Your Brain on Facts

Latest Episodes:

Short-lived, Long-remembered, with Based On A True Story podcast Oct 16, 2018

Show notes

There 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 brief, but their ripples continue to this day.

With special guest, Dan LeFebvre from Based On A True Story podcast.

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Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Links to all the research resources are on the website.

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Hispanic Heritage Month Oct 09, 2018

Show notes

Hispanic 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.

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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 Oct 02, 2018

Show notes

Will 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.

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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 Sep 25, 2018

Show notes

Banned 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.

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Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Links to all the research resources are on the website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Got Your Goat Sep 18, 2018

Show notes

Goats 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.

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Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Links to all the research resources are on the website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's In A Nickname? City & State edition Sep 11, 2018

Show notes

What’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?

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Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Links to all the research resources are on the website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're How Young?! Sep 04, 2018

Show notes

If 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.

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Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Links to all the research resources are on the website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mixed Bags of History, with Dimly Lit podcast Aug 28, 2018

Show notes

Genghis 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.

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Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Links to all the research resources are on the website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good Mourning To You. with Life in Stories podcast Aug 21, 2018

Show notes

There 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 the research resources are on the website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Is Only A Test Aug 14, 2018

Show notes

Tests 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

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Music by Kevin MacLeod .

Links to all the research resources are on the website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices