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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
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
The human body is 2.5% metal, which we need in order to produce electricity, heal our skin, and make us move and think, among other things. We're not saying we're robots, but we're sort of robots. This week we dive into the weird world of metals, and how exactly our bodies need and use them to pilot the other 97.5% of us that's an organic, goopy pile of flesh and guts.
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
This week we discuss both the question "What exactly is radiation?" as well as the history of the most ubiquitous word on the entire planet: "OK." Where did it come from? How did this tiny word take over the whole world? All that, plus lots of Portland news, and angry Furries fighting on beaches. Enjoy, ok?
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
After discussing how submarines surface and dive (in other words, "how do you store buoyancy?) and our one-of-a-kind "Just the Headlines!" segment, we take a look into the history of red food dye, and what to look out for if you want to avoid the "bad" kind of food coloring. Spoilers: You want the dye made from smashed up bugs grown on a cactus. Now go paint the town red!
Tuesday Jul 25, 2023
Tuesday Jul 25, 2023
This week we veer from Netflix to Amazon to Silver Falls to asking the most important question: wtf is going on with TikTok's new NPC trend? We try to make sense of it all on this week's show. Enjoy it like ice cream yum yum.
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
Todd recaps his recent vacation to eastern Idaho, Craters of the Moon, and Mark's old Navy training area, and recent science/Portland news. Then we take a look into the real-life Johnny Appleseed. Was he a mythical Paul Bunyan story, or was he a real person? Find out this week.
Tuesday Jul 04, 2023
Tuesday Jul 04, 2023
Most of us maybe know one thing about George Washington Carver -- that he invented peanut butter. Not only is that not true, but his work with peanuts was just a tiny slice of the botanical and agricultural advances - from crop rotation to use of organic fertilizers - he pioneered. Find out more on this week's show.
Tuesday Jun 27, 2023
Tuesday Jun 27, 2023
This week we dive a bit further into the world of AI art, specifically in how AI works around the world of copyright protection. Who does AI art belong to? Can it be protected? Find out this week.
Monday Jun 19, 2023
Monday Jun 19, 2023
Many of us have heard of the Biosphere 2 project - it was one of the main news stories of 1991, which Todd just visited in Arizona. But many don't know the full history, controversy, and eventual take-over of the project from the genius hippy theater freaks who built it to.....yes, Steve Bannon, and then eventually the University of Arizona.
Monday May 29, 2023
Monday May 29, 2023
Look who found their way back to the studio! We're back for an all-news catch-up show detailing some of the bigger stories we flagged over the past month or so.
Tuesday Apr 18, 2023
Tuesday Apr 18, 2023
This week we take a short look into an indigenous South American warrior named Galvarino, who, despite having his hands cut off by Spanish Conquistadors, strapped knives to his stumps to rally his fellow Mapuche community into fighting back. In the news: the Portland Wolverine is sighted again, a promising anti-Alzheimer enzyme, remembering Darcelle, the USS Robert Smalls, a Sriracha shortage (or is there?), REI closes its Portland location, and more.