As is tradition around these parts, we like to dedicate one show of the year towards thanking you, the loyal listeners of the Paleoposse. This year we're 1) a bit late, sorry, and 2) doing it a bit differently by thanking specifically those who have donated to the show and have sent in a question we might be able to take a crack at answering. Yes, one of the questions is a repeat, we're not sure why we're terrible at this, we just are and people donate anyways. We think it best not to question these small miracles.

00:00:00 - Our first batch of donations come from Danielle N., who gets her voicemail about self-driving cars and traffic answered for a second time but with a refreshingly different answer. That's followed up by Christopher L., who reminds us about a term we taught him in the first place, completing some sort of twisted cycle of knowledge. And we end the segment with a query from Joseph T., who needs ammunition to argue about whether or not something can be "more evolved" than something else. It's a good question, followed by a good discussion.

00:21:39 - Next, we toast our donors with a drink. Charlie re-caffeinates with some Earl Grey. Patrick is let down by an apparent macguffin in the form of Sweet Baby Jesus Peanut Butter Port by Duclaw. And Ryan enjoys a Wipeout IPA from his good friend Shelly. Thanks, Shelly!

00:26:15 - Much like hoards of teenagers, the Paleopals have all read The Hunger Games trilogy of books, and share their thoughts about the trailer to the 'upcoming' sequel film Catching Fire in this week's Trailer Trash Talk!

00:33:53 - We end the show with more feedback! This round comes from Keith K., who asks us a physics question he sounds better qualified to answer than any of us. Fortunately, a remote answer from the physics-bot Ben arrives in the knick of time. Next, Sarah J. confirms that Ryan's afternoons of posting Science... sort of flyers around UCSC were not spent in vain. And finally, a voicemail from Billy Nitro(!) asks a question that seems tricky, but might have a fairly simple answer.

Now, for some plugs:

• Patrick appeared on a recent episode of The Collapsed Wavefunction (our network's newest member, if you didn't know)
• Ryan has been on the Deconstructing Comics podcast to talk about Chew
• Ryan also interviewed former guest of the show James Robinson about his upcoming Fantastic Four run for Marvel.com
• And some of Ryan's research was written up in the The Economist, no big deal

 

Thanks again to everyone who listens and contributes to the podcast. We literally couldn't do it without all your support and look forward to another excellent year of spreading the science love all around the world wide web! Be sure to check out the Brachiolope Media Network for more great science podcasts!

 

Music for this week's show:

I Don't Wanna Stop - Good Charlotte

Jesus Is Just Alright - The Byrds

This Fire - Franz Ferdinand