Brain Junk

Series produced by Trace Kerr

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Everything you never knew you wanted to know. We guarantee, you won't be bored.

Amy Barton and Trace Kerr shake up science, history & culture in this once a week show. We hunt for off the wall, totally unexpected answers to questions and bring them to you in two to ten minute short, "Brain Storms" or longer twenty to thirty minute episodes.
We dive into questions like: What are Supernumerary teeth? Do ants pass the Mirror Test? Why do kids in Denmark murder their birthday cakes?
Brain Junk is a fun ride for adults and kids who want to know.


137 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
29: Social Conventions
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
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Why do we do the things we do while in public? Simple actions like using the restroom or riding the bus get a lot more complicated when thinking ab...

  • Added: Jan 16, 2019
  • Length: 20:19
31: Badass Women
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
Piece image
We fell down a Pinterest hole and found a whole bunch of women who we'd NEVER heard about in history classes. Ching Shih, an infamous Chinese pirat...

  • Added: Jan 16, 2019
  • Length: 20:09
33: Annoying People
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
Piece image
Welcome to the wonderful world of Brain Storms. Short, funny and TO THE POINT. Today is brought to you by those people who make you crazy and why y...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: Jan 14, 2019
  • Length: 02:06
  • Purchases: 1
34: Wombat Poop
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
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It's there and it's square. And now we know why.

  • Added: Jan 14, 2019
  • Length: 02:47
35: Dr. Robert Liston
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
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Amy Barton has an eye for dangerous and innovative doctors and Dr. Robert Liston is no exception. FYI This episode has some up-close discussions of...

  • Added: Jan 10, 2019
  • Length: 03:09
36: Cougar Screams
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
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Cougars are beautiful and stealthy solitary hunters. Until they want to mate. Then they sound like a person being run through a garbage compactor. ...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 10, 2019
  • Length: 02:06
  • Purchases: 2
37: Violet Jessup
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
Piece image
The unsinkable Violet. 3 ships, one woman who survived them all.

Bought by Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: Jan 10, 2019
  • Length: 03:05
  • Purchases: 1
38: Penguin Foster Parents
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
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A bonded pair of male penguins make for unexpectedly great foster parents!

  • Added: Jan 11, 2019
  • Length: 02:48
39: Sick Ants
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
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Where we talk about Dr. Nathalie Stroeymeyt and her foraging, black garden ants. Infected ants seem to stay away from other ants. Find out why.

  • Added: Jan 09, 2019
  • Length: 02:49
42: International Ice Patrol
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
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Learn a bit about the women and men of the IIP who monitor icebergs in the northern reaches of our Atlantic ocean.

  • Added: Jan 15, 2019
  • Length: 02:59
43: Dog Love and an MRI
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
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Neuroscientists have found that dogs might actually love their people.

  • Added: Jan 29, 2019
  • Length: 02:40
44: Finches and Sleep Singing
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
Piece image
Dr. Margoliash at the University of Chicago has been studying the brains of Zebra Finches for years. Today we dive into some of his lab's result --...

  • Added: Jan 30, 2019
  • Length: 03:22
45: Sneeze Voting
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
Piece image
African Wild Dogs appear to vote on pack activities by sneezing.

Bought by Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: Feb 05, 2019
  • Length: 02:54
  • Purchases: 1
46: That Comes in a Can?
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
Piece image
Amy and Trace went on an epic field trip around our home town of Spokane and found all sorts of canned gems, like a whole chicken, silkworms and ch...

  • Added: Feb 14, 2019
  • Length: 07:53
49: Saturn's Rings
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
Piece image
The rings of icy dust around Saturn are so much younger than the planet. Where did they come from and why are they going away?

Bought by Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: Mar 05, 2019
  • Length: 03:29
  • Purchases: 1
50: Medical Insurance Codes
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
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Not the big yawn that you'd think. These 100,000 or so codes are used to determine your bill. Some of those codes are hilarious. Bit by cow and str...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: Mar 12, 2019
  • Length: 04:09
  • Purchases: 1
51: Backpack vs Parachute
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
Piece image
Jumping out of an airplane without a parachute?! We explore a study that explains how sometimes, if you look at the data in just the right way, bac...

  • Added: Mar 19, 2019
  • Length: 02:40
52: Long Lives of Lobsters
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
Piece image
The internet claims lobsters are immortal. Amy pulls a Dana Scully and debunks the heck out of that idea.

Bought by Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: Mar 26, 2019
  • Length: 04:35
  • Purchases: 1
53: Barbed Wire Phones
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
Piece image
One more example of how farmers MacGyver everything. No phone lines? Use the fence.

Bought by Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: Apr 04, 2019
  • Length: 03:42
  • Purchases: 1
54: Exploding Ants
From: Trace Kerr
Series: Brain Junk
Piece image
Meet C. explodens; worker ants who rupture their own abdomens--filled with toxic goo--to protect the colony from predators.

Bought by Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: Apr 09, 2019
  • Length: 03:59
  • Purchases: 1

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