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What happens to life inside exclusion zones like Chernobyl? Is it good? Bad? Or something much more interesting? And what happens when you try to codify every single character from human language? Well, it definitely leads to some fascinating linguistic rabbit holes!
Images we talk about:
Przewalski’s horse (yes that’s how it’s spelled)
Frogs
Character U+FDFD
Arabic Text
Decorative U+FDFD's
Tom's Favorite Use of Kashida
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:03:12) Life in Exclusion Zones
(01:01:48) Every Single Character
(01:52:06) Outro
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We also learn about: Actually defining it made it creepier, the zone rouge, we an area of Earth uninhabitable from war, chernobyl release over 100 radioactive elements, they really need to name the zone of alienation the zone of doing taxes, the liquidators actually did a good job of stopping the spread, is this a rewilding experiment? Ella deleted emails to poach this topic, Przewalski’s horse (yes that’s how it’s spelled), technically feral vs wild horses, I’ve reached the nuance center of my nuance pop, why isn’t it my job so sample chernobyl frogs, nearly all pine trees near chernobyl were wiped out, “the selective pressures of radiation”, bright birds used up their carotenoids for color, we’re doing nuclear ecological biochemistry, god that was an ugly laugh, maybe its counterintuitive for the small things - no this one sucks, the slow horror of a lack of decomposition, the ecosystem is not rewilded it’s entirely new, the Korean DMZ is like an ecological semi permeable membrane, DMZ ecology research institute, the DMZ has 40% of Korea’s endangered species, it’s a pitstop along the east asian australasian flyway, endangered cranes have bounced back in the DMZ, the DMZ crane watch, the cranes and natterjack toad require human farming to thrive, synonyms of nuance and thrive, Baarter economy standing ovation, conflictful chicken, Unicode is the ISO standard for text on computers, ASCII’s 128 characters is surely enough right? why do you have a period accurate phone? it turns out other cultures want to use the computer, there are 159,801 characters in unicode, the basic multilingual plane sounds like startrek shit and it kind of is, I mean it’s not like it has cuneiform except it does, braille unicode exists for a reason, braille doesn’t just map one to one with letters it also has contractions, contracted braille is a stenography, tweeting more in japanese, 101,996 CJK characters, Max Woolf’s Big List of Naughty Strings, after Mamdani was elected I had to learn how to pronounce the bismillah, “Bismillah is the Przewalski’s Horse of this topic”, I said we shouldn’t dive into the history of a language halfway through a topic but fuck it, LR0’s terrific Arabic typography essay, arabic script can be perfectly justified, “the justification lives inside the words”, Kashidas stretching across a map made it click for Tom, maing the bismillah beautiful, we all just want to make text look cool, the ottoman printing press ban myth, the cursed lost printed quran, oh my god is this the unifying thing, weirdly internet explorer had kashida justification for 1 year? Inshallah you find on the internet what you’re exploring for.
Sources:
Chernobyl Frogs Image
Wikipedia: Exclusion Zones
World Nuclear Association
Wikipedia: Zone Rouge
Explorers Web: Montserrat and its Exclusion Zone
Guardian: UN Buffer Zone in Cyprus
International Atomic Energy Agency: Chernobyl
United Nations Development Programme: Chernobyl Recovery Development
BBC Future: Chernobyl’s Wildlife
Royal Society Proceedings B: The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone as a Wildlife Refuge
Wikipedia: Red Forest
Current Biology: Long-term Census Data Reveal Abundant Wildlife Populations at Chernobyl
Science: Chernobyl Hits Birds Hard
Microorganisms: Soil Microbes and Plant-Associated Microbes in Response to Radioactive Pollution
The Conversation: The Mystery of Chernobyl’s Wild Horses
San Diego Zoo: The Last Wild Horse
Animals: Endangered Przewalski’s Horse, Equus przewalskii, Cloned from Historically Cryopreserved Cells
San Diego Zoo: Birth of Cloned Przewalski’s Foal
Korean Konsult: DMZ - Demilitarized Zone
DMZ: The Civilian Control Line (CCL) towns of the Korean Peninsula
Reuters: South Korea to Shift Civilian Restricted Line
South China Morning Post: The Korean DMZ
Guardian: How Wildlife is Thriving in the Korean DMZ
Royal Society Notes and Records: From Warzone to Bioreserve
Zooniverse: DMZ Crane Watch
Biological Conservation: Winter Foraging of Threatened Cranes in the Demilitarized Zone of Korea
Cultural Anthropology: Toward an Anthropology of Landmines
KNews: Nature Thrives in Cyprus’ Forgotten Buffer Zone
UFZ EuMon conference: Monitoring Biodiversity of the Buffer Zone in Cyprus
Satoyama Initiative: The Cyprus Buffer Zone as a Socio-Ecological Landscape
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UC Berkley Unicode Overview
Unicode's History
Unicode on Braille
RNIB Contracted Braille
Buzzfeed on Japanese Tweets
LR0's Incredible Arabic Type Essay
Design Principles of Kashida Justification: A Unique Technique in Arabic and Persian Mapping
The Lost Quran's Discovery
Kathryn Schwartz's "Did Ottoman Sultans Ban Print?"

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Due to some house woes, we're recasting Ella's excellent appearance on That's Absurd, Please Elaborate, where they actually solve a meme and invent Pee Day.

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What does an astronaut actually learn in training? And what surprises them about having to live in space? Well, fortunately astronaut Cady Coleman is here to answer these and many more of our questions!!

See us live in London! LETSLEARNEVERYTHING.COM/LIVE

See Tom live in NYC! OurFindingsShow.com

Images we talk about:
Cady's Background Image

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:05:03) Astronaut Training and Space Life

(01:10:42) Space Suits

(01:23:45) Outro

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We also learn about: Astronaut school, “the mission is exploration and only a part of it is human spaceflight”, the telerobotic surgery was real, living in NEEMO, Cady learned to remove a gallbladder, “what is it that I have to remember is not being simulated well?”, oh the telerobotic surgery was happening under water, it’s about sharing what you’re learning at the same time, spending 11 days underwater, bedrest studies in hawaii are actually a toll and a service, communication is key even in space, trust us space food is going to get old, not every day of training is remove 10 gallbladders, putting yourself in the picture humanizes it, which way is up? sleep flashes from cosmic rays, liquid sensors in our neck make you pee when you lie down and reduce blood volume in space, you can’t cough to hide your pee on the ISS, the future of the ISS, astronaut feet facts, Paolo and Cady’s toenail system, learning to fly in zero g, “you learn to live in 3 dimensions”, losing things in zero g sucks, CO2 buildup for the group photo, not washing clothes upset the balance, it’s all about fluid physics, “it’s all about interfaces between solids and liquids - and up in space it’s the biggest game in town”, peeing in space is easier than camping, how you determine your space order with feet, the domino effect of space suit sizes, your space suit is your space ship, IT’S LESS MATERIAL, there are people who are still waiting their turn, “how do you make sure these voices are heard when their presence is not missed?”, how to work for change collaboratively, you shouldn’t have to work so hard to participate, “oh that’s going on the website Cady”, one small step for you and one big step for democracy.

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What even is horsepower? Is it a silly unit of measurement, or actually an underrated marvel?? And how old is makeup? Why do we do it? And what historic looks can you steal for your next night out?

What are the flaws in scientific publishing, who's responsible, and how can we fix it?

ALSO SEE US LIVE IN LONDON!!! LETSLEARNEVERYTHING.COM/LIVE

Images we talk about:

Papyrus Image
Fish Palette
Patch Portrait
Painting of Two Ladies

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:03:15) Horsepower

(00:48:26) Makeup

(01:39:07) Outro

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We also learn about: I’m taking horse pills to get their powers, we can answer questions without getting klaxonned, abbreviated for french reasons, the meter is 1 ten millionth the distance from the north to south pole, I’m going to be talking about power “oh god”, power is the movement of a mass over time, you’ll notice nowhere in that definition did I mention horses, James perfects the steam engine, you can’t just say “hey this engine will get us to the industrial revoltuion” you have to sell it in horses, come up with your own unit of power dweeb, a horse can produce 15 horsepower,  you’re about to have a lot more nickels, there was a metric and imperial horsepower, all the international names for hosepower, watt SI unit is on first base? the father son and the holy ghost of electronics (the amp, volt, and watt), we didn’t have a unified unit for power before horsepower, Thomas Edison measured lightbulb efficacy by horsepower, IT WASN’T AN IRONIC CHOICE IT WAS CAUSE AND EFFECT, this isn’t a podcast it’s a slumber party, Caroline and Ella’s metallic blue eyeliner/facepaint, webster’s definition is somehow too broad and too narrow, prehistoric pigemtns may have been body paint, Ella’s surprisingly informative ancient egyptian ASMR video, from kohl to green malachite, caroline hiding the sexy bits of the papyrus from us, this makes my tummy hurt, fish palettes, ancient greek prostitues were required to wear lipstick, modern man or ro-man, a woman buys lotions and perfumes with cheating in mind, Elizabeth I’s lead and vinegar makeup, painting on fake veins, plucking hairs to match the queen’s forhead, the optical illusion dot, Caroline’s favorite fad: beauty patches, it’s so wild how excluded darker complexions are in the market when this topic started in ancient egypt, perhaps makeup imitates the moment of an orgasm, im inventing new sexism: men are blurry, we finally just asked women why they wear makeup, wearing makeup because we have to vs we want to, for other or ourselves, the ro-manosphere.

Sources:
History of the SI Units
History of Imperial Units
The Fan-Tastic paper: The Origin of the Horsepower Unit
James' Encyclopedia Britannica Biography
Horserpower From a Horse Paper
Siemen's Address for the Watt Unit
Edison Papers Measuring Lightbulbs in Horsepower
NOAA Lightning Stats

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Merriam Webster
Makeup Definition
Blog: Bodypainting
Why Do We Do That? Makeup
Archeology Journal: Prehistoric Body Painting- 2000
Independant: 300000 year old body art
Smithsonian: Evidence of Fur and Leather Clothing, Among World’s Oldest, Found in Moroccan Cave
2017 Paper: Painted in red: In search of alternative explanations for EuropeanPalaeolithic cave art
Britannica: Makeup
Blog: History of Makeup
Wiki: Beauty and Cosmetics in Ancient Egypt
NHM Utah: Makeup in Ancient Egypt
Blog: Ancient Egyptian make-up
Book: Ovid on Cosmetics
University of Kent: The Painful Art of Being a Roman Woman
Wiki: Cosmetics in Ancient Rome
The Guardian: Medieval Christian Misogyny Shapes How We Judge Women Today, Says Scholar
Royal Museums Greenwich: Elizabeth I: Fashion and Beauty
DMDA: You Must Get a Patch
Auction Listing: Portrait of two ladies. Patch marks to their faces
Wiki: Allegorical Painting of Two Ladies
Smithsonian: Make-up
Preston Park: The History of Victorian Makeup
YouGov: One in Six Women Wear Makeup at the Gym
YouGov: How Often - and why - American Women wear makeup
YouGov: One in Twenty British Men Now Wear Makeup
2022 Paper: The contrasting effects of body image and self-esteem in the makeup usage
Blog: Why Do We Chase The Post-O Glow?
2015 Paper: Facial coloration tracks changes in women's estradiol
2015 Paper: Cosmetics Alter Biologically-Based Factors of Beauty: Evidence from Facial Contrast
ABC News: Makeup Makes Women Seem More Competent, Study Says
2024 Paper: The Influence of Makeup on Individual Self-Identity: An Exploratory Study
2016 Paper: Does make-up make you feel smarter? The “lipstick effect” extended to academic achievement

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What are the flaws in scientific publishing, who's responsible, and how can we fix it?

ALSO SEE US LIVE IN LONDON!!! LETSLEARNEVERYTHING.COM/LIVE

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:02:47) Scientific Publishing Part I

(00:35:57) Scientific Publishing Part II

(01:13:07) Outro

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Join our Discord!

We also learn about: We almost do the same grim joke, the live show will have 50% more hosts than this, before publications there were societies and books and letters, in 1665 a Henry Oldenburg of the royal society starts “Philosophical Transactions”, the longest continuous journal (ignoring the time Olderburg was put in a tower for criticizing the king), the discovery of Jupiter’s red spot and also a deformed calf, Newton’s Optics was published in Philosophical Transactions first, Science has bad SEO, the doubling time of papers is 14 years since the 1950s, Ella’s peer review process, errors can be missed and biases affected, not paying reviewers is a bug that’s labelled as a feature, government funded research can still be privately owned, we’ve all agreed “processing fee” just means bullshit, there’s some things I don’t want to be “fun”, Elsevier has a 38% profit margin while Alphabet’s is 32%, editorial resignations in protest, I’m excited to add Robert Maxwell to my Arya Stark list of people, Maxwell died on his yes-that-Ghislaine-Maxwell Yacht, the scheme to buyout scientists for their papers, cover upfront costs - own copyright - flood with new journals - reap the subscription costs, “jesus wept”, retractions are growing by about 20% each year, I’m buying Ella a dictionary so she can learn what “fun” means, fool me 239 time shame on me, paper mills, predatory journals are pay to win, the Chinese restaurant metaphor keeps staying accurate, no it’s not nature our journal is nurture, is this finally rock bottom? the public review curate model, the pros and cons of preprints, diamond open access, the nelson memo, “I think the Ghislaine Mawell death yacht is fun”.

Sources:
Royal Society: History of Scientific Journals
Royal Society: Philosophical Transactions The Early Years
Royal Society: Philosophical Transactions Issue 1
University College London: A History of Scientific Journals
Philosophical Transactions A: Newton Shows the Light
Royal Society Notes and Records: 350 Years of Scientific Periodicals
Broad Research Communication Lab: Peer Review - a Historical Perspective
Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications: Growth Rates of Modern Science
JSTOR: The History of Peer Review is More Interesting Than You Think
British Journal of Biomedical Science: The Peer Review Process: Past, Present, and Future
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine: Peer Review: A Flawed Process at the Heart of Science and Journals
The Conversation: Academic Publishing is a Multibillion Dollar Industry
New Scientists: Time to Break Academic Publishing’s Stranglehold on Research
The Lancet: Should Peer Reviewers Be Paid?
Guardian: Is the Staggeringly Profitable Business of Scientific Publishing Bad for Science? (Robert Maxwell Longread)
Research Professional News: Elsevier Profit
Guardian: George Monbiot on Academic Publishers
Retraction Watch: Statistics and Computing Resignation
Guardian: The Murky Life of Robert Maxwell
Journal of the Academy of Public Health: The Rise and Fall of Scientific Journals and a Way Forward
EBSCO Research: Publish or Perish Paradox
University of Technology Sydney: The ‘Publish or Perish’ Mentality is Undermining Science
Retraction Watch: COVID Retractions
Retraction Watch: Most Cited
Retraction Watch: Retractions by Nobel Prize Winners
Retraction Watch: Most Retractions
British Medical Journal: Boldt the Great Pretender
Nato Strategic Communication Centre: Disinformation and Scholarly Communications
The Conversation: Paper Mills
Toxicologic Pathology: Predatory Journals: What They Are and How to Avoid Them
The Lancet: Lessons From the Influx of Preprints During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic
The Conversation: Diamond Open Access
San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)

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