacy through long and storied careers, like the Rolling Stones, who formed in 1962 and swear 2018 for be their final year touring, for real this time. There are actors who are iconic because they have been on our TV’s or the silver screen for decades, like Sean Connery, James Earl Jones, and our beloved Betty White. But by the same token, there are musicians, actors, and shows that are like a stone dropped in a pond -- their appearance was bri...
Hispanic Heritage Week
October 09, 2018 17:03 - 33 minutes - 26.6 MBHispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept 15 to Oct 15. Join us in celebrating cultural touchstones and famous people, as well as learning things like the distinction between Latino and Hispanic. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website.
Hispanic Heritage Month
October 09, 2018 17:03 - 36 minutesHispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept 15 to Oct 15. Join us in celebrating cultural touchstones and famous people, as well as learning things like the distinction between Latino and Hispanic. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Banned Books - Kids, YA, LGBTQ
October 02, 2018 10:38 - 27 minutesWill Shel Silverstein turn your kids into cannibals? Is a baby penguin spreading the "gay agenda"? We look at children, young adult, and LGBTQ books challenged or banned for silly reasons. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Banned Books - The Classics, with Oh No! Lit Class podcast
September 25, 2018 10:00 - 33 minutesBanned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. Learn why parents objected to such diverse classics as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Ender's Game and which book is banned in the most countries. With special guest Megan Dangerous from Oh No! Lit Class podcast. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Mus...
Got Your Goat
September 18, 2018 10:30 - 37 minutesGoats are the internet’s second favorite animal, a ruminant quadruped that gives us milk, meat, fiber, and hilarious videos. Legend has it they also discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls, cataract surgery, and coffee. They can climb seemingly impossible heights and escape every kind of fence mankind has invented. They feature in the zodiac and the mythologies of most of the world. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resou...
What's In A Nickname? City & State edition
September 11, 2018 10:00 - 34 minutesWhat’s in a name? That which we call a city by any other name would smell as sweet. Some nicknames are obvious. Denver, CO is the Mile High City because it’s precisely one mile above sea level. Dallas, Texas is The Big D; everything’s bigger in Texas. But which American city can also be called The Emerald City, which state is the Land of Lincoln and what’s a buckeye or a Sooner? Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research r...
You're How Young?!
September 04, 2018 10:00 - 33 minutesIf you want to open an actual door to the past, you’ll have to do it without a doorknob. The patent for the a knob that turns to move a latch inside the door wasn't filed until 1878. Lots of things, from CPR to timezones to sliced bread, that seem like they've been around forever are actually quite young. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...
Mixed Bags of History, with Dimly Lit podcast
August 28, 2018 10:00 - 34 minutesGenghis Kahn's empire killed 2/3 of Northern China, but people under his rule knew unrivaled gender equality and religious freedom. Mother Teresa gave aid to the poor, but also encouraged their suffering. Spiky cacti sometimes contain life-sustaining water, and even the most beautiful roses have thorns. We’re all some mix of good and bad. Thanks to our special guests Dimly Lit podcast. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the resea...
Good Mourning To You. with Life in Stories podcast
August 21, 2018 10:30 - 30 minutesThere is a literal world of funeral practices to choose from, from an Irish wake to Tibetan sky burial, from New Orleans Jazz funerals to Balinese ngaben cremation, from being buried in a car-shaped coffin in Ghana to burying the head of family with a funnel in their mouth in Nigeria, so you can give them palm wine during the funeral. Thanks to our special guests from Life in Stories podcast. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all th...
This Is Only A Test
August 14, 2018 09:00 - 27 minutesTests are all around us. You probably took one the minute you were born. We look at tests named for the people who created them - Bechdel, Myers-Briggs, Apgar, and more. 01:25 Bechdel-Wallace 09:00 DuVernay 13:40 Myer-Briggs 18:10 Apgar Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod . Links to all the research resources are on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Stolen Innocents
August 07, 2018 09:00 - 30 minutesWithout getting into current politics, we can’t ignore the plight of children seized from parents of a particular group. And it’s not the first time either. A century ago, the American government took tens of thousands of children from Native families and placed them in boarding schools with strict assimilation practices. Their philosophy - kill the Indian to save the man.... 01:00 Indian Schools 09:00 Australia's "stolen generations" 16:00 Ceausescu's orphans 20:15 the Dionne quintuplets R...
Life After Death, with Dumb & Busted podcast
July 31, 2018 09:00 - 34 minutesDeath doesn’t mean everything stop for you. There are lots of ways we can live on after shuffling off the mortal coil. From body parts taken from famous bodies, to cells that won't stop growing, to a taxidermied person on display in a museum, we look at bodies and body parts that don't let death slow them down. Topics: 02:35 Henrietta Lacks 06:40 Operation Mincemeat 10:15 Abraham Lincoln 12:00 JFK 13:45 Albert Einstein 16:30 Joseph Haydn 17:20 Frederic Chopin 18:30 Napoleon 23:45 the Tswana w...
Swiss Army Wife, with Bunny Trails Podcast
July 24, 2018 09:00 - 32 minutesI’m pretty good at this wife business, but I can’t say that I would take over my husband’s public office after his death, re-edit his film to launch a genre-defining franchise, or kill an enemy general after he was over-run. However, there are a lot of women in history who would, and did, all those things and more. From French pirates to Chilean warrior to American filmmakers, we look at women who earn the title "super wife." http://bit.ly/StarWarsEdit Bunny Trails Podcast Reach out and touc...
Ink and Pain: Tattoos, with Hobbit from GUI Podcasts
July 17, 2018 09:00 - 36 minutes“The body is a temple and it’s our job to decorate it." From tatau in Polynesia to Sailor Jerry to the oppressed class that gave rise to the Yakuza, we touch on some highlights from the history of tattoos. Huge thanks to my guest presenter Mike "Hobbit" Bickett from Geeks Under the Influence Podcast network. Check out the episode of Smack My Pitch Up he let me do with him. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod and archive.org. Links to all the r...
Secret Cities
July 10, 2018 09:00 - 35 minutesWe all lose things -- keys, wallets, patience -- but how do you lose an entire city? Hear the stories of three American towns built in a hurry but kept off the map, secure Soviet enclaves known by their post codes, ancient cities found by modern technology, and the ingenious engineering of underground dwellings. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
Foxtrot Alpha Charlie Tango Sierra, pt 2
July 06, 2018 09:00 - 23 minutesFor Independence Day, we're doing a two-parter on heroic animals, innovations from the field, and noteworthy bad-asses. Topics include a pigeon who saved hundreds of lives, a crossbow for grenades and Jack Churchill, who went into WWI with a claymore and bagpipes, despite not being Scottish. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Links to all the research resources are on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Foxtrot Alpha Charlie Tango Sierra pt 1
July 03, 2018 09:00 - 23 minutesFor Independence Day, we're doing a two-parter on heroic animals, innovations from the field, and noteworthy bad-asses. Topics include a pigeon who saved hundreds of lives, a crossbow for grenades and Jack Churchill, who went into WWI with a claymore and bagpipes, despite not being Scottish. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We Can't Have Nice Things: Art & Antiquities Edition
June 26, 2018 09:00 - 35 minutesEcce Homo was a fresco of Jesus Christ that had degraded significantly over time. No one asked the little old lady next door to help. She had no training, but how hard could it really be? Pretty damn hard, as it turns out. In place of the Renaissance-style face was now a smeary circle, wreathed in what looks like a marabou balaclava, with a nose like a folk-art sock doll, the crooked, misplaced eyes of a failed anime sketch, and a mouth like a lipstick smear left by a bass. In the height of ...
Science Fiction Double Feature, featuring Shaun Ennis of Stories of Yore and Yours
June 19, 2018 09:00 - 38 minutesMy father was a sci-fi fan of the old school. The man had the entire original Star Trek series on VHS, commercial free, and an Enterprise technical manual. So in his honor, a little late for Father's Day, we go back in time to look to the future as we dive into the wormhole of classic sci-fi. With segments voiced by Shaun Ennis, host of Stories of Yore and Yours. Topics include Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, HG Wells, Robert Chambers and cosmic horror, NOT H. P. Lovecraft, William Hodgson and dy...
Like Butter in the Bank
June 12, 2018 09:00 - 30 minutesA strategic reserve is a commodity held back by governments to stabilize prices or protect against shortage. Your mind may go immediately to the 35 million barrels or so of crude oil that the US has in storage, but there are all kinds of strategic reserves around the world. From cotton in China, to butter and wine in the EU, to the Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve, we talk about strange stockpiles (mostly food) and their effect on producers and consumers. To read more about any of these ...
The Last Word(s)
June 05, 2018 09:00 - 33 minutesWe assign a great deal of significant to last words. We expect them to be deep and profound, the sort of thing you immortalize on a $3,000 headstone. We hope we’ll say something really clever when it’s our turn, and not “what’s this button do?” or “hold my beer.” But you may end up with last words like American author Henry David Thoreau, who simply said “moose...Indian.” From the profound to the prophetic, from the ironic to the ignominious, from founding fathers to TV stars, we look into th...
The Role of a Lifetime
May 29, 2018 09:00 - 30 minutesSome actors fall victim to typecasting, but others have a single character they can't disassociate themselves from. Sometimes that means always being cast as a character similar to the one they made famous or that made them famous, or not really being cast at all. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music by Kevin MacLeod and sound effects from freesound.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Copy-wrong
May 22, 2018 09:00 - 29 minutesIf a monkey takes a picture in the woods, can the monkey claim the copyright? Trademark and copyright laws can get pretty sticky. For the layperson, trademark, copyright and patent sound interchangeable. Find our who called dibs on phrases like "you're fired," "one more thing," and "let's play." Learn about cases where people tried to claim things they couldn't, only to get smacked down in court. If you work in advertising, stay tuned for a list of words and phrases that will cost you a lot o...
Mummy's Day
May 15, 2018 09:00 - 39 minutesIn this episode, we cover the way people in Victorian Europe used (and abused) Egyptian mummies, whether or not mummies were burned for fuel, Catholic saints who do not decay, natural mummies preserved in ice, moss, and salt, child mummies of the Andes, and Buddhist monk mummifying themselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Lunules and Tittles and Barms, Oh My!
May 08, 2018 09:00 - 29 minutesFrom the skin between your thumb and forefinger to the stringy things you have to pick off bananas, today's episode will teach you dozens of names for everyday items, even if you can't tell your natiform from your weenus. Here are your new vocab words, in order of appearance: acnestis niddick feat glabella caruncula philtrum weenus rasceta pericule lunules Morton's toe minimus Brannock device hallux throat vamp aglet paresthesia obdormition dysania armscyes nurdle wamble borborygmus crapule...
Steal (pretty) Big
May 01, 2018 09:00 - 27 minutesWhen you think of big heists, your mind probably goes to banks, jewelry, and fine art, or maybe a casino vault; carefully organized plans by people dressed in black turtlenecks with plenty of cool gadgets and close calls. What we remember as the daring heist of one of the world’s most famous paintings was really neither of those. The theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa wasn’t even noticed when it happened. That story, plus a stolen art technique that made a man world famous, credit stole...
A Dish Best Served Loud
April 24, 2018 09:00 - 29 minutesA microphone is a good enough platform for getting back at people, but an entire recording studio is even better. Popular music is littered with songs getting back at an ex lover, from Waylon Jennings to Taylor Swift, but a fair number of the tracks you know by heart are actually clap-backs to the people in the mixing booth or the record label offices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We Can't Have Nice Things: Gamer edition
April 17, 2018 09:00 - 27 minutesFrom trolls and griefers, to crashing virtual funerals and spreading digital plagues, we look at online gamers ruining everyone else's fun in the first of our series We Can't Have Nice Things. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For Want of a Nail
April 10, 2018 09:00 - 30 minutesSmall things can have reverberating effects on history, both good and bad. In 1453, the great walled city of Constantinople, which had withstood sieges for 1,100 years, fell to the Ottomans...because someone left the door open. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It's Good To Be The King
April 03, 2018 09:00 - 33 minutesMel Brooks said it best, “It’s good to be the king.” There’s the seemingly limitless power and unspendable amounts of wealth. On the flip-side, though, there’s the back-stabbing, political intrigue, and of course, the inbreeding to deal with. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Obligatory Holiday Episode: Easter & Passover
March 27, 2018 09:00 - 28 minutesHop on down the bunny trail as we examine the origins of some beloved Easter traditions and teach the goyim a little about Pesach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
You're How Old?!
March 20, 2018 09:30 - 27 minutesIn the age of bigger, better, faster, more, it’s easy to default to thinking that we invented everything, that the complex things that make up our lives couldn’t have existed in the times we view as primitive. Oh, how wrong we are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
First Ladies
March 13, 2018 09:30 - 27 minutesWe dip our toes into the deep water of "the first woman to..." with pilots, daredevils, doctors, and athletes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Untold Devastation
March 06, 2018 10:30 - 26 minutesThere exists a small deserted town, which has been seized by eminent domain and condemned by the state. Why would an entire town that once housed over a thousand residents be shuttered? Because the ground under their feet was on fire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
hiStory
February 27, 2018 21:49 - 29 minutesTake, for example, George Washington’s youthful proclamation on the lumberjacking of his father’s cherry tree - “I cannot tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.” It’s one of the first presidential facts American children learn in elementary school. The trouble is, that story is a complete fabrication. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices