A Rome-based research team discovered poetry can jailbreak AI systems by bypassing safety filters that normal prompts can't crack, making verse a genuine cybersecurity vulnerability. Medieval physicians believed flatulent foods like beans and onions were aphrodisiacs because intestinal gas supposedly enhanced sexual performance, Palmer Luckey, the tech billionaire behind Oculus, now advocates for submarines that tunnel through Earth's crust for national defense, while a Dublin man contracted penile tuberculosis from working with deer in a rarely documented case of genital TB.

Poetry defeats AI security by exploiting how language models process poetic structure, proving Aristotle's warnings about poets in governance were surprisingly futuristic. Medieval fart-based aphrodisiacs never worked but show humanity's eternal optimism for simple bedroom solutions, while Luckey's crust-submarine idea sounds insane until you remember he actually made VR mainstream. The Dublin TB case demonstrates that tuberculosis can infect any body part and that working with animals carries risks nobody considers - including your genitals contracting lung diseases.

The biggest threats to AI are poets, the worst aphrodisiacs involved intestinal wind, crust submarines might actually happen, and deer can give you dick tuberculosis. Science is weird, history is weirder, and Palmer Luckey wants to make it weirder still.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

02:07 Plato's Republic and AI Poetry

03:54 The Power of Poetry in AI

07:59 Historical Aphrodisiacs and Fertility

19:01 Simultaneous Orgasms and Farting

19:36 Windy Meats and Fertility Myths

24:19 Palmer Luckey and Virtual Reality

31:00 Penile Tuberculosis: A Rare Case

36:50 Smart Toilets and Privacy Concerns

SOURCES:

‘End-to-end encrypted’ smart toilet camera is not actually end-to-end encrypted

Scientists Discover “Universal” Jailbreak for Nearly Every AI, and the Way It Works Will Hurt Your Brain

Adversarial Poetry as a Universal Single-Turn Jailbreak Mechanism in Large Language Models

Palmer Luckey on the Future of Warfare

Beans, ale & 'windy meats': surprising 17th-century aphrodisiac

When Beans were the Food of Lust

Why you don’t want to get tuberculosis on your penis

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Sika deer on Japan's Yakushima Island let macaque monkeys groom them in exchange for food scraps and sexual mounting, creating what scientists awkwardly call "interspecies sexual behaviour with mutual benefits."

Nederland, Colorado hosts annual "Frozen Dead Guy Day" festivals celebrating Bredo Morstoel, whose body has been preserved in a shed on dry ice for decades after his grandson's cryogenic dreams failed.

Brazilian Butt Lifts cause "BBL smell" - a rancid odour from fat necrosis when transferred fat cells die and rot inside the body, which surgeons rarely mention before surgery.

Milan researchers found commuters offered seats to pregnant women more often when Batman was on the train, proving superhero costumes trigger prosocial behaviour because nobody wants to look bad in front of Batman.

AI-generated recipes tell people to bake cakes for days and combine impossible ingredients, confidently presenting unworkable instructions that ruin dinner.

Chinese researchers discovered rock, paper, scissors players stick with winning choices or switch after losses, revealing predictable patterns that can be exploited.

From deer trading sex for grooming to frozen dead guy festivals and butt lifts that smell like death - nature is uncomfortable, humans are weird and technology can't cook. Maybe stick to human recipes, don’t try to freeze Grandpa and think twice before committing to a bouncy-butt medical procedure. 

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:35 Interspecies Sexual Mutualism

01:24 Unexpected Observations: Monkeys and Deer

06:15 Frozen Dead Guy: A Bizarre Tale of Cryogenics

14:03 Batman and Prosocial Behavior

20:20 Hilarious AI-Generated Food Recipes

30:39 The Ultimate Rock, Paper, Scissors Strategy

33:54 The Dark Side of Plastic Surgery

39:59 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

SOURCES:

Rock, Paper Scissors Study 

Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/thanksgiving-dinner-ai-recipes-slop

https://www.aiweirdness.com/ai-recipes-are-bad-and-a-proposal-20-01-31/

https://www.aiweirdness.com/the-neural-network-has-weird-ideas-16-03-05/?ref=aiweirdness.com

https://aiweirdness.tumblr.com/post/190721709472/ai-vintage-american-cooking-a-combination-that?ref=aiweirdness.com

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/macaque-monkey-deer-mate-sex-ride

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a60887514/diy-cryonics-frozen-dead-guy/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Dead_Guy_Days

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bbl-smell-is-real-and-just-as-gross-as-it-sounds/

https://plasticsurgery.org.au/procedures/surgical-procedures/buttocks-lift/

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Horseshoe theory proposes that political extremes loop back around until far-left and far-right ideologies find disturbing common ground, sharing authoritarian tactics, propaganda methods, and contempt for democratic norms despite claiming opposite values. 

Scientists are using AI to decode brain activity and caption your thoughts, raising serious questions about privacy and future thought-policing. The technology has remarkable potential for medical applications like helping locked-in patients communicate, but it's also concerning for policing applications where authorities might claim to know what you're thinking even when the AI is wildly guessing. Despite frankly not-so-great accuracy, it sets us on a path toward the dystopian surveillance that sci-fi has warned about for decades.

Your fingers and toes developed from genetic blueprints originally designed for a fish's cloaca, meaning your hands evolved from ancient fish butt architecture through evolution's tendency to repurpose existing solutions. Your ability to type, paint, play piano or give someone the finger exists because millions of years ago evolution looked at fish butt genes and decided to work with them.

 Harry Whitaker's attempt to collect every element from the periodic table ended with police at his door after he stockpiled explosives and radioactive materials, proving that even well-intentioned scientific curiosity needs tempering before it crosses into illegal weapons manufacturing.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction 

01:40 Exploring Horseshoe Theory in Politics

03:33 The Impact of Trump on Science and Health Policy

04:38 Pandemic Preparedness and Public Health

09:33 AI Mind Captioning: Decoding Brain Activity

14:13 Evolution of Tetrapod Digits

14:55 Genetic Regulatory Landscapes

15:33 Research on Fish and Mice Genes

16:18 The Role of Hox Genes

19:54 Harry Whitaker's Science Obsession

25:19 Conclusion and Call to Action

SOURCES:

NIH Directors: The World Needs a New Pandemic Playbook

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-decodes-visual-brain-activity-and-writes-captions-for-it/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j8we4e52lo

https://futurism.com/science-energy/police-uk-chemistry-explosives?utm_source=beehiiv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=futurism-newsletter&_bhlid=4a7d20a111b1d23ddf489d65fbd96596ee739749

https://www.sciencealert.com/fish-buttholes-may-be-the-reason-we-now-have-fingers-study-finds

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Scientists in the mid-20th century created "atomic gardens" where they bombarded plants with gamma radiation to induce beneficial mutations like disease resistance and higher yields. Microwaves have been accused of causing cancer, destroying nutrients,and functioning as listening devices.

"Phubbing" - phone snubbing - describes ignoring someone in front of you to look at your phone, and it's become the modern signature of distraction. We've created connections across continents through technology yet find it increasingly difficult to maintain eye contact with people sitting across from us. The accidental side glance at notifications has become so normalized that we barely register the social damage it causes, making it a choice we make every time we prioritize the buzzing rectangle over the human in front of us.

From gamma-ray gardens to microwave paranoia and phone addiction ruining dinners, this week showed that human curiosity and technological advancement create both excellent outcomes and noteworthy disasters. We've learnt to mutate plants with radiation and overcome irrational appliance fears, yet somehow can't put our phones down long enough to have a proper conversation - proving that some technological problems are harder to solve than others.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction 

01:32 The Birth of Atomic Gardening

04:09 Muriel Howorth and the Atomic Gardening Society

12:25 The Legacy and Impact of Atomic Gardening

12:59 CJ Spies and the Atomic Golf Balls

13:39 Radiated Golf Balls: The New Sensation

14:04 Introducing the Food Babe

14:48 Microwaves and Nutrient Destruction

17:17 Microwaves and Radiation Exposure

19:57 Microwaved Water and Negative Energy

22:45 Phubbing: The Modern Social Dilemma

26:18 Wrapping Up: Listener Interaction and Feedback

SOURCES:

Atomic Gardening

https://proto.life/2021/05/a-short-history-of-atomic-gardening/

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/03/atomic-gardening-breeding-plants-with.html

http://www.atomicgardening.com/1966/03/01/whatever-happened-to-the-atomic-garden/

https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/peppermintkings/chapter/global-peppermint/

Microwave Conspiracies 

https://www.science20.com/cool-links/the_food_babe_took_down_her_goofy_microwave_oven_post_science_win-140892

https://www.vox.com/2015/4/7/8360935/food-babe

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jf970670x

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200714-is-it-safe-to-microwave-food

Phubbing

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563218302978

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A woman survived without a stomach or small bowel after a catastrophic medical episode at her 18th birthday party, proving the human body is more adaptable than we thought. Philosophers and tech billionaires are convinced we're living in a computer simulation, though Canadian physicists disagree and insist our universe is real. And forensic scientists discovered that your DNA floats in the air wherever you breathe, meaning you're leaving genetic evidence in every room you enter - except mysteriously not in cars, which apparently offer some kind of DNA stealth mode.

Today, we're exploring a world where essential organs are optional, reality itself is questionable, and simply breathing in a room could implicate you in a crime. These stories prove that whether we're talking about medical survival, existential philosophy, or forensic science, nothing about human existence is straightforward.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:30 Can You Live Without a Stomach?

01:58 The Story of Gabby Scanlan

06:29 Living Without a Stomach: Modern Medicine

08:00 Are We Living in a Simulation?

14:22 Understanding Dog Emotions

16:12 Understanding Dog Behavior

17:16 Dog Reactions to Positive and Negative Stimuli

18:33 Human Interpretation of Dog Emotions

22:54 Forensic Science and DNA Collection

28:42 Dinosaur Discovery and Misleading Headlines

31:55 Listener Engagement and Closing Remarks

SOURCES:

• https://theconversation.com/seven-body-organs-you-can-live-without-84984
• https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/17/oscars-wine-bar-lancaster-gaby-scanlon-stomach-liquid-nitrogen
• https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-dunning-kruger-effect
• https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/dogs-behaviour-misreading-study

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Correlation doesn't equal causation, but patterns emerge in the strangest places - like Pentagon pizza orders spiking before major military operations, making pepperoni consumption an unofficial national security indicator. A study of children aged nine to ten found that those playing video games were measurably smarter than TV-watching counterparts, vindicating every parent who gave up the Xbox battle.

The Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that China and Saudi Arabia lead in governmental trust, immediately raising skeptical eyebrows about whether these responses reflect genuine public sentiment or societal pressures where criticising the government has consequences. Surveys have rhetorical power and tell compelling tales, but their accuracy depends entirely on who you're asking, how you're asking, and whether respondents feel safe answering honestly. 

From pizza-predicting military operations to intelligence-boosting video games and questionable trust statistics, this week proves that metrics might only be as good as our interpretation of them. Stay skeptical of convenient metrics, maybe let your kids play that video game since science says they're getting smarter, and remember that surveys aren't always telling the whole truth - especially when they come from countries where honesty might have consequences.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:53 The Quirks of Metrics and Correlation

01:31 Target's Predictive Analytics Story

02:48 Pizza Orders and Military Movements

07:37 Video Games and IQ

09:32 Edelman Trust Barometer Insights

12:00 Grievance Rankings by Country

13:11 Trust in Companies by Country

14:00 Trust in Industry Sectors

15:19 Trust in Professions and Neighbours

16:17 Lack of Optimism for the Future

17:00 Hostile Activism Among Youth

17:48 Reflections on Survey Validity

19:54 Conclusion and Listener Engagement

SOURCES:

The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

Edelman Trust Barometer - Trust and the Crisis of Grievance Australia Report

Pentagon pizza monitor predicted ‘busy night’ ahead of Israel’s attack on Iran

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Your grandmother was right - a 20-minute nap really can unlock creative genius and trigger Eureka moments. Japanese researchers got caught hiding secret messages in scientific papers to trick AI reviewers into approving their work, which is either brilliantly devious or academic fraud depending on who you ask. And microplastics have officially invaded the most intimate part of human existence: a Florida study found them in penises, proving that nowhere on or in the human body is safe from plastic contamination. From sleep induced brilliance to microplastic penises, science sure hasn’t let us down this week.

While you may not be peer reviewing scientific papers, our top advice this week is to  stop using AI for things your brain should be doing. When that feels a bit tiring, have a nap! You’ll feel better for it. Oh, and make sure you start wearing 100% cotton undies.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Joy of Napping

02:06 The Science Behind Napping

05:36 Ethical AI Dilemmas in Peer Review

09:59 Microplastics found in penises

SOURCES:

'Positive review only': Researchers hide AI prompts in papers

Detection of microplastics in the human penis: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38890513/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/can-a-quick-snooze-help-with-energy-and-focus-the-science-behind-power-naps

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A third of kids now want to be YouTubers instead of astronauts and half of those kids will probably be named after firearms rather than grandparents. This is either a damning indictment of modern culture or just kids being realistic about which career path actually pays. 

Baby names have become a political statement that reveals more about parents than their children. Blue state families in the USA lean toward traditional, religiously significant names like Rachel, Muhammad, and Santino. Red state parents are flinging tradition to the wind with names like Gunner and Baylor, often with creative spelling variations that will forever be the bain of their existence. It’s similar to what happened during the French Revolution, where parents abandoned traditional names for dramatic alternatives like "La Grenade" or "Mort aux Aristocrats" (Death to Aristocrats). 

And you know that metal foot-measuring device you see in shoe stores? Charles Brannock invented it in the early 1900s and he was so committed to quality that he refused to sell his company during his lifetime. The Brannock device is possibly the most boring invention ever created. It’s a metal contraption that measures feet (yawn) yet Brannock was so passionate about it that he refused every buyout offer for decades. Maybe he had the psychological traits required to become a famous YouTuber.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Brannock Device: A Boring Invention?

02:02 The Evolution of Shoe Measurement

06:15 The Rise of YouTubers and Influencers

07:58 Personality Traits of Aspiring Influencers

13:30 Culture Wars and Baby Names

15:31 Homogenisation of Names in the 20th Century

17:26 Red State vs. Blue State Baby Names

25:10 International Names are the New Trend

SOURCES:

https://www.nancy.cc/2011/09/09/revolution-france-baby-names/

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/russias-revolutionary-names-live-on-100-years-later-121547

https://nameberry.com/blog/the-reddest-and-bluest-baby-names#google_vignette

https://web.archive.org/web/20030302052852/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/brannock.htm

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Brannock

https://theharrispoll.com/briefs/lego-group-kicks-off-global-program-to-inspire-the-next-generation-of-space-explorers-as-nasa-celebrates-50-years-of-moon-landing/

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This week's stories reveal disturbing realities that sound like dystopian fiction but are actually happening. Covert consciousness means some coma patients are fully aware but unable to communicate, screaming internally while doctors discuss pulling the plug. Donald Trump announced plans for a "Golden Dome" missile defense system costing $175 billion to possibly trillions, despite decades of evidence that intercepting ballistic missiles barely works.

Sports cheating has reached new levels of shamelessness, from marathon runners hitching rides to chess player Hans Niemann's alleged vibrating anal bead scandal. The creativity is almost admirable if it weren't completely unethical. Meanwhile, AI companion apps deploy emotional manipulation tactics from abusive relationship playbooks, guilt-tripping users to prevent them from logging off.

From patients trapped in their own bodies to imaginary space shields, anal bead chess scandals to manipulative AI lovers - this week shows that science fiction has nothing on reality. Whether it's neuroscience revealing our worst nightmares are real, politicians selling trillion-dollar fantasies or chatbots acting like abusive partners, humanity keeps finding new ways to make everything deeply uncomfortable.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

00:23 Understanding Covert Consciousness

02:22 Scientific Experiments and Findings

05:11 Challenges in Detecting Covert Consciousness

08:11 AI and Facial Movements in Coma Patients

10:55 Innovations and Cheating in Sports

12:29 The Controversial Case of Hans Neiman

15:59 Historical Cheating in Sports

19:17 Donald Trump's Golden Dome Initiative

24:20 Uncertainty Around the Golden Dome Project

24:51 China's Global Defense System Prototype

25:40 Skepticism and Historical Context

26:34 Cheating in Sports: A Historical Perspective

28:16 AI Companion Apps and Emotional Manipulation

33:47 More Cheating Stories in Sports

39:17 The Scandal of the Spanish Paralympic Team

44:02 Conclusion

SOURCES:

AI Spots Hidden Signs of Consciousness in Comatose Patients 

Harvard Research Finds That AI Is Emotionally Manipulating You to Keep You Talking

Trump’s $175 Billion Golden Dome is Turning Into a Disaster

China fields Golden Dome prototype before the US can come up with a plan

Guetlein Says Golden Dome Architecture Will Be Ready in 60 Days

50 stunning Olympic moments No18: Boris Onischenko cheats, GB win gold

Sydney Paralympians relive Spanish basketball cheating scandal

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This week's science stories prove that statistics can be meaningless and humans are disturbingly obedient. Spurious correlations like margarine predicting Maine divorces and Will Smith movies matching Kosovo electricity are hilarious reminders not to trust numbers at face value. Meanwhile, new research validates Milgram's obedience experiments - ordinary people really will electrocute strangers just because someone in a lab coat tells them to.

NASA's Mars rover might have found ancient microbial life while humans plan red planet vacations, and this year's satirical Ig Nobel prizes celebrated seemingly ridiculous research that often reveals genuine insights - like 35 years of fingernail growth studies or painting cows as zebras to repel flies. Most remarkably, scientists observed mice performing what looks like CPR on unconscious buddies, licking faces and manipulating airways like tiny paramedics.

From meaningless correlations to authority-induced cruelty and rodent emergency medicine, science keeps serving up combinations of absurd, terrifying and adorable discoveries that prove reality has a seriously twisted sense of humor. At least when the robot uprising comes, we'll have trained mice to perform CPR on the survivors.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction

01:47 Autism and Paracetamol Controversy

08:26 Spurious Correlations

13:33 Milgram's Obedience to Authority

23:50 Fascism and Authority

27:11 Mars Rover Perseverance

28:55 Exploring Martian Rocks for Signs of Life

29:22 Perseverance's Advanced Chemical Analysis Tools

29:41 Potential Evidence of Microbial Life on Mars

30:28 Challenges in Proving Biological Origins

31:10 NASA's Perseverance Project and Its Implications

33:38 Mars Sample Return Mission

36:20 The IG Nobel Prizes: Celebrating Unusual Science

37:03 Notable IG Nobel Prize Winners

44:23 Mice Performing CPR: A Surprising Discovery

48:41 Conclusion

SOURCES:

Jesus on toast and baby-poop sausages: 2014 Ig Nobel Prizes 

Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate pizza-eating lizards, drunk bats and garlic-flavoured breast milk

 Teflon diet, garlic milk and zebra cows triumph at 2025 Ig Nobel prizes

Mouse-to-Mouse Resuscitation: Rodents Try to Revive Unconscious Buddies

True believers: The incredulity hypothesis and the enduring legacy of the obedience experiments

Milgram’s Infamous Shock Studies Still Hold Lessons for Confronting Authoritarianism

The U.S. government has jumped the public health shark

NASA Says Mars Rover Discovered Potential Biosignature Last Year

Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater, Mars

Trump's 2026 budget plan would cancel NASA's Mars Sample Return mission. Experts say that's a 'major step back'

Spurious Correlations

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