World of Weird Things Podcast [ weird things ]

Space, the final frontier, a place of endless possibility, wonder, and opportunity. And a whole lot of weird stuff that challenges your ideas of what you think you knew about the universe you inhabit. So, to start off the year, we’re taking you on a quick tour through the solar system and beyond to talk about some odd observations and theories you might not have heard before, from Saturn’s disappearing -- yes, disappearing -- rings, to a really good and slightly disturbing reason we haven’t heard from any intelligent aliens yet. Along the way, we’ll also debate what makes a planet a planet, and send some shout outs to some relevant TV shows and fun videos.

Whenever you praise human spaceflight or space tourism a bit too loudly around the wrong people, you’re bound to get assailed by seemingly morally unassailable criticisms of space exploration being a luxury we can ill afford when we have so many pressing problems right here on Earth. But what if we were to tell you that not only does sending humans into space barely makes a microscopic dent in global budgets, it’s also good for us long term and may hold one of the keys to getting our civilization out of its current consumerism-obsessed, self-destructive, soul-crushing rut?

Here at the Fish household, we know the pain of fighting the COVID bulge after two years of trying to stay healthy in a global pandemic and stress levels shooting through the roof in jobs seen as essential or critical. So, as we’re trying to get healthy again, we’re looking at all the snake oil and bad advice the weight loss industry and various social media pyramid schemes unleashed in their attempts to cash in on people trying to get healthy and moving as we head into 2022 to separate the scams, myths, and stereotypes from real scientific advice.

The hottest new scam on social media is selling new crypto coins with strange, funny, or really and blatantly misleading names through influencers who suddenly discovered a burning passion for obscure and arcane financial instruments with no clear monetary value. That’s right, they’re shooting for the moon and they’re taking you along for the ride because your support means so much to them. Except for the small problem that the coins they’re so fond of are pretty obvious scams, the influencers don’t actually own any and are paid to advertise them, and you’re going to lose all your money within days, if not hours, if you actually buy them. Welcome to the brave new world of still somehow sort of legal pump and dump scams and crypto for the masses.

Want more people to become environmentalists who care about Earth’s future, sustainability, clean air and water, and advocate for green energy? Forget luring them on luxury eco tours and shuttling them between pristine tropical alcoves and toxic landfills. Take them to space instead to trigger a curious phenomenon that will give them an unparalleled perspective on the fragility and uniqueness of our world, a perspective we usually see in astronauts. What is this effect and how long does it last? We dive into the details on this week’s episode.

On another extended episode of the WoWT Podcast, we talked to Marc-Andre Argentino, one of the world’s top experts on QAnon and conspiratorial ideation about how the far right conspiracy of everything has evolved to become an omnipresent menace on social media and in politics, how it’s changing in new ways, and what it will take for society to lessen its iron grip on millions’ of follower’s minds. What he told us was, well, rather disconcerting...