The BrainFood Show

Jaksot

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  Can Professional Wine Connoisseurs Tell the Difference Between Cheap and Expensive Wines & Much More 03.07.2026 1t 21min

  In the episode today, we are looking at whether professional wine connoisseurs can tell really not tell the difference between expensive and cheap wines. How Alcohol “Proof” is Determined. Do Drunk People Really Survive Car Crashes More? Why Would You Add Antifreeze to Wine? Do Wine Makers Really Walk Over Grapes With Their Feet? Does Canadian Beer Really Contain More Alcohol Than Beer Made in the United States? How Did Oktoberfest Start? Why Isn’t Beer Sold in Plastic Bottles? Who Invented Tequila and What about the Worm? A Brief History of Beer. The interesting story behind Welch’s Grape Juice, and what Eggnog is Made Of 0:00 Can Professional Wine Connoisseurs Really Not Tell the Difference Between Expensive and Cheap Wines? 17:26 How Alcohol “Proof” is Determined 21:00 Do Drunk People Really Survive Car Crashes More? 32:10 Why Would You Add Antifreeze to Wine? 46:15 Do Wine Makers Really Walk Over Grapes With Their Feet? 51:10 Does Canadian Beer Really Contain More Alcohol Than Beer Made in the United States? 55:12 How Did Oktoberfest Start? 1:03:55 Why Isn’t Beer Sold in Plastic Bottles? 1:08:30 Who Invented Tequila and What about the Worm? 1:13:30 What is Eggnog Made Of? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Who Invented Night Vision, and How Does it Work? 02.07.2026 24min

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  Can Neutron Bombs Really Wipe Out All Humans But Leave the Cities Intact? 01.07.2026 29min

  Thermonuclear weapons are messy. Capable of wiping out millions of humans in one go if detonated in a large city, but unfortunately they also destroy the city the people dwell in, making it a poor choice for a weapon for the up and coming conqueror who wishes the humans gone, but infrastructure still intact. This all brings us to the topic of today, so called enhanced radiation weapons, a special type of atomic bomb which releases a large portion of its energy in the form of neutron radiation. If pop culture is to be believed, this is one of the most insidious weapons ever developed by mankind, capable of killing all the people in a city while leaving all the buildings and other infrastructure untouched. Indeed, the weapon’s purported preference for property over human lives has led commentators in communist countries to pithily describe it as the “capitalist bomb.” But are neutron bombs actually a real thing as often depicted in entertainment - and, if so, are they really as “clean” and “surgical” as everyone seems to believe? Well, grab your welding goggles, lead underwear, don your cowboy hat and prepare to yee-haw, as we dive into the curious science and history of one of the world's most controversial weapons. Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Caden Nielsen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Why Does the United States Use the Electoral College and Not a Popular Vote to Decide the President 30.06.2026 25min

  Why did Al Gore lose despite winning more votes? Discover the complex and controversial role of the U.S. Electoral College and how it determines the nation's president in this deep dive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  The Man Who Burned Down One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World So History Would Remember Him 29.06.2026 54min

  In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at what literal battleships had to do with the creation of the Slinky. Next up, we jump into the main part of the show looking at what is largely considered the greatest of the so-called Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and then look at the guy who burned it down just so history would remember him, as well as what steps the ancients took to try to stop him from achieving that goal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Does Hand or Foot Size Really Correlate with... Length? Do You Retain Your Partners' DNA and More! 26.06.2026 2t 19min

  In the episode today, we're looking at Does Hand and Foot Size Really Correlate with Penile Length? Why Can’t You Mix Blood Types? Is It True Women Retain the DNA of Every Man They’ve Ever Slept With in Their Bodies? Do Beards Really Grow Faster in the Winter? The Mad Aussie Who Stung Himself and His 9 Year Old Son With a Deadly Creature FOR SCIENCE!!! Can You Really Make Yourself Immune to Poison by Taking Tiny Doses Over Time? Why Do Steroids Make Balls Smaller and Does the Same Thing Happen to Women’s Ovaries? Do People Really Have Repressed Memories or Is It Just Things They’ve Forgotten Are Viruses Actually Alive? and Is It Actually Possible to Be Allergic to Exercise? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  That Time the British Rioted for Three Months Over a 15% Increase in the Cost of Theater Tickets 25.06.2026 16min

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  WTF is Up with the U.S. Military Having a Plan for Countering a Zombie Apocalypse? 24.06.2026 19min

  The U.S. Department of Defense apparently has a plan in place in case of a zombie apocalypse. So what is it and why did they make it? “Although it sounds ridiculous, this is actually the only proven class of zombie that actually exists.” - This is a quote from an official government document about zombie chickens, which are totally a thing. More on this later. But to begin with, while zombie fiction is certainly not as popular as it once was in the early 2000s, for a number of reasons up to and presumably including that we all now can’t be bothered to break out of our zombie like trance scrolling social media, the idea of the dead springing back to life and continuing to roam the Earth is still an admittedly very intriguing idea to explore. Which is why our staff here have developed a very well defined plan for what we’d do in the event of a theoretical zombie apocalypse, ensuring we come out the other side not only alive and un-zombified, but using our now decades of time doing nothing but learning all manner of things to help us rule the earth with an iron fist. For anybody out there who doesn’t happen to have a plan in place for when the dead rise from their graves and spread across the land like a plague of meat-hungry locusts the U.S. Government has got you covered. Author: Karl Smallwood Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila 0:00 Intro 3:18 The Official U.S. Counter Zombie Dominance Plan 6:00 So What Did They Come Up With? 9:00 Zombie Types and Approach 14:15 Dealing with Zombie Tropes in Real Life Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  The Vipeholm Experiments and the Dark Origins of Saturday Candy 23.06.2026 20min

  Discover the dark history of unethical dental experiments on vulnerable patients at Vipeholm Mental Hospital. Uncover the shocking secrets behind Sweden’s quest to solve the mystery of dental cavities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Who Invented the Computer and Why is C the Default Drive Letter? 22.06.2026 1t 24min

  In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at a rather interesting fact about Pulp Fiction and Samuel L Jackson’s character’s most famous lines in the film. Next up, we jump into the main part of the show looking at the surprisingly old first computer and the truth about who really was the first computer programmer. (Note: Not Ada Lovelace, contrary to popular belief.) Next we jump into a variety of bonus facts including looking at why C is the default hard drive letter on most computers, touch on what this had to do with some rather interesting stuff regarding Microsoft’s early days,  the correct way to pronounce “wiki” as in “wikipedia”, what Cunningham’s Law has to do with that, the interesting origin of Tetris, how spam came to mean junk message, and much, much more! And if you’re interested, here’s the video on ⁠Yankee Doodle Dandy we mentioned⁠. On another note, if you could do us a huge favor and rate and review this show in whatever podcasting platform you’re using (including hopefully giving us some feedback related to the new format), we would be extremely grateful. Thanks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  What Being Shot Feels Like, The Gun Knife, Silencers, Square Bullets and Much, Much More! 19.06.2026 1t 19min

  In the episode today, we're looking at what being shot actually feels like, the NRS-2- The Gun Knife, How Silencers Work, and How Silent Do They Actually Make Guns? The CIA’s Undetectable Poison Dart Gun Can Shooting Plastic Explosive Really Set Them Off? That Time an English Dude Invented a Gun that Fired Square Bullets, and the Waterfowl’s Nightmare. The Ridiculously Oversized Punt Gun. The Pivotal WWII Gun That Nobody Wanted to Put Down- The “Plumber’s Nightmare”. That Time the U.S. Made a Nuclear Gun, and That Time the Nazis Nearly Completed a Super-Cannon Capable of Hitting London from France Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  The Real Life "English Patient" 18.06.2026 28min

  Explore the life behind *The English Patient*: meet László Almásy—a Hungarian aristocrat, desert explorer, and WWII spy. From daring expeditions to espionage, uncover the real story that inspired the novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  The Insanely Disturbing CIA Funded Canadian Mind Control Experiments 17.06.2026 32min

  It was the winter of 1957, and Charles Tanny was in agony. A bad dental filling had triggered a severe case of trigeminal neuralgia (tri-gem-in-al), leaving the 42-year-old snowblower salesman and father of three with crippling facial pain which no doctor seemed able to relieve. Suspecting the problem might be psychological, doctors eventually referred Tanny to the Allen Memorial Institute, a stately former mansion and psychiatric research centre on the slopes of Montreal’s Mount Royal. His family hoped the institute would finally be able to ease his pain, allowing him to resume his life. But when Charles Tanny emerged three months later, they hardly recognized him. Once a warm, loving father and husband who doted on his wife and children, Tanny was now cold, distant, irritable, and often violent. Stranger still, he seemed to have forgotten nearly every aspect of his life, having no memory of his business and barely remembering his family members. As his daughter Julie - then only four years old - later recalled: “He was like a shell of what he was before. He was just a completely different person.” Unknown to his loved ones, Charles Tanny had been subjected to a series of bizarre medical procedures aimed at erasing, reprogramming, and ultimately controlling the human mind. Born of Cold War paranoia, these experiments, devised and conducted by an ambitious, but misguided, Canadian psychiatrist and secretly funded by the CIA, shattered the minds and lives of hundreds of unwitting patients and their family, leaving a legacy of pain and outrage that resonates to this day. This is the horrifying forgotten story of Dr. Ewen Cameron and the Montreal Experiments. Author: Gilles Messier Producer: Samuel Avila Editor/Host: Daven Hiskey 0:00 Intro 3:03 The Man Behind the Awful 6:38 Ideas from Nuremberg 9:58 Disturbing Psychic Driving 13:14 The CIA Seeks Mind Control 16:53 Even More Disturbing Depatterning 21:20 Combining the Awful 25:20 The Aftermath- Were There Any Consequences? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Neil Armstrong's Tale 16.06.2026 19min

  Neil Armstrong will likely be remembered by humans as long as there are humans to remember. The first man to set foot on the moon. His first words will likewise reverberate throughout history... But what was the second thing he said on the moon. And how did Neil Armstrong die? This is the story of one of the greatest astronauts in history. Authors: Melissa Blevins, Daven Hiskey, Matt Blitz. Host: Simon Whistler Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Who Invented the Internet and Email? 15.06.2026 1t 36min

  In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at a the absolutely bizarre way bedbugs mate. Next up, we jump into the main part of the show on who invented the Internet and how it works. We also look at who invented email and the web, and what Al Gore had to do with all this. On another note, if you could do us a huge favor and rate and review this show in whatever podcasting platform you’re using (including hopefully giving us some feedback related to the new format), we would be extremely grateful. Thanks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  What Happens If Parents Don’t Give Their Baby a Name? If You Donate Your Body to Science? & More 12.06.2026 2t 16min

  In today's compilation, we're looking at a series of "What Happens When" topics including What Happens If Parents Don’t Give Their Baby a Name? What Happens to the Bodies if a Cryogenic Company Goes Bankrupt? What Happened to Dead Bodies After Big Battles Throughout History? What Happens to Your Stuff When You Get Sent to Prison for Life? What Happens when You Ask a Surgeon For Your Amputated Limb Back? What Happens When You Donate Your Body to Science and How Do You Do This? What Happens if you Renounce Your Citizenship But Don’t Belong to Another Country When You Do It? What Happens if You Leave Your House to a Pet in Your Will? What Happens When You Freeze Water in a Container So Strong the Water Can’t Expand Into Ice? What Happens to Your Stuff When You're Declared Dead, Then Turn Up Alive like a Certain Shire Hobbit? And finally What Happens if You Commit a Crime in Space? 0:00 What Happens If Parents Don’t Give Their Baby a Name? 15:29 What Happens to the Bodies if a Cryogenic Company Goes Bankrupt? 28:25 What Happened to Dead Bodies After Big Battles Throughout History? 38:38 What Happens to Your Stuff When You Get Sent to Prison for Life? 49:30 What Happens when You Ask a Surgeon For Your Amputated Limb Back? 1:00:16 What Happens When You Donate Your Body to Science and How Do You Do This? 1:17:29 What Happens if you Renounce Your Citizenship But Don’t Belong to Another Country When You Do It? 1:30:45 What Happens if You Leave Your House to a Pet in Your Will? 1:40:54 What Happens When You Freeze Water in a Container So Strong the Water Can’t Expand Into Ice? 1:45:44 What Happens to Your Stuff When You're Declared Dead, Then Turn Up Alive like a Certain Shire Hobbit? 2:01:13 What Happens if You Commit a Crime in Space? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  The Real Story of Jack the Ripper 11.06.2026 15min

  He is one of the most famous serial killers of all time, but who actually was Jack the Ripper and what actually happened during his reign of terror. Just before 4 am on August 31, 1888, on London’s seedy Buck’s Row, a cart driver named Charles Cross saw the body of a woman lying on the ground. In the early morning gloom, it was initially impossible to tell if she was drunk or dead. Cross was soon joined by another carter, Robert Paul. The two men saw the woman’s skirts were pulled above her waist. They smoothed them back over her knees and went searching for a policeman. What the two carters didn’t notice in the shifting shadows was the woman’s throat had been cut so brutally that her head had almost been decapitated. Beat officer John Neil discovered that gruesome fact on closer inspection of the body. (He later testified at the inquest that when he had passed that way just 30 minutes earlier, “there was not a soul about.”) P.C. Neil sent another colleague to fetch a local medic and soon Dr. Rees Ralph Llewellyn arrived on the scene. He quickly examined the body and found that the arms and legs were still warm. Llewellyn believed the woman had been dead for less than 30 minutes. Her killer may have still been lurking nearby when Cross and Paul came upon the body.... Host: Simon Whistler Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  What Actually Were "Foo Fighters"? 10.06.2026 49min

  Everlong. Learn to Fly. Best of You. All My Life. The Pretender. These are but a few of the top-charting songs by American rock band The Foo Fighters, founded in 1994 by legendary former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. But what actually is a Foo Fighter? Well, it turns out the band’s name is not just merely a random string of nonsense words, but rather refers to strange phenomenon observed by pilots over Europe and the Pacific during the Second World War, one of a string of such weird occurrences throughout history through today that have caused some to point to the classic explanation when anything weird appears in the sky- aliens. But what’s actually going on here? Well, today we’ll be looking at everything from tales of ancient aliens, to what actually were the Foo Fighters of WWII and where the name came from, to that time the U.S. Military finally buckled down to take a deep look into it all to see if the Earth was in any danger from extraterrestrials, and what they determined, as well as why we are all pronouncing UFO wrong, and how the coiner of the term explicitly stated it should be said. Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Daven Hiskey 0:00 Intro 2:37 Ancient Aliens? 10:44 The 19th Century UFO Craze 15:20 WWI UFO Encounters 16:57 WWII's Mysterious Foo Fighters 27:10 Why are They Called Foo Fighters? 30:30 What Were Foo Fighters? 40:14 The U.S. Military Gets Serious About the Search for Aliens 43:26 What the Military Discovered About UFOs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  The Mysterious Disappearance of One of the Most Successful Recording Artists of All Time 09.06.2026 17min

  Glenn Miller was on the top of his game in 1944. He led the most popular recording group in the world. His only rival for king of Big Band music was the great Benny Goodman. During World War II, 40-year-old Miller was serving as a major in the United States Army Air Force while performing for the troops. On December 15, 1944, he boarded a small plane for the short flight across the English Channel to do a show in Paris for American troops that had just helped liberate France. Miller and the two other men on the aircraft never made it to their destination. No trace of the wreckage or any of the passengers was ever found, and Glenn Miller is still listed as missing in action. Of course, as with any accidental celebrity death, speculation about the circumstances began almost immediately... Host: Simon Whistler Producer: Samuel Avila Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Why is the Keyboard Layout What It Is and Is There a Better Version? 08.06.2026 1t 20min

  In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at a quick fact surrounding what Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Genesis had to do with Monty Python and the Holy Grail. After the sponsor spot, we then jump into the main part of the show on how the QWERTY keyboard came to be. We also dig into whether the Dvorak keyboard layout is actually superior to QWERTY or if that’s just something people say. Next up we look at who really invented the mouse and how it languished in obscurity for quite some time before Steve Jobs came along. A few links for this episode: ⁠The Mother of All Demos (1968)⁠ ⁠Remington #2⁠ ⁠Canadian First Mouse⁠ ⁠First Handheld Mouse⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices