The problem with Jurassic World
I spoke with Mark Witton for our episode about how paleontologists know what giant pterosaurs looked like. (He was also a co-author on the T-Rex lips paper that we covered in a 2025-06-26 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Howtown posts
Into Cleo's eye (making of)
I had to delve into some animations from a year ago (!) for an episode of the Patreon-affiliated podcast "Digital Spaghetti" (coming out later this month I believe!) ... and so I decided to record a brief behind-the-scenes video.
I detail the frankly gratuitous steps I took in After Effects...
2025-06-17 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostState of the Howtown (1 year update!)
In this video (and the attached pdf) we take a look at what your generous support has made possible -- and what's to come.
2025-06-09 22:24:58 +0000 UTC View PostReplay: Science Paper Book Club, June 2
We had a fascinating discussion about therapy and AI this week, hooked on this paper that compared responses from therapists to responses from ChatGPT. Thanks to all who contributed!
Join our Discord to suggest papers for...
2025-06-03 21:28:51 +0000 UTC View PostCan ChatGPT do therapy? Let's talk about it on June 2.
Howtown's Science Paper Book Club meets on Monday, June 2 at noon ET. (Click here for your local time).
A reddit post from a month ago 2025-05-26 20:04:19 +0000 UTC View Post
New episode: the creatures of the abyss
Hello all - Can you believe it's been nearly a year since we published our trailer?
Our latest episode is a collaboration with our old colleague Johnny Harris. He's spent the last few months investigating the fight over deep sea "nodules" — little potato sized nuggets of important metal...
A sea shanty about deep sea biodiversity
I spend the last month immersed in reports from the HMS Challenger Expedition - an incredible three year journey to explore the world's oceans. All 50 volumes the expedition produced are available via the
2025-05-15 00:51:36 +0000 UTC
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Interview: Rhythm and sea lions
I called up Peter Cook, a cognitive scientist and professor of Marine Mammal Science at the New College of Florida to talk about a special sea lion named Ronan. His 2025-05-09 12:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Replay: Science Paper Book Club, May 5
Big thanks to Marcos for helping out with this one! Continue the discussion on Discord, and here's the paper in case you missed...
2025-05-05 22:19:37 +0000 UTC View PostScience Paper Book Club, May 5: Signs of life on another planet?
Big news for us to chew on, folks! A team of researchers at Cambridge University made headlines around the world last week when they announced the "the strongest evidence yet that life may...
2025-04-25 22:45:01 +0000 UTC View PostNew episode: How to find ancient cities hiding under the trees
Hi folks,
Today we have an 18-minute feature video about how lasers are uncovering an ancient Maya megalopolis. Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Deleted scene: Adam 'splains lasers
Adam and I often talk about being haunted by the "russian dolls" in our video scripts. In each piece, we explain "how they know" some things, while other things we just assert as fact. Otherwise every video would fracture and spiral as we chase down the bottom dolls.
See, for airborne lidar...
2025-04-17 12:00:19 +0000 UTC View PostSPBC4: Are super old people frauds?
We start with a paper that picks apart "Blue Zones" (places where a surprising number of people live a really long time) ... and end up tackling the converging crises of AI and birth rates. But we keep it fu...
2025-04-09 21:49:11 +0000 UTC View PostNew ep: how to map lost worlds
Hey howtownies! At the end of 2024 I came across a paper that showed where various pieces of the earth's surface were 1.8 billion years (and a couple supercontinents) ago. It was fun to imagine being able to walk from Canada to Australia - but it got me wondering ... how do scientists figure all ...
2025-03-31 20:53:43 +0000 UTC View PostHow to fight Flat Earth
Back in December, a pastor from Colorado named Will Duffy led an expedition of "Flat Earthers" and "Globers" to Antarctica. His goal was to try and confirm the true shape of the earth (and take down the Flat Earth movement) by capturing video of the 24-hour sun. You can watch a bunch of video...
2025-03-11 17:51:03 +0000 UTC View PostSPBC3: What to do about Daylight Saving Time
You can find more discussion on our Discord, or feel free to add comments here. Our next session will be on April 7!
2025-03-04 16:05:59 +0000 UTC View PostNew Video: I tried to prove I'm not AI
Here with some updates and a fresh link to our new feature video: I tried to prove I'm not AI, in which I attempt, with mixed success, to take an authenticated selfie.
an AI podcast about our not-AI channel
While working on our new video about authenticating content, I uploaded our AI-related YouTube comments to Notebook LM and told it a little bit about our channel. Here's what "they" had to say. *
*I generate...
2025-02-21 17:58:36 +0000 UTC View PostPoll: Steering the ship through strange times
Hey Howtowners, we've been thinking about if/how our channel should be covering the new administration in the US. We know that the majority of our audience lives outside this country. We also know that some of the policy changes happening now will not withstand scrutiny from the courts.
At...
2025-02-11 18:22:49 +0000 UTC View PostReplay: Science Paper Book Club, Feb. 3
You can find more discussion on our Discord, or feel free to add comments here. Our next session will be on March 3!
2025-02-03 23:27:14 +0000 UTC View PostIs Ozempic also an antidepressant? (SPBC)
We hope you'll join us on Monday (Feb 3, noon-1 EST) to talk about some of the weird and surprising effects of drugs like Ozempic. We'll send out a link to the google meeting in a few days.
What's the paper?
New Video: hold my beer
Happy New Year Howtowners!
It's "Dry January," and so this week we took a look at the sobering and sometimes confusing world of alcohol research. If you've ever been confused about contradictory stream of headlines about moderate drinking - we hope 2025-01-10 21:32:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Replay: Science Paper Book Club, Jan. 6
Big thanks to everyone who joined our first monthly journal club! Everyone raised really apt questions and it was a much richer conversation than if Adam and I had done it alone.
You can find more discussion on our Discord, or feel free to add comments here. Our next session will be on Feb....
2025-01-06 21:26:04 +0000 UTC View PostWe're starting a Science Paper Book Club 🤓
Science papers can be hard to read, but it's a lot easier (and more fun) when we do it together! We'll gather from noon-1 EST on the first Monday of each month to decipher and discuss a research paper. Our first meeting will be on January 6 and we'll send the meeting link a day i...
2024-12-27 18:52:04 +0000 UTC View PostResponding to comments & questions
We're both sick but wanted to answer some of the questions we've seen in response to our episode on hot sauce and Scovilles! 🔥
Links:
How Da Bomb Hot Sauce is Made by Lisa Nguyen
Our Hot Ones Investigation 🔥 and some news
Hi Howtowners - dropping in to let you know that our latest feature is live on the channel. Link: "The truth about Hot Ones sauces" -- on the science of hot peppers and Scoville heat units. If you enjoy spicy...
2024-12-19 17:46:42 +0000 UTC View PostHot Ones sauces: Full lab results 🔥
In addition to the Season 25 lineup, we tested Da' Bomb Evolution (which is the version of Da Bomb that Heatonist sells in their 10-pack), The Last Dab XXX, The Last Dab Apollo, Blair's Mega Death, Mad Dog 357, and two additional Puckerbutt sauces: Unique Garlique and Extra Mean Green.
We'...
2024-12-19 13:01:05 +0000 UTC View PostHowtown Live at IMI Fest 🔥
Our episode about Hot Ones and the Scoville Scale began as a live show (our first!) presented at IMI Fest in Austin on November 16. The event brought together a bunch of really interesting video and audio creators, including artist Bobby Duke, who kindly volunteered to help us try the two hottes...
2024-12-19 13:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostState of the Howtown: 6-month update
We launched Howtown six months ago! And we wanted to give you, our beloved backers, a report on our growth, our finances, and our plans for the next six months.
2024-11-26 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostGive the gift of Howtown
It's the season of giving and we wanted to let you know a new feature here on Patreon: You can now send a Patreon membership to anyone by clicking the “Gift” button on any creator’s page. You pick the tier, you pick the length of the membership, and then you send the link directly to your f...
2024-11-13 12:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post