Medical Butt Chugging, Ancient Ice Cream Pyramids, "The Thing" but Midwestern

The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

Popular Science

Education, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mary Roach RETURNS to Weirdest Thing to share her new book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy! From this phenomenal new read, she discusses a section on breathing through your butt, a thing not only turtles can do, but also apparently humans. Plus, Rachel talks about the ancient (and DEADLY) origins of ice cream, and Lauren explains a strange, dark goop found on a research boat propeller in one of the great lakes. (Yes, we know it sounds like the premise of a new John Carpenter flick.) The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook group⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tweet at us⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here to learn more about all of our stories! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Go check out Mary Roach's new book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy! https://maryroach.net/replaceable.html Links to Rachel's TikTok, Newsletter, Merch Store and More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/RachelFeltman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Rachel now has a Patreon, too! Follow her for exclusive bonus content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/RachelFeltman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Link to Jess' Twitch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitch.tv/jesscapricorn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -- Follow our team on Twitter Rachel Feltman: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.twitter.com/RachelFeltman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Produced by Jess Boddy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.twitter.com/JessicaBoddy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Popular Science: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.twitter.com/PopSci⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Theme music by Billy Cadden: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/6LqT4DCuAXlBzX8XlNy4Wq?si=5VF2r2XiQoGepRsMTBsDAQ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Go to https://Quince.com/weirdest for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns. Buy or sell your next car today with Car Gurus at https://cargurus.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Have you ever had the urge to sneak behind the cordoned off areas of a museum?
0:05.8	Or roam the halls after closing time?
0:08.7	The Smithsonian's flagship podcast, Side Door, will sneak you behind the scenes of the world's
0:14.6	largest museum and research complex.
0:17.6	Come learn about the ghosts that supposedly walk the museum halls after dark.
0:21.6	How a train robbery gave rise to criminal forensics, why leeches are actually the coolest thing ever, and how to get away with murder in the Arctic.
0:30.6	Maybe.
0:31.6	You'll discover stories of history, science, art, and culture you won't find in a display case. You can listen to Side Door wherever you get your podcasts, or find us online at s.edu.
0:43.3	Slidedoor.
0:49.3	At Popular Science, we report and write dozens of science and text stories every week.
0:58.3	And while most of the stuff we stumble across makes it into our articles,
1:01.9	we also find plenty of weird facts that we just keep around the office.
1:06.0	So we figured, why not share those with you?
1:08.5	Welcome to the weirdest thing I learned this week from the editors of
1:11.5	popular science. I'm Rachel Feldman. I'm Lauren Leffert. I'm Mary Roach. Mary, welcome back to the show.
1:18.6	It's so great to have you. I'm so excited to be back. Thank you. Would you tell us a little bit about
1:25.4	your latest book? Sure.
1:28.2	It's called Replacable You.
1:29.8	It looks like that.
1:31.1	Oh, you can't see it.
1:32.3	Ha, ha, ha.
1:34.4	You guys saw it and no one else will.
	...

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