Brainstuff

The border between the United States and Mexico is at the center of much political and social debate in 2018 -- but how did we get here? How much crime really crosses the border? Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We attribute lots of potential health effects to green tea, but the Victorians had a strange one: they thought it caused hallucinations. Learn why in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From a young age, male and female bullies develop different ways of getting under their targets' skin. Learn more -- plus how to help kids combat girl-style bullying -- in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robotic animals can help law enforcement agents catch poachers in the act -- but only if the robots are convincing enough. Learn a few things engineers are doing to make their robots more realistic in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some researchers are calling a previously overlooked type of tissue a new human organ. Learn what it does and why it was never identified before in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fashion designers and their work are everywhere these days, from our closets to the runways. But one man started it all: Charles Frederick Worth. Learn who he was and how he created haute couture in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over two-thirds of gun-related deaths in America are suicides. This stunning fact is bringing gun rights and gun control advocates together for a common cause. Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Waterbeds were a mainstay of opulent '80s culture, but why did they fall out of fashion? How have they evolved since then? Could they climb back from the pits of public disfavor? Explore in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spoiler alert: The answer is probably 'climate change' -- but some of the world's oldest and hardiest baobab trees are dying, and researchers aren't entirely sure why. Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feeling hungry doesn't just happen when our bodies need calories (lots of things, from boredom to advertisements, can trigger hunger) and there's no one way that we feel hunger to begin with. Learn why in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Researchers have observed a species of crab clutching anemones and using them as weapons. Even weirder: The crabs clone their anemones. Weirder still: The anemones might be otherwise extinct. Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Beaches around the world are erode faster than we've ever seen. Some efforts to save them involve adding more sand from offshore -- but can that really work? Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The U.S.'s most honored national cemetery is vast, but it only has so much space -- and it's running out. Learn some of the proposed solutions in this episode of BrainStuff.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finding something to wear can be especially challenging for people with limited dexterity or mobility, but some fashion designers are starting to change that. Learn how in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although doctors have long believed that Type 2 diabetes is a lifelong condition, research shows that it can be reversed -- and that with work to maintain weight loss, former patients can live without medication. Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Composers use musical references to classics in their own work to help create mood -- and as a wink at other music lovers. Learn how one such reference, 'Dies Irae', or 'The Day of Wrath', is often used in film soundtracks in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After anthropologists discovered a child's mummified hand, they discovered that a copper coin might be responsible for the preservation. Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It seems that dogs make more expressive faces when humans are watching. Are they trying to communicate? Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The idea that life on Earth was seeded from outer space is called Panspermia, and some researchers are looking into how (and when) it could've happened. Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The food industry has brought us all kinds of non-dairy milk alternatives, but researchers are working on what's arguably the weirdest yet: cockroach milk. Learn how (and why) in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.