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Episodes
Pour yourself something warm. Let it drizzle outside. This one's for the curious.
The Mark & Toddcast is your weekly escape from the algorithm, the outrage cycle, and whatever fresh hell is trending. Broadcasting from the rainy heart of Portland, Oregon, two friends have spent 11 years and over 300 episodes doing exactly what you wish you could do at your favorite dimly lit neighborhood pub: sitting down with a pint and wandering through whatever's genuinely interesting.
Consider us comfort food for your brain.
Instead, expect pure Pacific Northwest chill and unfiltered curiosity about topics like:
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Why we absolutely hate the sound of our own voices
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The secret origin of the biohazard symbol
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America’s classified, Cold War plan to nuke the moon
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The Stanford Prison Experiment (and why it was actually kind of BS)
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Portland’s very own infamous Barbie-hacking culture jammers
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The unsolved mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
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And yes... the actual science of farts
What’s in an Episode?
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The Catch-Up: A little life banter between two longtime friends navigating the Rose City.
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Just the Headlines: A quick spin through the weirdest, wildest science and culture news of the week.
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The Deep Dive: A 20-minute, high-level plunge into whatever strange subject one of us couldn't stop reading about.
Meet Your Hosts:
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Mark spent his twenties operating nuclear reactors for the Navy before coming home to Portland's Silicon Forest to keep the machines that build microchips running. Now, he’s a technical director helping companies get found online.
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Todd has lived several lives—ad copywriter, artist, Newsweek-published writer, and an unrepentant Madonna superfan. Today, he’s a local therapist helping people untangle their stories and reconnect with the humans around them.
Pull up a chair. Grab a local beverage.
Science is funny.
Episodes
Sunday Apr 23, 2017
Sunday Apr 23, 2017
Hedy Lamarr was considered one of the most beautiful movie stars in the world in the ’30s and ’40s, but she also helped invent a frequency-hopping communications technology implemented by the US Navy in the...
The post #83 – What’s the Frequency, Hedy? appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.
Monday Apr 17, 2017
Monday Apr 17, 2017
CRISPR is a method of editing human DNA that is as amazing and futuristic as it is troubling and ultimately terrifying. Is humanity ready for designer super humans and DNA hacking? It doesn’t matter —...
The post #82 – CRISPR? I barely knew her! appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.
Tuesday Apr 04, 2017
Tuesday Apr 04, 2017
“Wait, ‘Face Blindness’ is real?” was my reaction to hearing about this strange (and real) condition called “prosopagnosia” that causes those afflicted to be unable to recognize or remember the faces of even those closest...
The post #81- Face/Blind appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.
Sunday Mar 26, 2017
Sunday Mar 26, 2017
This week we take a look at a man named John Harrison, who revolutionized naval navigation in the early 1700s through clocks — at first inventing a gyroscopic-like containment system for a giant pendulum, then...
The post #80 – Plight of the Navigator appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.
Monday Mar 20, 2017
Monday Mar 20, 2017
This week the Unipiper joins us in-studio to talk about his recent trip to Holland for a TV show, and then stays for a conversation about an American town made uninhabitable by a 400-acre underground...
The post #79 – Centralia, PA: Scorched Earth and Silent Hills appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.
Sunday Mar 12, 2017
Sunday Mar 12, 2017
There’s a historic total solar eclipse coming up later this year, so we take this opportunity to talk about the various types and phases of solar and lunar eclipses. Spoilers: the sun will melt your...
The post #78 – Eclipses: Throwing Shade appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.
Sunday Mar 05, 2017
Sunday Mar 05, 2017
What exactly are the “preservatives” we find in our food? Are they poison? Magic? Natural? Safe? This week we take a look at the various methods in which we keep our foods fresh and disease...
The post #77 – Get Fresh With Preservatives appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.
Sunday Feb 26, 2017
Sunday Feb 26, 2017
Salt is as important to modern human existence as water, touching every arena of life from biology to medicine, from culinary to monetary, and even to the spread of civilization. Get a tiny taste of...
The post #76 – Mark and Todd Get Salty appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.
Monday Feb 20, 2017
Monday Feb 20, 2017
Is hypnosis a real thing, or a carnival scam? Can your mind be controlled against your will? What is happening to the brain of someone who is hypnotized? Find out the answer to these and...
The post #75 – Prepare To Be Mesmerized appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.
Tuesday Feb 14, 2017
Tuesday Feb 14, 2017
Raise your beers to this episode about the surprisingly fascinating manufacturing and design background of the humble aluminum can. There’s a lot going on with this seemingly simple container, and we get to the bottom...
The post #74 – Perfect Cans appeared first on Mark and Toddcast.