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Whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on BrainStuff to explore -- and explain -- the everyday science in the world around us.

BrainStuff

When every minute counts, search-and-rescue dogs can help locate disaster victims far faster than humans alone. Learn about how they're trained in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/sar-dog.htm/printable

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How Do Search-And-Rescue Dogs Work?

The tradition of dropping a ball in Times Square to mark the beginning of a new year only goes back about a century. Learn about the history -- plus four weird things that other cities drop instead -- in this classic episode of BrainStuff.

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BrainStuff Classics: Why Do We Drop a Ball on New Year's Eve?

No, you can't literally die of boredom -- but it can lead to some high-risk behaviors. Learn more about boredom, ennui, and how to shake them in this episode of BrainStuff, based on these articles: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/emotions/bored-to-death.htm; https://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/human-nature/ennui

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Can You Really Die of Boredom?

Cashmere can be more expensive than other wools because producing it is such an intensive process -- for the goats that grow it and the humans who care for them. Learn more in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/why-is-cashmere-so-expensive.htm

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BrainStuff Classics: Why Does Cashmere Cost So Much?

In Catalonia, there's a two-hundred-year-old tradition of including a figurine of a man pooping in the shadows of Nativity scenes. Learn about el caganer in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays-christmas/pooping-man-catalan-nativity-scene.htm

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Why Is There a Pooping Figurine in Some Nativity Scenes?

These small appliances help home cooks achieve excellent rice via two categories of technology: ingeniously simple physics, or incredibly complex algorithms. Learn about heat-sensitive switches and fuzzy logic in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://home.howstuffworks.com/rice-cooker.htm/printable For more about the history of rice cookers, check out this episode of Lauren's other podcast, Savor: The Warm and Fuzzy Rice Cooker Episode

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How Do Rice Cookers Work?

Mudlarking means sifting through riverbank muck in hopes of finding lost or discarded historical artefacts. Learn how it works, especially in the River Thames, in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/archaeology/mudlarking.htm

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How Can Mudlarking Turn Trash Into Treasure?

These arctic animals have complex social structures and may eat 6,000 clams in a single meal. Learn more walruses in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/walrus.htm/printable

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How Do Walruses Work?

Your adaptive immune system remembers specific germs and fights them really effectively -- but it can sometimes make mistakes and attack your own healthy cells. Learn how the adaptive immune system works (and how it can go wrong) in this episode of BrainStuff.

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What Happens When Your Immune System Turns on You?

Slime molds are collectives of single-celled organisms that don't have neurons, much less brains, but they can move, solve mazes, and remember where food is located. Learn what we know (and don't know!) about them in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/biology-fields/slime-mold-facts.htm

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How Can Slime Mold Think Without a Brain?

Samuel Morse's ingeniously simple code of timed pulses has gone far beyond its original use on telegraph lines to help people communicate in all kinds of media for over a century. Learn more about Morse and his code in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/inventions/morse-code.htm

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How Does Morse Code Work?

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