Strange Bites

Lance Martin
  • 5.0 (4)
  • SCIENCE
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Science done dark. Real facts wrapped up in a dark, creative wrapper, and served in small 15 minute or less bites. Two episodes every week. Come join us as we dive into the strange and ponder the ramifications of these breakthroughs and discoveries. Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, the facts are real, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included in the show notes for a deeper dives. If you like these stories please subscribe, drop me a comment or leave a review, and for more weird short bites check out my other podcast, Legends of the Hidden Horde. Thank you for listening. Stay strange, and question everything. Lance

  1. Gods of Carbon

    51M AGO

    Gods of Carbon

    In the dead of night, deep beneath the flickering fluorescent hum of a university lab in Xi’an, China, Dr. Zhibin Gao stared at his screen like a man peering into an abyss. This is Episode 19: Gods of Carbon  It was March 2026, and the world outside slept. But inside these shadowed walls, something ancient and elemental was stirring—carbon, the very backbone of life and stars, was about to reveal secrets it had hidden for billions of years. Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, and I weave in a lot of the facts, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included for a deeper dive into the science and research. Sources: Phys.org article: https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ai-driven-framework-uncovers-carbon.html  arXiv preprint (full HTML version): https://arxiv.org/html/2602.22706v1 Applied Physics Letters journal paper (abstract and details): https://pubs.aip.org/aip/apl/article-abstract/128/10/102202/3382659/LLM-driven-discovery-for-carbon-allotropes-with?redirectedFrom=fulltext (For the full PDF of the arXiv paper, search “2602.22706” on arxiv.org.) Music from #Uppbeat https://uppbeat.io/t/albert-behar/elegant-deception License code: KFUOHLTEIY29YRMH

    10 min
  2. Biophotons (Auras Are Real)

    1D AGO

    Biophotons (Auras Are Real)

    Turn out the lights and get comfortable.  This is Episode 18: Biophotons (Auras Are Real). In the dead of night, deep in a forgotten wing of the Tohoku Institute of Technology in Japan, Dr. Masaki Kobayashi sealed himself and his team into a chamber blacker than any grave. It was 2009, and the world outside slept oblivious to the secret they were about to drag into the open.  Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, and I weave in a lot of the facts, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included for a deeper dive into the real facts and research. Sources Magazine Journal article: https://magazinejournal.com/your-body-is-literally-glowing-the-invisible-light-humans-emit-every-second/ Original PLOS ONE paper on human body imaging and diurnal rhythm: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0006256 PubMed abstract for the 2009 study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19606225/ Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters on UPE from living/dead mice and stressed plants: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c03546 University of Calgary news on the 2025 mouse study: https://ucalgary.ca/news/ucalgary-scientists-go-viral-study-shows-all-living-things-emit-eerie-glow National Research Council Canada on ultraweak photon emission tech (2025): https://nrc.canada.ca/en/stories/worlds-first-ultraweak-photon-emission-technology-holds-promise-medical-forecasts Frontiers in Physiology review of ultra-weak photon emission: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10899412/ Music from #Uppbeat https://uppbeat.io/t/abstract-aprils/clearlights License code: YUHNYOJZKPULY48A Abstract Aprils

    11 min
  3. Ghost Murmur

    APR 14

    Ghost Murmur

    Tonight’s strange bite is fresh off the classified wires: a never-before-used CIA tool called Ghost Murmur. And yeah, it just saved that pilot’s life by hearing his heart from forty miles away. This is Episode 17: Ghost Murmur and here’s how the tale unfolds in the shadows where fact meets the kind of chill that will makes you check your own pulse. Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, and I weave in a lot of the facts, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included for a deeper dive into the real facts and research. Sources https://nypost.com/2026/04/07/us-news/ghost-murmur-a-never-used-secret-tool-deployed-to-find-lost-airman-in-iran-in-daring-mission/ https://www.the-sun.com/news/16192245/cia-ghost-tool-found-pilot-iran/ https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/will-find-you-secret-new-ghost-murmur-cia-tool-that-helped-find-us-airman-downed-in-iran/news-story/5e030be031b2b167a33c1857f995f381 https://www.iranintl.com/en/202604073833 https://www.al.com/news/2026/04/what-is-ghost-murmur-secret-technology-cia-used-to-locate-airman-downed-in-iran.html https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ghost-murmur-the-secret-tool-us-used-to-locate-missing-airman-in-iran-11326814 https://openthemagazine.com/world/shot-down-in-iran-found-by-his-heartbeat-inside-cias-chilling-new-tech-ghost-murmur Music from #Uppbeat https://uppbeat.io/t/avbe/suspect-is-missing License code: TISTWCZ511TEYHM3

    9 min
  4. Engines of the Blood Veil

    APR 13

    Engines of the Blood Veil

    Grab your shrink ray, zap yourself, and let's jump into Episode 16: Engines of the Blood Veil Let’s imagine for a bit. You are inside a single red blood cell, drifting through the warm, dark rivers of a human vein. The cell is your entire universe—soft, pulsing walls, oxygen glowing like faint lanterns.  But something ancient and invisible has slipped inside with you. A parasite. Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest strain of malaria.  It’s tiny, it’s ruthless, and it’s turning your blood into its private slaughterhouse. Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, and I weave in a lot of the facts, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included for a deeper dive into the real facts and research. Sources: ​  Official PNAS research paper (full text, October 28, 2025):https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2513845122​  University of Utah Health official news release (October 28, 2025):https://healthcare.utah.edu/newsroom/news/2025/10/malaria-parasites-are-full-of-wildly-spinning-iron-crystals-scientists​  University of Utah @theU detailed feature with researcher quotes (November 3, 2025):https://attheu.utah.edu/science-technology/malaria-parasites-are-full-of-wildly-spinning-iron-crystals-scientists-finally-know-why/​  ScienceDaily summary of the discovery (March 19, 2026 coverage of the 2025 findings):https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260318033111.htm​  Preprint version on bioRxiv (for early technical details):https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.25.650681v2

    8 min
  5. The Tiny Shadow with the Monster Skull

    APR 8

    The Tiny Shadow with the Monster Skull

    Grab your little spade and brush and let's dig into Episode 15: The Tiny Shadow with the Monster Skull We are standing in a quiet dig site in the misty hills of northern Spain, near a place called Vegagete in Burgos Province. Years ago, a local paleontologist named Fidel Fernández-Baldor is carefully brushing away dirt when he uncovers something strange—tiny bones, delicate as twigs. At first glance, they look like the leftovers of baby dinosaurs, maybe young relatives of those big, famous plant-eaters like Iguanodon. But something about them feels… off. Too perfect. Too complete for scraps.... Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, and I weave in a lot of the facts, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included for a deeper dive into the real facts and research. Sources  •  Original scientific paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spp2.70057 •  ScienceDaily summary: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260203030521.htm •  Sci.News article: https://www.sci.news/paleontology/foskeia-pelendonum-14526.html •  Scientific American feature: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-chicken-sized-dinosaur-baffles-paleontologists/ •  Phys.org coverage: https://phys.org/news/2026-01-tiny-dinosaur-foskeia-pelendonum-evolutionary.html •  Discover Magazine: https://www.discovermagazine.com/unusually-small-dinosaur-fossil-helps-fill-a-70-million-year-gap-in-ornithopod-evolution-48629 •  Vrije Universiteit Brussel press release (via EurekAlert): https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1114694 Music from #Uppbeat https://uppbeat.io/t/arend/wanderweg License code: SK0SFAZDOWSKNLKC

    7 min
  6. Rise of the Neurobots

    APR 6

    Rise of the Neurobots

    Tonight we’re not talking about some dusty lab experiment. We’re talking about the night scientists accidentally built tiny living nightmares that grew their own brains… and maybe started dreaming.  Now grab your sleep mask, put on some white noise, and slip away with me into Episode 14: Rise of the Neurobots Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, and I weave in a lot of the facts, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included for a deeper dive into the real facts and research. Sources: The original scientific paper (Advanced Science, Feb 20, 2026):
https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202508967 Tufts University official news story (“Scientists Create Novel Organism with Primitive Nervous System,” March 16, 2026):
https://now.tufts.edu/2026/03/16/scientists-create-novel-organism-primitive-nervous-system Wyss Institute at Harvard official news story (“Toward autonomous self-organizing biological robots with a nervous system,” March 17, 2026):
https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/toward-autonomous-self-organizing-biological-robots-with-a-nervous-system/ Music from #Uppbeat https://uppbeat.io/t/ben-mcelroy/the-dream-world License code: IXYP05BZ2WQCWKTY

    10 min
  7. The Secret of AlterEgo

    APR 1

    The Secret of AlterEgo

    Tonight we are traveling at the speed of thought hunting electrical whispers deep into the dark reaches of our heads.  So buckle your seatbelt, grab the oh shit handle, and let's drive into Episode 13: The Secret of AlterEgo Where does “you” end and the machine begin? If your inner voice can seamlessly merge with artificial intelligence, are your thoughts still purely yours? Or have we just outsourced part of our soul to the cloud? In the long game – decades from now, when this tech is as common as AirPods – we might look back at today’s noisy world the way we look at cave paintings: primitive, loud, inefficient. But we might also mourn the loss of something sacred: the pure, unfiltered silence of a mind that belongs only to itself. Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, and I weave in a lot of the facts, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included for a deeper dive into the real facts and research. Sources ​MIT Media Lab AlterEgo Project Overview (includes history, spinout note, and redirect to company): https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/alterego/overview/​MIT Media Lab AlterEgo Publications Page: https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/alterego/publications/​2018 Peer-Reviewed Paper – “AlterEgo: A Personalized Wearable Silent Speech Interface” (full PDF): https://dam-prod.media.mit.edu/x/2018/03/23/p43-kapur_BRjFwE6.pdf​2020 Peer-Reviewed Paper – “Non-Invasive Silent Speech Recognition in Multiple Sclerosis with Dysphonia” (full PDF): https://dam-prod.media.mit.edu/x/2019/10/19/ml4h__silentspeech_final.pdfor proceedings page: http://proceedings.mlr.press/v116/kapur20a.html​2019 Master’s Thesis by Eric J. Wadkins – “A Continuous Silent Speech Recognition System for AlterEgo” (full PDF): https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/123121/1128187233-MIT.pdf?sequence=1​Official AlterEgo Company Website (current development status and Silent Sense tech): https://www.alterego.io/​MIT Media Lab Article on the 2025 Startup Launch: https://www.media.mit.edu/articles/exclusive-startup-lets-you-query-ai-with-silent-speech/Music By: Luke Orrill Background Tech

    10 min
  8. The Sequence Traveling the Universe

    MAR 30

    The Sequence Traveling the Universe

    Tonight’s tale isn’t from some haunted forest or cursed basement. It’s from a place far darker. A place where light itself fears to go. So grab your telescope and lets gaze into the night sky together in Episode 12: The Sequence Traveling the Universe Imagine a spinning of rock the size of a small city, tumbling alone through the black between Mars and Jupiter. Its name is Ryugu. Ancient. Carbon-black. Older than Earth itself.  Billions of years ago, when our solar system was still screaming hot gas and dust, this lonely asteroid was already collecting secrets. Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, and I weave in a lot of the facts, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included for a deeper dive into the real facts and research. Source https://www.space.com/astronomy/asteroids/ryugu-asteroid-sample-contains-all-five-key-components-of-dna-scientists-find https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02791-z https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ryugu-asteroid-samples-dna-rna.html https://theconversation.com/all-5-fundamental-units-of-lifes-genetic-code-were-just-discovered-in-an-asteroid-sample-278099 Music by Cosmic Nightmares Jimena Contreras Cosmic Nightmares

    8 min
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5
out of 5
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About

Science done dark. Real facts wrapped up in a dark, creative wrapper, and served in small 15 minute or less bites. Two episodes every week. Come join us as we dive into the strange and ponder the ramifications of these breakthroughs and discoveries. Disclaimer: These are creative stories. The discoveries are real, the facts are real, but most of the story is made up fiction. Links to sources included in the show notes for a deeper dives. If you like these stories please subscribe, drop me a comment or leave a review, and for more weird short bites check out my other podcast, Legends of the Hidden Horde. Thank you for listening. Stay strange, and question everything. Lance

Information

  • Creator
    Lance Martin
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Lance Martin
  • Show Website
    Strange Bites