1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to 2 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so 3 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: much for tuning it. This is an accidental invention called 4 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: a podcast, and we couldn't do it without the help 5 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: of our super producer, mister Max Williams. 6 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,560 Speaker 2: I know there was that time that that scientist spilled 7 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 2: chemical X and then a podcast sprang forth fully formed. 8 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: Yeah. By that time, I got a bit by a 9 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: radioactive microphone and then ended up doing this as a living. 10 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 2: Hey man, you know there are worse ways to make 11 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 2: a living and worse radioactive things to get bitten by. 12 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 2: Accidental inventions intentional two parter. 13 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: Mm hmm, yes, well done. 14 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 3: I will say, I don't know if you guys have 15 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 3: heard this, but it was an accidental chemical spill that 16 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 3: caused Ira Glass to be like formed. 17 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: Okay, I don't doubt it. Yeah, I've read a good Glass. 18 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:21,759 Speaker 1: I've read his biography. And who was reading that biography, Well, 19 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: they call me Ben Bullen. That's none other than mister 20 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: Noel Brown. And as you might tell with our incredibly 21 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: subtle foreshadowing this this week, we are dedicating some time 22 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:38,679 Speaker 1: to the wonderful, wacky, inspiring, dare we say, at times 23 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: terrifying world of invention. Humans aren't the only living creatures 24 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: that can quote unquote event things, but so far humans 25 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:49,639 Speaker 1: have the best track record. 26 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 2: Well, I mean, you know, we always talk about on 27 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 2: this show and on our sister show Stuff they don't 28 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 2: want you to know about this idea of firsts of 29 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 2: like who was the first person that figured out you 30 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 2: could get high on on this weird herb, you know, 31 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 2: Or or that figured out this slimy, disgusting shelled thing 32 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 2: from the water could be sucked down and it's called 33 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 2: an oyster, you know. I mean, it's fascinating. 34 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: How many people died discovering edible mushass. Right, So this one, 35 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: what's the old joke? This one will make you see 36 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: God for a week, this one will kill you, and 37 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: this one just goes great in pasta. 38 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 2: One of them makes you see God real quick, you know, 39 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:31,959 Speaker 2: more like visions and definitely mushrooms and pasta one of 40 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 2: my favorite things in the whole white culinary world. 41 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: I guess those are maybe technically more discoveries. It's true, 42 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: and that is a very important point to bring up. 43 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 2: And we we do have an episode on inventors that 44 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:43,519 Speaker 2: were killed by. 45 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: Their own invention. 46 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 2: Yes, but I think we can't argue that discovery isn't 47 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 2: a seed of invention. 48 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: Huh, how about that? There we go, because often when 49 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 1: looking for one thing, you find the other thing. That's 50 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: classic human, right, you lose your car keys searching for 51 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: your car keys, and all of a sudden you find 52 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: the journal you wrote in middle school or you Uh, 53 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,640 Speaker 1: let's say you are an alchemist and you want to 54 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 1: transmute metal to gold and you accidentally invent pesticides. Yeah, 55 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: I was gonna say. 56 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 2: I thought you were going to say something like you 57 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 2: lose your car keys and all of a sudden, bam, 58 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 2: you invent the atomic bomb. 59 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: That's how it happened. Everybody watch Oppenheimer went down. The 60 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: guy was a little bit. He'd be the kind of 61 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:29,839 Speaker 1: dude that would lose his car keys. Yeah, he would 62 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 1: not only lose preoccupy, not only the kind of dude 63 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: who would lose his car keys, but he would get 64 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: furious at his assistant for not fixing the situation. 65 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 2: Look, you can't get over that nude scene in that 66 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 2: movie felt really. 67 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: Really weird to me. I don't know why. I did 68 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: feel like an excuse to uh for the chairs. Correct. 69 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 3: That was where the sex scene from earlier is like 70 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 3: not as much the in the chair as one. It 71 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 3: was that, yeah, there's a choice, but it was say, affleck, 72 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 3: amazing actor. He's in like one scene and he steals 73 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:06,680 Speaker 3: the entire show. 74 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: It was one of those things where it's pretty clear 75 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: that the director, the screenwriter or the cinematographer said, I 76 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: can get away with this. 77 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 2: Hey, her contract gives us two nude scenes, so we. 78 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: Can't live that second one on the table. And so 79 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: film and fiction aside. What we can tell you is 80 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: a thesis statement for this week is that invention is 81 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: often a macrocosmic historical example of what Bob Ross would 82 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: call a happy accident. You put the paint in the 83 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 1: wrong place, and boom, you have created a beautiful tree 84 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,919 Speaker 1: or a mountainscape or a cumulus cloud, yeah, or a 85 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: Jesus you know in your toast. Yes, right, right, right, 86 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 1: always waiting to be discovered. Bred has done a lot 87 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 1: for religion. Actually, now that I think about that, that's 88 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: a pretty deep in accurate statement. You're absolutely right, man, 89 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: I'm with you. 90 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 2: It's true, And I mean, what do they say necessity 91 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:04,479 Speaker 2: is the mother of invention and all that. But I 92 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 2: would argue that discovery, which can't often be accidental, is 93 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 2: the seed of invention. 94 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would argue that curiosity is the impetus 95 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: but behind yeah, discovery and invention. And that's one of 96 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,479 Speaker 1: the things that humans are great at, not so much 97 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 1: planning ahead, but more so curiosity. Right, Ted Lasso is 98 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 1: correct in that respect. Can't recommend that show well enough. 99 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: We want to start this with a shout out to 100 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: our research associate Jeff, who points out, quoting our alma 101 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: matter How Stuff Works, that not every wonderful, world changing 102 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: invention was created intentionally. Some came, as you said, Noel, 103 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:59,159 Speaker 1: through accidental discovery. Some came through straight up like three 104 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: stooges left clumsiness, Some came out of laziness. What we 105 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:11,039 Speaker 1: do know is that almost every invention stands on the 106 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: shoulders of giants of precedent. Right. A spontaneous discovery is 107 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:23,160 Speaker 1: an amazing pivotal moment in history, but often the credit 108 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: where it's due needs to be assigned to the people 109 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:31,600 Speaker 1: who learned of a discovery and then spent years, decades, 110 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: perhaps their entire lives, trying to make it applicable and 111 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: benefit to the rest of civilization. 112 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 2: Well, it's about recognizing the discovery first and foremost. And 113 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:44,040 Speaker 2: I think this is a great follow up to the 114 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 2: episode we just did on tupperware, which we'll recall was 115 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 2: invented based on a byproduct, a stinky, icky byproduct of 116 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,160 Speaker 2: plastic manufacturing that nobody else in the industry knew what 117 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 2: to do with. But mister tupper he had big ideas 118 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,479 Speaker 2: around it. They started a revolution of leftover storage. 119 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: Please do check out that story, especially because we all 120 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: have tupperware in our fridges right now very much. 121 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 2: Some of them need to be I need to be examined. 122 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 2: I think I need to do a refresh. 123 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: And going back to our idea of bread, let's pop 124 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: the top on one of history's greatest accidental inventions slash discoveries. No, 125 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: we're going to treat those as kissing cousins, right, if 126 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: that's synonymous, they're a venn diagram. We are alive today, 127 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: all of us, including you ridiculous historian listening to the show, 128 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: We are alive today because of something called antibiotics. Now 129 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: at the at the top, this feels like a really 130 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: gross idea. 131 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 2: It sure does, especially when you consider how it was 132 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 2: discovered and where it comes from. According to I Believe 133 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 2: the American Chemistry Society at their website ACS dot org, 134 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 2: antibiotics are compounds produced by bacteria and fun guy which 135 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 2: are capable of killing or inhibiting competing microbial species. 136 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 1: This phenomenon has long been known. It may explain why 137 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 1: the ancient Egyptians had the practice of applying a poultice 138 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 1: of moldy bread to infected one. I don't like, uh, 139 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: you know, I'm familiar with pult Well it's have you 140 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 1: ever used one? And maybe, like my old Appalachian background. 141 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:27,960 Speaker 2: Isn't it where you literally shoved dirt and stuff like 142 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 2: into your wound, or like grass or a mixture of 143 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 2: like really gouey herbs and stuff. 144 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:36,680 Speaker 1: Like a sloppy kind of wela. Yeah. 145 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 4: Uh. 146 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 1: This is the story of antibiotics and penicillin. The world's 147 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:49,679 Speaker 1: first acknowledged antibiotic was less the It was less a 148 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 1: matter of some mad genius uh secreted away in a 149 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,960 Speaker 1: tower learning the art of alchemy. It was more an 150 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:03,199 Speaker 1: accidental byproducts out out tupperware of a messy workstation. 151 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 2: Right, how stuff works? Again, our almud butter writes. One 152 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 2: of the most widely used antibiotics, penicillin, was first developed 153 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:14,199 Speaker 2: by Scottish researchers for Alexander Fleming in nineteen twenty eight, 154 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,840 Speaker 2: the careless type. Fleming departed for a two week vacation, 155 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:22,200 Speaker 2: having left out a petri dish containing Stapholococcus. So, if 156 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken, is what is the bacteria that forms 157 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 2: or that is responsible for what they call a staff infection? 158 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: Right? I think that's right? AnyWho? 159 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 2: Continuing upon returning, Fleming discovered that Staphylococcus had developed a 160 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 2: layer of mold which had prevented it from growing any further. 161 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 2: So see it's did an accidental discovery the ikey workplace, 162 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 2: and then the like what does this mean? 163 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 1: And the recognition of how this could be applied? M 164 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:56,320 Speaker 1: M yeah, yeah, what he stumbled across is something we 165 00:09:56,360 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: call penicillium. Let's let's get into it. Yes, so our guy, 166 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 1: our Scottish guy again standing on the shoulders of giants. 167 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: Various ancient civilizations had sort of a spidey sense about 168 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:17,080 Speaker 1: the the hidden benefits of mold. So Fleming starts to 169 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: do the work and he sorts through his messy counter 170 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:27,400 Speaker 1: Peachtree dishes. They all had Stafflococcus stafflecoccus. Nasty customer. It 171 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: can give you a sore throat, boils, abscesses, all the hits. 172 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,959 Speaker 1: And then, like you were saying, he looks at one dish, 173 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: one dish out of his collection and he says, hang on, 174 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,960 Speaker 1: this is dotted with these colonies of this nasty customer 175 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: I know to be Stafleococcus. But there's one area that's 176 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:54,600 Speaker 1: untouched by anything except for this blob of gross, fuzzy 177 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: looking mold. 178 00:10:55,960 --> 00:11:00,960 Speaker 2: Uh huh, exactly untouched. Fleming figured out that this mold 179 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 2: juice was capable of killing a wide range of very 180 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:10,080 Speaker 2: harmful bacteria that were pesky and tough customers to your point, Ben, 181 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:14,320 Speaker 2: for the you know, human race, things like Streptococcus, men 182 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:20,400 Speaker 2: in ja, caucus and diphtheria, bacillus bacterium that up to 183 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 2: this point could have been fatal for folks. 184 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 1: Right right, fatal on the far end, at the very 185 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:32,160 Speaker 1: least severely inconvenient and unpleasant. What this was later identified 186 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:34,680 Speaker 1: as this mold. And let me just take a second 187 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 1: and say, mold and fung guy, they're amazing, they're amazing. 188 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 2: We talked on stuff that I want you to know about, 189 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:45,560 Speaker 2: how the way they communicate in networks, neural networks underground. 190 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:49,280 Speaker 2: There's an incredible documentary called Fantastic Fungi that we've recommended 191 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 2: as well, A bunch with what's like a Paul Steinmetz 192 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 2: I think is his name? Is a mycologist. I think 193 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:58,319 Speaker 2: is the term fascinating? Sorry, I'm excited. 194 00:11:58,960 --> 00:11:59,719 Speaker 1: I'm into it too. 195 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 3: I get to jump in here really quick. Paul Stammets, 196 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 3: which is a joke because in the now finished Star 197 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 3: Trek Discovery series where they travel over fungus, it's complicatem 198 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 3: I gonna expect to the name of the guy who 199 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:17,559 Speaker 3: invents it is uh Stamos. That's the name of the 200 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 3: engineer who invents it. 201 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 1: So there you go. Yeah, it's just not very cool. 202 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 1: Good I told. 203 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 3: I told my friend Merret that one recently blew her mind. 204 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 3: She goes, what, that's a real guy. I'm yeah, he's 205 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,199 Speaker 3: a live and live and well he's a he's the 206 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:30,320 Speaker 3: expert on mushrooms. 207 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:35,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, he's about eighty five percent mold now by content. 208 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:38,680 Speaker 1: But that's just you know, like Marikore, that's just something 209 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,839 Speaker 1: that comes with the job of being illuminary. If we 210 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 1: go back to our our noble Scott Fleming, uh, we 211 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:51,200 Speaker 1: find that he, you know, he's smart enough to clock 212 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:55,920 Speaker 1: something unusual. And he's got two assistants, Frederick Ridley and 213 00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:59,600 Speaker 1: Stuart Krattick, and he says, all right, you guys, you're 214 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 1: real and comers here in this super messy hoarder lab. 215 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 1: I need you to take this mold juice, and I 216 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:12,200 Speaker 1: need you to isolate whatever the heck it is that 217 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:16,880 Speaker 1: is killing these pesky bacterium. And they said, okay, we're 218 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 1: going to do our best. Fleming and what they were 219 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:25,959 Speaker 1: able to create something, but it was very unstable because 220 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:29,480 Speaker 1: they were trying to purify something for the first time. 221 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: They were only able to make solutions of very crude material. 222 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 1: And that comes to us again from the American Chemical Society. 223 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:42,280 Speaker 1: So Fleming has the honor in naming this mould juice, 224 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:45,720 Speaker 1: and he calls it penicillin because he's naming it after 225 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,440 Speaker 1: that fungus we mentioned earlier, Penicillium notatum. 226 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 2: Right, And he publishes a paper about this in nineteen 227 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:55,079 Speaker 2: twenty nine. But it wasn't really sure yet he knew. 228 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:56,439 Speaker 1: What it could do. But I guess maybe I was 229 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 1: given him a little too much credit. 230 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 2: He wasn't quite sure yet if it had any practical 231 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 2: use because it was a bit difficult to purify and 232 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:07,560 Speaker 2: to stabilize and to like mass produce in a way 233 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,280 Speaker 2: that would potentially have a huge impact on humanity. 234 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of like inventing a rocket that can 235 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,320 Speaker 1: sometimes go to space but not all the time. Do 236 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: you really want to put people on the rocket just yet? No, 237 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 1: definitely not, Katie Perry. 238 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:27,320 Speaker 2: It was Howard Florey and his teamwork making the dream 239 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 2: work and Earnest Chain and their colleagues at the Sir 240 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 2: William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford University, you know 241 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 2: slouches there who figured out how to turn penicillin from 242 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:40,480 Speaker 2: this kind of you know, haphazard discovery. And again all 243 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:44,160 Speaker 2: credit to Fleming. He did see there were potentially big 244 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 2: things ahead. He just I guess didn't stop short, right, 245 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 2: You didn't quite know what to. 246 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: Do with it. 247 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:50,320 Speaker 2: So he was able to turn this from a kind 248 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 2: of a was described at ACS dot org as a 249 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 2: laboratory curiosity into a life saving drug. In their efforts 250 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 2: to purify and find tune the chemistry of penicillin, which 251 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 2: is a process that began as far back as nineteen 252 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 2: thirty nine. 253 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent, and this is this is weird. 254 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: So as nineteen thirty nine is going through, it's nineteen 255 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 1: thirty nine US. The Second World War is ramping up, 256 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: and these wartime conditions on multiple levels are making research 257 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 1: increasingly difficult. So we all know the game. At this point, 258 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 1: you start experimenting with clinical trials. You want to do 259 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: some animal experiments, and they start trying to figure out 260 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:46,240 Speaker 1: where they can grow enough mold filtrate they call it. 261 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: To conduct these trials and experiments. They need five hundred 262 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,480 Speaker 1: leaders of this stuff. So they start growing everywhere they can. 263 00:15:54,560 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: We're talking bathtubs, bedpans, empty cans for grow. Oh way, 264 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:06,440 Speaker 1: this super mold juice. And what they did is they 265 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: built this thing that allows you to you know, how 266 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,680 Speaker 1: you like when you're cooking some stuff, you gotta skim 267 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: the froth off the top. They wanted the broth beneath 268 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 1: the surface of the mold. That's the mold juice. And 269 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 1: to do this they hire a group of people they 270 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 1: call the Penicillin Girls, and for two pounds a week, 271 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: these this team inoculates and sort of continually stays at 272 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:41,640 Speaker 1: these containers making sure the fermentation is fermenting. Eventually, as 273 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: a result of this, that Oxford laboratory that was doing 274 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:48,200 Speaker 1: other stuff, it is turned into the world's first on 275 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:53,040 Speaker 1: purpose penicillin factory and then goes on to save millions 276 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,480 Speaker 1: and millions of lives. Now this can sound kind of 277 00:16:56,520 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 1: sensitive now in a world of you know, superbug and 278 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: livestock problems with. 279 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:06,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, and issues and controversy surrounding vaccination as well, 280 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 2: of course. 281 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the that's the point I was going to 282 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:10,760 Speaker 1: say as well, Like here in twenty twenty five, the 283 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:14,320 Speaker 1: idea might seem elementary or maybe even controversial to some 284 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:17,120 Speaker 1: people if we're being honest, but we have to remember 285 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,359 Speaker 1: a ton of folks were dying because of this. This 286 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: was a lifesaver and it was completely by accident. 287 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 2: And if anybody out there is looking for an interesting 288 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:30,120 Speaker 2: watch other than that documentary that we talked about, I'm 289 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:32,160 Speaker 2: sure you're familiar with this. To Ben, there's a new 290 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:36,440 Speaker 2: ish adult swim cartoon called what is It? Common Side 291 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:39,120 Speaker 2: Effects that I believe one of the characters is sort 292 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:42,199 Speaker 2: of like a fantasy version, kind of of like the 293 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 2: type of work that Paul Stemmets does, and just this 294 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:48,240 Speaker 2: sort of like idea of mushrooms being a secret alien 295 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:52,199 Speaker 2: thing that have huge potential ramifications, you know, for the 296 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 2: human race beyond, like in terms of like healing and transcending, 297 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 2: you know, this mortal coil and stuff. It's a fabulous 298 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:02,480 Speaker 2: show by the same studio created the sci fi cartoon 299 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:04,720 Speaker 2: Scavenger's Reign, which I know that you also were a 300 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:05,119 Speaker 2: fan of. 301 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:09,199 Speaker 1: Yeah, I enjoyed that. I appreciate that. I appreciate that 302 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:13,200 Speaker 1: mention there, because we can without spoiling it further than 303 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,160 Speaker 1: what you said in the excellent setup, we can tell 304 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:20,440 Speaker 1: you it's not what you're expecting for sure. And this 305 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: takes us to another amazing accidental invention common to so 306 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:28,040 Speaker 1: many kitchens. 307 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:33,399 Speaker 2: Beep, that wasn't an editorial beat as the sound of 308 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 2: the thing. 309 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:47,679 Speaker 5: Yeah, yes, the microwave street name, microwave, technical name microwave oven. 310 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: You know it. It's used for like whenever you want 311 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: something to like whenever you're cooking or reheating tupperware and 312 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 1: you're like, man, I wish this tupperware was really hot 313 00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:01,440 Speaker 1: and the stuff inside it was still sort of cold. 314 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:03,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, if only and and and if only I could 315 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:05,159 Speaker 2: find a way for I get to get all the 316 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:09,600 Speaker 2: microplastics out of it into into every bite, maximize microplastics 317 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:10,240 Speaker 2: per bite. 318 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, the microwave oven. Simply put. You can find more 319 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 1: about this on history of microwave dot com, which is 320 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:22,480 Speaker 1: a real sight. Uh knocked one down. The microwave Bombard's 321 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:26,560 Speaker 1: food with microwaves that make dipole molecules of water and 322 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:32,840 Speaker 1: other substances revolve and collide rapidly. This creates heat. 323 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:35,840 Speaker 2: It's like a it's a it's like a small Hadron collider, 324 00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 2: your very own, you know. 325 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: And we owe it all to a guy named Percy Spencer, 326 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:46,440 Speaker 1: who was just uh, I love this story. We talked 327 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:50,720 Speaker 1: about it in a previous series that we made years 328 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: and years ago. Stuff genius good stuff. We ah man, 329 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 1: I missed this show. It was weirh You were a 330 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 1: huge part of that. It was incredible. Oh well, well 331 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:05,600 Speaker 1: credit where due are pow? Paul Decant did the majority 332 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,640 Speaker 1: of the animations and I was just writing it. We had, 333 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:09,760 Speaker 1: but you appeared in some of them. 334 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 2: It was like a rotating cast of like how stuff works, 335 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,919 Speaker 2: folks talking about in a very stylish, you know, package, 336 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 2: like various how stuff works the kind of things. But 337 00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 2: it was definitely an evolution of in the YouTube days 338 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:22,959 Speaker 2: of healthy on YouTube days of how stuff works. 339 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 1: Right right, Well, I appreciate that. If we go back 340 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:31,200 Speaker 1: to Maine in eighteen ninety four, we're joining Percy Spencer 341 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:36,960 Speaker 1: in Howland. Percy doesn't have Holland how oh Howland. Like 342 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 1: I'm joking, it's funny. 343 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,000 Speaker 2: It's like saying Holland with a with a weird Southern accent. 344 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:44,680 Speaker 1: It's like a werewolf version of Holland. 345 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:46,719 Speaker 2: How old it is in Maine. So this is all 346 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,640 Speaker 2: very appropriate. They talk a little funny in Maine. I've 347 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:55,280 Speaker 2: never seen Stephen King adaptation. The soil is it's so Howland. 348 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 2: The soil is so no. 349 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:01,359 Speaker 1: All eastuff so Spencer. Yeah, again, he doesn't have the 350 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:06,200 Speaker 1: best upbringing. He is only eighteen months old when his 351 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:10,520 Speaker 1: father passes away and his mom. Let's keep in mind, 352 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,760 Speaker 1: this is, you know, the late eighteen hundreds. His mom 353 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:15,639 Speaker 1: is going to have a very difficult time as a 354 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:20,480 Speaker 1: single parent, so she brings the kid to his aunt 355 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,600 Speaker 1: and uncle to take care of him. 356 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,879 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, And this, sadly was just the next 357 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 2: kind of setup for tragedy for young Spencer. His uncle 358 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:33,440 Speaker 2: passed away as well when he was only seven, so 359 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 2: he and his aunt kind of banded together in grief, 360 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:40,120 Speaker 2: I guess, and started kind of traveling around New England. 361 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 2: And this maybe I'm making this sound more charming than 362 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:44,199 Speaker 2: it was. I think it was a lot of it 363 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:46,120 Speaker 2: had to do with survival. But she was what you'd 364 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,920 Speaker 2: call an itinerant weaver, which that ain't good, right, Ben, 365 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 2: That's almost like being an indentured servant. 366 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 1: It's not good. It's the benefit is not in your corner. Yeah, 367 00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 1: it's like the cast the side notions of healthcare worker protections. 368 00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:07,160 Speaker 1: You're you're on a contract, make work basis. And he 369 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:09,959 Speaker 1: is traveling with his aunt and good on her, by 370 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,400 Speaker 1: the way, for not abandoning this poor child, and he's 371 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: working whatever odd jobs he can pick up as he ages. 372 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: He would later go on to recall that this taught 373 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: him a degree of self reliance and he was a 374 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 1: huge fan of what he called Yankee ingenuity, which he 375 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:33,439 Speaker 1: said served him well in later life. And this is 376 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: coming to us with thanks to Emily Conover writing for 377 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,160 Speaker 1: American Physicist Society. Yep, good stuff. 378 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:47,360 Speaker 2: Another really great rundown of this incredible and happenstanceacle invention. 379 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: Happenstancechool is a great word. I like it. So look, 380 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,439 Speaker 1: he becomes Spencer is a smart kid by any means, 381 00:22:56,520 --> 00:23:00,399 Speaker 1: And yeah, he's bootstrapped himself and paid attention and learned 382 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: the hard way that you got to kind of make 383 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,680 Speaker 1: your own way. And he, you know, he paid attention. 384 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,440 Speaker 1: Let's just say that Yankee ingenuity served him well. Indeed, 385 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,240 Speaker 1: I would argue that a lot of his there's definitely 386 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,760 Speaker 1: some trauma to his story, and a lot of his 387 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:20,720 Speaker 1: brilliance is informed by tragedy. When the Titanic the unsinkable 388 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: Titanic spoiler. 389 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,600 Speaker 2: We got a good one coming up about that too, 390 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:25,840 Speaker 2: in its own weird way. 391 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:30,800 Speaker 1: At another spoiler spoiler, the Titanic sinks, Abraham Lincoln doesn't 392 00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: have a great time at the Fario So nineteen twelve. 393 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:39,080 Speaker 1: Titanic sinks, and Spencer, with the rest of the American 394 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 1: public and the European public, is fascinated darkly by this story, 395 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:50,040 Speaker 1: and he is especially inspired by the heroism of radio 396 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:55,440 Speaker 1: operators on board that doomed vessel, and this gives him 397 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,640 Speaker 1: a lifelong interest in a technology that we would now call. 398 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 2: Wire yeah, the Golden Age of wireless exactly. So pretty 399 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:08,320 Speaker 2: soon we've got wartime research funding flowing, so you start 400 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:10,920 Speaker 2: to see some advancements in this kind of technology. One 401 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 2: thing in particular the cavity magnetron, which is a high 402 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,480 Speaker 2: frequency tube with built in resonant cavities that is designed 403 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:22,760 Speaker 2: to produce a focused beam of microwave energy. 404 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: This is a big deal in. 405 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:30,119 Speaker 2: Radar technology and communications, long range communications, I believe with 406 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 2: the British. 407 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,919 Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, this is also part of how part of 408 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:38,280 Speaker 1: the origin story for the myth about eating carrots to 409 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: improve your eyesight and night vision because the British at 410 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: the time, we mentioned this before. The British at the 411 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:48,439 Speaker 1: time did not want their enemies in Germany to know 412 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 1: that radar was a thing, so instead they were just saying, 413 00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,160 Speaker 1: oh yeah, our pilots, I eat a lot of carrots, 414 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: and everybody just went with it. History is so ridiculous, dude. Anyway, Yeah, 415 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:02,399 Speaker 1: we should start a podcast. That's a good idea. I 416 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,840 Speaker 1: hope we get bitten by some radioactive microphones. Spencer is 417 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:11,480 Speaker 1: messing with energy beyond human can he figures out how 418 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:17,120 Speaker 1: to mass produce these magnetrons. And because Rida helps win 419 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:21,720 Speaker 1: the war, and because this guy figured out how to 420 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:26,680 Speaker 1: mass produce these things, he receives the US Navy's highest 421 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: honor that can be bestowed upon a civilian, the Distinguished 422 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:35,800 Speaker 1: Public Service Award, which it's I know, I know it's 423 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:39,959 Speaker 1: a history of beige, but it's yeah, the musical, perhaps 424 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:41,920 Speaker 1: the musical. 425 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,400 Speaker 2: Check out our recent episode of Strange News and stuff 426 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:45,439 Speaker 2: that I want you to know if you want to 427 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:46,240 Speaker 2: catch the reference. 428 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:53,280 Speaker 1: So this idea is, you know, not his original invention, 429 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:59,359 Speaker 1: but here's his accidental invention. Here's where things get beautifully wacky. Uh, 430 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:05,040 Speaker 1: the idea idea of heating stuff with high frequency electromagnetic waves. 431 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:09,360 Speaker 1: People have thought about that since nineteen thirty four, and 432 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 1: we know that Bell Labs even filed a patent to 433 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,159 Speaker 1: that effect, just to that idea in nineteen thirty seven, 434 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:21,280 Speaker 1: but no one took it as far as Spencer, because 435 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: we must assume no one in this rarefied Air liked 436 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:28,639 Speaker 1: a little snack as much as him. He's a guy 437 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 1: who walks around with snacks. 438 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 2: I have a PRESD snacker. Yeah, he would have multiple snacks. 439 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:34,200 Speaker 2: It seems this is all This is a very snack 440 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:38,399 Speaker 2: based discovery. He was hanging around near an active radar 441 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,159 Speaker 2: situation and noticed that a candy bar in his pocket 442 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 2: had melted, and presuming this is just like a traditional 443 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:50,040 Speaker 2: nineteen thirties like chocolate ration bar, right, and realized that 444 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 2: the microwaves might actually be a potential for cooking food. 445 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,640 Speaker 2: So he takes it a step further to test this 446 00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 2: theory or this hypothesis. 447 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:00,320 Speaker 1: He places popcorn kernel. 448 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,520 Speaker 2: Near the magnetron, uh, and just as he suspected, they 449 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:04,760 Speaker 2: start to pop pop pop. 450 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: So next he decides to kind. 451 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 2: Of build out a bit of a prototype, right, like 452 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:12,119 Speaker 2: a quick and dirty prototype. 453 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 4: Yeah. 454 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,480 Speaker 1: He takes a kettle and he cuts a hole in 455 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:18,320 Speaker 1: the side of it, and then he puts an egg 456 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:22,560 Speaker 1: in the kettle, and he uses the equipment that they 457 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:27,120 Speaker 1: have on hand to direct this magnetron energy through that 458 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 1: hole that he's just cut. This is like the world's 459 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:34,919 Speaker 1: first microwave. It works again kind of, but just like 460 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:39,120 Speaker 1: the melty chocolate in the pocket, the egg explodes rhyme, 461 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:45,479 Speaker 1: you drop the bat, the egg explodes, And this is 462 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,399 Speaker 1: I love it egg on face moment very much so 463 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:52,760 Speaker 1: literally literally, this is ridiculous history cinema because when the 464 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,360 Speaker 1: egg pops, it splats in the. 465 00:27:55,400 --> 00:28:01,720 Speaker 4: Face to these astonished irritated all over him literally like 466 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:06,240 Speaker 4: the skeptical yeah, the doubting Thomas and the lab is like, 467 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:08,720 Speaker 4: you're crazy. 468 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,720 Speaker 1: Let me take a look at this. Yeah, it's incredible. 469 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:13,080 Speaker 1: Man oh boy. Yep. 470 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:16,760 Speaker 2: And Whirlpool that's pretty funny. The company I believe that 471 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,119 Speaker 2: makes like dryers and microwaves and stuff. Can we just 472 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,680 Speaker 2: really quickly to give a shout out to thirty Rock 473 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 2: for its microwave content. I believe the character of Jack 474 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 2: doneghe who is like a CEO type of General Electric. 475 00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:37,600 Speaker 2: He's like the head of microwave oven Technology or that division, 476 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 2: and he's always cooking up no pun, attend to some 477 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 2: new you know, implementation of microwave technology. 478 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 1: And it is advertising for it because in charge of boat. 479 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got Yes, it's really great. If you haven't 480 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,880 Speaker 2: seen that holds up a joke a second. 481 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:56,920 Speaker 1: It's so dense. 482 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:01,600 Speaker 2: With Donald lover Root that doesn't surprise me. He's sharp 483 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 2: and all of the writing is sharp. Tinfa for the win. 484 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:06,560 Speaker 2: But what is he How does he pivot from this 485 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:11,600 Speaker 2: potential embarrassing, dejected moments into microwave greatness. 486 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 1: Before we get to that, and that's a great question. 487 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: Before we get to that, we do have to doff 488 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:21,960 Speaker 1: our caps to one of the most amazing throwaway lines 489 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:26,880 Speaker 1: in thirty Rock, which is it when Tracy Jordan's wife says, 490 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,719 Speaker 1: my new single, my new single is dropping. Is dropping. 491 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 1: It's just the language of it. Anyway, Oh, it's fantastic. 492 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,000 Speaker 2: There's also great he has some great conspiracy kind of lines. 493 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:40,160 Speaker 2: You know, there's one where he's talking about how the 494 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,920 Speaker 2: government's injecting black people's chicken nuggets with cancer or something 495 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,120 Speaker 2: like that. Anyway, just worth your time. Started from scratch, 496 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 2: we highly recommend yes. 497 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,600 Speaker 1: And ed back to our guy, Percy Spencer, who would 498 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,720 Speaker 1: have just been beautiful at thirty Rock. 499 00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, a real beautiful boy. He's good looking man too. 500 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:02,560 Speaker 2: I don't this in my mind he is. We'll cast 501 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:07,480 Speaker 2: him beautiful, Okay, we'll cast energetic. So he is a 502 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:09,960 Speaker 2: self taught engineer, right. It was that kind of time 503 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 2: in the world in the West, and he is able 504 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:15,720 Speaker 2: to file the first patent for this thing called the 505 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:20,480 Speaker 2: microwave oven in nineteen forty five, So hitting right there 506 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 2: as the US is beginning to emerge as the world's 507 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 2: pre eminent superpower. 508 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 1: You know what I mean, Oh my god. 509 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 2: And this was also that like Age of the Atom 510 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:32,520 Speaker 2: kind of era where this was like where you're living 511 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:34,800 Speaker 2: in the future. They literally, I mean, I don't know 512 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:36,840 Speaker 2: if this is in the America as well, but in 513 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:38,480 Speaker 2: the UK, and I think they still do. 514 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:40,440 Speaker 1: Actually they called it robot cooking. 515 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,120 Speaker 2: There was like this sense that the microwave was this 516 00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:49,680 Speaker 2: like futuristic device, you know, like meals in pill form 517 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:50,520 Speaker 2: level you know. 518 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:54,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it. When those things still had the 519 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:57,240 Speaker 1: new car smell. They would sometimes tell kids, this is 520 00:30:57,280 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 1: astronaut food. This is how the astronaut. 521 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,800 Speaker 2: Remember the actual astronaut food we got or you got 522 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:05,240 Speaker 2: it space camp. I wasn't invited, or actually I just 523 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 2: didn't have what it takes, but I'd buy it at 524 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 2: the planetarium, you know, that crunchy, delightful stuff. 525 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:13,120 Speaker 1: Love it, man, Let's go get astronaut food together. 526 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:15,640 Speaker 2: Maybe we can get your Besis to send this up 527 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 2: in a space capsule, and then we'll call ourselves astronauts and. 528 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:21,880 Speaker 1: Then anything we eat will be astronaut food. All right, Okay, 529 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 1: I was going to pass until you nailed the logic 530 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,560 Speaker 1: at the end of that one. That was well, so 531 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: all right, his patent is exactly what you might picture 532 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:35,680 Speaker 1: in your kitchen. Here metal box that contains the microwaves. 533 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:39,520 Speaker 1: There's an opening where this magnetron tube can poke through. 534 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,720 Speaker 1: Spencer also has another innovation. He adds a door to 535 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 1: the metal box. This is the granddaddy the pattern familia. 536 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 1: So every microwave that you have ever seen, the defining 537 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:54,600 Speaker 1: moment of Jack Donneghi's life. 538 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:57,240 Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, truly, because really that's another thing that's great 539 00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:01,200 Speaker 2: about that character. He's like passionate about microwave. Yesh, he's 540 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 2: into it. He's all in, as you would say, ten 541 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:05,040 Speaker 2: toes down on my toes. 542 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:08,600 Speaker 1: Yes, shout out to Jack ed, shout out to Jack 543 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,960 Speaker 1: the character. We're still on the fence about the actor 544 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:15,479 Speaker 1: who portrays him. I think that's fair to say. The 545 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,800 Speaker 1: next one, maybe the last one for this episode, has 546 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:22,120 Speaker 1: got to be one of the coolest named inventions ever. 547 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:33,360 Speaker 1: X rays good X rays You remember did you ever 548 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:35,920 Speaker 1: have X ray glasses? That's funny. 549 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,280 Speaker 2: You should mention that, Ben And maybe I'll save this 550 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:41,160 Speaker 2: for later, but remember, yeah, X ray specs they would 551 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,680 Speaker 2: call don't did they do anything? 552 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: I remember now? 553 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 2: They just had swirly lines on them in a little pinhole, 554 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 2: and was there some any kind of lens or something 555 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:51,920 Speaker 2: in there? 556 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:56,920 Speaker 1: Were they? For a few there were lenses that that 557 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: played with light a bit, but it wouldn't let you, 558 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:04,800 Speaker 1: you know, see beneath people's clothing or see through walls. Correct. 559 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, And I was actually googling because there was the 560 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:09,680 Speaker 2: thing I was I'm just gonna go ahead and drop it. Uh. 561 00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:13,920 Speaker 2: All this talk about these weird inventions, not weird inventions, 562 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:17,160 Speaker 2: but like you know, circumstantial accidental inventions made me think 563 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:20,000 Speaker 2: of a funny invention story that I was sharing with 564 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 2: Max before you joined Ben. 565 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,000 Speaker 1: Did you know that whiteout. 566 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:27,280 Speaker 2: Was invented by the mother of The Monkey's lead singer, 567 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:33,040 Speaker 2: Jason Naismith. Yeah, it's incredible and like he he inherited 568 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 2: like fifty million dollars from her, and it is fascinating stuff, 569 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 2: Like she was a typist and invented this material that 570 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:42,640 Speaker 2: then went on to be you know, hugely influential back 571 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,400 Speaker 2: when you know, typing was still much much more of 572 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:49,080 Speaker 2: a thing unrelated. But when I was googling that, the 573 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:52,480 Speaker 2: inventor of the X ray specs came up, and he 574 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:54,120 Speaker 2: also invented sea monkeys. 575 00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:57,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, and a couple of other things too. Right, we're 576 00:33:57,480 --> 00:33:59,560 Speaker 1: talking about novel. He was a bit of a Yes, 577 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:00,600 Speaker 1: he was a bit of a huckster. 578 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:02,280 Speaker 4: You know what. 579 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 2: I think at their best, X ray Spex created some 580 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 2: sort of optical illusion. I think there was some sort 581 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:10,120 Speaker 2: of refraction situation going on, right, I can't. 582 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:11,840 Speaker 1: Play with the light, but I think that's right. I 583 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:15,040 Speaker 1: wouldn't let you see under clothing, and they wouldn't let 584 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:16,440 Speaker 1: you see through walls. 585 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 2: And there's actually also a fantastic post punk UK post 586 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,680 Speaker 2: punk band called x ray Spex, which I highly recommend. 587 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:29,640 Speaker 2: How the ex x ray sp e X incredible front 588 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:35,200 Speaker 2: person named Polystyrene, which is wow, is it polystyrene connected 589 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:38,640 Speaker 2: to Tupperware? Wasn't that the name of the stuff that 590 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:40,560 Speaker 2: was polyethylene? Polyethylene? 591 00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:43,760 Speaker 1: Anyway? Either way, full circle, probably not their legal Christian 592 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 1: But we're talking about not the X ray Spex. We're 593 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:49,520 Speaker 1: talking about actual X rays, right, which do give you 594 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:55,320 Speaker 1: a If you have ever had the misfortune of having 595 00:34:55,480 --> 00:35:01,000 Speaker 1: a broken bone or something where a doc needs to 596 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: pop the hood on your body without actually opening the 597 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:08,200 Speaker 1: hood just yet, then you will get an X ray 598 00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:12,920 Speaker 1: like the standard screening method for breast cancer, the mammogram 599 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:17,879 Speaker 1: uses X rays, and nowadays we barely think about it. 600 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:21,880 Speaker 1: But for a long long time, for the majority of 601 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: human history, if you had a broken bone, a tumor, 602 00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:29,080 Speaker 1: you swallowed something, you were getting cut, Yeah, people wouldn't 603 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:32,560 Speaker 1: know unless they got in those guts. Terrified. 604 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:35,960 Speaker 2: I've never had surgery, y'all, and I am deathly terrified 605 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:39,440 Speaker 2: of going under the knife. It's something I know, and 606 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:41,680 Speaker 2: it really freaks me out. And maybe as I'm getting older, 607 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:43,520 Speaker 2: I'm warming up to the idea. Didn't even used to 608 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:45,200 Speaker 2: like getting blood drawn, which I'm about to have to 609 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:47,520 Speaker 2: go do today, and I got over that, so we'll 610 00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:49,359 Speaker 2: see once the time comes for me to go under 611 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:49,800 Speaker 2: the knife. 612 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:50,680 Speaker 1: But yeah, it was a. 613 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 2: Big deal that they could preemptively check something out before 614 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:56,359 Speaker 2: you know, having to like open you up, like you said, Ben, 615 00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:57,280 Speaker 2: get in those guts. 616 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:00,719 Speaker 1: So our story of X rays begins with a guy 617 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,359 Speaker 1: named Villehem road to Jen who was a professor of 618 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 1: physics over in Bavaria, and he is a serious dude. 619 00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:12,759 Speaker 1: He's not trying to make you know, wacky X race 620 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:18,960 Speaker 1: FECs to see pandodize yeah, or hypnotized He discovers the 621 00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:21,919 Speaker 1: concept of X rays in eighteen ninety five, so it's 622 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:24,319 Speaker 1: older than a lot of people might assume, and he 623 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 1: does it by accident. He's looking into something totally different. 624 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 1: He's like, uh, hey, can cathode raise pass through glass? 625 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:39,160 Speaker 1: Au row? Yeah, I was definitely the question he was asking. 626 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,479 Speaker 2: And he was a super cool dude as well, would 627 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:44,400 Speaker 2: have been right at home in the movie Point Break. 628 00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,800 Speaker 2: His cathode tube that he created to test this theory 629 00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:50,960 Speaker 2: he covered in heavy black paper, so he was kind 630 00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:54,960 Speaker 2: of surprised when an incandescent green light escaped and was 631 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,040 Speaker 2: projected on this nearby fluorescent screen. 632 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:04,240 Speaker 1: And so us like just like spencer and just like flipping. 633 00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:08,240 Speaker 1: He says, I'm going to tick because he's in wealth 634 00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:14,239 Speaker 1: of accents, and uh, what's a way? And uh so 635 00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:18,600 Speaker 1: he decides to conduct a series of experiments and he says, 636 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:24,080 Speaker 1: you know, whatever this mysterious light is, it passes through 637 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:28,759 Speaker 1: so many other substances, but it always leaves shadows of 638 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:34,040 Speaker 1: solid objects. And the reason he calls the X rays 639 00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:36,919 Speaker 1: is because he doesn't know what the rays are. 640 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:41,879 Speaker 2: He could have yi name because it sounds cool. 641 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:43,680 Speaker 1: He could have called M A Z rays or n 642 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:50,680 Speaker 1: rays or I don't know. Yes, rays the the phenomenon 643 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:52,440 Speaker 1: formerly known as rays. 644 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:55,640 Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, because all bets are off. Now we thought 645 00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:57,279 Speaker 2: we knew all the rays, but now we got this 646 00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:59,359 Speaker 2: new one. Where do we even go from here? 647 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:03,200 Speaker 1: We're gonna really need to rethink our lives. And so, uh, 648 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:08,240 Speaker 1: this is this is weird because, uh, we see how 649 00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:12,800 Speaker 1: casual dare I say, cavalier science could be at the time. Uh, 650 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:18,600 Speaker 1: he puts an X ray over his wife's hand, right, 651 00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:22,719 Speaker 1: and uh and she her name's Annabetha Ludwig, and she 652 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:28,600 Speaker 1: looks at the shadows cast by the bones and yeah, 653 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:32,320 Speaker 1: and she says to it, I have seen my death, 654 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:36,760 Speaker 1: which you know is understandable. Actually it's a big deal. 655 00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:38,000 Speaker 1: This was not a thing. 656 00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:40,799 Speaker 2: This was the one had seen this, like to view 657 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:45,640 Speaker 2: your own skeleton without you know, being dead, right, that 658 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:48,719 Speaker 2: is that association was was serious. 659 00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:51,520 Speaker 1: There's a skeleton in all of us, there really is. 660 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:55,919 Speaker 1: And oh yeah, yeah, yeah, be upfront with him. Look, 661 00:38:56,360 --> 00:39:02,239 Speaker 1: this is amazing for all sorts of applications, especially in 662 00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:06,560 Speaker 1: the world of medicine. So within a year, doctors throughout 663 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:10,840 Speaker 1: Europe and the US are using X rays to prevent 664 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:14,840 Speaker 1: cutting people open they're finding gunshots, bone fractures, broken bones, 665 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:16,920 Speaker 1: swallowed stuff, kidney stones. 666 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,440 Speaker 2: By the way, there's some hilarious memes of X rays 667 00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,120 Speaker 2: the thing that shouldn't be up people's butts. 668 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:25,600 Speaker 1: Right exactly. Oh, doctor, sorry, I fell on that bad 669 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:28,360 Speaker 1: and they're like, yeah, well you keep following on it. 670 00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:33,400 Speaker 1: Actual game is really good. So he gets the first 671 00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:36,759 Speaker 1: Nobel Prize in physics in nineteen oh one. Now we 672 00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:40,880 Speaker 1: do have to do one bit of historical diligence here. 673 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:48,160 Speaker 1: This is before people realize over time. Yeah that too Yeah, 674 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:51,920 Speaker 1: too much exposure to X rays can have deleterious effects 675 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:52,880 Speaker 1: on human body. 676 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:55,280 Speaker 2: I was going to ask, we're talking cancer, We're talking 677 00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:58,880 Speaker 2: cell abnormality type stuff, right, Like, it can cause mutations 678 00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:02,120 Speaker 2: because this bombard it's sort of like radiation, which is 679 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:03,640 Speaker 2: why when you go to get an X ray now, 680 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:06,680 Speaker 2: they like put a lead vest over you and make 681 00:40:06,719 --> 00:40:08,480 Speaker 2: sure that you're not getting too much of it. 682 00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:12,960 Speaker 1: And they tell you everything's fined right before. Yeah, they 683 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:17,640 Speaker 1: hit up the cover. Also, there was a brief period 684 00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:21,239 Speaker 1: of time in US history where X rays were such 685 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:24,840 Speaker 1: a novelty that shoe stores would have them, and so 686 00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:28,840 Speaker 1: you would put your foot in the X ray machine. Okay, 687 00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:30,719 Speaker 1: just like as a fun little thing. 688 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:32,799 Speaker 2: That's that that is so interesting because now we think 689 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:36,440 Speaker 2: of like the cost of getting medical to perceived tests 690 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,000 Speaker 2: even you know, and obviously X rays aren't the only 691 00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:41,520 Speaker 2: game in town anymore. We have like MRIs and things 692 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,799 Speaker 2: that are much more you know, like she can show 693 00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:44,879 Speaker 2: three dimensional things. 694 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:47,400 Speaker 1: But yet the X rays still popping. 695 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:51,040 Speaker 2: You know that it's the most cost effective and efficient 696 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,800 Speaker 2: way in certain situations like you're talking about with gunshot 697 00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 2: wounds and bone fractures. You know, they still do an 698 00:40:57,719 --> 00:40:59,960 Speaker 2: X ray because an MRI is so damn expense. 699 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:01,600 Speaker 1: I love an X ray man. 700 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:05,200 Speaker 2: You know, remember those bone recordings, the X ray records 701 00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:07,880 Speaker 2: we talked to, really cool episode if you want to 702 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:10,799 Speaker 2: do a deep dive back into ridiculous history. History but 703 00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:14,160 Speaker 2: well deserved Nobel prize, Yes, yes. 704 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:18,360 Speaker 1: Very much so definitely not the most controversial of Nobel prizes. 705 00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:19,399 Speaker 1: We could say with. 706 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:21,680 Speaker 2: Something we're good with X rays even if you get 707 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,239 Speaker 2: a little kids at least, Yeah, we could say with 708 00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:27,680 Speaker 2: some we could say, with some certitude, is not the 709 00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:29,960 Speaker 2: most controversial Nobel Prize. 710 00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:33,040 Speaker 1: And we can say with some optimism that we very 711 00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:36,919 Speaker 1: much hope you enjoy today's show. Thank you so much 712 00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:39,760 Speaker 1: for joining us, folks speak thanks to our super producer 713 00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:43,879 Speaker 1: mister Max Williams, our research associate Jeff and uh oh 714 00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:49,279 Speaker 1: tuned in later this week We've got even more accidental inventions. 715 00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:53,160 Speaker 2: Mm hmm with a marvelous, marvelous toy, A wonderful, wonderful toy, 716 00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:54,800 Speaker 2: fun for a girl and a boy. 717 00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:58,800 Speaker 1: You know, the one nice tease. Yeah, big thanks of course, 718 00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:04,160 Speaker 1: aj Bahamas, Jay Reluctant. Thanks to of course Jonathan Strickland 719 00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:05,840 Speaker 1: aka the Quistern. 720 00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:08,839 Speaker 2: Mm hm yeah, a bit of a byproduct of the 721 00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:10,440 Speaker 2: evil in the universe. 722 00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:14,880 Speaker 1: If we're talking about a manifestation of our own car. 723 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:18,000 Speaker 1: There you go, exactly. He's a mirror in the dark mirror, 724 00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:23,040 Speaker 1: dare we say big thanks to Alex Williams who composed 725 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:26,200 Speaker 1: a slap and bop the rude Dudes a ridiculous crime 726 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:30,000 Speaker 1: and Noel, big thanks to you. I think maybe we 727 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,840 Speaker 1: could get into this in part too, but uh we 728 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:35,880 Speaker 1: peek behind the curtain in our in our next installment 729 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:39,040 Speaker 1: and tell people how ridiculous history itself is kind of 730 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:42,279 Speaker 1: an accidental invention, Oh we must. Yeah, that's a very 731 00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:44,160 Speaker 1: good point. Ben, what'll see your next that books. 732 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:54,840 Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 733 00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:57,040 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.