25 Greatest Science Ideas Countdown: Day 1

Summary

Part-Time Genius Podcast Summary

Episode: 25 Greatest Science Ideas Countdown: Day 1
Release Date: March 3, 2025
Hosts: Will Pearson & Mango (Mangesh Hatiklur)
Produced by: Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio

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Welcome to the inaugural episode of Part-Time Genius' special countdown series, celebrating the 25 Greatest Science Ideas of the past quarter-century. Hosted by longtime friends Will Pearson and Mango, this episode delves into innovative scientific breakthroughs that have significantly impacted our daily lives. Throughout the episode, the hosts engage in lively discussions, share personal anecdotes, and present each scientific idea with enthusiasm and insight. Notably, the episode includes fun giveaways for listeners, enhancing the interactive experience.

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Introduction: Celebrating 25 Years of Friendship and Innovation

The episode opens with Will and Mango reflecting on their enduring friendship, spanning over 25 years. They reminisce about shared memories and milestones, setting a nostalgic and personal tone for the episode. Will mentions their joint venture in creating Mental Floss, highlighting their mutual passion for trivia and list-making.

Will Pearson [03:04]: "For some reason, there was planking in photos that became a fad. And Lady Gaga wore a meat dress to the MTV video War."

This camaraderie transitions into the announcement of their special countdown series, aiming to spotlight the most groundbreaking scientific ideas from the last 25 years. The hosts tease exciting prizes, including Part-Time Genius certificates and Atomic Fireballs candy, fostering listener engagement through social media contests.

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Idea #25: The Upside-Down Ketchup Bottle

Timestamp: [08:51]

The countdown commences with a ubiquitous kitchen dilemma: Getting Ketchup Out of a Bottle. Will and Mango discuss the frustration of traditional ketchup bottles that refuse to dispense the desired amount without creating a mess. They explore the evolution of ketchup dispensing solutions, from the infamous "knife in the bottle" tactic to the popular "smack the number" method, famously seen in Heinz's advertising campaigns.

Mango [09:38]: "It's a ketchup conundrum that we've all experienced."

The breakthrough comes from Paul Brown, who revolutionized the squeeze bottle design in the 1990s. Brown's invention featured a valve that opens under pressure and closes seamlessly, minimizing leaks and waste. Despite initially struggling with numerous prototypes and financial hurdles, Brown's persistence paid off, leading to widespread adoption across various industries, including NASA and household products.

However, acknowledging that even Brown's design couldn't eliminate all ketchup waste, MIT graduate students introduced Liquiglide, a coating that virtually eliminates residue in squeeze bottles. This innovation not only enhances user experience by ensuring complete product dispensation but also addresses significant food waste concerns.

Will Pearson [12:31]: "If you could solve food waste there, you could basically save a million tons of food from being thrown out every single year."

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Idea #24: The Hot Tug – Floating Hot Tub Boat

Timestamp: [15:17]

Next on the list is the Hot Tug, a groundbreaking invention from Finland that merges luxury with innovation. Conceived by Dutch furniture designer Frank de Bruyne, the Hot Tug is a 2,000-liter, eight-seater Jacuzzi boat designed for ultimate relaxation amidst nature. Equipped with an electric motor, the boat ensures quiet operation, preserving the serene environment it inhabits.

Will shares a personal story about his aversion to cold water, highlighting the Hot Tug's appeal:

Will Pearson [15:36]: "I hate cold water... since then, I don't really go in cold water, but I will go in hot water."

The Hot Tug offers a stable platform for users to enjoy a hot tub experience while cruising on lakes or fjords without the risk of tipping. Although currently priced between $15,000 to $20,000, de Bruyne envisions broader accessibility through rentals in national parks and tourist destinations, allowing enthusiasts to immerse themselves in warm relaxation amidst picturesque landscapes.

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Idea #23: Loop Conjecture – Preventing Tangled Cords

Timestamp: [17:32]

Addressing a common annoyance, Robert Matthews from Aston University presents the Loop Conjecture, a mathematical theory aimed at reducing cord tangling. Despite the plethora of anti-knot gadgets and winding techniques available, tangled cords remain a persistent issue. Matthews' breakthrough suggests that simply forming a loop with the ends of a cord can reduce the risk of knots forming by tenfold.

Dylan Fagan [19:38]: "That's amazing."

To validate his theory, Matthews organized the British Knot Experiment, involving schoolchildren across the country. The experiment examined various cord characteristics, such as thickness and rigidity, and their impact on knot formation. The results supported the Loop Conjecture, demonstrating its effectiveness in diverse scenarios.

Beyond everyday applications, Matthews emphasizes the theory's significance in polymer chemistry and molecular biology, where knot formation in DNA can have profound implications, including genetic malfunctions and cancer development. His work opens avenues for innovative drug designs targeting knot formation in cancerous cells.

Dylan Fagan [20:46]: "Something almost as important, like cancer."

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Idea #22: Scent of Space – Capturing the Aroma of the Cosmos

Timestamp: [21:56]

Exploring the intersection of science and sensory experience, the hosts introduce the Scent of Space, a unique fragrance crafted by Steve Pearce, a seasoned professional in the flavor and fragrance industry. Steve recounts his collaboration with NASA, where he was tasked with recreating the distinctive aroma experienced by astronauts upon returning from spacewalks.

Astronauts described the scent as a mix of hot metal, fried steak, and ozone, a result of interactions between their suits and the high-energy particles in space. Using his expertise, Steve developed a safe and authentic representation of this smell, intended to enhance astronaut training by familiarizing them with the sensory aspects of space.

Unexpectedly, the fragrance gained widespread attention through media coverage and a successful Kickstarter campaign, raising over $600,000 to distribute the Scent of Space to schools and STEM programs. This initiative aims to inspire the next generation of scientists by providing a tangible connection to outer space.

However, the scent received mixed reviews from consumers, with some describing it as **"meaty," "harsh," and evoking feelings of **"loneliness" and "despair." Steve acknowledges these reactions, explaining that while the fragrance accurately reflects the astronauts' experiences, the emotional responses highlight the profound and solitary nature of space exploration.

Steve Pearce [29:25]: "When you're working on these things on your own and you're sometimes coming up against a bit of a block and trying to improve it, sometimes that can feel pretty lonely as well."

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Listener Engagement and Giveaways

Throughout the episode, Will and Mango encourage listeners to participate in various giveaways via their Instagram handle, @parttimegenius. Prizes include Part-Time Genius certificates and Atomic Fireballs candy, adding an interactive and rewarding dimension to the listening experience.

Dylan Fagan [30:44]: "We are giving them away today on our Instagram. So go check it out at parttimegenius to see how you can win."

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Conclusion and Teasers for Upcoming Episodes

As the episode draws to a close, Will and Mango hint at the intriguing scientific ideas slated for the remaining days of the countdown, including studies on lobsters, dolphins, and the unconventional concept of bike helmets for marine animals. This tease builds anticipation for future episodes, promising a blend of humor and insightful discussion.

Will Pearson [36:27]: "We have reached the end of day one in our countdown of the 25 best science ideas from the past 25 years. Now remember, we got four more days to go, so be sure to tune in all week."

The hosts express gratitude to their listeners and acknowledge the collaborative efforts of their production team, ensuring a warm and appreciative farewell.

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Notable Quotes

• Will Pearson: "If you could solve food waste there, you could basically save a million tons of food from being thrown out every single year." [12:31]
• Steve Pearce: "When you're working on these things on your own and you're sometimes coming up against a bit of a block and trying to improve it, sometimes that can feel pretty lonely as well." [29:25]
• Dylan Fagan: "That's amazing." [19:38]

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Final Thoughts

Part-Time Genius successfully combines informative content with entertaining banter, making complex scientific ideas accessible and engaging for a broad audience. By highlighting lesser-known innovations and their real-world applications, the hosts not only educate but also inspire curiosity and appreciation for scientific advancements. Listeners are encouraged to stay tuned for the remaining days of the countdown, promising an exciting exploration of the most impactful science ideas of the past 25 years.

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For more episodes and updates, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Transcript

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[Mangesh Hatiklur]

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[Will Pearson]

You're listening to Part Time Genius, a production of Kaleidoscope and iheartradio. Guess what Will?

[Dylan Fagan]

What's that? Mango.

[Will Pearson]

So you know what's funny? We've been Friends.

[Dylan Fagan]

I do know what's funny. Your headband is funny. But. Sorry to interrupt. Go ahead.

[Will Pearson]

Well, we've been friends for a little over 25 years now.

[Dylan Fagan]

I think we've actually known each other for 27 years now, if I'm not mistaken.

[Will Pearson]

But I said friends, right?

[Dylan Fagan]

Gotcha. Gotcha.

[Will Pearson]

But think of all the fun things that have happened in the last 25 years.

[Dylan Fagan]

Right?

[Will Pearson]

Like, there's the launch of the ipod, thousands of songs in your pocket. Social media exploded with Facebook. People started dancing Gangnam Style and were taught how to Dougie. For some reason, there was planking in photos that became a fad. And Lady Gaga wore a meat dress to the MTV video War.

[Dylan Fagan]

I think that summed it up. I think you actually covered everything. Yeah, Yeah.

[Will Pearson]

I mean, we also had a black president, our first black president. Gay marriage became legal, and people challenge each other with ice buckets. But for me, everything really starts with that meat dress. Yeah.

[Dylan Fagan]

And don't forget, we launched a little magazine from our Durham room called Mental Floss way back in the year 2000.

[Will Pearson]

Yeah. I can't believe it's been almost 25 years since that first issue hit newsstands. But this week's super special edition of Part Time Genius is all about celebrating this last quarter century. Every day this week, we're going to be counting down the 25 greatest science ideas of the past 25 years. And we are sending out lots of fun prizes. This to our listeners, too.

[Dylan Fagan]

But I've just got one question for you, Mega. Why are you wearing a velour tracksuit and a homemade headband? Again, I don't really understand what's happening.

[Will Pearson]

Here, because I am pumped.

[Dylan Fagan]

Oh, got it.

[Will Pearson]

Okay, so let's dive in.

[Dylan Fagan]

Hey there, podcast listeners. Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson, and of course, I'm here with my friend Mangesh Hot ticketer. And over there, tending to what I thought was a Bob Ross Chia Pet, but is actually a vintage discontinued Albert Einstein Chia Pet is our pal and producer, Dylan Fagan. And Mango. I think Einstein with sprouts for his hair is exactly the energy we're trying to pull for this week's 25 list.

[Will Pearson]

Yeah, that's right, Will. So I kind of want to start by having you tell our listeners about how we became friends, because I was definitely trivia obsessed as a kid. I think I've mentioned that when cable came to my neighborhood in third grade, my friends and I were obsessed with double dare. And every day in the summer, we would practice drilling each Other with trivia questions and setting up these challenges all over our houses and in the creek in the backyard. And you know, we were just trying to get ourselves physically prepped for this thing. We wanted to be ready in case a producer just called us up to be on the show. Yeah, but you were obviously obsessed with lists.

[Dylan Fagan]

I was very much obsessed with lists. I think this started when I was probably 11 or 12 years old. I just love making lists. They all started as pretty basic. It's like, here's my list of presidents, here's my list of state capitals. And then it got a little weirder over the years. It was like, here's a list of my favorite left handed artists and favorite, you know, books with more than 400 pages or whatever it might have been. It was just fun to keep list and people would ask like, why do you do this? And I, I didn't really know the answer other than it just felt good to collect this information, you know, and to just know this information. So anyway was what I did.

[Will Pearson]

I love it. And so when we started Mental Floss, we were definitely list obsessed. And one of my favorite annual things that we do was we would declare the most important books of the last 25 years or the most important music of the last 25 years or TV shows. And the lists were always so fun and totally unexpected. You came away just appreciating all these other amazing things. And I don't know about you, but I think for me, part of the reason I wanted to do a big science list this week was because right now, you know, there's so much talk about AI and gene therapies and those kind of dominate the headlines.

[Dylan Fagan]

Yeah.

[Will Pearson]

But I also love the weird, fun inventions and kind of the joy of Obama at the science fair, you know, shooting rockets and things. And you know, science is obviously nerdy, but it's also cool and weird and fun and I thought it would be just really fun to celebrate it.

[Dylan Fagan]

That sounds good. But I feel like before we dive in, we really have to talk about the process and everything that goes into how we choose a list like this. So before we jump in, do you want to start by giving a little rationale of how we chose all of these things?

[Will Pearson]

Yeah, totally. So Gabe, Mary, our friend Lucas, Riley, they helped us look up a whole bunch of ideas and then we pared them down to things that truly delighted or impressed us. Ideally both of those things. And then you and I picked a bunch and researched some more. And now's the fun part where we get to like Take turns presenting the ideas. Plus, we are sending part time genius certificates to all of the winners which they can put on their refrigerators.

[Dylan Fagan]

To all of the winners.

[Will Pearson]

Yeah. And also Atomic Fireballs, the most science y candy we could find in honor of this week's science special.

[Dylan Fagan]

You know, it's funny that we're choosing fireballs because as my kids know, I love fireballs. So we have this special cabinet at our house just outside the kitchen called the center of Excellence. And it's basically where all of my candy obsessions get to be stored because I'll fall in love with the candy. A great sushi restaurant. And I love the little treats they bring you at the end of it. And I decided I needed to order those in bulk. I ordered some Atomic Fireballs in bulk and then I move on to the next thing. But we just keep them in that collection. So it's a big prize. And we're giving out prizes on our Insta all week as well, right?

[Will Pearson]

Yeah. So Mary is running contests for us all week and has a bunch of ridiculous swag to send out. She and the person who manages our social media, our friend Calypso. So after you listen, head over to our Instagram, handle arttimegenius and go with some stuff. We want to send it out, but that is way too much setup. Let's just get into it.

[Dylan Fagan]

All right.

[Will Pearson]

25.

[Dylan Fagan]

Okay. So don't let the number fool you. Our list is kicking off with an innovation that happens to tackle one of the biggest problems in all of society. And that is how to get ketchup out of a bottle. Now, as we all know, there is nothing more frustrating than holding a ketchup bottle at a 45 degree angle over your food, shaking it vigorously, and having absolutely nothing come out. And for years, there were only two solutions. People would jam a knife in a bottle. I feel like you don't see that as much anymore. You remember as a kid, I feel like people just would put that knife in there and they give it a stir and they hope the ketchup would start flowing. Also, there's the smack the number trick where people figured out that if you Give the number 57 on the side of a glass bottle of Heinz a nice wallop, it would get the ketchup moving. But of course, the problem with both of those is that you could end up with way too much ketchup on your fries.

[Will Pearson]

Yeah, it's. It's kind of a ketchup conundrum that we've all experienced.

[Dylan Fagan]

That's exactly right. And One of the biggest leaps forward of humanity in our quest for an appropriate amount of ketchup was the upside down ketchup bottle.

[Will Pearson]

Right, so you are obviously talking about the ketchup bottles where the dispenser is on the bottom and it's sitting on there and the gravity is just kind of pulling it down, right?

[Dylan Fagan]

That's exactly right. That bottle, or rather the valve in it, was invented by a gentleman named Paul Brown. Now, his idea wasn't specifically for ketchup. He just thought a better valve would work for most liquids, from dish detergent to hand sanitizers to whatever it may be. This is in the 1990s. So Paul Brown had this dream, but he really struggled to make it a reality. He made 111 different prototypes.

[Will Pearson]

Wow.

[Dylan Fagan]

Maxed out a bunch of credit cards, borrowed money from his folks to, you know, make a better valve for dispensing liquid.

[Will Pearson]

And while trying to make this valve, like, what was he trying to solve for exactly?

[Dylan Fagan]

Well, he realized that to make a better squeeze bottle, you wanted the nozzle to open when you place pressure on it, but then you need it to close up when the pressure is removed so there's no accidental leaking from this. Anyway, after years of failures, his 112th prototype worked. And once he'd perfected his valve, everyone came calling, including NASA, who saw a use for the valve in space and was trying to make leak proof cups for astronauts. Wow. Shampoo bottlers who wanted a more convenient bottle for their soaps and shampoos also came calling on him as well. And eventually, after he pitched it to Heinz, they saw his innovation as part of a ketchup revolution. They started this ad campaign about the, quote, waiting man, where a guy is just sitting and holding a glass ketchup bottle vertically over his meal and nothing is moving or happening for like 20 seconds. And then his wife comes over, squeezes the perfect amount of ketchup onto his food, and solves the problem in a second. And the ad slogan was, quote, no wait, no mess, no anticipation.

[Will Pearson]

It is so funny that as a society, we are so impatient that need our ketchup immediately. Like, it's just a condiment.

[Dylan Fagan]

I don't know why you're. You really don't get it. It's super important that we get it quickly. But I was actually thinking this too, to be honest, until I read this Malcolm Gladwell piece on ketchup. And this was a piece that he wrote for the New Yorker. And in it, he quotes a food professor who calls ketchup the esperanto of cuisine because it's one of the few foods that satisfies your cravings for salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami all at once. If you think about it, that's, that's actually true. And that's part of the reason the world love Catch up so much. But back to Brown. According to the patent professor, this is a website on inventors and patents. Today, about 75% of Heinz bottles that are sold are upside down squeeze bottles now. And it wasn't long before Brown paid off his credit cards and paid his parents back.

[Will Pearson]

Of course, I mean, I do love this, but this invention's from the 1990s, right. So like it doesn't quite make the 25 year cutoff list.

[Dylan Fagan]

I thought you were going to call me out for that, but I'm actually not done yet. So all of those lay the groundwork for the quote, problem of catch at me being impatient. Yeah, you're doing that. But even though Paul Brown squeeze bottle valve helped us get much more ketchup out of bottles, the truth is it's hard to get the last bits of ketchup out of there. And that means there's a lot of food waste. But that's where some grad students from MIT came in in 2012, that is within the last 25 years. Here, a PhD candidate named Dave Smith and a team of mechanical engineers and nanotechnologists at mit Varnacy Research Group had been working on various lubricants and coatings to solve various issues. So they were tackling things like how to coat an oil or gas line so that there's no clogs, or how to coat a windshield so that the water doesn't collect on it and is more easily pushed off by your wipers. But then they started wondering what would happen if they applied some of their technology to consumer packaging. I think the idea started with the frustration of getting honey out of a bottle, you know, because there's still so much in there at that point. Point, yeah.

[Will Pearson]

I mean, it's obviously annoying, but why were they putting all this technology towards food bottles?

[Dylan Fagan]

Well, according to Fast Company, that's one of the questions they got asked the most. And the answer is that the market for bottles, and I'm just talking sauce bottles here, is a $17 billion market.

[Will Pearson]

Wow.

[Dylan Fagan]

And if you could solve food waste there, you could basically save a million tons of food from being thrown out every single year.

[Will Pearson]

That's pretty incredible.

[Dylan Fagan]

Yeah. So they created this coating called Liquiglide and it's really miraculous. Like if you Watch the videos. The ketchup flows out of the BO almost like a liquid with nothing left in the bottle. As Professor Kripa Varnasi puts it, there's this fundamental friction constraint called the no slip boundary condition between a liquid and a solid. And so because they basically created a new surface for the liquid to move on, you can get the product to slide across the surface. And so he continues describing this. He says that aha moment meant we could get around a fundamental constraint of fluid dynamics.

[Will Pearson]

That's really cool that they can take this like uncooperative fluid like ketchup and just make it glide.

[Dylan Fagan]

And all the applications for this are actually pretty crazy. It isn't just ketchup or honey that it affects. Suddenly, like you can get toothpaste out of a tube more effectively, which makes that recyclable. You can use variations on medical devices to get essential fluids out of bags. Like, it's really remarkable.

[Will Pearson]

I love that. So, of course, congratulations, Dr. Varnasi and team. We'll be sending you a part time genius certificate for your achievement and a handful of atomic fireballs for your important work.

[Dylan Fagan]

Man, such a great prize. 24.

[Will Pearson]

So sitting at number 24 is a pretty whimsical invention that maybe means more to me than it means to you. It is a floating hot tub boat invented in Finland called the Hot Tug, which sounds a little dirty, but this floating tub is actually really wonderful.

[Dylan Fagan]

And there's a story about why you like hot tubs so much, I'm guessing.

[Will Pearson]

I mean, to be clear, I do like hot tubs in the appropriate context. My friend Dave has a hot tub behind his place in Idaho and you can sit out there when it's snowing and look at the Grand Tetons behind you. That is incredible. But also, there was one time when I was on a work trip and I showed up at a hotel room in a dicey neighborhood that had been booked for me and there was a giant hot tub in the middle of the hotel room and that was less appealing.

[Dylan Fagan]

Yeah, I could see maybe avoiding that.

[Will Pearson]

But as you might know, I hate cold water. And part of the reason is that when I was on my study abroad trip, and this is so many years ago in Tibet, we were hunting for this anthropological evidence of a semi nomadic civilization. And there hadn't been a lot of study done in this region of Tibet. It was pretty pristine and hard for academics to get to. Anyway, my friends and I saw these huts that were set up across this little river and we knew we wanted to get to it and there was a bridge about two hours up one way and one hour down the other way. And so my friends were like, we should probably just cross this river. And to be clear, there was snow on the ground at the time and the water was ice cold and we didn't want to get our clothes wet. So basically we got naked and crossed this thing so we'd have dry clothes on the other side. And I just remember getting up to my ankles and being like, I've never been this cold. And then getting up to my knees and being like, I've never been this cold getting to my waist. But the current was also crazy strong and I almost slipped on some moss and somehow caught myself with a stick. And it was miserable, but sounds like it. I just remember being so cold for so long. And the worst part was the huts weren't any big discoveries. So it was just like a normal settlement. But I was very angry. And since then, I don't really go in cold water, but I will go in hot water. And that's where the hot dog comes in. Wow.

[Dylan Fagan]

I'm with you on the cold water. I don't understand people that can do the cold plunge thing. It's just. I don't get it. But anyway, tell me more about this invention.

[Will Pearson]

So it is the brainchild of a Dutch furniture designer. His name is Frank de Bruyne. And it's not just a barrel with heat under it. So this thing is a beautiful 2,000 liter, eight seater Jacuzzi boat. And according to an interview with the New York Post, Jabran actually grew up on a barge where his parents were skippers. And he'd always loved campfires and nature and looking up at the stars. And at some point he wondered, like, what if you could have a mobile hot tub? Like not just something that was parked in your backyard, but something that would allow you to float out wherever you were and that could be on a lake or a fjord. And so he created this boat with an electric motor so it is entirely quiet for the nature aspect. But the hot tub contraption is also entirely stable. So you can sit in the hot tub and then stand up and dive off the side into like a crisp refreshment in the lake. And you won't tip anything over. To me, it feels like a really beautiful way to float your way through a cold landscape. Like, imagine being in one of these off the coast of Alaska or in the Pacific Northwest. And that's kind of de Bruyne's dream too.

[Dylan Fagan]

Yeah.

[Will Pearson]

Right now, the hot tubs are cost prohibitive. They run about $15,000 to $20,000. But his hope is that national parks and cities will buy fleets of these things and then rent them out to people like me. You know, tourists who hate the cold but love nature.

[Dylan Fagan]

That sounds pretty awesome. I'm on board Mango. The next one for me is a discovery that deals with one of my biggest pet peeves, Tangled headphones and cords. So frustrating, right? And this comes from a British scientist named Robert Matthews from Aston University. So over the years, people have tried to deal with knots in tons of ways. You can very carefully coil up cords using special reels. There are actually a ton of anti knotting gadgets out there. But Robert Matthews developed a mathematical theory theory which has an incredibly simple answer. According to his loop conjecture, one of the easiest things you can do is clip the ends of a chord together to form a loop. Based on his mathematical models, forming a simple loop produces a tenfold reduction in the risk of knots forming in the headphone.

[Will Pearson]

That's amazing.

[Dylan Fagan]

But what's also sweet about his theory is that Matthews organized something called the British knot experiment, where, according to Science Daily, kids at schools across the country looked at this phenomena with, quote, various chord thickness, rigidity, and other parameters. Parameters likely to affect knotting risk.

[Will Pearson]

I mean, tangled cords are definitely one of my biggest pet peeves. And every year I try so many different ways to make sure that, like, my Christmas lights don't get tangled or cords don't get tangled. And I'm just kind of fascinated by this idea that if you just loop the cords, it solves the issue.

[Dylan Fagan]

Yeah. And Matthews points out that even though it feels trivial in nature, quote, the phenomena of spontaneous nodding is of great significance in other areas, including polymer chemistry and molecular biology. Like if you consider there's over a meter of DNA crammed into every one of our cells and any knots can dramatically increase the risk of genetic malfunction, you can see how there might be some really interesting applications there. Like, Matthews points to some anti cancer drugs that work by affecting knot formation and cancerous cells. And he's hoping that the loop conjecture can lead to new approaches in drug design.

[Will Pearson]

That's amazing that you can tackle something that's annoying like headphones, and it solves genetic problems.

[Steve Pearce]

Yeah.

[Dylan Fagan]

Something almost as important, like canc. Yeah.

[Will Pearson]

Well, that is pretty awesome. I know we've got lots more to cover, from space perfumes to bird aesthetics, but before we get to any of that, let's take a quick break.

[Dylan Fagan]

Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're talking about 25 great science ideas over the last 25 years. And I forgot mango. What number are we on? 22. Oh, right, number 22. So, Mango, what do you have next?

[Will Pearson]

Well, let's talk about the sense of smell. Because when it comes to memory and emotion, there is no sense quite as powerful as scent. And for me, like a whiff of jasmine takes me to my grandmother's backyard in India. There's a certain wet grass and pavement smell that reminds me of monsoons. And also spring in Delaware. Yeah, also lemon pledge weirdly reminds me me of when my sister and I used to have to dust wood furniture.

[Dylan Fagan]

Every Saturday after cartoons.

[Will Pearson]

So are there any distinctive scents that you can think of?

[Dylan Fagan]

It's funny that you mention your grandmother. I feel like everybody who, you know, had the benefit of being able to go to a grandmother's house has a certain scent there. For me, it was the smell of bacon because my granddad cooked bacon every single morning of his life. And so whenever you'd walk into that house, you're just like, oh man, bacon.

[Will Pearson]

I love that. Mike Myers always talks about, like, how it smells like soup when he, when he thinks of old people.

[Dylan Fagan]

This is a little better than that.

[Will Pearson]

So our next guest knows a lot about scent. It's what he does for a living. And our pal Mary actually got him on the phone.

[Steve Pearce]

I'm Steve Pearce. I've worked in the flavor and fragrance industry for more than 40 years in various roles, and now I consult for some companies in that industry. I'm a bit of a jack of all trades, to be honest.

[Will Pearson]

So Steve has a degree in applied biochemistry and says he's been interested in smells since he was a kid. So back in, in the early 2000s, he was approached by a museum curator who wanted to make an exhibit about impossible smells, like smells that were so fleeting or so far in the past that no one's been able to experience them. And one of the impossible smells he developed for this exhibit was the scent of the Mir space station as it fell back to Earth. The exhibit was a huge hit and people were fascinated.

[Steve Pearce]

It made a bit of a splash. It was on TV and all the rest of it. It. And it was a few months after that that I got this call from someone at NASA. He explained his role as having to smell every single component that went into the space shuttle to make sure that when astronauts were up there, there was nothing that was going to create an off note, an unpleasant environment for them to live and work in.

[Dylan Fagan]

So I'm trying to imagine this guy's workday. Like he walked around sniffing rocket parts?

[Will Pearson]

Yeah, I guess something like that. And I guess he told Steve that NASA had a problem.

[Steve Pearce]

They had astronauts returning to Earth who'd gone for a vehicular walk outside. So they'd gone outside to service satellites and do all the things they do. And then when they got back inside, they were going through the airlock and they'd re pressurized, take their suit helmet off, and then they got hit by this smell. And a number of them came back and said, look, we went through all this traffic training about fitness, about psychology, about how to fly things, how to service satellites, how to walk in space. Nobody warned us about this smell.

[Dylan Fagan]

Never would have thought that space had a smell.

[Will Pearson]

Apparently NASA hadn't either. So they asked Steve if he could recreate the scent of space for training purposes. And he was like, sure, I'll give it a try. So NASA put him in touch with some astronauts so he'd get a first hand account of the space smell.

[Steve Pearce]

They were pretty consistent in terms of it, focusing on things like hot metal. They said fried steak, but I kind of think that was when maybe they were near a barbecue, which was hot metal, and they were associating the fried steak and the hot metal. And one of them described it as the scent of the hot metal when he was welding on his motorbike as a young man and things like this. So that was the description that I had to go for and try and recreate that in a safe way that could be used during the training.

[Will Pearson]

So around the same time some other papers came out that offered all these hypotheses about what space smelled like based on spectroscopic analysis. And two of the notes that got mentioned were raspberries and rum, which I've read about, and it sounds really nice, but Steve didn't buy it. None of the astronauts he'd interviewed mentioned any of those scents. So he stuck to his brief of hot mess metal and meat. And the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Because when the astronauts were outside, their suits were bombarded by high velocity particles and solar wind. So when they came back inside, they detected the odor left by all that energy.

[Dylan Fagan]

So he managed to recreate the smell for NASA.

[Will Pearson]

Yeah, I mean, it took a couple of months, but he did. And unfortunately in the time he was working, his NASA contact had retired or maybe been laid off. Like to this day, Steve isn't sure which. All he knew was that he called NASA to say, hey, I've got your space smell. And NASA was Like, we don't know what you're talking about.

[Dylan Fagan]

Oh, man.

[Steve Pearce]

I couldn't find anyone else to want to take it forward. So it was a bit disappointing to have done that work and then not be able to see it put to use. So I kind of parked it.

[Will Pearson]

The story might have ended there, but the BBC happened to visit Steve's lab for a report on fragrance and flavors. The reporter asked if he'd worked on anything particularly unusual, and Steve's said, well, as a matter of fact, I made the Scent of Space for NASA. And that turned into the kicker of the piece. And then another media storm erupted. So the news traveled to this side of the Atlantic, and Steve was contacted by an American education advocate who wanted to leverage the scent to raise money for STEM programs. Right. This is awesome. So the initial goal was something like, let's sell $2,000 of this perfume. And in the end, the project raised over $600,000 on Kickstarter. Isn't that amazing?

[Dylan Fagan]

Yeah.

[Will Pearson]

And the idea was that for every bottle someone bought, a bottle would get sent to a school. But this meant a new challenge for Steve.

[Steve Pearce]

Before, I wasn't worried about skin contact and things like that. I was just thinking people would smell it and that would be the end of it. Now I had to go back to the drawing board and reformulate it to make sure it was completely safe in case anybody accidentally sprayed it in their eye or swallowed it or make sure there were no allergens in there and so on.

[Will Pearson]

So what's more, Steve had actually developed a second space scent. He'd met the astronaut Charles Duke at a conference, and Duke and actually walked on the moon with the Apollo 11 crew. So naturally, Steve wanted to know what that had smelled like.

[Steve Pearce]

And of course, he's right. Well, of course, you can't smell anything through the suit, and he's having a joke and all that. But then he says, when you get inside and you are covered in this fine dust, he starts explaining to everyone about it. Takes his helmet off, he says, and all you can smell is this smell of the moon, he says, and everyone thinks it smells of cheese and makes all these jokes about it, but he says it smells like spent gum powder.

[Will Pearson]

So the scent of space and the scent of the moon became available through this Kickstarter. And now Steve does want to make it very clear that he is not involved in any of the logistics or fulfillment with this space scent product. He just made vats of the stuff and had it shipped to a distributor. But he is really happy about all the Bottles that made their way to schools and STEM programs. And he told us one of his proudest moments was meeting a dad whose son had really severe learning disabilities. But he was fascinated by space, and being able to smell it made it come to in this incredible, vivid way.

[Dylan Fagan]

Oh, that's so cool. I do have to ask Michael, have you smelled this stuff? And if so, is it good?

[Will Pearson]

I don't think the word is good. Like, it may be interesting. Fascinating. Meaty. I looked up Otis face on perfume review website and a lot of people complained that it didn't smell like something you'd wear, which makes sense because that wasn't the intention. But what's really interesting is several reviewers mentioned that the scent made them feel a sense of loneliness or despair. And so we actually asked Steve about this.

[Steve Pearce]

I wouldn't have used words like despair and loneliness, but I can understand if people are putting that concept of the fragrance alongside the fact that you're in an airless void of space and you're weightless. If it manages to conjure up those feelings, I can understand why they might describe it as that. There's definitely a meaty element to it. It is quite harsh and metallic as well. I would have said. I would have described it as that. The other image I had was if you've ever been near electrical sparks and you get that blue flash and then it's that sense of burning, although nothing's burning. It's almost like the ozone in the air that's created in that high energy impact. Those were the kind of images I was trying to recreate. I never set out to make anyone feel despair and. But you know what? When you're working on these things on your own and you sometimes coming up against a bit of a block and trying to improve it, sometimes that can feel pretty lonely as well.

[Will Pearson]

And maybe that's the next challenge for fragrance scientists like Steve. Like, figure out a way to bottle the scent of loneliness along with one that makes you feel maybe more like you're surrounded by people you love.

[Dylan Fagan]

That's a great idea.

[Will Pearson]

Anyway, I'm sure everyone's wondering, okay, how can I get a whiff of this? Well, we managed to get our hands on a bottle of the space scent and a bottle of the mo, and.

[Dylan Fagan]

We squirted it on a fireball.

[Will Pearson]

So we are giving them away today on our Instagram. So go check it out at part time Genius to see how you can win.

[Dylan Fagan]

I'm going to apply 21. So for anyone who's suffered from jet lag, you know how hard it can be to try to get your body clock to shift time zones. It is really not a pleasant process. But for a bunch of hamsters, at least one thing has helped. Taking Viagra. You didn't see any of this coming, did you? Jet lag, lag, hamsters, Viagra. Can you work those into the sentence?

[Will Pearson]

It's like the weirdest success. Mad lib success. So why were they giving Viagra to hamsters?

[Dylan Fagan]

What else would you give them? Mango. But anyway, it's really only in small doses. So as the Smithsonian points out, since 1998 when Viagra was first approved by the FDA, scientists have found all sorts of other uses for the drug, including for flowers actually. So if you crush Viagra into a vase, it can help your fresh cut flowers last last longer. It's also good for treating blood pressure. And in 2007, a trio of Argentinian scientists figured out that injecting a small amount of Viagra into a hamster will help cure it of jet lag.

[Will Pearson]

I mean, of course it has to be a small dose, right?

[Dylan Fagan]

These are hamsters, these are also scientists, so they could do whatever, but anyway. But it's basically enough Viagra to affect them, but not enough to get them aroused or anything like that. But back to the jet lag. Normally, humans tend to take a full day to adjust for an hour of change. So if you travel to Singapore from New York, it'll take your body about 12 days to fully adjust to that time change. But with Viagra, the hamsters recovered in about half of that period.

[Will Pearson]

And do we know why this is?

[Dylan Fagan]

Well, according to the Smithsonian quote, they believe it happened because the drug raises levels of a molecule called cyclic guanosine monophosphate in the body. CGMP is the molecule that expands blood vessels we which helps with getting men excited. That's how it works from that purpose. But CGMP also speeds up the body's internal clock, which is how it combats jet lag. Anyway, the most fascinating thing about this study, or to me at least, was that the Viagra only worked when hamsters were traveling east. Like the Viagra helped if you adjusted the time zone from New York to London, but if you had them going west, it basically had no effect. I heard Viagra is the same way.

[Will Pearson]

So that is wild. Well, I've got another discovery about animal but before we get to that, let's take one last break.

[Dylan Fagan]

Welcome back to Part Time Genius where we're counting down the 25 greatest science ideas of the past 25 years. All right, Mango, we are all the way to.

[Will Pearson]

Those Sesame street numbers. Never get old to me. And at number 20, we're going to cover one of the most important scientific discoveries of our time, according to me. Right, which is why chickens like Denzel Washington more than you.

[Dylan Fagan]

More than I like Denzel Washington, or they like Denzel more than they like me?

[Will Pearson]

They like Denzel more than they like you. Okay.

[Dylan Fagan]

God. Okay.

[Will Pearson]

And me? They prefer Denzel.

[Dylan Fagan]

Just making sure. I didn't know if I was part of this study.

[Will Pearson]

Now, over the years, there have been lots of discoveries about chickens. We know that the color of a chicken's eggs often coincides with the color of the bird's earlobes. We know that today's chickens descended from the red jungle fowl of southeast Asia about 8,000 years ago. And they were probably first domesticated not for meat, but as early alarm systems. Like watchdogs, but birds.

[Dylan Fagan]

Right?

[Will Pearson]

Bird dogs.

[Dylan Fagan]

Yep.

[Will Pearson]

But perhaps most importantly, chickens can tell other chickens apart. And studies have shown they can easily identify up to 30 other chickens at a chicken party. But once the numbers get to about 100, they get more confused. They can't keep track.

[Dylan Fagan]

I mean, it's like people.

[Will Pearson]

Yeah, it feels fair. But. But in 2002, in a paper called quote, chickens prefer beautiful humans.

[Dylan Fagan]

Right. This was actually the title of the paper.

[Will Pearson]

Scientists Stefano Ghirlanda Liselote Jansen and Magnus Enquist. Don't worry, it'll be spelled properly on the certificates. They all discovered that, much like humans, chickens are attract to symmetrical faces.

[Dylan Fagan]

Got it.

[Will Pearson]

And in the experiment, chickens pecked more at screens with symmetrical faces. And these results actually matched the results of humans who were asked to choose between the same faces. According to Nat Geo, the study was limited in that it only tested a small number of chickens and humans. But the results may suggest the mutual admiration for symmetry is rooted in the nervous system. Isn't that awesome? So it's not really based on cultural influences, but it's triggered by something in the brain.

[Dylan Fagan]

Yeah. Well, you said this was only a small number of chickens, so I'm still not quite on board with the idea that they like Denzel more than me, but we'll. We'll see. But. And actually, you know what, you know, I have chickens and chickens that lay different colored eggs.

[Will Pearson]

Uh huh.

[Dylan Fagan]

I did not know that chickens had earlobes, much less earlobes that you could use to detect what sort of eggs they would lay. But anyway, it's all super fascinating. So back to this idea of the chickens preferring symmetrical faces. Do we know the evolutionary reason for that? Like, why do humans and chickens prefer these faces?

[Will Pearson]

We don't know yet. But not Gen did have a fun kicker to their piece. They wrote, quote, what could be more humiliating than a chicken who sees your Tinder profile and swipes left? I think that's a good way to end today. That is.

[Dylan Fagan]

That is definitely the way to end it. We have reached the end of day one in our countdown of the 25 best science ideas from the past 25 years. Now remember, we got four more days to go, so be sure to tune in all week. Don't forget to enter today's giveaway on our Instagram at Part Time Genius and Mango, what's the tease up for tomorrow?

[Will Pearson]

So we have got stories about lobsters, dolphins and bike helmets.

[Dylan Fagan]

Oh yeah, the trio.

[Will Pearson]

Although unfortunately none of these involve lobsters or dolphins wearing bike helmets. But it's still going to be fun, I promise. Anyway, that's it for today's episode from Gabe, Dylan, Mary, Will and myself. Thank you so much for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iheartradio. This show is hosted by Will Pearson and me, Mangesh Hatiklur and researched by our good pal Mary Phillips. Sandy Today's episode was engineered and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan with support from Time, Tyler Klang. The show is executive produced for iheart by Katrina Norvell and Ali Perry with social media support from Sasha Gay, Trustee, Dara Potts and Vayini Shorey. For more podcasts From Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Steve Pearce]

Foreign.

[Mangesh Hatiklur]

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[Steve Pearce]

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[Will Pearson]

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[Steve Pearce]

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[Steve Pearce]

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