The BrainFood Show

4.9 (1.4K)
History
Updated Daily

In this show, the team behind the wildly popular TodayIFoundOut YouTube channel do deep dives into a variety of fascinating topics to help you feed your brain with interesting knowledge.

1d ago

So, like, How Do Porcupines Mate? And Other Bizarre Animal Mating Practices

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at whether or not male humans can get pregnant and carry a baby to full term naturally. (Spoiler- yes and yes. And even breastfeed too! It doesn’t even require fancy science or advanced medical techniques.) Moving on to the meat of today’s episode, we jump into a variety of bizarre animal mating practices, starting with the somewhat humorous mating practices of the giraffe, looking at how porcupines mate without serious injury, banana slugs, the evil that is the male duck, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2d ago

The Greatest Factory Ever Built

Following December 7, 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which finally drew the United States into the Second World War, the attack’s architect, Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, infamously lamented that: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” While in reality Yamamoto likely never said this, the sentiment proved shockingly prophetic, for almost overnight the outraged nation shifted its entire economy towards a singular goal: crush the Axis Powers. Factories which had once produced household goods like sewing machines, typewriters, and automobiles were converted over to churning out rifles, helmets, tanks, jeeps, aircraft, and other vital war weapons by the hundreds of thousands, while a huge force of non-combatant civilians - including record numbers of women - were hired to staff them. The result was a nigh-unstoppable “Arsenal of Democracy” that ultimately swamped the wartime economies of Germany, Italy, and Japan and guaranteed Allied victory. But one American wartime factory stood out among the rest: Air Force Plant 31 in Ypsilanti (ip-si-lan-tee) Township, Michigan - better known as Willow Run. At peak capacity in April 1944, a complete B-24 Liberator heavy bomber was rolling out this facility’s doors every single hour - a staggering feat of industrial production that has yet to be matched. This is the story of the greatest factory ever built. Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor/Pilot: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
3d ago

How to Survive Falling from a Plane Without a Parachute

According to the Aircraft Crashes Record Office in Geneva, between 1940 and 2008 there were 157 people who fell out of planes without a parachute during a crash and lived to tell about it. A full 42 of those falls occurred at heights over 10,000 feet (above 3,000 meters), such as the tale of 17 year old Juliane Koepcke who not only survived an approximately 10,000 foot free fall, but also a subsequent 10 day trek alone through the Peruvian rain forest with no real supplies other than a little bag of candy. Now, while you might think surely nothing like that could ever happen to you, it turns out whether falling from 30,000 feet or a much more common 30, the same basic strategies apply. And for reference here, approximately 30 feet or about 9 meters is around the height at which you begin to be more likely to die from your injuries than survive. At heights as little as about 80 feet, only about 1 in 10 people survive and it pretty much all goes to hell from there. So what can you do to increase your chances of survival if you ever find yourself doing your best impression of Icarus? Authors: Karl Smallwood and Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
4d ago

Is the “Old Painless” Gun From Predator, the Matrix, Terminator 2 and Many Other Movies a Real Gun?

It is one of the most iconic cinematic weapons in history, on par with James Bond’s Walther PPK, Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber, and Indiana Jones’s bullwhip. Strap it to your back, and you instantly become an unstoppable one-man army, a bullet hose spitting hot lead at 6,000 rounds per minute and turning dense jungle into leaf mulch, cars into twisted scrap metal, and your enemies into piles of hamburger meat. It is, of course, the M134 Minigun AKA “Old Painless”, the blisteringly fast rotary-barrel machine gun wielded by the likes of Jesse “The Body” Ventura in Predator, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. Unlike many other movie weapons, “Ol’ Painless” seems remarkably plausible, but does such a weapon really exist, and could you wield it the way it’s almost always shown in movies? Well, strap on your bullet proof vest, as we dive into how humanity went from the Gatling Gun, to the incredible M61 Vulcan which, in turn, birthed one of cinema’s most badass, and misunderstood, weapons. Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila 0:00 Intro 1:06 Inventing the Gatling Gun 5:31 How Automatic Firearms Work and Aviation 15:49 Project Vulcan 19:10 The Incredible M134 "Minigun" 25:25 So, Is the “Ol’ Painless” Version of the Minigun From Movies Real? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
5d ago

Cold War Files- The Greatest Naval Espionage Mission in History, Embalming Communists and Much More

In today's compilation episode, we're looking at the greatest naval espionage mission in history, that time the moon nearly started World War 3, WTF is up with embalming communists and many other fascinating cold war stories. 0:00 Silent Seas: The Top Secret, Greatest Cold War Naval Espionage Mission 9:54 That Time the Moon Nearly Started World War 3 (and Other Silly Cold War Shenanigans) 19:09 Death by Blue Peacock: Britain’s Bizarre and Deadly Cold War “Rainbow Codes” 29:17 The Incredible Real Life Cold War Bond Villain Ice Lair 52:50 The Cold War's Most Pathetically Hilarious Air Battle 1:00:01 WTF is Up with Embalming and Displaying Communists? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 2

The Teenager Who was Executed Twice, a Year Apart for Something He Didn't Do

Apologies for my audio quality in this one. Adobe kept crashing on me, so we had to use the audio Simon was receiving which isn’t ideal. Also a bit under the weather and lost my voice before recording, so maybe for the best that I wasn’t coming through in pristine quality. Next episode will sound much, much better! In any event, in this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at the real story behind the song In the Air Tonight. Moving on to the meat of today’s episode, we jump into the fascinating story of one Willie Francis, a young man convicted for murder, executed, then executed again about a year later, despite the fact that it would very much seem as if he was innocent the whole time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 1

New Zealand’s Pathetically Hilarious WWII Attempt to Build a Tank

On September 15, 1916, German troops defending towns in France’s Somme Valley heard a strange new sound above the usual boom of artillery and crack of rifle and machine gun fire: a deep, throaty rumbling, accompanied by a high-pitched metallic squeaking. Peering over the parapets of their trenches, they gasped as they beheld a terrifying sight: a line of giant, armour-plated vehicles, rolling on caterpillar treads and bristling with guns, heading straight for them. The tank had arrived on the battlefield. While the results of history’s first armoured assault were mixed, with nearly two-thirds of the British Mark I tanks deployed that day breaking down or getting stuck before they could reach their objectives, the psychological impact of the new vehicle was undeniable. By the end of the war, the technology had been greatly improved, with tanks playing a key role in the final Entente victories leading up to the Armistice. The tank soon became an integral part of modern warfare, with any nation unable to field armoured vehicles finding itself at a significant disadvantage. But tanks require a lot of money and industrial capacity to develop and mass-produce - resources many nations simply do not possess. Take New Zealand, which at the outbreak of the Second World War found itself cut off from outside sources of military equipment and facing imminent invasion by the Japanese. But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and determined to defend their islands, whatever the cost may be, the enterprising Kiwis cobbled together a home-grown armoured fighting vehicle which, while admittedly resourceful, was also hilariously inept, and still ranks as perhaps the worst tank ever built. This is the story of the Bob Semple Tank. Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Caden Nielsen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 30

WTF is Up with Silly Putty?

Set it down and it flows like a liquid. Pull it slowly and it stretches like rubber. Hit it with a hammer and it shatters like glass. Throw it on the ground and it bounces higher than a rubber ball. It can help heal injuries, stabilize wobbly furniture, clean up dust and pet hair, and lift newsprint off the page, allowing comic-strip characters to be stretched into amusing shapes. It is on permanent display in the Smithsonian Museum and has even flown to the moon and back. It is, of course, that most classic and versatile of toys: the weird and wacky goo known as Silly Putty. For nearly eight decades, this strange rubbery substance in the plastic egg has enchanted children and adults the world over, finding a myriad of applications both amusing and practical. Yet like many other classic toys like the Slinky, Super Soaker, and Play-Doh, Silly Putty owes its existence and enduring popularity to an unlikely accident - and not a bit of clever marketing. This is the stretchy, bouncy, wacky history of one of the world’s favourite playthings. Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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4.9

out of 5

1,376 Ratings

Love the banter

Mar 31

Champ08

I love the information you guys give. The banter and chemistry you two have is entertaining and keeps me invested.
Absolutely amazing

Feb 21

Renda6789

The hosts Simon and Daven manage to make topics you wouldn’t otherwise ever care about just straight up amusing and interesting. I think the fact that it really feels like they are learning it all along with you, instead of feeling like two guys just telling you about stuff they know, makes this podcast so unique and fun to listen to. The way the hosts interact with each other gives this podcast a very fun and banter-y atmosphere, unlike podcasts where the hosts sound like they would rather be doing literally anything else. Edited to add I’m slo glad they are back!
10/10

Jan 23

tee craine

Love these guys. Great show.
A must listen

Jan 23

Karly's cup of Jo

I always have to check out a Simon Whistler podcast! As always it’s entertaining and has good information. I enjoying listening to the banter between the two hosts.

In this show, the team behind the wildly popular TodayIFoundOut YouTube channel do deep dives into a variety of fascinating topics to help you feed your brain with interesting knowledge.