Everything Is Interesting -With Keera & Kira

Happy International Women's Day, 2021! Keera Lindenberg introduces you to some of the female scientists, both living and dead, that have paved the way for women in STEM, and changed the course of history along the way. 

Human pregnancy. A sweet symbiotic relationship between 2 beings? Or a BODILY INVASION?? Depends on which of your cells you ask. In this episode, K+K explore the role of the Placenta, the temporary organ that develops in the mother's body alongside the fetus. Sure, it procures nutrients and keeps the baby alive... but if mom's not vigilant, the placenta will gladly TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Or at least her body. Find out how the Placenta executes its military attack, what happens if the body can't defend itself, and then as a bonus, why this topic is timely and relevant to an upcoming break in the production of Everything is Interesting episodes. Trust me, every single available photo of a placenta is horrifying. Here's an adorable newborn baby instead.

Although we've had great breakthroughs in pharmaceutical treatments for HIV, the virus remains one of the scariest diseases out there, because as of yet, there is no surefire cure. But as of this month,we have found a cure... for exactly 2 people in the history of the world. Can the experimental treatment used on the 2 patients who have had the virus wiped from their system be used to help the 37 million people living with the disease today? Should it be? In Part 1, K+K discussed how HIV infiltrates your body, and why its so hard to get rid of. In today's episode, K+K examine the London Patient, and how doctors used the patient's immune system against itself to eradicate the virus. They also look at the recent birth of the first person to be genetically modified with an immunity to HIV, and discuss if this will be and should be the future of medicine. Disclaimer: the Human Immunodeficiency Virus is not actually a cartoon. 

Although we've had great breakthroughs in pharmaceutical treatments for HIV, the virus remains one of the scariest diseases out there, because as of yet, there is no surefire cure. But as of this month,we have found a cure... for exactly 2 people in the history of the world. Can the experimental treatment used on the 2 patients who have had the virus wiped from their system be used to help the 37 million people living with the disease today? Should it be? In Part 1, K+K discuss why an HIV infection is such a big deal for your body, how it goes about infiltrating your cells, and the diabolical ways it makes itself so hard to get rid of. This knowledge will set you up to understand the next episode, when K+K examine the London Patient, and how doctors used the patient's immune system against itself to eradicate the virus. For such a formidable foe, he sure is a tiny guy.  

If you're a nature documentary fan like we are, you're probably already familiar with Ophiocordyeps, the species of fungus that turns ants into zombies, using mind control to coerce the ant to attach itself to a treetop, just before a mushroom bursts Alien-like out of its head. K+K looked into the research that's been occurring over the last few years to determine just how the fungus pulls this off, and it turns out... not only is everything we thought we knew about this parasitic species wrong, its also way more disturbing that we could have previously guessed. Don't say we didn't warn you.

How many times has the universe exploded in a great Big Bang? And if the answer is 'more than once' then that poses an even more important question: does Time stop and start over with every Bang? To answer this, we have to go back to the very  beginning of the universe (if indeed there was a beginning...) to a "time" before mass, matter, and possibly Time even existed at all.

What is time? A line? A loop? A figment of our imaginations? Spoiler alert... no one knows. But we can use what we know about physics, biology, and Einstein's ideas about Relativity to take our best guess. Join K+K on this 2-part journey into the center (if there is such a place) of time (if there is such a thing)!  In this show: How does the human brain keep track of time? Why is syncing up our biological rhythms with the sun's cycles so important? If someone kidnapped you and you woke up in a sensory deprivation tank, would you ever know what time it was again? Are you the glucose monster or the melatonin fairy? Be honest.           [photo courtesy of https://www.sciencenews.org/article/origin-biological-clocks]

The kids from Mrs. Pace's 6th grade class at Pleasant Valley Middle school in Vancouver, Washington sent us so many excellent science questions, we had to take 2 whole episodes to answer them all! This week K+K tackle: -How the Earth was formed -Why the Earth's axis is tilted -Where Earth's first water came from -What the Earth's first plant was and weirdly, -The temperature on the moons of Neptune

In a special “Listener Question” episode of Everything is Interesting, K+K answer some excellent inquisitions, sent in by the kids from Mrs. Pace's 6th grade class at Pleasant Valley Middle school in Vancouver, Washington. The science ladies tackle: -The physics of flying in a V-formation -Why there's droughts when the world is covered in water -The magic behind Magnetic Levitation -The strange & wondrous ways mosses reproduces

Its a new year! That means its time to make some resolutions about picking up new, healthy, shiny habits! Habits that will definitely become part of your routine right away and you'll do them every day and you'll never break them even when you get super stressed out at work because of that one lady that always comes in and gets on your last nerve and the next thing you know you're eating chocolate chip cookies... right? Why are bad habits so hard to break, even when we rationally know better? Why do we replay the same thoughts over and over again in our minds, even when we don't want to? Is it possible to rewire our neural pathways in order to break the old, bad habits in favor of some healthier, more conscious decisions? (Spoiler: yes, yes it is.) Join K+K and guest David Zimelis to find out!

All living creatures on earth reproduce themselves in some way or another. But there are so many different ways to make a baby,  virtually the only commonality is that DNA inside one organism is copied and then passed on to an offspring organism. And usually, the offspring will grow, reproduce, and die in the same way, completing the same loop, as their parent.  Today K+K, and guest co-host Paul Francis, explore some of the world's weirdest life-cycles, and the lengths some creatures will go to in order to keep the life-cycle chain unbroken. He can't WAIT to tell you about eating his own bones!

Kira and Keera are trying something new: seasons! With themes! In Season 1, they're exploring the idea that in nature, many processes happen in reoccurring patterns, or more specifically, loops. In today's episode, K+K dive into how important, and also difficult, it is to keep ecosystems in balance. They talk to Alma Frankenstein, Project Manager for the Cascadia Systems Institute, about how the natural world keeps itself from completely falling part, through the use of positive and negative feedback loops. Then they use this knowledge to tackle a debate that has been waging in the U.S. for nearly 100 years: is the big, bad Grey Wolf really bad? Should we continue to guard its population under the Endangered Species Act, or is this dangerous predator a threat that needs to be eradicated? Come along and ride on a fantastic Science Voyage, and find out!

Love. Some would say its the reason for being alive. So why does it make you feel sweaty, shaky and nauseous, like someone's forcing you to jump off a bridge at gunpoint? Join K+K to discover what's happening inside your body when you fall in love, why we give out little candy hearts on Valentine's Day instead of candy brains, and whether or not the characters from Wayne's World will ever find their true soulmates.

Kira & Keera explore the immense geological forces that help to shape our planet, and then share some of the places you can go to see them, right here in our own National Parks. LAVA! The discovery of plate tectonic theory The Cascadia Subduction Zone MORE LAVA! Crater Lake Yellowstone geysers and the ocean of magma beneath them The Missoula Floods and the creation of the Columbia Gorge EVEN MORE LAVA!

If you're an avid pursuer of rare and unique species, this is a very exciting time for you. Christmas Eve is when you have the best chance of catching a glimpse of the elusive Santius Clausadae, more commonly known as the Santa Claus.

What do you get when you take 2 science nerds & 3 radio producers, and put them in a small room to discuss a hotly debated topic like Genetically Modified Organisms and their role in agriculture? Apparently you get today's episode of Everything is Interesting. After reading recent news stories explaining that the public should embrace "CRISPRing," a new(er) technology for engineering DNA, because its different from the topic of GMOs they've spent years protesting against (spoiler alert: its not, and CRISPRing isn't a word)  K+K set out to bring some actual science into the public conversation. With the XRAY crew, they get extremely passionate about: the definition of a GMO how it is that genes change naturally Golden Bullets and other fun ways to get new genes into old organisms how the mass use of GMOs could affect the environment why being strongly for or against all GMOs as a broad category is, frankly, kinda ridiculous If you want to have an informed debate about GMOs with your friends and neighbors, and we know you do, this is the episode for you!

Your body is almost always using energy, whether you're going hard labor, or just sleeping. Play along with our Labor Quiz to see if you know the answers to questions like: True or False: When you sleep your body consumes the caloric equivalent of 1 tablespoon of ketchup. Thinking requires energy, so you burn a lot more calories thinking really hard Celery is a “negative calorie food,” because it takes more calories to digest celery than you absorb from eating it. It takes more energy to digest a sandwich made with whole wheat bread and real cheese than one made of white bread and American cheese.

Science Fiction movies are great. But for us, half the fun of watching them is how blatantly they misrepresent the actual science behind their plots. Its ridiculous, it's inaccurate, and it's a heck of a lot of fun to pick apart. On today's show, we listen to a few clips from some of our favorite science fiction outer space movies, and focus in on one of the major inaccuracies, then give you three possible reasons why it wouldn't have happened that way. Only one of the totally-plausible sounding scientific explanations is the right one. Can you figure out which it is before the DJs? If you take your helmet off in space, you turn to clay.

Is it a metal? Or is it METAL?!? (Like, the music. You have to say it with a growl to get the joke.)  In today's show, K+K attempt to stump the XRAY DJs with phrases that might describe an actual scientific element and its metallic properties, or might be the name of a Metallica song. Think you know your metals? Play along!

On part 2 of this series about bicycles, K+K answer: How do you build a frame that won't snap in half when you're doing sick bike tricks? What is Carbon Fiber, and why is it all the rage? How are air molecules like a McDonald's ball pit, and why are they a cycler's biggest nemesis? Plus, tricks and tips to help you counter air resistance, using SCIENCE! Ride like the wiiiiind!

Here in Portland, we love our bicycles! But what is it about these seemingly ordinary machines that makes us so energetically efficient?  Join Kira & Keera (and Keera's mom!) to learn how the pedals, tires, and gears of a bike work together to propel you 3x as fast as walking, without you having to put in any more effort! It's not efficient, but it sure is fancy!

Based on the way it gets your dishes sparkling clean, and makes all those fanciful rainbow-colored bubbles, one could be forgiven for thinking that soap is actually magic! But like pulling the curtain back on the Great Wizard of Oz, K+K explain how all of soap's greatest tricks work, like: How soap traps grease and dirt Why slimy fat and burnt ashes are premium soap ingredients How soap bubbles escape the sink How bubbles give birth to rainbows The eggs from which rainbows are born

So you're ready to take the big leap, and start fermenting your own vegetables at home. Congratulations! This is an important time in any person's life, and K+K want to make sure you have the support you need. In this episode, you'll learn: A fast, easy, and SAFE method for making sauerkraut How to acquire good bacteria in your sauerkraut jar, without inviting in the pathogenic (a.k.a. icky) kind What a "fermenting bacteria" is, and how they work their ferment-y magic The epic-micro bacterial drama that plays out while you wait for your cabbage to become tangy, delicious, shelf-stable sauerkraut

Back when they were young, nervous, and pressed for on-air time, Kira & Keera did an episode of Everything of Interesting about the science of cannabis and its constituent chemicals. Today they revisit the subject, armed with a lot more knowledge and far more confidence. In this episode, K+K cover the difference between Indica & Sativa, how THC and CBD affect your brain, and whether or not nature wants us to get high.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.  Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.  What can i say, sometimes its just easier to follow advice when it's delivered in a rhyme scheme. On today's show, K+K & guest host Emily Gilliland explore some of the more modern Old Wives Tales, and discuss the science behind why they are or aren't true.

Have you ever moved things with your mind? How about communicated a thought telepathically, from your brain, directly to someone else's brain? If you've used Brain-Computer Interface technology, (or if you're a Jedi) the answer is probably... yes! But if there were wires and a computer involved, does that count as true telepathic or telekenetic abilities? And will they let you into Jedi Academy with something like this on your head? Keera Lindenberg & Joel Murphy, and the hat that sucks up brainwaves. Thank you so much to Joel Murphy from OpenBCI for explaining the ins and outs of Brain Computer Interface, and for reading Keera's brainwaves! To find out more about his work, or find the open source codes for building some of your own super rad BCI tech (see: exhibit A, Keera's nifty robot-hat) visit openbci.com!

Science Fact or Science Fiction (the quiz game™) is back! On today's episode, K+K test Keiren Bond on her carnivorous plant knowledge, with questions like: Can a Venus Fly Trap count? Would any plant eat bugs if you mushed them into an artisanal organic soup? Would a pitcher plant prefer to eat a Montane Tree Shrew, or its poop? "Today's my day, I can just feel it!"

In part 2 of their exploration of these space oddities, K+K talk to guest host Emily Gilliland about what would happen if our sun spontaneously imploded, how anyone falling into a black hole would turn into spaghetti, and what it means to exist in time, but not in space. They even attempt to explain how, to an observer moving faster, time (literally!) moves slower, by making Emily do (proverbial) back-flips in space. If you can't tell which way is up, are you ALWAYS mid-somersault?

Have you ever been falling into a black hole and thought, "how did this infinite curve in spacetime even get here, anyway?" Well, the next time you're hurdling towards the infinitely dense Singularity, which exists only in time but not in space and is possibly a hole in the 4-dimensional universe, you can listen to this episode! Objects in spacetime, or gumballs in frosting? YOU decide! In Part 1 of their journey through outer space, K+K explore how Black Holes are formed, discuss the recent detection of their gravitational waves, and interview Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein about light, gravity, and the fluffy pink frosting of spacetime.  

It's 4.5 billion years ago. The Earth is a hot, bubbling sphere of lava  & hostile gases. And then suddenly... THERE IS LIFE! But how did this first Earthly organism show up on our planet? And who was (s)he? A Giant Virus? An archaea cell? Meet your Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandmother, Luca.  If our earliest ancestor was indeed, as research suggests, a simple strand of chemicals that randomly happened to smush together in the perfect shape for fabricating its own decedents (also strands of chemicals) floating in a swamp of primordial ooze that was randomly struck by lightning... how did it evolve into the extremely complex multi-cellular plants and animals that exist today?

We've all been there: winter gets dark and cold, and the urge to curl up in bed and sleep through the harshest of seasons grows strong.  Unfortunately, if that's how you tried to cope, you'd go from cold as a stone, to stone cold dead. Human biology just isn't cut out for the task. Bears on the other hand, are masters of hibernation. With the help of guest host David Zimelis, K + K show you why hibernation is more than just a snooze, and explore the incredible things bears do that allow them to curl up for months on end without food, water, or bathroom breaks (yikes!). All songs heard on this episode were used with permission from composer Ed Curtiss. You can purchase the album “Underwrought Works” at shut-ins.bandcamp.com.

Are you afraid to admit to your friends that you don't REALLY like kale? Do you only eat tomatoes once they're boiled into a sauce? We've all come across tough, bitter vegetables and flavorless, mealy fruits. No matter how dedicated you are to getting all your vitamins, you just don't want to eat unappetizing produce! But fear not, science is on your side! There are pretty easy ways to alter the physical and chemical properties of these plants to make them far more aPEELing... and we're gonna tell you what they are!

Many years ago, Keera almost died. We're glad she didn't, but we have always been curious about the biological basis of what she experienced. Was her "journey outside of this reality," really real? Or was it a vivid hallucination caused by DMT, the psychoactive molecule theorized to flood your brain at the time of death? To find the answer, K+K talked to Dr. Rick Strassman, author of the book DMT: The Spirit Molecule, and one of the leading experts on how the molecule affects our moods, thoughts, and perceptions. Together, they explore how DMT works, the probable function it has in our lives and in our deaths, and what DMT has to do with near-death experiences. Find more about Dr. Strassman's work, or delve deeper into the science of DMT and the mystical experience with his incredibly fascinating books, at Rickstrassman.com Weirdly, we couldn't find any actual photos of the afterlife.

Yes ladies, he is single! Today is a day about Death. It's Día de los Muertos, the Latin American holiday that honors the souls of loved ones that have passed away, and celebrates death as an essential and natural part of life. For a science show, death is a tricky subject to tackle, because no one has really been able to define what it is. But that won't stop K+K from trying! In this episode, they explore Creatures whose existence blurs the line between living and nonliving How we know our bodies are meant to die, and why we can't stop it from happening Why death is essential for the continuation of life on Earth

When's the last time you experienced a synchronous diaphragmatic flutter? Or your diaphragm underwent a myoclonic jerk? On today's show, K+K take a look at hiccups: why we get them, what's happening in our bodies when we do, and what the scientific reasoning is behind those crazy cures that seem to work.

We've all learned about the birds and the bees at some point: when a man and a woman reeeaally love each other, they deposit chromosomal genetic material into a recipient egg cell to create another, smaller human. But what happens when THREE humans decide to make a baby? Is it possible to possess DNA from more than two parents? (Spoiler: Yes. Yes it is.)  Join K+K in their first of many explorations into the weird world of human genetic anomalies. We've made contact!

A scientist's greatest dream is to change the way humans understand reality, by deriving new theories and debunking old ones. But for this dream to come true, the theories have to be backed up by a lot of measurements & evidence, and also be mathematically provable. NASA's most accurate depiction of Earth, to date. (Note: some researchers maintain that it's actually turtles all the way down.) Journey with K+K across the surface of a scientifically impossible Flat Earth... and see why it belongs in Fantasy Fiction novels, not textbooks.

They're not animals, they're not plants, and they're delicious in stir-fry.  Despite the fact that mushrooms have been used in medicine for thousands of years, they still remain a bit of mystery to us humans.  The more research we do, the more we realize that fungi might be our greatest tool in the quest for saving the world. Disclaimer: These ones are poison. A special thanks to Dr. Ann Rasmussen from Oregon State University for lending us her mycological expertise!

Chances are you're just as excited as we are for the Total Solar Eclipse coming up on Monday, August 21st.  So, here's some handy science knowledge to help you make the most of the experience: How does an eclipse happen? Here's a super zoomed out visual of what will be happening in space during Monday's total solar eclipse. How should I watch the eclipse? First of all: DON'T LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN.   Except if you're in the path of totality. Then you can look at the sun, with your naked eyeballs, for 120-ish seconds the sun is completely eclipsed.  At all times and in all other places,  you need special eclipse glasses. Regular sunglasses, even really dark ones, let thousands of times too much sunlight into our eyes, which can cause serious damage.  Also, don't look at the sun through binoculars, a camera, or your phone, EVEN when you have the glasses on. Apparently the concentration of sunlight through a lens can damage your glasses and your eyes. This recommendation comes directly from NASA, so you have to do it. If you can't get a hold of eclipse glasses, you can still participate in this historic event by crafting some sort of pinhole projection device. We prefer the tried and true shoe box device we all made in grade-school. Here's a link to some DIY instructions. With a pinhole projector, you face away from the sun, and watch the shape of a circle of light become a crescent as the eclipse happens. But again, if you're in the path of totality, where the body of the sun will be completely blocked out at the time of eclipse, go ahead and take off the glasses (for the duration of total eclipse only! 2.5 minutes if you're in the center of the path of totality, less if you're anywhere else in the path.)  Fully experience how the colors of your surroundings change, how the stars come out, just how incredibly weird the world is during a solar eclipse. But of course, before even a sliver of the sun is visible again, make sure your glasses are back on if you're gonna look up.

It's all around you, in your lungs, inside that balloon, it even comes out of your youknowwhere...  It's gas! The invisible, but incredibly important, substance that makes life on Earth possible! Kira makes a cloud! But what exactly is a gas? So glad you asked! K+K have the background story on why gas behaves the way that it does, and the fun things you can do with it. They even get Jefferson to let them make a cloud, and light a fire, IN THE STUDIO. Man, this job is awesome.

Humans love fire, in the form of BBQ or combustion engines.  A raging forest fire, however, can be devastating for our flimsy wooden human houses. Why then, is it so important that we let them burn? In this episode, the Science Ladies uncover: How fire has been shaping ecosystems since long before any human ever lit a match The forest-dwelling pyromaniacs that thrive in the flames, and why these species need fire to survive What fire really is, and how it burns The science behind putting out a fire (or, "How to not burn down your kitchen")

It's not just conjecture: placebos work. The question is... how? Why is it that many diseases and physical ailments can be cured just as well with a sugar pill as they can with clinically tested medicine? K+K examine a case of mysteriously healed Parkinson's Disease, talk about a doctor curing chronic pain with peppermint candies, and take a look at what happens in a person's brain when they believe they're receiving medical treatment... but aren't. Yum.          

Human eyes are pretty impressive, but let's be honest, our ocular organs don't hold a candle to the eyes of animals like owls, mantis shrimp, cats, eagles, dragonflies, octopuses, bees, parrots, goats, chameleons... Ok, maybe human eyes aren't all that impressive after all. They're eyeballs. Today K+K discuss: The anatomy of the eyeball Color and light wave perception (what is a color, really?) How to see with amazing precision at a distance, or at night (hint: become an owl) The amazing mantis shrimp (who may not actually be as amazing as you've been told, but then by the end you'll think they're amazing again)

Isn't it wonderful that we can own cellphones, use them to call our mothers and look up photos of dogs in hats and locate the Chipotle nearest to us, and we never even need to know how they work? (Spoiler alert: we'll tell you how they work in this episode.) Do you get it yet? Join K+K to explore: Where the your voice goes when you speak into your cell phone How sound waves become light waves just to become sound waves again The language of satellites and cell phones Why Drake is so sad What the heck Trilateration is, and how you might use it if you were a wizard

We humans are pretty fortunate. Our intelligence and physical features are a result of the evolutionary hand we've been dealt, and are what have allowed us to build an advanced society with sophisticated infrastructure. Get it?? The HAND we've been dealt?? Despite what you may have learned from 2001: A Space Odyssey, genetic changes, which produce physical and behavioral changes, don't happen overnight, propelled by the power of a giant Monolith. Adaptations like walking upright, dexterity, and large complex brains, took millions of years to develop, and required the right environmental conditions for these random genetic changes to be considered assets. Join Kira and Keera on the journey of just how, and why, our ancient primate ancestors became... us.

In a special "Listener Question" episode of Everything is Interesting, K+K answer some excellent inquisitions, sent in by the kids from Mrs. Pace's 6th grade class at Pleasant Valley Middle school in Vancouver, Washington. The question writers brought up some super interesting topics, and we wanted to answer them all, so we broke this one up into 2 separate episodes. On today's show the science ladies tackle: -How the Earth was formed -Why the Earth's axis is tilted -Where Earth's water came from -The first plant to emerge on Earth -The number of endangered species on Earth -The temperature on the moons of Neptune

In a special "Listener Question" episode of Everything is Interesting, K+K answer some excellent inquisitions, sent in by the kids from Mrs. Pace's 6th grade class at Pleasant Valley Middle school in Vancouver, Washington. The question writers brought up some super interesting topics, and we wanted to answer them all, so we broke this one up into 2 separate episodes. On today's show the science ladies tackle: -Geese vs. Swift formations -Why we have droughts -How Magnetic Levitation works -How much gasoline humans use -How trees make Oxygen -How moss reproduces

If there's one thing we love, its ruining movie night for everyone by informing them of all the horrible science in wonderful movies. Play along with our 2nd Bad Science Fiction Movies Quiz, and see if you can pinpoint the scientific slip-ups in Transformers, The Core, Spider Man, and The Matrix.

Are you suffering from a stuffy nose? Itchy eyes? Endless sneezing? Overall-dear-god-why-won't-it-stop-misery? It could be the flu... or it could be allergies! On today's show, K+K explore our immune system's response to airborne pollen, the specific mechanisms inside the body that make those of us with allergies feel so awful, and just why the immune system attacks innocent little pollen in the first place.

Bathypterois grallator, the Tripod Fish. So named because it's an avid photographer. Have you been feeling like ,homes in Portland are becoming too expensive to afford? Well, good news! There's plenty of available real estate... under the sea! If, of course, you don't mind adopting some of the necessary physical adaptations needed to survive there. If fact, the deeper down you go, the stranger your characteristics will have to be. That's because the deeper down you go, the more extreme conditions like temperature and pressure become. Just ask the creatures that live there! Female Anglerfish. Male is not visible because his tiny dwarf body has already mostly absorbed into her flesh. Think you could hack it as a deep sea creature? Listen in to today's episode and see what it would take!