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• 88: The Evolution of the Placebo & Postage Stamp Art

  Chances are you know what a placebo is, but... how does it really work? And what can its evolution teach us about science, medicine, and ethics? And how much art can fit a tiny postage stamp? Well enough to fill a whole history of debate, drama, and ducks.Images we Talk About:Drafts of England's First StampSydney Views StampThe Train Stamp2025 Duck Stamp WinnersMcBroom's Spite DuckTimestamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:02:20) The Evolution of Placebos(00:57:13) Postage Stamp Art(01:41:17) OutroSupport us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!We also learn about: The word placebo has escaped academic containment, fake mourners saying “I will please the lord”, placebo paint on birds wings, placebo as sham, The Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism, not that kind of animal magnetism, placebo as psychology, is this going to be a running bit, defining placebo not in reference to something else, “a person’s psychological response to being treated”, things like healing through time or pressure to answer are Not placebo effects, placebo effects are tricky to study, animals can get the placebo effect, goo goo ga ga am I in the contwal gwoup? conditioning rats that a smell means reduced pain, the internal and external factors of placebo, the placebo effect is actually doing things in your brain, of course we talked about that before on episode TWENTY EIGHT, Ella loves brain action, you can consciously fail a placebo but unconsciously pass it, the nocebo effect, it may be just in your head but your head is a lot of things, the murky ethics of placebos, doctors are mostly prescribing harmless placebos when patients ask for one, Caroline & Ella’s sleeping pill and recovery position placebos, HOLY SHIT PLACEBO EVOLVED INTO CHARIZARD HELL YEAH, some placebos work when you tell people it’s a placebo, placebo pills take 2 twice daily, wait is this actually just about the importance of transparent and accessible and trustworthy medical care?? the American Philatelic Society, Tom used stamps as stickers, Ella’s friend’s giant mimic stamp, the public was aroused by post office reform - not just us! every contestant of the first stamp contest was revoked, it took 4 artists to design the first stamp, no monarch stamps unless they’re hot, the Universal Postal Union is the second oldest international organization, the absolutely HATED train stamp, philatelic propaganda, Operation Cornflakes, the Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee’s incredible process, so you’re saying we can’t make an Iraq War stamp, so you’re saying the UK can make a 9/11 stamp, stamps are of the most visible pieces of art, the duck stamp is the only art competition sponsored by the government,  the super bowl of wild life art, are you a celebrity if oyu haven’t won a DEGOT? stamp advisors with reduction glasses, duck stamp royalty, Broome’s incredible spite art, stamps didn’t have to be art - but we’re glad they are.Sources:The Americal Philatelic SocietyThe Postal Museum London: The Penny BlackSwiss National Museum: StampsWiki: Postage Stamp DesignLinns Stamps: New South Wales Pictorial StampSmithsonian Postal Museum: International PhilatelyUniversal Posta Union2011 Book: Book of History of the Postage Stamps of the United States of AmericaUS Postal Service: Creating U.S. Postage StampsThe Postal Museum London: Stamp DesignWWT: Duck StampsScientific America: The Duck StampFish and Wildlife Service: 2024 Duck Stamp WinnerMillion Dollar Duck Video- Taylor and McBroom RivalryNew York Times: Rising to Glory on the Wings of DucksPrint Magazine: The Extraordinary Design Journey of a Stamp—From Quasi-Secret Society to Perforated PerfectionImage: The First Stamp Design EvolutionImage: 1869 Pictorial Stamp- 3 Cent Train Stamp2024 Duck Stamp EntriesImage: McBroom: Comrade Tim Taylor---Etymology of Placebos & Placebo HistoryPlacebo ReviewWikipedia Placebo in HistoryBeecher's The Powerful PlaceboThe Powerful Placebo: Fact or Fiction?Nature Overview: Placebo - Honesty FakeryTextbook Chapter: Placebo Analgesia in RodentsThe Neuroscience of Placebo EffectsBenedetti's Great 2 Placebos ExperimentNPR on Prescribing PlacebosGuardian on Prescribing PlacebosKaptchuk's Great Open Label Placebo StudyFinniss et al. Placebo Review

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• 87: Mating Rituals & True Crime

  Just how complicated can animal mating rituals be, and why did they even evolve them at all? And why is true crime Everywhere, and what can we learn from breaking down what makes it feel so icky?Also see Tom's new Game Show in NYC this Sunday! www.OurFindingsShow.comThings we Talk About:Deathwatch BeetleRed-Winged BlackbirdHouse FinchLesser Florican VideoDance Analysis Video 1Dance Analysis Video 2Cruell Step-DamesCarolina Buddies Murder BalladTimestamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:04:04) Mating Rituals(01:03:01) True Crime(01:46:08) OutroSupport us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!We also learn about: the adorable death watch beetle, the deep sea “ah fuck it - you’re here” approach, of course the man on the podcast thinks reproduction is easy, why are people on hinge so picky, hermaphrodite sea bunnies, there’s plenty of fish in the sea and the sea is fucking huge, sexual ornaments, peacock feathers made Darwin SICK, sexual ornaments to identify you’re doing it with the right species, you can hang your sexual ornaments all year long for other purposes, finch dating shows, carotenoids from skilled foraging make a brighter pigment is an indicator trait, or just go to a tanning salon, going to the gym is the same - false muscles, active at night - gives you a fright - active at day - wants to get laid, wow flies give eye contact during courting - that’s better than a lot of humans, the fly cha cha slide, drosophila simlish, nuptial gifts, Women! Want! Regurgitated Nutrient Liquid! the arms race of jumping birds, the “I’ll have what she’s having theory”, dancing mannequins, intermediate level of asymmetric arm movement, if anything the study shows how comical it is to try to boil down human mating, the famous shirt smelling study, what are you trying to show with a human mating study? we shouldn’t be reductive for human mating or for animal mating either, ascribing the gender binary to worms, there is no one easy tip to dating in nature, a double banger for nuance, early crime tabloids like Illustrated Police News, Jack the Ripper was dubbed by the press after all, the prison chaplain’s broadsides, nature’s cruel step-dames or matchless monsters of the female sex, I can’t stop myself from coming up with names fro these murders, true crime lit was a best seller at public hangings, some broadsides sold 30x more than the news, the unmissable attraction of La Morgue de Paris, American Murder Ballads didn’t need you to be literate, true crime as an indicator of media trends, the vicious cycle of true crime consumption, icky entertainment motivations, working against the wishes of survivors, if only the victim had had our sponsor - simply safe, the commodification of people’s suffering, what stories do we choose not to tell, true crime seems to say there is “right” kind of victim, but true crime isn’t irredeemable.Sources:Combermere Abbey: A Hard Day’s Night For The BeetlesPadi: Sea BunnySea Slug Courtship and Reproduction1978 Paper: Ultraviolet reflection and its behavioral role in the courtship of the sulfur butterflies 1972 Paper: The Role of the Epaulets in the Red-Winged Blackbird, (Agelaius phoeniceus) Social SystemAudubon: Are Brightly Colored Males Really the Best Mates?Scientific America: Why are male birds more colorful than female birds?National Science Foundation: Bright colors in the animal kingdom: Why some use them to impress and others to intimidate2019 Paper: Facial masculinity does not appear to be a condition-dependent male ornament and does not reflect MHC heterozygosity in humansYale News: Yale study reveals mating tip for bird species: You should be dancingThe Guardian: Dinosaurs performed dances to woo mates, according to new evidenceNorthumbria University: Study identifies high quality female dance movements1995: MHC-dependent mate preferences in humans2023 Paper: Do humans agree on which body odors are attractive, similar to the agreement observed when rating faces and voices?2017 Paper: Humans as a model species for sexual selection research2009 Paper: Dance dance attribution: exploring the relationship between dance and attractiveness in intial perceptions 2020 Paper: Mutual mate choice and its benefits for both sexes---Podcast.co: How Many True Crime PodcastsCrime Reads: The Rise of the True Crime PodcasterJSTOR: The Bloody History of the True Crime GenreHenry Goodcole: Nature’s Cruel Steppe DamesNYT: The Bloody History of True Crime LitWellcome Collection: Paris MorgueJSTOR: The Paris Morgue Provided Ghoulish EntertainmentJSTOR: The Murder Ballad Was the Original True Crime PodcastPsychology Today: Why the True Crime Audience Is Predominantly FemaleSAGE article: Why women are drawn to tales of rape, murder and serial killersNYT: Is Our True-Crime Obsession Doing More Harm Than Good?Gawker: True Crime is Rottnig Our BrainsTIME: The Human Cost of Binge-Watching True Crime SeriesReclamation: The Fascination With All That is Morbid and MacabreBinghamton University: True Crime Adaptations and How the Public SurveilsUniversity of Oregon: The true crime genre is popular, but is it ethical?

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• The Best of Everything 2025

  Listeners voted for their favorites topics of the past year, so join us as we chat and relearn the best of everything!Support us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!The best awards in podcasting that feature hosts named Tom, Ella and Caroline, the best cohost award is a tie (for Charlie and Teddy) actually introducing ourselves again, Tom is the hot one and the funny one, everyone loves dinosaurs, satisfying questions I never thought to ask, no one at the Igs knows Tom, the nuanced story of the propoganda of the propaganda, hey they happen to be some great topics we’re talking about, I had to put jokes about how bad we are so that we could compliment each other later, you can go back and discover Ella’s, we love an experimental episode as well as a classic episode, we love the quirky younger sibling of things, the World Games are coming up soon - get hype! 

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• 86: Eyevolution 2 Eyelectric Boogeyeloo & Digital Piracy w/ Sabrina Cruz

  How many eyes do these animals have, and more importantly what are they doing with them? And how long has copyright piracy been around, and would YOU download a car? Also Ella finally drops her fake british accent.Images we Talk About:Bullfrog Parietal EyeBumble Bee OcelliScallop EyesScallop Eye MirrorsThe Home Taping is Killing Music LogoTimestamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:04:01) Eyevolution II(00:56:16) Digital Piracy(01:45:06) OutroSupport us with a Max Fun Membership!Join our Discord!We also learn about: How many jingles does this man have up his sleeve?? 2 eyes or not 2 eyes, what do you need glasses for - to see boobs? why have an odd number of eyes when it’s a BOGO deal developmentally, even more amazing than his eye of agamoto - Dr Strange has 2 camera eyes, “I grow fearful of the untrue eye”, bull frogs can’t doom scroll, the pineal eye is a skylight to the pineal gland, ommatidia means little eye, each compound eye only sees one image from the thousand of ommatidia, this is Caroline’s first eyevolution rodeo - we can’t answer all the questions, now you can be annoying correcting people about bug vision, ocelli are also called little eyes, triangular ocelli flight stabilization, Robobee, ocelli are useful because they’re auxiliary, they’re a fast different readout, there are so many more interesting sci fi choices for eyes, maybe they evolved ocelli to not crash when they see a sexy bug, having zero eyes would be going to far, oh wait nevermind, where we’re going we don’t need eyes, “not the implications”, well I’ll answer one of those questions, what do you need eyes for looking at boobs? YEAH I DO ACTUALLY, he complex eyes like a telescope of scallops, THEY DON’T EVEN HAVE A BRAIN, have we gone too far? the living square mirrors in scallop eyes, no one believed scallop TV would work, fair use and fair dealings, early book sellers were book copiers, authors did not make profits on early copies, Martial was the first person to be reposted on 9gag, the library of alexandria operated like OpenAI, book publishers after the printing press were like Universal Music Group - concerned over their rights - not artists, crown approved ABC books, the mid 1600s is the first use of piracy of intellectual property, ruining vinyl records with the cassette tape skull and crossbones, the 2013 Hugh Jackman Oscars performance, Napster’s origins and Metallica’s not so metal killing of it, Piracy was a technical and social phenomenon, YOU WOULDN’T STEAL A FONT, video game antipiracy that reminds you of the creative mind behind the product, none of this is legal advice, the cost of piracy is easy to calculate but the benefit is impossible to measure.Sources:The Parietal EyeCompound EyesHolger Krapp's Fantastic Paper on Ocelli2022 Paper on OcelliOtacilia KhezuThe Scallop's EyesScallop TVEd Yong on Scallop Eyes---Book: In Stock or Special OrderCoda: A Short History of Book PiracyBook: A History of Intellectual Property in 50 ObjectsBob Leggitt: The Threat of the Audio Cassette2025 Paper: Digital Piracy2009 Abstract: Understanding Online Piracy: The Truth about Illegal File SharingThe Guardian: Going for a song: the hidden history of music piracyFrontier Economics: Will piracy make us walk the plank?Viaaccess: The evolving attitudes of Millennials and Generation Z to video piracyHuck: Piracy in the UK: the failed war on illegal contentVideo- Piracy, It's a CrimeImage- Home Taping Kills MusicBBC: Getting inside a downloader's headSlate: Goodbye to PiracyYoutube Video: Mary Spender- The Birth of Music PiracyBritannica: intellectual-property lawPlagatismToday: How a Reverse Copyright Filled the Library of AlexandriaWiki: Napster2010: Digital piracy among consumers in a developing economy: A comparison of multiple theory-based modelsForbes: The Unwilling Digital Pirate: A Multi-Billion Dollar Opportunity

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• Vote for the Best Of Everything 2025!

  Vote for your favorite topics at LetsLearnEverything.com/bestof before Sunday June 8th!!!

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